Abbreviation | YGS or Yorks. Geol. Soc. |
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Formation | December 1, 1837 |
Type | NGO, |
Legal status | Charity Registered in England, no. 220014 |
Purpose | Promotion of education, scientific research and publication, and environmental conservation |
Region served | Yorkshire and northern England more generally |
Secretary General | General Secretary (acting): Mr Paul Hildreth |
President | Dr Nick Riley |
Vice_Presidents | Mr Paul Hildreth |
Main organ | Annual General Meeting and Elected Council (which also serves as Board of Trustees) |
Affiliations | About 20 Corresponding Societies - local geological societies and other bodies across the region |
Website | https://www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk |
The Yorkshire Geological Society is a learned, professional and educational charity devoted to the earth sciences, founded in 1837. Its work is centred on the geology of Yorkshire, and the north of England more generally, ranging from Northumbria and Cumbria in the north to Nottinghamshire, Derbyshire and Leicestershire in the south. The Society has around 600 members, the majority living within this region but with significant proportions of UK national and overseas members. It also has working relationships with around 20 Corresponding Societies and other affiliated local geological and conservation societies and organisations, and with many of the universities of the region, as well as with the British Geological Survey, particularly its headquarters at Keyworth, Nottinghamshire. The Society runs a wide-ranging programme of both indoor and field meetings for members, public lectures and conferences in various locations across its region, and coordinates and promotes with the Corresponding Societies a "Yorkshire Geology Month" every May, in cooperation with the Corresponding Societies and other local groups. The Society also publishes on the earth sciences, notably in its biannual Proceedings, published continuously since 1839, and its Circular, published seven times a year. The Society also publishes field guides, conference reports and books from time to time.
The Society is the fourth oldest geological society in the United Kingdom, following the Geological Society of London (1807), the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall (1813) and the Edinburgh Geological Society (1834). Reflecting the interests of many of its coal-owner and engineer original members the Society and its Proceedings first published in 1839, the Society originally covered mining and general engineering and technology, and then archaeology also. [1] However, from the earliest days its membership was much wider than just the West Riding, and the Society very quickly gained the active support the leading national geological figures of the day as Honorary Members. With the establishment of the Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Society in 1863, the Society gradually ceded its archaeological activities and publishing to the new Society, and 1903 it adopted the present name of Yorkshire Geological Society for both the society and its Proceedings. The Society also organises and coordinates the annual Yorkshire Geology Month, normally held through the month of May each year (though not held in 2020 due to the Coronavirus emergency).
From the late 19th century onwards the Society developed ever-closer links with the emerging earth science departments in the university colleges and universities of Yorkshire and adjacent counties and with the Geological Survey, particularly at its former Leeds and Newcastle offices, and these close links remain today with the British Geological Survey's headquarters at Keyworth, Nottinghamshire. The Society has also developed close relationships with what are today twenty-four "Corresponding Societies" -mainly local geological societies and groups which between then cover most of the north of England and parts of central England, from Cumbria and Northumberland in the north to Leicestershire in the south. The Society's 170-year-old geological library is housed in the Leeds University Library. [2]
The society has about 600 Ordinary, Affiliate, Student and Life Members. No qualifications are required for membership, and the members have a wide range of backgrounds and interests, including senior earth sciences academics, professionals, researchers and students, lecturers and teachers, members of local geological societies and those with a general interest in geology and the environment. The Society's former more than 100 Institutional Members are now Subscribers to the Geological Society of London's Lyell Collection. The Annual General Meeting of members elects the Officers and Council who also serve as Trustees of the Society as a Registered Charity, and who run the Society between annual general meetings. [3]
Published continuously since 1839, the biannual Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society publishes original research and review papers in the earth sciences, frequently, though by no means only, with special reference to the geology of the north of England. [1] Since 2011 the digitised Proceedings from 1839 to date have been made available through the Geological Society of London's online Lyell Collection. [4] [1] The Society's illustrated Circular is issued seven times a year and gives full details of the Society's programme of meetings, public lectures and field excursions, and the annual Yorkshire Geology Month. The Circular also carries other news and views about the Society and the geology of the North of England. [5] The Society also publishes occasional special publications, conference reports and field guides, including:Yorkshire Rocks and Landscapes and Northumbrian Rocks and Landscapes. [1] Both field guides are available for sale and for free of charge downloading from the Society's website http://www.yorksgeolsoc.org.uk. The Society also has active publishing and discussion presences on social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining Earth's history. He is best known as the author of Principles of Geology (1830–33), which presented to a wide public audience the idea that Earth was shaped by the same natural processes still in operation today, operating at similar intensities. The philosopher William Whewell termed this gradualistic view "uniformitarianism" and contrasted it with catastrophism, which had been championed by Georges Cuvier and was better accepted in Europe. The combination of evidence and eloquence in Principles convinced a wide range of readers of the significance of "deep time" for understanding the Earth and environment.
