1785-1873

British geologist who first established the existence of the Cambrian period of geologic time. One of Britain's elite geologists, the Reverend Sedgewick was the first to define the Cambrian period using fossil evidence unique to that period of time. He was also heavily involved in "The Great Devonian Controversy" that involved nearly all of England's geologists for over a decade as they struggled to understand the fossils and rocks from southern England.