Robert Kerr

Born in 1755, Robert Kerr was a Scottish author, translator, and man of letters whose work ranged across literature, science, and natural history. He is especially remembered for translating important scientific works into English and for helping circulate knowledge at a time when books were a main path to new ideas.

Kerr is best known in natural history for his English version of Carl Linnaeus's Systema Naturae, and he also worked on large compilations of voyages and travels. That combination of scientific and geographical writing made him part of the energetic publishing culture of the late 1700s, when readers were eager for accounts of animals, distant places, and new discoveries.

He died in 1813. Although he is not as widely known today as some of the scientists and explorers whose work he translated or compiled, his writing played a real part in passing knowledge from one language, country, and generation to another.