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John Walker (1730–1803) was
ProfessorThe meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual...
of
Natural HistoryNatural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards the observational than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research that is published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, Natural history is the systematic...
at the
University of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh founded in 1582, is an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. It is the sixth university to be established in the British Isles, making it one of the ancient universities of the United Kingdom.The university is amongst the...
from 1779 to 1803. He was a protege of the chemist William Cullen and a colleague of
Dugald StewartDugald Stewart , Scottish philosopher, was born in Edinburgh. His father, Matthew Stewart , was professor of mathematics in the University of Edinburgh .-Life and works:...
,
Joseph BlackJoseph Black was a Scottish physician, physicist, and chemist, known for his discoveries of latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was a founder of thermochemistry who developed many pre-thermodynamics concepts, such as heat capacity, and was the mentor for James Watt...
and several other Edinburgh professors who shaped the intellectual milieu of the
Scottish EnlightenmentThe Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments...
. During his long career, he became a distinguished chemist, botanist, mineralogist and geologist, as well as being a minister in the
Church of ScotlandThe Church of Scotland , known informally by its Scots language name, The Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
. He was a founding member of the
Royal Society of EdinburghThe Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. The membership consists of over 1400 peer-elected fellows, who are known as Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, denoted FRSE in official titles. It provides annual grants totalling over half a million...
.
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John Walker (1730–1803) was
ProfessorThe meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual...
of
Natural HistoryNatural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards the observational than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research that is published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, Natural history is the systematic...
at the
University of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh founded in 1582, is an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. It is the sixth university to be established in the British Isles, making it one of the ancient universities of the United Kingdom.The university is amongst the...
from 1779 to 1803. He was a protege of the chemist William Cullen and a colleague of
Dugald StewartDugald Stewart , Scottish philosopher, was born in Edinburgh. His father, Matthew Stewart , was professor of mathematics in the University of Edinburgh .-Life and works:...
,
Joseph BlackJoseph Black was a Scottish physician, physicist, and chemist, known for his discoveries of latent heat, specific heat, and carbon dioxide. He was a founder of thermochemistry who developed many pre-thermodynamics concepts, such as heat capacity, and was the mentor for James Watt...
and several other Edinburgh professors who shaped the intellectual milieu of the
Scottish EnlightenmentThe Scottish Enlightenment was the period in 18th century Scotland characterised by an outpouring of intellectual and scientific accomplishments...
. During his long career, he became a distinguished chemist, botanist, mineralogist and geologist, as well as being a minister in the
Church of ScotlandThe Church of Scotland , known informally by its Scots language name, The Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
. He was a founding member of the
Royal Society of EdinburghThe Royal Society of Edinburgh is Scotland's national academy of science and letters. The membership consists of over 1400 peer-elected fellows, who are known as Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, denoted FRSE in official titles. It provides annual grants totalling over half a million...
. He was elected as
Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of ScotlandThe Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is an honorary role, held for 12 months.Meetings of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, held in May each year, are chaired by the Moderator...
in 1790. Many of his students went on to become leading scientists in nineteenth century Scotland, England, Ireland, and America.
Early life
Born in
CanongateThe Canongate is a small district at the heart of Edinburgh, the capital city of Scotland. The main street running through the area is called Canongate without the definite article, "the". Canongate, the street, forms the lower part of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh's historic Old Town. Until formal...
,
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland. It is the second largest Scottish city, after Glasgow, and the seventh-most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas....
to a schoolmaster father, he matriculated at the
University of EdinburghThe University of Edinburgh founded in 1582, is an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in Edinburgh, Scotland, UK. It is the sixth university to be established in the British Isles, making it one of the ancient universities of the United Kingdom.The university is amongst the...
in 1746. Like many aspiring men in Scotland at this time, he took a divinity degree in 1749. He was soon ordained into the
Church of ScotlandThe Church of Scotland , known informally by its Scots language name, The Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....
(Presbyterian) and spent the next thirty years as a parish minister. However, his duties did not stop him from pursuing scientific subjects in his spare time. Whilst at university he had taken natural philosophy courses and had collected natural history specimens in and around the Lothians. During the 1750s he continued to pursue scientific subjects by studying chemistry under Prof.
William CullenWilliam Cullen was a Scottish physician and chemist.-Early life:Cullen was born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. His father William was a lawyer retained by the Duke of Hamilton and his mother was Elizabeth Roberton of Whistlebury. He studied at Hamilton Grammar School, then, in 1726, began a General...
and by joining Edinburgh's Philosophical Society. He distinguished himself not only by winning awards from the society but also by publishing an article in the 1757 edition of the
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London. Under Cullen's patronage, Walker further distinguished himself as a chemist and a mineralogist and this led him to function as a scientific advisor for Lord Bute, Lord Hopetoun, Lord Cathcart, and Judge Advocate Lord Kames.
