William Smith

English geologist credited with creating the first detailed, nationwide geological map of any country, overlooked at first because his humble education and family connections kept him out of learned society. Financially ruined and held for a time in debtors' prison, he received recognition only late in life, becoming known as the father of English geology; the principle of faunal succession carries his stamp from his documentation of it in England in the first decade of the 19th century. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/