James Hutton
| James Hutton | |
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Hutton as painted by Sir Henry Raeburn in 1776
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| Born | 3 June 1726 OS (14 June 1726 NS) Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Died |
26 March 1797 (age 70) Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Citizenship | Great Britain |
| Nationality | Scottish |
| Fields | Geology |
| Known for |
Plutonic geology Deep time Live Earth |
| Influences | John Walker |
| Influenced | Charles Lyell |
| Notes | |
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Member of the Royal Society of Agriculture of France
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James Hutton FRSE (pronunciation: /ˈhʌtən/; 3 June 1726 OS (14 June 1726 NS) – 26 March 1797) was a Scottish geologist, physician, chemical manufacturer, naturalist, and experimental agriculturalist. He originated the theory of uniformitarianism—a fundamental principle of geology—which explains the features of the Earth's crust by means of natural processes over geologic time. Hutton's work established geology as a proper science, and thus he is often referred to as the "Father of Modern Geology".
Through observation and carefully reasoned geological arguments, Hutton came to believe that the Earth was perpetually being formed; he recognised that the history of the Earth could be determined by understanding how processes such as erosion and sedimentation work in the present day. His theories of geology and geologic time, also called deep time, came to be included in theories which were called plutonism and uniformitarianism. Some of his writings anticipated the Gaia hypothesis.
Hutton was born in Edinburgh on 3 June 1726 OS as one of five children of William Hutton, a merchant who was Edinburgh City Treasurer, and his wife, Sarah Balfour. His father died in 1729, when James was only three.
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