Robert Bakewell (10 March 1767 – 15 August 1843) was an English geologist.
James Hutton, 1726 – 1797, was a Scottish geologist, physician, chemical manufacturer, naturalist, and experimental agriculturalist. He originated the theory of uniformitarianism - a fundamental principle of geology - that explains the features of the Earth's crust by means of natural processes over geologic time. Hutton's work established geology as a science, and as a result he is referred to as the "Father of Modern Geology".
William 'Strata' Smith (23 March 1769 – 28 August 1839) was an English geologist, credited with creating the first nationwide geological map. At the time his map was first published he was overlooked by the scientific community; his relatively humble education and family connections prevented him from mixing easily in learned society. Financially ruined, Smith spent time in debtors' prison. It was only late in his life that Smith received recognition for his accomplishments, and became known as the "Father of English Geology".
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AP8ZQZ6/?tag=2022091-20
1819
https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Geology-Robert-Bakewell-ebook/dp/B01JEQXJ6C/?tag=2022091-20
1833
https://www.amazon.com/Travels-Comprising-Observations-Tarentaise-Switzerland-ebook/dp/B07NP8JMR9/?tag=2022091-20
1838
Robert Bakewell was born in 1768 at Nottingham, England. Bakewell's parentage and birthplace are not known, although he may have come from Nottingham. He was not related to Robert Bakewell (1725-1795), the celebrated Leicestershire husbandman with whom he has often been confused.
Robert Bakewell became interested in science, particularly geology, about the middle of his life perhaps explains the emphasis in his works on presenting science to his readers in clear, simple language, scorning merely technical distinctions and abstruse vocabulary. He wrote for the general reader but without undue popularization. During much of his life, he lived in London, working as a mineralogical surveyor and teaching mineralogy and geology.
Bakewell’s Introduction to Geology appeared in 1813. The work was widely read and appreciated, largely because it used examples and illustrations taken from the English countryside. The second, enlarged edition appeared in 1815, the third edition in 1828, the fourth edition in 1833, and the final edition in 1838. The second and third editions were translated into German. In 1829, Benjamin Silliman published an American edition, in which he included his own lecture notes.
Bakewell’s brightly ironic style contributed greatly to the popularity of the Introduction and perhaps accounts for the book’s continued success despite its being outdated by advances in the subject. William Smith’s ideas of using fossils for the correlation of strata, for example, were never included in the Introduction.
In addition to the Introduction, Bakewell wrote many articles on geological and biological subjects. Most of these appeared in the Philosophical Magazine, although one was published by the Geological Society of London, to which Bakewell was never admitted as a member.
One of his sons, also named Robert Bakewell, wrote on geology, and the three articles on the Falls of Niagara listed for the elder Bakewell in the Royal Society Catalogue of Scientific Papers were written by his son.
He died at Hampstead on August 15, 1843.
Robert Bakewell was an able observer and deserves to be considered as one of the earliest teachers of general and practical geology. From 1811 onwards, he lectured on geology all over the country, exhibiting sections of rock formation and a geological map, the first of its kind. His contained much sound information, and reached a fifth edition in 1838. The second edition was translated and published in Germany, and the third and fourth editions were reprinted in America by Professor Silliman of Yale College.
Bakewell appreciated James Hutton’s “plutonic” ideas while failing to grasp the principle of uniformity - Hutton’s greatest contribution. He was highly critical of the geognosy of the Wernerian school, missing no opportunity to disparage it, and he rejected “neptunism,” depending almost entirely on volcanic processes to account for rock formations.
One of his sons, also named Robert Bakewell, also wrote on geology.
Like Baron Cuvier, a French contemporary, Bakewell found evidence in the rocks for geological revolutions of great magnitude with quiet intervals lasting tens of thousands of years.
