LIFE SCIENCE

Detailed explanation-1: -The idea of catastrophism was eventually challenged based on the observations and studies of two men-James Hutton and Charles Lyell. Hutton (1726–1797) was a Scottish farmer and naturalist.

Detailed explanation-2: -Concluding that Earth is ancient (Lyell’s estimate was several hundred million years old, as compared to the currently accepted age of 4.6 billion years) directly contradicted the book of Genesis.

Detailed explanation-3: -Lyell argued that the formation of Earth’s crust took place through countless small changes occurring over vast periods of time, all according to known natural laws. His “uniformitarian” proposal was that the forces molding the planet today have operated continuously throughout its history.

Detailed explanation-4: -Building on the innovative work of James Hutton and his follower John Playfair, Lyell favoured an indefinitely long age for the earth, despite evidence suggesting an old but finite age. He was a close friend of Charles Darwin, and contributed significantly to Darwin’s thinking on the processes involved in evolution.

Detailed explanation-5: -Hutton and Lyell helped scientists recognize that Earth is many millions of years old, and the processes that changed Earth in the past are the same processes that operate in the present.