Talk by Professor Beverly Bergman     

One of the polymaths of the Scottish Enlightenment was James Hutton (1726-1797).  He qualified as a doctor, studying in Edinburgh, Paris and Leyden, but never practiced medicine. 

He was to become known in later years as the “father of modern geology” as a result of his ground-breaking research which he correctly interpreted as demonstrating the immense age of the Earth. 

Although his academic writing is well-known, he has been somewhat enigmatic as a person as few documentary records have survived and, as a result of “filling the gaps”, a “Hutton mythology” has developed over the years. 

Recent research using newly discovered material has enabled us to examine some of the mythology and to provide a better understanding of the man, his family and the times in which he lived

There will be tea, coffee and biscuits after the talk.