Charles Lapworth blue plaque

This blue commemorative plaque records: Charles Lapworth, LLD, FRS, 1842-1920. Between 1875 and 1881 Lapworth was a teacher of English at Madras College. In his spare time he studied the rocks of Southern Scotland and used the detailed differences of extinct creatures called graptolites to help unravel the complexities of these ancient rocks. As a result of his careful studies, he propsed a new division of Geological Time, the Ordovician Period, that is no recognised and used internationally. He also correctly interpreted the Moine-Thrust Fault Zone in the N.W. Highlands of Scotland as a mass of older rocks pushed over younger ones, an idea which at the time conflicted with orthodoxy. He left St. Andrews in 1881 to become Professor of Geology at the University of Birmingham.

Professor Charles Lapworth was a pioneering geologist who introduced the Ordovician Period into the geological time scale and correctly interpreted the Moine-Thrust Fault Zone, challenging contemporary orthodoxy. His work significantly advanced stratigraphy and structural geology.