author
David Milne-Home
1805–1890
A Scottish lawyer who became a respected geologist and meteorologist, he helped bring serious scientific attention to earthquakes and weather in 19th-century Scotland. His career mixed public life, scientific curiosity, and long service to learned societies.
1 Audiobook
Essay on comets
by David Milne-Home
About the author
Born in 1805, he was known first as David Milne and later as David Milne-Home. He trained in law and became a Scottish advocate, but he is remembered most for the energy he brought to science alongside his legal career.
His interests ranged across geology and meteorology, and he is especially associated with early earthquake research in Britain. He also played a leading part in organized science in Scotland, including helping to found the Scottish Meteorological Society in 1855 and serving for many years in the Edinburgh Geological Society.
Milne-Home died in 1890. What makes him stand out today is the way he moved comfortably between professions: a man of law, land, and public duty who also helped build the scientific institutions that outlasted him.