(1785-1873)
English geologist who studied the fossils in different geologic strata and helped give the strata (and corresponding time periods) the names we use today — Cambrian, Devonian, etc. Although he accepted naturalistic explanations for geologic events and studied them using the biostratigraphic methods of William Smith, Sedgwick rejected Darwin’s naturalistic explanation for the origin of species and argued that God created new forms of life at the beginning each geologic period.