Final answer:
The Ordovician period was named by Charles Lapworth following a disagreement between Adam Sedgewick and Sir Roderick Impey Murchison over the classification of rock layers.
Step-by-step explanation:
The period of the geologic time scale that was named by Charles Lapworth to resolve a conflict between Adam Sedgewick and Sir Roderick Impey Murchison is the Ordovician. Charles Lapworth proposed the designation of this period in 1879 after a disagreement between the two other geologists, who were both trying to claim the same sequence of rock layers for the Silurian and Cambrian periods, respectively. Lapworth resolved this by defining a new period, the Ordovician, which was characterized by a distinct set of fossils. This naming of the Ordovician period was crucial in the detail of geologic time and reflects the ongoing effort by geologists to understand the Earth's deep history through the study of rock strata and fossils.