File:Portrait_of_The_Reverend_William_Buckland,_D.D._F.R.S_(4672228).jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
William Buckland
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English clergyman, geologist and palaeontologist (1784-1856)
OverviewAI-generated
William Buckland was an English paleontologist, geologist, physicist, and curator. Born in Axminster in 1784, he was educated at Corpus Christi College and Winchester College. He worked at the University of Oxford, Westminster Abbey, and the Ashmolean Museum. His professional roles included serving as Dean of Westminster and President of the Geological Society of London. He specialized in paleontology, geology, theology, and the study of Megalosaurus.
Buckland was a member of the Royal Society, the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, the Linnean Society of London, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He received the Copley Medal, the Wollaston Medal, and fellowships in the Royal Society and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He married Mary Buckland and practiced Anglicanism. He died in Islip in 1856 from tuberculosis. His archives are held at the National Library of Wales.
Synthesized by Vinony from 25 facts across 2 sources: Wikidata, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Born
- 12 March 1784, Axminster , Devon, England
- Died
- 14 August 1856 (aged 72), Islip, Oxfordshire , England
- Denomination
- Anglican
- Spouse
- Mary Morland ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1825 )
- Children
- 9, including Frank Buckland
- Alma mater
- Winchester College , Corpus Christi College, Oxford
- Known for
- Megalosaurus , coprolites
- Awards
- Copley Medal (1822), Wollaston Medal (1848)
- Fields
- Palaeontology
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- William
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- England
- Place of birth
- Axminster
- Place of death
- Islip
- Spouse
- Mary Buckland
- Occupation
- pastor
- Educated at
- Corpus Christi College
- Employer
- Ashmolean Museum
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Religion
- Anglicanism
- Award
- Wollaston Medal
- Field of work
- theology
- Image
- William Buckland c1845.jpg
Show 14 more facts
- Commons category
- William Buckland
- date of birth
- 1784-03-12
- date of death
- 1856-08-24
- Commons gallery
- William Buckland
- author citation (zoology)
- Buckland
- archives at
- National Library of Wales
- cause of death
- tuberculosis
- name in native language
- William Buckland
- writing language
- English language
- P6944
- William Buckland
- manner of death
- natural causes
- P8168
- Like Grains of Sand
- P12749
- spinning wheel
Sources (7)
via Wikidata · CC0
~23 min read
Encyclopedic overview
William Buckland DD, FRS (12 March 1784 – 14 August 1856) was an English theologian, geologist and palaeontologist.
His work in the early 1820s proved that Kirkdale Cave in North Yorkshire 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 events in the distant past. He pioneered the use of fossilised faeces in reconstructing ecosystems, coining the term coprolites. Buckland also wrote the first full account of a fossil dinosaur, which he named Megalosaurus in 1824.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “William Buckland” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.