- Sir Richard John Griffith, 1st Baronet
Infobox Scientist
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birth_date =September 20 ,1784
birth_place =Dublin
death_date =September 22 ,1878
death_place =Dublin
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nationality = Irish
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field =geology
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footnotes =Sir Richard John Griffith (
September 20 ,1784 –September 22 ,1878 ), Irishgeologist was born inDublin .Biography
He obtained in 1799 a commission in the
Royal Irish Artillery , but a year later, when the corps was incorporated with that ofEngland , he retired, and devoted his attention tocivil engineering andmining . He studiedchemistry ,mineralogy andmining for two years in London under William Nicholson (editor of the "Journal of Nat. Phil."), and afterwards examined the mining districts in various parts of England,Wales andScotland .While in
Cornwall he discovered ores ofnickel andcobalt in material that had been rejected as worthless. He completed his studies underRobert Jameson and others at Edinburgh, was elected a Fellow of theRoyal Society of Edinburgh in 1807, a member of the newly establishedGeological Society of London in 1808, and in the same year he returned to Ireland.In 1809 he was appointed by the commissioners to inquire into the nature and extent of the bogs in Ireland, and the means of improving them. In 1812 he was elected professor of geology and mining engineer to the
Royal Dublin Society . During subsequent years he made many surveys and issued many reports on mineral districts in Ireland, and these formed the foundation of his first geological map of the country (1815). In 1822 Griffith became engineer of public works in Cork, Kerry andLimerick , and was occupied until 1830 in repairing old roads and in laying out many miles of new roads.Meanwhile in 1825 he was appointed to carry out the perambulation or boundary survey of Ireland, the object of which was to ascertain and mark the boundaries of every county, barony, parish and townland in preparation for the ordnance survey. This work was finished in 1844. He was also called upon to assist in preparing a bill for the general valuation of Ireland; the act was passed in 1826, and he was appointed commissioner of valuation, in which capacity he continued to act until 1868. On
Griffith's valuation the various local and public assessments were made.His extensive investigations furnished him with ample material for improving his geological map, and the second edition was published in 1835. A third edition on a larger scale (1 in. to 4 m.) was issued under the
Board of Ordnance in 1839, and it was further revised in 1855. For this great work and his other services to science he was awarded theWollaston medal by the Geological Society in 1854. In 1850 he was made chairman of the Irish Board of Works, and in 1858 he was created a baronet. He died at his residence, 2 Fitzwilliam Place in Dublin onSeptember 22 1878 in his 95th year. At the time of his death, he was the oldest surviving fellow of the Geological Society of London and was the last survivor of the log-since disbanded Royal Irish Regiment of Artillery. He was buried alongside his wife, Maria Jane in Mount Jerome Cemetery, Harold's Cross, Dublin; on his grave is the epitaph"Not slothful in business, fervent in spirit, Serving the Lord"
Among his many geological works the following may be mentioned:
*"Outline of the Geology of Ireland" (1838)
*"Notice respecting the Fossils of the Mountain Limestone of Ireland, as compared with those of Great Britain, and also with the Devonian System" (1842)
*"A Synopsis of the Characters of the Carboniferous Limestone Fossils of Ireland" (1844) (with F McCoy)
*"A Synopsis of the Silurian Fossils of Ireland" (1846) (with F McCoy)See memoirs in "Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc." xxxv. 39; and "Geol. Mag.", 1878, p. 524, with bibliography.References
*1911
External links
*Britannica|9038114
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