Frank Rutley (14 May 1842 – 16 May 1904), an English

geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...

and

petrographer Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. The classi ...

, was born in

Dover Dover ( ) is a town and major ferry port in Kent, southeast England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies southeast of Canterbury and east of Maidstone. ...

on 14 May 1842. He was educated partly in

Bonn Bonn () is a federal city in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, located on the banks of the Rhine. With a population exceeding 300,000, it lies about south-southeast of Cologne, in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr region. This ...

, but his interest in geology was kindled at the

Royal School of Mines The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bioe ...

, where he studied from 1862 to 1864. He then joined the army, and served as lieutenant until 1867, when he became an Assistant Geologist on the Geological Survey. Working in the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

, Rutley began to make a special study of rocks and rock-forming

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): Mi ...

s, and soon qualified as acting petrographer on the Survey. For several years be worked in this capacity at the museum in

Jermyn Street Jermyn Street is a One-way traffic, one-way street in the St James's area of the City of Westminster in London, England. It is to the south of, parallel, and adjacent to Piccadilly. Jermyn Street is known as a street for gentlemen's-clothing r ...

; he described the

volcanic rocks Volcanic rocks (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) are rocks formed from lava erupted from a volcano. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic rock is artificial, and in nature volcanic rocks grade into hypabyssal and met ...

of East Somerset and the Bristol district in 1876, and wrote special memoirs on ''The Eruptive Rocks of

Brent Tor Brent Tor is a tor on the western edge of Dartmoor, approximately four miles (6.5 km) north of Tavistock, rising to 1100 ft (330m) above sea level. The Tor is surmounted by the Church of St Michael, the parish church of the village of ...

'' (1878) and on ''The Felsitic Lavas of England and Wales'' (1885). Rutley was the author of an exceedingly useful little book on ''

Mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...

'' (1874; 12th ed., 1900); also of ''The Study of Rocks'' (1879; 2nd ed., 1881), ''Rock-forming Minerals ''(1888), and ''Granites and Greenstones'' (1894); and of a number of petrographical papers, dealing with perlitic and spherulitic structures, with the rocks of the

Malvern Hills The Malvern Hills are in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire, dominating the surrounding countryside and the towns and villages of the district of Malvern. The highest summit af ...

, and other related topics. In 1882 he was appointed lecturer in mineralogy at the

Royal College of Science The Royal College of Science was a higher education institution located in South Kensington; it was a constituent college of Imperial College London from 1907 until it was wholly absorbed by Imperial in 2002. Still to this day, graduates from t ...

, holding this post until ill-health compelled him to retire in 1898. He died in London on 16 May 1904.

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rutley, Frank 1842 births 1904 deaths People from Dover, Kent English geologists English mineralogists