Geikie, Sir Archibald

Geikie, Sir Archibald gēˈkē [key], 1835–1924, British geologist, educated at the Univ. of Edinburgh. He joined the Geological Survey of Scotland, becoming its director in 1867. He was professor of geology at the Univ. of Edinburgh (1871–82) and director-general of the Geological Survey of the United Kingdom (1882–1901). He was knighted in 1891. His numerous publications include Outlines of Field Geology (1876, 5th ed. 1896), Text-Book of Geology (1882, 4th ed., 2 vol., 1903), The Founders of Geology (1897, 2d ed. 1905), and Types of Scenery and Their Influence on Literature (1898, repr. 1970).

See his autobiography (1924).

His brother, James Geikie, 1839–1915, also a geologist, was a specialist in glacial geology. He wrote The Great Ice Age (1874, 3d ed. rev. 1894), Earth Sculpture (1898), and Structural and Field Geology (1905, 6th ed. 1953).

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