William Smith Facts
William Smith Facts
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| Interesting William Smith Facts: |
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| William Smith was born in Churchill, England, in Oxfordshire. |
| When he was eighteen, Smith became an assistant for the surveyor, Edward Webb. |
| From 1791 to 1799 he worked in Somerset. |
| He first did work for Webb and later for the Somersetshire Coal Canal. |
| While living at Rugborne Farm in High Littleton, he talked to many of the local miners about the history of mines in the area. |
| Smith worked at the Mearns Pit which was part of the Somerset Coal Canal. |
| He recognized that the pattern of strata was predictable. |
| He realized that the fossils contained in the strata could be used to identify it. |
| Smith learned that the particular strata arrangement was repeated in many places in England. |
| His observations led him to hypothesize the Principle of Faunal Succession which states that sedimentary rock layers contain fossils and that these fossils succeed each other vertically in a reliable order over wide horizontal distances. |
| Smith began to travel the country to determine if the strata were consistent throughout England. |
| His drawings earned him the sobriquet, Strata Smith. |
| He collected a large and valuable collections of fossils from canals, road and railway cuts. |
| His published illustrations made it possible for other searchers to test his theory. |
| His collection included many Jurassic fossils. |
| In 1799 he drew the first geologic map of Bath. |
| In 1801 he produced "The Map that Changed the World," which inspired a book by the same name. |
| Smith's work as a mineral surveyor took him to most of Britain. |
| In 1815 he published the first geological map of England, Wales and parts of Scotland. |
| His map marked canals, tunnels, railways, roads, mines and salt and alum works. |
| His books include Delineation of the Strata of England, published in 1815 and Strata Identified by Organized Fossils published in 1819. |
| In February 1831 he received the Wollaston Medal from the Geological Society of London. |
| In 1835 he received an honorary LL.D. from Trinity College. |
| In 1838 he was on the commission to select the stone for the Palace of Westminster. |
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