Hutton, James (1726-1797)

Scottish geologist, known as the ‘founder of geology’, who formulated the concept of uniformitarianism. In 1785 he developed a theory of the igneous origin of many rocks.

His Theory of the Earth (1788) proposed that the Earth was incalculably old. Uniformitarianism suggests that past events could be explained in terms of processes that work today. For example, the kind of river current that produces a certain settling pattern in a bed of sand today must have been operating many millions of years ago, if that same pattern is visible in ancient sandstones.

Born in Edinburgh, Hutton studied there and at Paris and Leiden, the Netherlands. He settled in Edinburgh about 1768 and played a large role in the Scottish Enlightenment.

Hutton's theory of uniformitarianism was vehemently attacked in its day, partly on fundamentalist Christian grounds. It was later popularized by another Scottish geologist, Charles Lyell, and still forms the groundwork for much geological reasoning.