View source for Archibald Geikie

{{Short description|Scottish geologist and writer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2012}}
{{Infobox scientist
|honorific_prefix  = [[Sir]]
|name              = Archibald Geikie
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OM|KCB|FRS|FRSE|size=100%}}
|image             = Portrait of Archibald Geikie.jpg
|caption           = Sir Archibald Geikie, by Wener & Son.
|birth_date        = {{Birth date|1835|12|28|df=yes}}
|birth_place       = [[Edinburgh]], Scotland
|death_date        = {{nowrap|{{Death date and age|1924|11|10|1835|12|28|df=yes}}}}
|death_place       = [[Haslemere]], England
|residence  = 
|ethnicity         = 
|field             = [[Geology]]
|work_institutions = 
|alma_mater        = 
|doctoral_advisor  = 
|doctoral_students = 
|known_for         = 
|author_abbrev_bot =|author_abbrev_zoo = 
|influences        = 
|influenced        = 
|prizes            = [[Murchison Medal]]  {{small|(1881)}}<br>[[Wollaston Medal]] {{small|(1895)}}<br>[[Royal Medal]] {{small|(1896)}}<br>[[Hayden Memorial Geological Award]] {{small|(1902)}}
|religion = |footnotes = |signature         =
}}

'''Sir Archibald Geikie''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|OM|KCB|FRS|FRSE}} (28 December 1835 – November 1924) was a Scottish geologist and writer.<ref name=":0">{{Who's Who|id=196818|title=Geikie, Sir Archibald}}</ref><ref name="EB1911" />

==Early life==
Geikie was born in Edinburgh in 1835, the eldest son of Isabella Thom and her husband [[James Stuart Geikie]], a musician and music critic. The elder brother of [[James Geikie]], he was educated at [[Edinburgh High School]] and [[University of Edinburgh]].<ref>{{Cite ODNB|id=33364|title=Geikie, Sir Archibald (1835-1924), geologist and historian|last= Oldroyd|first= David}}</ref>

==Career==
In 1855 Geikie was appointed an assistant with the [[British Geological Survey]]. Among his early publications for a popular audience was ''The Story of a Boulder; or, Gleanings from the Note-Book of a Geologist'' (1858). His ability at once attracted the notice of his chief, [[Roderick Impey Murchison|Sir Roderick Murchison]], with whom he formed a lifelong friendship, and whose biographer he subsequently became.<ref name="EB1911">{{cite EB1911|wstitle=Geikie, Sir Archibald|volume=11|pages=552–553}}</ref>

Geikie completed some early geological mapping with Murchison on complicated regions of [[schist]]s in the [[Scottish Highlands]]; and they jointly published a new [[geological map]] of [[Scotland]] in 1862. Geikie completed a larger map in 1892. In 1863 he published an important essay "On the Phenomena of the Glacial Drift of Scotland", in ''Transactions  of the [[Geological Society of Glasgow]]'', in which the effects of ice action in that country were for the first time clearly and connectedly delineated.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1865 Geikie's ''Scenery of Scotland'' (3rd edition, 1901) was published, which was, he claimed, the first attempt to elucidate in some detail the history of the [[topography]] of a country. In the same year he was elected a [[Fellow (society)|Fellow]] of the [[Royal Society]].<ref>{{cite web| url= http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27geikie%27%29 | title = Library and Archive Catalogue| publisher= Royal Society| access-date = 31 January 2011}}</ref> At this time the Edinburgh school of geologists, prominent among them [[Andrew Crombie Ramsey|Sir Andrew Ramsay]], with his ''Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain'' were maintaining the supreme importance of [[denudation]] in the configuration of land surfaces, and particularly the [[erosion]] of [[valley]]s by the action of running water. Geikie's book, based on extensive personal knowledge of the country, was an able contribution to the doctrines of the Edinburgh school, of which he himself soon began to rank as one of the leaders.<ref name="EB1911"/> In 1880, he was elected as a member of the [[American Philosophical Society]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=APS Member History|url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1880%5D&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210514152048/https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=1880%5D&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |archive-date=14 May 2021 }}</ref>

==Geological Survey==
[[File:Aerial view of canyons.jpg|thumb|The [[Grand Canyon]], [[Arizona]], at the confluence of the [[Colorado River|Colorado]] and [[Little Colorado River|Little Colorado]] rivers]]

