Born Feb. 19, 1792, in Tarradale, Scotland; died Oct. 22, 1871, in London. British geologist; professor of geology and mineralogy at the University of Edinburgh (1871).
Murchison studied in Durham and at the military college of Great Marlow. In 1826 he became a fellow of the Royal Society and in 1831 was elected president of the Geological Society of London. Murchison’s first works were devoted to the geological structure of England and Scotland; he also made a major contribution to the study of the geological structure of the Alps with the British geologist A. Sedgwick. Murchison’s most significant research was on the stratigraphy of the graywacke strata of Wales that underlie the Old Red Sandstone; as a result of this work he introduced the Silurian system (period) in 1835. Murchison’s work with Sedgwick in southwestern England and the Rhineland (now in the Federal Republic of Germany) made possible the establishment of the Devonian system (period) in 1839. In 1841, after a visit to Russia, Murchison introduced the Permian system (period). In 1845, with the Russian paleontologist A. A. Keiserling (Keyserling) and the French paleontologist P. Verneuil, Murchison compiled a description of the geology of European Russia and the Urals (Russian translation, 1849). The basic work of dividing the Paleozoic group (age) was completed with this research. Murchison was a member of a number of scientific societies and academies, including the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences (1845). The Geological Society of London established a medal in his honor for outstanding work in geology.