James Hutton

Prior to 1788, understanding of the formation and evolution of the Earth was strongly influenced by the biblical time scale and the Neptunist theory that rocks had preciptated from a primordial ocean. In that year, James Hutton (1726-1797) published his Theory of the Earth in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. Amongst other things, he recognised that the Earth must be immensely old and that igneous rocks were often injected into sedimentary rocks and were therefore younger. Hutton has become known as the Founder of Modern Geology. His theory is sometimes known as the Plutonist theory, indicating that igneous rocks were derived as magmas from the deep interior of the Earth and not by precipitation in a primordial ocean.