William Henry Fitton

Irish physician and geologist (1780-1861) who, after settling in London in 1820, devoted himself to detailed field study of the strata of southeastern England. His major work, published between 1824 and 1836, established the correct sequence and relationships of the Upper and Lower Greensand and the Wealden and Purbeck formations beneath the chalk. He served as president of the Geological Society of London from 1827 to 1829 and received the society's Wollaston Medal in 1852. A general profile of the same person is also carried in the science atlas.