George Bellas Greenough | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Maxim Gauci | |
| Born | 18 January 1778 |
| Died | 2 April 1855 (aged 77) |
| Alma mater | Pembroke Hall, Cambridge University of Göttingen |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Geology |
George Bellas Greenough FRS FGS (18 January 1778 – 2 April 1855) was a pioneering English geologist. He is best known as a synthesizer of geology rather than as an original researcher. Trained as a lawyer, he was a talented speaker and his annual addresses as founding president of the Geological Society of London were influential in identifying and guiding contemporary geological research. He also courted controversy, after using his presidential address in 1834 to cast aspersions on a paper on great earthquakes by Maria Graham.[1] Greenough advocated an empirical approach to the early science; his scepticism of theoretical thinking courted controversy amongst some contemporaries, especially his doubts of the usefulness of fossils in correlating strata. He compiled a geological map of England and Wales, published in 1820, and in the penultimate year of his life used similar methods to produce the first geological map of British India. Greenough characterised himself as follows: ʻbright eyes, silver hair, large mouth, ears and feet; fondness for generalisation, for system and clearliness; great diligence, patience and zeal; goodnature but hasty; firmness of principle; hand for gardening.ʼ[2]
- ^ "Maria Graham | Trowelblazers". 17 June 2014.
- ^ "Autobiographical notes" UCL Greenough Papers 24/1