( 1802 - 1856 )
Born into a working class family in Cromarty, Miller began teaching himself about geology while working as a stonemason in an Old Red Sandstone quarry. He was also an excellent writer and published on a variety of subjects including geology, which he brought to life like no other author of the day. His book The Old Red Sandstone was a bestseller and made Miller something of a Victorian hero. Latterly he rose to the office of President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.
He discovered the first fossil placoderm fish, Pterichthys milleri. A bitter quarrel with John Anderson ensued when similar fossils from Dura Den were named Pamphractus andersoni. Deeply religious, he also opposed Anderson in Church politics, but agreed with the six-epoch version of Creation and denounced Evolution. When he committed suicide in 1856 while suffering from mental illness, some amateur enthusiasts put away their geological hammers, convinced that the subject was 'dangerous' after all.