Born in 1769 Smithis story is a long and dramatic and takes in bankruptcy, a spell in Newgate Debtorsi Prison, a breakdown and a mentally ill wife. Yet by the time he died in 1839 he was recognised as one of the country is leading academics. It was while working in Somerset that Smith studied the strata at a local mine. He realised they were arranged in a predictable partten and could always be found in the same relative positions.
Additionally, he discovered that each stratum could be identified by the fossils it contained, To test his theory he travelled around the country, becoming the first person to identify and map the strata. These discoveries made oil and mineral extraction possible and in many mays changed the world. In 1831 Smith was awarded the first Wollaston medal by the Geological Society. He is known as the "Father of English Geology", however recognition was slow in coming.
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