William Buckland, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

William Buckland

English clergyman, geologist and palaeontologist

Date of Birth: 12-Mar-1784

Place of Birth: Axminster, England, United Kingdom

Date of Death: 14-Aug-1856

Profession: physicist, geologist, curator, paleontologist, botanist

Zodiac Sign: Pisces

William Buckland DD, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian who became Dean of Westminster.
He was also a geologist and palaeontologist.
He wrote the first full account of a fossil dinosaur, which he named Megalosaurus.
His work proved that Kirkdale Cave had been a prehistoric hyena den, for which he was awarded the Copley Medal.
It was praised as an example of how scientific analysis could reconstruct distant events.
He pioneered the use of fossilised faeces in reconstructing ecosystems, coining the term coprolites. Buckland followed the Gap Theory in interpreting the biblical account of Genesis as two widely separated episodes of creation.
It had emerged as a way to reconcile the scriptural account with discoveries in geology suggesting the earth was very old.
Early in his career Buckland believed he had found evidence of the biblical flood, but later saw that the glaciation theory of Louis Agassiz gave a better explanation, and played a significant role in promoting it.



Description	British engraver
Date of birth/death	9 May 1801	7 May 1887
Location of birth/death	Exeter	London
Authority control	: Q1473247 VIAF: 39650401 ISNI: 0000 0000 6662 0078 ULAN: 500003565 LCCN: n83227320 NLA: 36044398 WorldCat