CONVERSATIONS between Scottish geologist Sir Charles Lyell and Charles Darwin will be part of a collection on public display for the first time.
The vast archives of letters, maps and sketches on show in the exhibition at Edinburgh University will include heavily annotated editions of Lyell’s book Principles of Geology and 294 of his notebooks, purchased from his family through a £1 million fundraising campaign in 2019.
The main attraction will be Lyell’s notes on his conversations with Darwin before he published Origin of Species, as he is credited with having a pivotal role in shaping Darwin’s thinking of the processes involved in evolution.
Lyell is a key figure in the history of geology and science in the 19th century. He is known for advocating the theory that the way the Earth’s crust is being shaped today can be used to interpret events in the distant geological past.
In Principles of Geology, he argued that various rock formations had taken place gradually over a long period of time, which differed from the general view at the time that the Earth's surface had been formed by catastrophic events unlike those ever seen by humans.
Daryl Green, head of heritage collections (research and curatorial) and co-director of the Centre for Research Collections at the University of Edinburgh, said: “Sir Charles Lyell is one of the most important scientific figures of the 19th century.
“This exhibition will reveal many of the inner workings behind theories that have been pioneering for modern geology, as well as shedding more light on such a historically significant period for science.”
The exhibition, which runs from October 27, will also show his collected fossils, specimens and shells alongside a selection of rare books by Isaac Newton and James Hutton as well as anti-slavery activist Frederick Douglass.
The archive also documents Lyell’s trip through the slave plantations and his conversations with enslavers and slaves.
During his time, his notes provide a view into how scientific expeditions were intertwined with the divides of race, religion, culture and politics.
The exhibition, Time Traveller: Charles Lyell at Work, will open to visitors from October 27, 2023, until the March 30, 2024 at the University of Edinburgh’s Main Library Exhibition Gallery.
