King of Silurian, Devonian, and Permian. On the 150th Anniversary of the Death of Sir Roderick Impey Murchison

Sir Roderick Impey Murchison is one of the largest geologist and naturalist of the XIX century. He worked during the so-called heroic period of stratigraphy, when the main systems of the Phanerozoic were established. In 1835, R.I.Murchison described the Silurian system, in 1839, together with A.Sedgwick, he identified the Devonian system, and, finally, in 1841, he justified the independence of the Permian system, the world standard of which is many geological sections of the Ural-Kama region. Sir Murchison compared a lot of sections of particular regions of England and other countries of Europe and North America. R.I.Murchison created the first geological map and described the geological structure of European Russia and the Urals. R.I.Murchison’s large monographs are essentially a synthesis of all the facts and generalizations that were known at that time and which were brilliantly analyzed and supplemented by his own research. These works brought to R.I.Murchison worldwide fame and made him one of the largest experts on these issues of geology. Brief information about the biography of the scientist as well as his scientific and social activities is given.

R.I.Murchison, Silurian, Devonian and Permian systems, stratigraphy