Caves, Coprolites and Catastrophes

William Buckland DD, FRS (1784–1856) was a theologian and scientist, who is widely regarded as the founder of the science of geology. A polymath, Buckland was the first person to identify and describe the dinosaur, which he called Megalosaurus. He was an older contemporary of Charles Darwin and played a central role in the ferment of ideas about the origins of the earth and of living things. Yet while seeing the earth as in an ongoing state of physical development, Buckland consistently argued against early evolutionary ideas, seeing individual species as biologically fixed yet susceptible to extinction and replacement by divinely designed ‘higher’ ones. As a natural theologian, Buckland wrestled with the problems of interpreting the Bible in the context of a rapidly developing body of scientific data that appeared to conflict with the story of creation in the book of Genesis. A field geologist of genius, an avid hunter and brilliant interpreter of fossils, landscapes, and earth history, Buckland was also a pioneer of agricultural science and an early ecologist. He demonstrated how the earth’s climate has undergone radical changes over geological time – from carboniferous swamps to ice ages, each with their own flora and fauna. These and many other fascinating facets of Buckland’s extraordinary achievement, along with his legendarily colourful personality, are brilliantly presented and assessed in this, the first full-length biography of Buckland to be written for over a century.