In 1867, when a separate branch of the Geological Survey was established for Scotland, he was appointed director. On the foundation of the Murchison professorship of geology and [[mineralogy]] at the [[University of Edinburgh]] in 1871, he became the first occupant of the [[chair (academic)|chair]].<ref name="EB1911"/> He continued to hold these two appointments until 1881. In that year, he was awarded the [[Murchison Medal]] of the [[Geological Society of London]]<ref name=":0" /> and he succeeded Sir Andrew Ramsay in the joint offices of Director-General of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom and Director of the [[Geological Museum|Museum of Practical Geology]], London, from which he retired in February 1901. A feature of his tenure of office was the impetus given to microscopic [[petrography]], a branch of geology to which he had devoted special study, by a splendid collection of [[thin section]]s of British [[Rock (geology)|rocks]]. Later he wrote two Survey Memoirs, ''The Geology of Central and Western Fife and Kinross'' (1900), and ''The Geology of Eastern Fife'' (1902).<ref name="EB1911"/>

From the outset of his career, when he started to investigate the geology of [[Isle of Skye|Skye]] and other of the [[Western Isles]], he took a keen interest in [[volcanic]] geology, and in 1871 he brought before the Geological Society of London an outline of the [[Tertiary period|Tertiary]] volcanic history of Britain. Many difficult problems, however, remained to be solved. Here he was greatly aided by his extensive travels not only throughout Europe, but in western America. While the [[canyon]]s of the [[Colorado River]] confirmed his long-standing views on erosion, the volcanic regions of [[Wyoming]], [[Montana]] and [[Utah]] supplied him with valuable data in explanation of volcanic phenomena. The results of his further research were given in an essay entitled "The History of Volcanic Action during the Tertiary Period in the British Isles," in ''Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh'' (1888). His views on volcanic geology were delivered in his presidential addresses to the Geological Society of London in 1891 and 1892 and afterward embodied in his book ''The Ancient Volcanoes of Great Britain'' (1897). Other results of his travels are collected in ''Geological Sketches at Home and Abroad'' (1882).<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Writings==
Geikie wrote a biography of [[Edward Forbes]] (with G Wilson), and biographies of his predecessors [[Sir Roderick Impey Murchison]] (two volumes, 1875) and Sir [[Andrew Crombie Ramsay]] (1895). His book ''Founders of Geology'' consists of the inaugural course of lectures (founded by Mrs George Huntington Williams) at [[Johns Hopkins University]], Baltimore, delivered in 1897.<ref name="EB1911"/>

In 1897 he issued a ''Geological Map of England and Wales, with Descriptive Notes''. In 1898 he delivered the [[Romanes Lectures]], which was published under the title of ''Types of Scenery and their Influence on Literature''. The study of [[physical geography]] in Great Britain improved largely due to his efforts. Among his works on this subject is ''The Teaching of Geography'' (1887). His other books include ''Scottish Reminiscences'' (1904) and ''Landscape in History and other Essays'' (1905).<ref name="EB1911"/> His ''Birds of Shakespeare'' was published in 1916.<ref>{{Cite book|oclc=3524020|title=The birds of Shakespeare|last=Geikie|first=Archibald|date=1916|publisher=J. Maclehose and Sons|location=Glasgow}}</ref>

He was the editor of ''[[The Geological Structure of the North-West Highlands of Scotland]]'' (1907, His Majesty's Stationery Office), written by [[Ben Peach|B. N. Peach]], [[John Horne]], William Gunn (1837–1902), [[Charles Clough (geologist)|C. T. Clough]], [[L. W. Hinxman]], and [[Jethro Teall|J. H. H. Teall]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''The Geological Structure of the North-West Highlands of Scotland'' edited by Archibald Geikie|journal=The Athenaeum|issue=4175|date=November 2, 1907|pages=554–555|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__I_PcOFSw8C&pg=PA554}}</ref>

==Honours and awards==
Geikie was elected [[Fellow of the Royal Society]] in 1865.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://makingscience.royalsociety.org/people/na6174/archibald-geikie|title=Archibald Geikie|via=Royal Society}}</ref> Geikie was Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society from 1890 to 1894, Joint Secretary from 1903 to 1908 and elected president in 1909 and awarded their [[Royal Medal]] in 1896. He was President of the [[Geological Society of London]] in 1891 and 1892, and again in 1906 and 1907. He was also President of the [[British Association]] in 1892.<ref name="EB1911"/>
[[File:A197, Geikie Gorge National Park, Western Australia, Fitzroy River, 2007.JPG|thumb|Geikie Gorge National Park, Fitzroy River, 2007]]
He received the honorary [[Legum Doctor|Doctor of Laws]] (LL.D) from the [[University of Glasgow]] in June 1901.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times-glasgow-university-jubilee/131294008/ |date=14 June 1901 |title=Glasgow University Jubilee |page=10 |newspaper=[[The Times]] |publication-place=London |issue=36481 |access-date=2024-01-05 |via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

