earth science

John Edward Marr

John Edward Marr is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand John Edward Marr rather than just read about it. In short: John Edward Marr (14 June 1857 – 1 October 1933) was a British geologist. After studying at Lancaster Royal Grammar School, he matriculated to St John's College, Cambridge, graduating with First Class Honours in 1878.

Key takeaways

John Edward Marr belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect John Edward Marr to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of John Edward Marr from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

John Edward Marr (14 June 1857 – 1 October 1933) was a British geologist. After studying at Lancaster Royal Grammar School, he matriculated to St John's College, Cambridge, graduating with First Class Honours in 1878. Following undergraduate work in the Lake District, he travelled to Bohemia to investigate the fossil collection of Joachim Barrande, where his work won him the Sedgwick Prize in 1882. In 1886, Marr became a lecturer at the University of Cambridge Department of Geology, a position he held for 32 years until he succeeded Thomas McKenny Hughes as Woodwardian Professor of Geology in 1917.

Early life and education Marr was born in Poulton-le-Sands on 14 June 1857 to John Marr, a retired silk merchant, and his wife Mary Simpson. After the family stayed in Caernarfon in 1863, Marr became interested in geology, having discovered a fossil which was named after him. From 1867 to 1875 he studied at the Lancaster Royal Grammar School, where he met R. H. Tiddeman, who took Marr on a number of field trips and geological surveys. In 1875, he matriculated to St John's College, Cambridge to study geology as an exhibitioner, having won a Foundation Scholarship. There he studied under Thomas George Bonney and Thomas McKenny Hughes, graduating with First Class Honours in 1878. As an undergraduate, he published several papers, including one on his discovery of Cambrian fossils in Caernarfonshire that could not be accurately dated, something that occupied a lot of his later work. He was also a member of the Sedgwick Club during his time at Cambridge. In 1879, he became a Fellow of the Geological Society of London, and in 1881 was elected a Fellow of St John's College.

Research work and Later Life After graduation, Marr used two research funds from the Worts Fund of Cambridge University to investigate the work done in Bohemia and Scandinavia to reorder the older palaeozoic rocks, his work in the Lake District having convinced him that it was possible to order the confusing succession of paleozoic rocks as it then stood. In 1879, he travelled to the collection of Joachim Barrande, who had found newer Upper Silesian fossils among older Lower Silesian ones and hypothesised that the two groups existed side by side. Marr instead proved that the younger fossils had "dropped" into the older rock as a result of faults in the stone. Barrande himself was not convinced, but Marr's work on recategorising the Silesian fossils won him the Sedgwick Prize in 1882. Marr then returned to the Lake District, where he worked with Henry Alleyne Nicholson on the succession of the Stockdale Shales. He then worked with Alfred Harker on a similar project in Shap. In his Lake District work Marr came up with the idea of lag faulting to explain the topography of the District, subscribing much of the layout to glacial erosion. His theories were later published in a 1916 book The Geology of the Lake District. Having retired as a professor in 1930, he died in Cambridge on 1 October 1933.

Other work and awards In 1886, Marr became University Lecturer in Geology at the University of Cambridge, a position he held for 32 years until he succeeded Thomas McKenny Hughes as Woodwardian Professor of Geology in 1917. He spent 13 years as Professor before retiring due to ill-health in 1930, followed by his death on 1 October 1933.The Marr Memorial Fund supports the "study of Geology in the field", with preference given to students of the department. Marr served as Secretary of the Geological Society of London from 1888 to 1898, Vice-President and President from 1904 to 1906, serving on the council for 35 years and as Foreign Secretary for 3. The Society awarded him the Lyell Medal in 1900 and the Wollaston Medal in 1914. In 1891 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society, serving on the Society council from 1904 to 1906, and was awarded their Royal Medal in 1930. He was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1930. The fossil Marrella, from the Burgess Shale, was named in his honour by its discoverer, Charles Doolittle Walcott. The mineral marrite, a lead-silver-arsenic sulphide, was named in his honour in 1905.

Publications The Scientific Study of Scenery (1900) The Geology of the Lake District (1916) Deposition of the Sedimentary Rocks (1929) Cumberland. Cambridge County Geographies. North Lancashire. Cambridge County Geographies. 1912. Westmorland. Cambridge County Geographies.

References

External links

Works by John Edward Marr at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with John Edward Marr

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what John Edward Marr claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to John Edward Marr before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about John Edward Marr ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of John Edward Marr

In research: John Edward Marr appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses John Edward Marr in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: John Edward Marr is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1857 births, 1933 deaths, Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for John Edward Marr outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study John Edward Marr in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what John Edward Marr means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain John Edward Marr out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is John Edward Marr in simple terms?

Why does John Edward Marr matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study John Edward Marr?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on John Edward Marr.