Becoming a naturalist
During the 1760s he used his aristocratic connections to tour mines throughout the
LowlandsThe Scottish Lowlands , although not officially a geographical area of the country, in normal usage is generally meant to include those parts of Scotland not referred to as the Highlands , that is, everywhere due south and east of a line The Scottish Lowlands (a' Ghalldachd, meaning roughly 'the...
and to assemble his own sizable mineralogical collection. By the mid 1760s, Walker was known as one of Scotland's leading lay naturalists. This motivated the Church of Scotland and the Board of Annexed Estates to send him on exploratory tours of the
HighlandThe Scottish Highlands include the rugged and mountainous regions of Scotland north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault, although the exact boundaries are not clearly defined, particularly to the east...
and
HebridesThe Hebrides comprise a widespread and diverse archipelago off the west coast of Scotland. There are two main groups: the Inner and Outer Hebrides...
in 1764 and 1771. These tours allowed him to make religious and ethnographic observations for the church and to take scientifically oriented notes on northern Scotland's minerals, plants, animals, and climate. During the 1770s Walker published articles in the
Scots Magazine and the
Philosophical Transactions. By the mid part of the decade, it became clear that
Robert RamseyRobert or Bob Ramsey may refer to:*Robert Ramsey , English composer and organist*Robert Ramsey , United States congressman from Pennsylvania*Bob Ramsey , footballer...
, the University of Edinburgh's ailing Professor of Natural History, would soon need to be replaced. After securing the support of
William CullenWilliam Cullen was a Scottish physician and chemist.-Early life:Cullen was born in Hamilton, Lanarkshire. His father William was a lawyer retained by the Duke of Hamilton and his mother was Elizabeth Roberton of Whistlebury. He studied at Hamilton Grammar School, then, in 1726, began a General...
, Lord Kames and several other politically savvy intellectuals, Walker competed against
William SmellieWilliam Smellie may refer to:*William Smellie , Scottish encyclopedist*William Smellie , obstetrician and the "father of British midwifery"...
, a well respected natural historian and influential publisher, for the post. After much wrangling, Walker won the contest and was appointed in 1779. He held the position until his death in 1803.
Later life
Walker's natural history lectures spanned the academic year and were divided into two sections. The first half of the year he gave his 'Hippocratean'
lecturethumb|A lecture on [[linear algebra]] at the [[Helsinki University of Technology]]A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history,...
s, that is,
meteorologyMeteorology is the interdisciplinary scientific study of the atmosphere that focuses on weather processes and forecasting . Studies in the field stretch back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not occur until the eighteenth century...
,
hydrologyHydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water throughout Earth, and thus addresses both the hydrologic cycle and water resources...
and
geologyGeology is the science and study of the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth. The field of geology encompasses the study of the composition, structure, physical properties, dynamics, and history of Earth materials, and the processes by which they are formed, moved, and changed...
. The second half of the year was devoted to the three kingdoms of nature: minerals, plants, and animals. During the 1760s, he had accepted Linnaeus' binomial classification system and during his university tenure he readily applied it to botany. However, he did not agree with
LinnaeusCarl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist, who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of binomial nomenclature...
' classification of minerals and animals and therefore he developed his own unique system for both of these subjects. Throughout his entire career he kept his ties with the Kirk and in 1790 he was elected to be
Moderator, its highest position. Sometime in the late 1790s he began to lose his sight and several of his lectures were taken over by
Dr Robert Jamesonthumb|Robert JamesonProfessor Robert Jameson was a Scottish naturalist and mineralogist, born in Leith, near Edinburgh, in July 1774. As Regius Professor at the University of Edinburgh for fifty years, Jameson is notable for his advanced scholarship in natural history, his superb museum...
, a physician and former student who had also studied in mainland Europe. By the time that he died in 1803, Walker had taught well over eight hundred students, some of whom would go on to have a significant impact on nineteenth century natural history. Some of these names include
Rev. Prof. John PlayfairJohn Playfair FRSE, FRS was a Scottish scientist and mathematician, and a professor of natural philosophy at the University of Edinburgh. He is perhaps best known for his book Illustrations of the Huttonian Theory of the Earth , which summarized the work of James Hutton...
,
Sir James Edward SmithSir James Edward Smith was an English botanist and founder of the Linnean Society.Smith was born in Norwich in 1759, the son of a wealthy wool merchant. He displayed a precocious interest in the natural world...
, Sir James Hall,
Mungo ParkMungo Park was a Scottish explorer of the African continent. He was credited as being the first Westerner to encounter the Niger River.-Early life:...
, Robert Waring Darwin,
Robert BrownRobert Brown FRS was a Scottish botanist who made important contributions to botany largely through his pioneering use of the microscope...
,
Thomas BeddoesThomas Beddoes , English physician and scientific writer, was born at Shifnal in Shropshire. He was a reforming practitioner and teacher of medicine, and an associate of leading scientific figures. Beddoes was a friend of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and, according to E. S...
, Thomas Charles Hope, and Samuel Latham Mitchell.