Sir Roderick Impey Murchison, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish geologist who first described and investigated the Silurian system.
The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe with more than 12,000 Fellows.
John Phillips FRS was an English geologist. During 1841 he published the first global geologic time scale based on the correlation of fossils in rock strata, thereby helping to standardize terminology including the term Mesozoic, which he invented.
William Daniel Conybeare FRS, dean of Llandaff, was an English geologist, palaeontologist and clergyman. He is probably best known for his ground-breaking work on marine reptile fossils in the 1820s, including important papers for the Geological Society of London on ichthyosaur anatomy and the first published scientific description of a plesiosaur.
Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man is a book written by British geologist, Charles Lyell in 1863. The first three editions appeared in February, April, and November 1863, respectively. A much-revised fourth edition appeared in 1873. Antiquity of Man, as it was known to contemporary readers, dealt with three scientific issues that had become prominent in the preceding decade: the age of the human race, the existence of ice ages, and Charles Darwin's theory of evolution by natural selection. Lyell used the book to reverse or modify his own long-held positions on all three issues. The book drew sharp criticism from two of Lyell's younger colleagues – paleontologist Hugh Falconer and archaeologist John Lubbock – who felt that Lyell had used their work too freely and acknowledged it too sparingly. It sold well, however, and helped to establish the new science of prehistoric archaeology in Great Britain.
Sir Kingsley Charles Dunham was one of the leading British geologists and mineralogists of the 20th century. He was a Professor of Geology at the University of Durham from 1950–71. He was later Professor Emeritus from 1967–2001. He was director of the British Geological Survey from 1967–75.
Keyworth is a village and civil parish in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located about 6 miles (11 km) southeast of the centre of Nottingham. It sits on a small, broad hilltop about 200 feet above sea level which is set in the wider undulating boulder clay that characterises the area south of Nottingham.
Alfred Harker FRS was an English geologist who specialised in petrology and interpretive petrography. He worked for the Geological Survey of Scotland and conducted extensive surveying and geological studies of western Scotland and the Isle of Skye. He and other British geologists pioneered the use of thin sections and the petrographic microscope in interpretive petrology.
The second voyage of HMS Beagle, from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836, was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, under captain Robert FitzRoy who had taken over command of the ship on its first voyage after the previous captain committed suicide. FitzRoy had already thought of the advantages of having an expert in geology on board, and sought a gentleman naturalist to accompany them as a supernumerary. At the age of 22, the graduate Charles Darwin hoped to see the tropics before becoming a parson, and accepted the opportunity. He was greatly influenced by reading Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology during the voyage. By the end of the expedition, Darwin had already made his name as a geologist and fossil collector, and the publication of his journal which became known as The Voyage of the Beagle gave him wide renown as a writer.
The history of geology is concerned with the development of the natural science of geology. Geology is the scientific study of the origin, history, and structure of the Earth.
The Yorkshire Philosophical Society (YPS) is a charitable learned society which aims to promote the public understanding of the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the archaeology and history of York and Yorkshire.
Scriptural geologists were a heterogeneous group of writers in the early nineteenth century, who claimed "the primacy of literalistic biblical exegesis" and a short Young Earth time-scale. Their views were marginalised and ignored by the scientific community of their time. They "had much the same relationship to 'philosophical' geologists as their indirect descendants, the twentieth-century creationists." Paul Wood describes them as "mostly Anglican evangelicals" with "no institutional focus and little sense of commonality". They generally lacked any background in geology, and had little influence even in church circles.
George Young was a Scottish divine, scholar and flood geologist.
James Curtis Booth was a United States chemist who was the melter and refiner at the U.S. Mint in Philadelphia for many years.
The discovery of human antiquity was a major achievement of science in the middle of the 19th century, and the foundation of scientific paleoanthropology. The antiquity of man, human antiquity, or in simpler language the age of the human race, are names given to the series of scientific debates it involved, which with modifications continue in the 21st century. These debates have clarified and given scientific evidence, from a number of disciplines, towards solving the basic question of dating the first human being.
Charlotte Murchison was a British geologist born in Hampshire, England. She was married to the nineteenth-century geologist, Roderick Impey Murchison.
Frederick Woodward Branson, FIC, FCS was a British chemist, glassblower, instrument maker and X-ray pioneer.
Dorothy Helen Rayner was a British geologist who became an authority on the stratigraphy of the British Isles while working at University of Leeds. In 1975 she was awarded the prestigious Lyell Medal from the Geological Society of London for her contributions to the field.
The London Electrical Society was established in 1837 to enable amateur electricians to meet and share their interests in “experimental investigation of Electrical Science in all its various branches”. Although it initially flourished the society soon showed weaknesses in its organisation and ways of working. After a period of considerable financial difficulty it closed in 1845.