Looking forward to tonight when I will be talking about James Hutton to the Old Edinburgh Club. ‘Old’ was a word James Hutton understood in a way that changed our understanding of evolution and the age of Earth. But how many people today know much about this modest man?
James Hutton’s closest friends included Adam Smith and James Watt. They are household names throughout the world, but few apart from geologists would know Hutton.
Yet his Theory of the Earth, presented in Edinburgh in 1785, fundamentally changed the way we think about the evolution of the earth and laid the foundation for modern geology. In 2026, the tercentenary it is good to see growing interest in one of the titans of the Scottish Enlightenment.
A paperback edition of James Hutton: Genius of Time will be published this year. Meanwhile I’m pleased to have discounted hardbacks for the next few events.
Wednesday March 18 – 7-8.30 pm James Hutton, Geologist, Old Edinburgh Club, Augustine United Church, Edinburgh
