Early Innovators

The 17th-18th century was a time when religious beliefs dominated the public psyche. During such times, some pioneering thinkers dared to suggest a scientific alternative. Examples include:

William Hobbs, a Weymouth customs officer who, in 1715, rejected Noah’s flood idea in favour of the idea that fossils were indeed the remains of real animals that lived in the environments that formed rocks on the seabed.

Robert Hooke (IoW), (1635-1703) was born on the Isle of Wight. He travelled widely throughout his life, collecting coastal fossils. Hooke’s observations of shell-like fossils led him to conclude that fossilisation was possible when shells were filled with sediments. Hooke was the first recorded person to use a microscope to examine fossils, enabling him to notice similarities between living wood and petrified wood and realising the potential for wood to turn to stone with the addition of water mineral deposits. 

James Parkinson, (1755-1824), a surgeon best known for his work on ‘Shaking Palsy’, which would later be renamed after him, also had a keen interest in geology and  palaeontology. He started collecting plant and animal fossils during frequent visits to the coast. His pioneering book ‘Organic Remains of a Former World’ included many Jurassic Coast fossils. He had several fossils named after him, including the ammonite Parkinsonia parkinsoni.