Scientists

Nicolas Steno

STEN-oh

Also Known As Niels Stensen

Anatomist and Geologist

Citation Formats

General Reference

Earth and Environment Atlas. "Nicolas Steno." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/scientists/nicolas-steno.

APA Style

Earth and Environment Atlas. (n.d.). Nicolas Steno. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/scientists/nicolas-steno

BibTeX

@misc{earthandenvironmentatlas-nicolas-steno,
  author = {Earth and Environment Atlas},
  title = {Nicolas Steno},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://earth.interactiveatlas.org/scientists/nicolas-steno},
  note = {Accessed August 30, 2026}
}

A Danish anatomist turned geologist who, from dissecting a shark's head and puzzling over the stone tongues that matched its teeth, worked out that rock layers are a record of time laid down in order. His stratigraphic principles of 1669 remain the first tools every field geologist learns. He later became a Catholic bishop and was beatified in 1988.

Facts

Birth Year

1638 1

Death Year

1686 1

Birthplace

Copenhagen, Denmark 1

Death Place

Schwerin, Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (present day Germany) 1

Nationality

Danish 1

Defining Contribution

In the 1669 Prodromus, stated the principles of superposition, original horizontality and lateral continuity, the founding rules of stratigraphy, and recognized that fossil shark teeth in rock were the remains of once-living animals. 1

Notable Work

De solido intra solidum naturaliter contento dissertationis prodromus (1669) 1

Cross-Tradition Connections