1-158-523 - Oxford Science Archive/Heritage Images

Roderick Impey Murchison, Scottish geologist, 1870. Murchison (1792-1871) investigated old rocks beneath the red sandstone. He defined the Silurian (1835), Permian (c1845) and, in cooperation with Adam Sedgwick (1785-1873), the Devonian geological periods. Murchison became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1826, President of the Royal Geographical Society in 1843 and was knighted in 1846. He was also Director-General of the (British) Geological Survey and Director of the Royal School of Mines. Cartoon from Vanity Fair. (London, 26 November 1870).