He received a [[Knight bachelor|knighthood]]<ref>{{London Gazette |date= 7 August 1891 |issue=26190 |page=4244 }}</ref> in 1891, the [[Order of the Bath|Knight Commander of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath]] in 1907<ref>{{London Gazette  |date= 13 August 1907 |issue=28050 |page=5527 }}</ref> and the [[Order of Merit]] in 1914.<ref>{{cite newspaper The Times| title = The New Year's Honours. Five New Peers., Six Baronets: Forty Knights., Appointment To Order Of Merit | page = 9| column= G | date =   1 January 1914 |issue= 40409  }}</ref> In 1905 he received the RSGS [[Livingstone Medal]].

[[Dorsa Geikie]], a [[wrinkle ridge]] system on the [[Moon]], and the mineral [[geikielite]], a magnesium-titanium oxide, are both named after him, as is [[Geikie Gorge]] in the [[Napier Range]] in the [[Kimberley (Western Australia)|Kimberley]] region of Western Australia, [[Mount Geikie (Canada)|Mount Geikie]] in the Canadian Rockies, [[Mount Geikie (Wyoming)|Mount Geikie]] in Wyoming, [[Geikie Peak]] in the Grand Canyon, and the [[Geikie Slide]] in the [[Atlantic Ocean]] northwest of [[Scotland]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archive.jncc.gov.uk/PDF/Geikie_Slide_and_Hebridean_Slope_Site_Summary_Document_July14.pdf|title=Geikie Slide and Hebridean Slope Marine Protected Area (MPA)|publisher=[[Joint Nature Conservation Committee]]|access-date=23 October 2019}}</ref>

==Death==
He died at his home, "Shepherd's Down" in [[Haslemere]], Surrey and is buried there in the village churchyard.<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|access-date=26 June 2016|archive-date=24 January 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130124115814/http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Family==
In 1871, Geikie married Alice Gabrielle Anne Marie Pignatel, daughter of Eugene Pignatel of Lyons. They had a son Roderick (killed in early life) and three daughters, Lucie, Elsie and Gabrielle.

== The Sir Archibald Geikie Archive ==
The Geikie Archive at [[Haslemere Educational Museum]], in Surrey, consists of letter books, artwork, field notebooks, geological specimens, letters, personal items, manuscripts and photographs. Part of the archive is displayed in its own room at the museum.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Haslemere Museum |url=https://www.haslemeremuseum.co.uk/collections/content/geikie.php |access-date=2025-10-27 |website=www.haslemeremuseum.co.uk}}</ref>

Geikie, who moved to Haslemere in 1901, was a patient of Museum founder [[Jonathan Hutchinson|Sir Jonathan Hutchinson]]. After Hutchinson's death, Geikie set up a board of trustees to run the museum, of which he became the first chairman.<ref>{{cite journal|title=The Geikie Archive at Haslemere Educational Museum|first=John |last=Betterton|journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications|
volume=480|pages=223-254|doi=10.1144/SP480.2|year=2018}}</ref>

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="200px">
File:Geikie Powell Walcott in Harpers Ferry 1897.jpg|[[Charles Doolittle Walcott]], [[John Wesley Powell]], and Sir Archibald Geikie on a geological field excursion to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, May 1897, following the George Huntington Williams Memorial Lectures delivered by Sir Archibald Geikie at Johns Hopkins University
File:American Geologists WVa 1897.jpg|Group photo taken during the aforementioned geological field excursion to Harpers Ferry, West Virginia, May 1897.  Sir Archibald Geikie is in the top row, second from the left, wearing a light-colored jacket.
File:Geikie gravestone.jpg|Geikie's gravestone in St Bartholomew's churchyard, Haslemere, Surrey U.K. The inscription reads: "To the dear memory of Archibald Geikie OM KCB Born in Edinburgh 28 Dec 1835 Died at Haslemere 10 Nov 1924. Wisdom is a treasure that never faileth, Which they that use become the friends of God" 
File:Geikie daughters.jpg|Attachment to Geikie's gravestone in memory of his daughters
</gallery>

