Werner, Abraham Gottlob, VEHR nur, AH brah hahm GOHT lohp (1749-1817), a German geologist, formulated a theory on the origin of Earth that was widely accepted in his time. Werner believed all rocks of Earth were formed from a giant ocean. Scientists accepted this theory for years until it was proved that some rocks were formed by the cooling of hot lava from volcanoes. Werner also introduced a system of identifying and classifying rocks and created new methods of describing minerals.