Roderick Murchison

Roderick Murchison was a Scottish geologist who established several major divisions of the geological time scale still in use today. In 1831 Murchison studied rock formations along the border of England and Wales and grouped strata containing distinctive fossil remains into what he named the Silurian system, publishing his findings in the 1839 book The Silurian System. In 1841, following exploration in the Perm region of Russia, Murchison introduced the Permian system to geology, naming it after the region where he had studied the characteristic rock sequence. Murchison also worked with Adam Sedgwick to help establish the Devonian system. From 1855 until his death in 1871, Murchison served as director-general of the British Geological Survey, and his work is credited with helping establish the international prestige of British geology in the nineteenth century.