author
active 1851-1872 Samuel Joseph Mackie
A Victorian geologist, editor, and energetic popularizer of science, he helped bring geology and natural history to a wider audience through magazines, books, and local museum work.
1 Audiobook
Art-Studies from Nature, as Applied to Design For the use of architects, designers, and manufacturers
by F. Edward (Frederick Edward) Hulme, James Glaisher, Robert Hunt, active 1851-1872 Samuel Joseph Mackie
About the author
Born in Dover in 1823, Samuel Joseph Mackie built a varied career around science, publishing, and public education. He is best remembered as a British geologist, inventor, and editor, and as a founding member of both the Geologists' Association and the Anthropological Society of London.
Mackie played an important part in making geology accessible to general readers. He served as the sole editor of The Geologist: a Popular Monthly Magazine of Geology from 1858 to 1864, a magazine often noted as a precursor to the later Geological Magazine. He also wrote on local history and natural history, including work connected with Folkestone and its surroundings.
His life seems to have ranged well beyond writing alone. Sources describe him as closely involved with scientific societies, museum activity in Folkestone, and inventive work, including a patent connected with tonite explosives. Even where the details of his life are not fully documented, he stands out as one of those busy 19th-century figures who helped turn science into something readers could follow, collect, discuss, and enjoy.