Profession: geologist

d’Aubuisson (or Aubuisson, as he is also referred to) was one of the first to point to the problem with his influential teacher Werner’s ideas about the origins of igneous rocks. The writer Novalis was a student at Freiberg at the same time as Aubuisson, and credited him with teaching him mathematics.

King authored a classic geological text, led classic geological surveys, and promoted the use of contour-lines to specify altitude. Ruskin and Doré were among his heroes (he’d founded a group at Yale inspired by Ruskin’s writings); he travelled to Europe in his retirement to meet them both. Dana taught him at Yale, and Agassiz at Harvard. Bierstadt, the painter of sublime Western landscapes, was among his artist friends, joining in on some of his wilderness trips, as also did the photographers Watkins (whom King greatly admired) and O’Sullivan. He seems to have got on well with all.

Buckland taught him. He visited Cuvier and Humboldt in Paris, wrote excitedly to Mantell about Lamarck’s ideas, and became a close colleague of Sedgwick and Whewell. He made volcanic observations with Murchison in France and Italy, corresponded with Agassiz, and asked Fitzroy to look out for erratic boulders (Fitzroy gave Darwin Lyell’s book to read, as influential on him as it was on others). Hooker, Huxley, Herschel and Darwin all became good friends (he also knew Browning), Whewell expressed concern about his evolutionary beliefs, while the brilliant but obtuse Owen made a point of antagonising him (as with many others).

Werner taught Charpentier, and was a colleague of his father’s. Venetz, a friend and colleague, often met with Charpentier to discuss ideas together; Venetz was at first more persuaded about some puzzling aspects of glacial action than his more sceptical friend. Charpentier hosted Lyell, and later Schimper for a 3-month stay that was crucial in his formalisation of a full theory of glaciation; Agassiz was already there, initially to study fossils not glaciers, while Venetz also visited. Agassiz dedicated his subsequent work on glaciation to Charpentier and Venetz, conveniently forgetting to mention his old friend Schimper’s contribution.

As a young geologist visiting Cumbria, he met Wordsworth, whom he befriended, Southey and Dalton. Murchison and he visited Germany, Tyrol, Wales and Scotland together, but collaboration on a paper led to a long bitter feud. Darwin learned his geology from him (Henslow introduced them); they stayed friends for life, despite Sedgwick’s strong antipathy to Darwin’s evolutionary theory. Owen, Lyell and de la Beche were professional colleagues and the eccentric Buckland his counterpart at Oxford. Whewell, Herschel and Airy were all close to him. Agassiz examined his fossil fish collection and became a firm friend.