Nicolas Steno

Nicolas Steno (1 January 1638 – 25 November 1686 [NS: 11 January 1638 – 5 December 1686]) was a Danish Catholic bishop and scientist and a pioneer in both anatomy and geology. Steno was trained in the classical texts on science; however, by 1659 he seriously questioned accepted knowledge of the natural world. Importantly he questioned explanations for tear production, the idea that fossils grew in the ground and explanations of rock formation. His investigations and his subsequent conclusions on fossils and rock formation has led scholars to consider him one of the founders of both modern stratigraphy and modern geology, together with James Hutton. Born to a Lutheran family, Steno converted to Catholicism in 1667. After his conversion,...