Whose study first linked coral reef growth to warm, shallow water around islands?

Charles Darwin’s scientific theory of coral reef formation, published in 1842, explained atolls and barrier reefs as products of gradual subsidence and upward coral growth. Although this is not a river or lake topic, it is important to watery geography because it showed how shallow marine environments build massive structures around islands. Darwin argued that corals could keep pace with sinking land, producing reef rings and lagoons. His theory was later broadly confirmed by geology and drilling.