James Geikie

Born in 1839, James Geikie became one of Scotland’s best-known geologists and a leading interpreter of the Ice Age. He built his reputation with The Great Ice Age and its Relation to the Antiquity of Man (1874), a book that helped explain glaciation to both specialists and general readers.

In 1882 he succeeded his brother, Sir Archibald Geikie, as Murchison Professor of Geology and Mineralogy at the University of Edinburgh, a position he held until 1914. His work focused especially on glacial geology and the sequence of climatic changes recorded in the landscape.

Geikie died in 1915, but his influence lasted through his teaching, public writing, and the way he helped shape understanding of Earth’s recent geological history. He remains closely associated with Edinburgh’s scientific life and with the study of the Ice Age in Britain.