James Geikie

Prof James Murdoch Geikie PRSE FRS LLD (23 August 1839 – 1 March 1915) was a Scottish geologist. He was Professor of Geology at Edinburgh University from 1882 to 1914.

He was born in Edinburgh, the son of James Stuart Geikie and Isabella Thom, and younger brother of Sir Archibald Geikie. His father was a wig-maker and perfumer in Edinburgh operating from 35 North Bridge. James was educated at the Royal High School, Edinburgh and initially apprenticed as a printer to Archibald Constable and Company before going to University of Edinburgh to study Geology.

He served on the Geological Survey from 1862 until 1882, when he succeeded his brother as Murchison professor of geology and mineralogy at the University of Edinburgh. He took as his special subject of investigation the origin of surface-features, and the part played in their formation by glacial action. His views are embodied in his chief work, The Great Ice Age and its Relation to the Antiquity of Man (1874; 3rd ed., 1894).

In 1871 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers was his brother, Archibald Geikie.He served twice as Vice President (1892–97 and 1900–05) and once as President (1913–15).

He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1875, his candidacy citation reading " Author of "The Great Ice Age and its relation to the Antiquity of Man" "On the Changes of Climate during the Glacial Epoch" "On the Glacial Phenomena of the Outer Hebrides" (Quart Journ Geol Soc) and of various papers on Palaeozoic, Glacial and Post-Tertiary Geology in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh; the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London; the Transactions of the North of England Institute of Mining and Mechanical Engineers; the Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute; the Transactions of the Glasgow Geological Society; and the Geological Magazine; District Surveyor on the Geological Survey in Scotland for years, during which time he has surveyed, and drawn many sections through, large areas in the Central and Southern districts of Scotland which he has described in the published "Explanations" issued by the Geological Survey."

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