Charles Lyell
Thank Science logothank science

Uniformitarianism Principle

Lyell argued that Earth's features formed gradually through slow, continuous processes still happening today—not sudden catastrophes.His principle of uniformitarianism showed Earth must be millions of years old, not thousands.This work gave Darwin the deep time needed for evolution to work and established geology as a rigorous science, transforming our understanding of Earth's age and history.

Charles Lyell

Earth ScienceGeology