==Selected bibliography==
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=dzkDAAAAQAAJ&q=Archibald+Geikie The Story of a Boulder: Or Gleanings from a Note-book of a Field Geologist]'' (1858)
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4RRN2AXSof4C&q=Archibald+Geikie Physical Geography]'' (1877)
* ''Textbook of Geology'' – First edition (1882) – Second edition (1885) – [https://archive.org/details/textbookgeology00geikgoog <!-- quote=Archibald Geikie. --> Third edition (1893)]
* ''[https://archive.org/details/geologicalsketc01geikgoog <!-- quote=Archibald Geikie. --> Geological Sketches at Home and Abroad]'' (1882)
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=VgEWAAAAYAAJ&q=Archibald+Geikie An Elementary Geography of the British Isles]'' (1888)
* [https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006173372 ''Memoir of Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay''] (1895)
* ''The Ancient Volcanoes of Britain'', 2 volumes (1897) [https://archive.org/details/ancientvolcanoe1geik/page/n5/mode/2up vol. 1] [https://books.google.com/books?id=L8sQAAAAIAAJ vol. 2]
* ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=PUEm1zfM6WcC&q=Archibald+Geikie Types of Scenery and Their Influence on Literature]'' (1898)
* ''The Founders of Geology'' – [https://archive.org/details/foundersgeology02geikgoog First edition (1897)] – [https://archive.org/details/foundersgeology01geikgoog Second edition (1905)]
* ''[https://archive.org/details/elementarylesso01geikgoog <!-- quote=Archibald Geikie. --> Elementary Lessons in Physical Geography]'' (1903)
* ''[https://archive.org/details/scottishreminisc00geikiala <!-- quote=Archibald Geikie. --> Scottish Reminiscences]'' (1904)
* ''[https://archive.org/details/landscapeinhisto00geikrich <!-- quote=Archibald Geikie. --> Landscape in History and Other Essays]'' (1905)<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''Landscape in History, and other Essays'' by Sir Archibald Geikie|journal=The Athenaeum|issue=4043|date=April 22, 1905|pages=504–505|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W4vs4AYf5rUC&pg=504}}</ref>
* ''[https://archive.org/details/cu31924009706858 <!-- quote=Archibald Geikie. --> Annals of the Royal Society Club]'' (1917)
==See also==
* [[List of presidents of the Royal Society]]
==References==
{{reflist|2}}

==External links==
{{sister project links|display=Archibald Geikie|b=no|commons=yes|d=Q633167|s=yes|v=no|q=The Founders of Geology|n=no|wikt=no}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070708215542/http://birdsofbard.blogspot.com/ Sir Archibald Geikie O.M. K.C.B.]– Museum site with extensive biographical material, including pictures
*{{cite web|url=http://birdsofbard.blogspot.com/ |title=The Birds of Shakespeare |access-date=2006-11-18 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070708215542/http://birdsofbard.blogspot.com/ |archive-date=8 July 2007 |df=dmy }}  by Sir Archibald Geikie
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=x1gJAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22The+Story+of+a+Boulder%22&pg=PR3 The Story of a Boulder; or, Gleanings from the notebook of a field geologist] by Sir Archibald Geikie, 1858
* [http://www.haslemeremuseum.co.uk/collections/geology/geikie/geikie1.html Biographical details] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230619114435/https://www.haslemeremuseum.co.uk/collections/geology/geikie/geikie1.html |date=19 June 2023 }} on the site of [[Haslemere Educational Museum]]
* {{NPG name}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=}}
* {{Librivox author |id=16409}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-npo|pro}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Lord Rayleigh]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Royal Society|President of the Royal Society]]|order=40th|years=1908–1913}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William Crookes]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Royal Society presidents 1900s}}
{{GLS Presidents}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Geikie, Archibald}}
[[Category:1835 births]]
[[Category:1924 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:British Geological Survey]]
[[Category:British volcanologists]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of Merit]]
[[Category:People educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Scientists from Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Presidents of the British Science Association]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:Scottish biographers]]
[[Category:Scottish cartographers]]
[[Category:Scottish geologists]]
[[Category:Murchison Medal winners]]
[[Category:Wollaston Medal winners]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Classical Association]]
[[Category:Directors of the British Geological Survey]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Geological Society of London]]
[[Category:International members of the American Philosophical Society]]