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Kirwan Catalogue

Identity Statement

Reference code(s): GB 0103 MS ADD 251
Held at: University College London
  Click here to find out how to view this collection at http://www.ucl.ac.uk/Library/special-coll ›
Full title: Kirwan Catalogue
Date(s): Early 19th century?
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 1 volume
Name of creator(s): Kirwan | Richard | 1733-1812 | chemist and natural philosopher
Detailed catalogue: Click here to view repository detailed catalogue

Context

Administrative/Biographical history:

Born at Cloughballymore, Ireland, 1733; sent to Poictiers to complete his education; entered the Jesuit novitiate at St Omer, 1754; left and returned to Ireland, 1755; his elder brother having been killed in a duel, came into possession of the family estates; having conformed to the established church, called to the Irish bar, 1766; ceased to practise after two years and pursued scientific studies in London; studied Greek at Cregg, 1773; resided in London, 1777-1787; became known to eminent contemporaries and corresponded with learned men in Europe; his library, sent from Galway to London in 1780, was captured by an American privateer; elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, 1780; received the Copley medal for a series of papers on chemical affinity, 1782; published the first systematic treatise on mineralogy in English, 1784; his treatise was translated into French, German, and Russian; delicate health caused him to adopt a more retired life; settled at no 6 Cavendish Row, Dublin, 1787; joined the Royal Irish Academy; President of the Royal Irish Academy, 1799; presided over the Dublin Library and `Kirwanian' Societies; received a gold medal from the Royal Dublin Society in acknowledgment of his services in procuring the Leskeyan cabinet of minerals for their museum; a member of the Edinburgh Royal Society and of a number of foreign academies; honorary LLD, University of Dublin, 1794; declined Lord Castlereagh's offer of a baronetcy; honorary inspector-general of his majesty's mines in Ireland; involved in various scientific controversies; finally adopted a Unitarian form of belief, and spent much time in scriptural study; died, 1812; buried in St George's Church, Lower Temple Street, Dublin. Publications include: Elements of Mineralogy (London, 1784); An Estimate of the Temperatures of Different Latitudes (London, 1787); Essay on Phlogiston (London, 1787); Geological Essays (London, 1799); An Essay on the Analysis of Mineral Waters (1799); Logick (2 volumes, London, 1807); Metaphysical Essays (1811); many papers on various scientific subjects.

Content

Scope and content/abstract:

Manuscript catalogue of a collection of small specimens of minerals, classed and arranged according to R Kirwan (by him, or following his principles).

Access & Use

Language/scripts of material:
English

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

Open.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Normal copyright restrictions apply.

Finding aids:

Collection level description.

Archival Information

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Transferred from Geology Rare Books at University College London.

Allied Materials

Related material:


National Register of Archives: Click here to view NRA record

Publication note:

Description Notes

Archivist's note:
Source: Dictionary of National Biography.

Rules or conventions:

Date(s) of descriptions:
1999, revised Jul 2001

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