Adam Sedgwick
Adam Sedgwick (/ˈsɛdʒwɪk/; 22 March 1785 – 27 January 1873) was a British geologist and Anglican priest, one of the founders of modern geology. He proposed the Cambrian and Devonian period of the geological timescale. Based on work which he did on Welsh rock strata, he proposed the Cambrian period in 1835, in a joint publication in which Roderick Murchison also proposed the Silurian period. Later in 1840, to resolve what later became known as the Great Devonian Controversy about rocks near the boundary between the Silurian and Carboniferous periods, he and Murchison proposed the Devonian period.
The Reverend Adam Sedgwick | |
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Portrait of Adam Sedgwick, c. 1863, by Ernest Edwards | |
| Born | 22 March 1785 Dent, Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 27 January 1873 (aged 87) Cambridge, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Known for | Classification of Cambrian rocks; opposition to evolution and natural selection |
| Awards | Wollaston Medal (1833) Copley Medal (1863) |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geology |
| Institutions | Trinity College, Cambridge |
| Academic advisors | Thomas Jones John Dawson |
| Notable students | George Peacock William Hopkins Charles Darwin Joseph Jukes |
| Signature | |
Though he had guided the young Charles Darwin in his early study of geology and continued to be on friendly terms, Sedgwick was an opponent of Darwin's theory of evolution by means of natural selection.
He strongly opposed the admission of women to the University of Cambridge, in one conversation describing aspiring female students as "nasty forward minxes."