Trinity College, Cambridge University.
Adam Sedgwick
Upon his death in 1728, the physician,
alongside Buckland, Lyell and Murchison
naturalist and geologist John Woodward
as one of the greats of the heroic age of
donated part of his extensive collection
geology.
of fossils to the University of Cambridge.
He made an associated bequest to found Sedgwick is remembered most for
the Woodwardian Professorship of Fossils his contribution to developing our
(later of Geology). The holder of this post, in understanding of stratigraphy. Working with
addition to curating the fossils, was required Murchison, he introduced the Devonian
to read at least four lectures a year on the and Cambrian periods into the geological
timescale. He was also a brilliant lecturer
general topic of the natural history of the
Earth. For this, a salary of £100 a year was and can be credited with inspiring Charles
Darwin’s geological interests. Although
paid and the incumbent was required to
remain celibate “lest the care of a wife and he never accepted Darwin’s views on
children should take the Lecturer too much evolution, he was active in rejecting literal
interpretations of the bible and explaining
from study, and the care of the Lecture”.
that geological theories provide a better
In 1818, the recently ordained Cambridge interpretation of the history of the Earth.
graduate and Fellow in mathematics,
Sedgwick was born on March 22, 1785,
Adam Sedgwick, was elected to the
Woodwardian Professorship. By his own the third of seven children of an Anglican
admission, Sedgwick was not a geologist vicar, in the picturesque village of Dent,
at the time of his appointment. He is said Yorkshire (now Cumbria). Despite his
to have remarked, “Hitherto I have never family’s modest means, Sedgwick attended
nearby Sedbergh School, and then entered
turned a stone; henceforth I will leave
Trinity College at Cambridge University
no stone unturned”. He was true to his
word. Very rapidly, he established himself on a scholarship. Although he was not a
geologist at the time of his appointment to
the Woodwardian Professorship, Sedgwick
was already noted as a talented academic.
He was 5th Wrangler in his graduate year
(1808) Mathematics exam (i.e. obtained the
5th highest marks). This led to him being
appointed a Fellow at the university with
modest teaching duties.
Soon after his appointment to the
Woodwardian Professorship, Sedgwick
was elected a Fellow of the Geological
Society of London. Armed with enthusiasm
inspired by the Geological Society’s
meetings, Sedgwick began undertaking
field work to collect specimens to
supplement the Woodwardian Collection.
He quickly became involved in the great
British geological enterprise of the early
19th century – the classification of the
stratigraphic record into distinct time
periods. By 1822, he was carrying out field
work in the Lake District and beginning
a long association with the geology of
Paleozoic rocks. This led to a friendship with
the poet William Wordsworth. Sedgwick