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Smith is credited with creating the first nationwide geologic map and is known as the "Father of English Geology". However, recognition was slow in coming. His work was plagarized, he was financially ruined and spent time in debtor's prison. The genteel practitioners of the new science of geology and founders of the geological societies snubbed the low-born Smith. It was only much later in Smith's life that he received recognition for his accomplishments.
Smith was born in the village of Churchill in Oxfordshire. In 1787, he found work as an assistant for Edward Webb of Stow, a surveyor. He was a quick study and soon became proficient at the trade. In 1791, he travelled to Somerset to make a valuation survey of an estate. He stayed here for the next eight years working first for Webb and later for the Somerset Coal Canal Company.
Smith worked at one of the estate's older mines, the Mearns Pit at High Littleton. As he observed the strata at Mearns Pit he realized that the strata were arranged in a predictable pattern and that the various strata could always be found in the same relative positions. Additionally, each particular stratum could be identified by the fossils it contained. This gave Smith a testable hypothesis, that he termed the principle of faunal succession, and he began his search to determine if the relationships between the strata and their characteristics were consistent throughout the country. During his subsequent travel, as a surveyor (appointed by noted engineer John Rennie) for the canal company until 1799Events March 1 Federalist James Ross becomes President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate. March 7 Napoleon captures Jaffa in Palestine and his troops proceed to kill more than 2,000 Albanian captives. March 29 New York passes a law aimed at graduall when he was fired, and after, he was continually taking samples and mapping the locations of the various strata. This was to earn him the name, "Strata Smith".
In 1799 Smith produced the first large scale geological map, of the area around BathFor alternate meanings see Bath (disambiguation Palladian Pulteney Bridge and the weir at Bath Bath is a city in south-west England, most famous for its baths fed by three hot springs. The city was first recorded as a Roman spa, though verbal tradition su.
In 1815 he published the first geological map of England.
On August 31August 31 is the 243rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (244th in leap years), with 122 days remaining, as the final day of August. Events 1056 Byzantine Empress Theodora died suddenly without children to succeed the throne, ending the Macedonian 1819Events January 17 Simon Bolivar proclaims the Republic of Colombia January 29 Sir Stamford Raffles lands on the island of Singapore February 6 Formal treaty between Sultan Hussein of Johor and the British Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles originates Singapore F Smith was released from King's Bench Prison in LondonLondon is the capital of the United Kingdom and of England, and with over seven million inhabitants in the Greater London area, is the second-most populous conurbation in Europe (after Moscow). From being Londinium the capital of the Roman province of Bri, a debtor's prisonA prison is a place in which people are confined and deprived of a range of liberties. Prisons conventionally are institutions authorised by governments and forming part of a country's criminal justice system, or as facilities for holding prisoners of war. He returned to his home of 14 years at 15 Buckingham Street to find a bailiff at the door and his home and property seized.
In January 1831Events February- March Revolts in Modena, Parma and the Papal States are put down by Austrian troops February 20 Battle of Grochow. Polish rebel forces divide a Russian army. March 1 Democrat Samuel Smith becomes President Pro Tempore of the United States the Geological Society of LondonThe Geological Society of London is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with the aim of "investigating the mineral structure of the Earth". It is the oldest geological society in the world. The Society was founded in 1807. It was partly the outc conferred on Smith the first Wollaston medal. It was on this occasion that Adam Sedgwick referred to Smith as "the Father of English Geology". In 1838 he was appointed as one of the commissioners to select building-stone for the new Palace of Westminster. He died in Northampton.
A crater on Mars is named after him.