Thomas Allan (mineralogist)

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Thomas Allan
Linden Hall at Morpeth, Northumberland, England
Burial placeSt Cuthbert's Church, Edinburgh
Occupationmineralogist

Thomas Allan of Lauriston

FRS FRSE FSA FLS
(17 July 1777 – 12 September 1833) was a British mineralogist.

Life

Allan was born in

High School of Edinburgh and took up banking as profession; but he is remembered today for his contributions to mineral science
.

At an early age Allan became fascinated with

FRSE. This collection was later incorporated into Robert Greg's, which was ultimately acquired by the British Museum of Natural History
in the mid-nineteenth century.

In 1813, Allan was influential in securing a mineralogy post in the

Royal Society of London in 1815. He served as Curator to the RSE 1812–20 and Treasurer 1821–33.[1]

In 1810, his contribution to mineralogy was acknowledged with a new mineral species from Greenland, being named "Allanite" in his honour by Thomas Thomson.

His Edinburgh address in later life was 11 Royal Exchange.[2]

Allan died at

Linden Hall at Morpeth, Northumberland, England, on 12 September 1833. He is buried in St Cuthberts Churchyard in Edinburgh. His son, Robert Allan (1806–1863) was also a mineralogist.[3]

Works

Allan contributed the "Diamond" article for the fifth edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica as well as the work on mineralogical nomenclature An Alphabetical List of the Names of Minerals, at Present Most Familiar in the English, French, and German Languages, with Tables of Analyses (Edinburgh, 1805, followed by enlarged editions in 1808, 1814, and 1819).

References

  1. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X
    .
  2. ^ Edinburgh and Leith Post Office Directory 1832-33
  3. ISBN 090219884X. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 18 September 2015. {{cite book}}: |website= ignored (help
    )
Wikisource has the text of the 1885–1900 Dictionary of National Biography's article about Thomas Allan.
  • Anonymous., [Obituary of Thomas Allan], Philosophical Magazine, 3rd Series, 3 (1833), pp. 317–318.
  • Farrar, W.V. and K.R. Farrar., "Thomas Allan, mineralogist: an autobiographical fragment," Annals of Science, 24 (1968), no. 2, pp. 115–20.


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