Alfred Harker FRS (19 February 1859 – 28 July 1939) was an English geologist who specialised in

petrology Petrology () is the branch of geology that studies rocks, their mineralogy, composition, texture, structure and the conditions under which they form. Petrology has three subdivisions: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary petrology. Igneous ...

and interpretive

petrography Petrography is a branch of petrology that focuses on detailed descriptions of rocks. Someone who studies petrography is called a petrographer. The mineral content and the textural relationships within the rock are described in detail. The clas ...

. He was lecturer in petrology at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

for many years, and carried out field mapping for the Geological Survey of Scotland and geological studies of western

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

and the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye, is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated by the Cuillin, the rocky slopes of which provide some of ...

. He and other British geologists pioneered the use of

thin section In optical mineralogy and petrography, a thin section (or petrographic thin section) is a thin slice of a rock or mineral sample, prepared in a laboratory, for use with a polarizing petrographic microscope, electron microscope and electron ...

s and the

petrographic microscope A petrographic microscope is a type of optical microscope used to identify Rock (geology), rocks and minerals in thin sections. The microscope is used in optical mineralogy and petrography, a branch of petrology which focuses on detailed descr ...

in interpretive petrology.

Education and career

Harker's father was the

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

corn merchant Portas Hewart Harker, his mother Ellen Mary Harker. He attended Hull and East Riding College, and the private Clewer House School ( Windsor) before enrolling as an undergraduate at St. John's College (

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

) from where he graduated with an M.A. on 18 January 1882. Whilst at Cambridge he was an early member of the Sedgwick Club. In 1884 he held the post of Demonstrator in the Geology Department under Thomas McKenny Hughes (whom he regarded his

mentor Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

), as lecturer at Newnham College in 1892 at St. John's College, as University Lecturer in 1904, and as Reader in Petrology in 1918. Harker's duties included teaching Mineralogy and Petrology to students. Harker was elected as a Fellow of St. John's College in 1885. A geological tour of Western Europe in 1887 introduced him to the metamorphic rocks of the Ardennes which proved to be an influential experience to his continuing research. Harker accompanied Professor Thomas McKenny Hughes to the United States in 1891 where they attended the 5th International Geological Congress. This was the first time the event had been held outside Europe.

Fieldwork and research

In 1895, Harker commenced employment with the Geological Survey of Great Britain on a part-time basis. Professor McKenny-Hughes had also worked with the Survey, but Harker's invitation came from the then Director General, Archibald Geikie. This was to assist in the mapping and determination of the igneous rocks of the

and the Small Isles. This association lasted until 1905. At this time, he also became a Member of the Scottish Mountaineering Club. Harker's active fieldwork programme also saw him collaborating with Professor John Edward Marr of the Department of Geology on the volcanic rocks of the

Lake District The Lake District, also known as ''the Lakes'' or ''Lakeland'', is a mountainous region and National parks of the United Kingdom, national park in Cumbria, North West England. It is famous for its landscape, including its lakes, coast, and mou ...

in 1889. The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences opened in 1904 and three years later, Harker published research on material he had prepared petrological rock slices of. He named the petrological samples brought back by

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...

as the 'Beagle Collection of Rocks'. The collection of 42,000 rock specimens made by Harker forms the basis of the Sedgwick Museum's petrological collection, now comprising more than 150,000 hand specimens and thin sections which are known collectively as the Harker Collection.

Later years

Harker retired in 1931 and St. John's College made him a Life Fellow soon after his retirement. He died in 1939. A book illustrating the geology and landscapes of the Western Isles of Scotland was published posthumously. Many of the illustrations in this work were based on drawings he made in his numerous field notebooks.

Honours and awards

He was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

(FRS) in June 1902, and received their

Royal Medal The Royal Medal, also known as The Queen's Medal and The King's Medal (depending on the gender of the monarch at the time of the award), is a silver-gilt medal, of which three are awarded each year by the Royal Society. Two are given for "the mo ...

in 1935. In 1907 he was awarded the Murchison Medal, and in 1922 the Wollaston medal, both by the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

, which he had served as president from 1916 to 1918. The

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

awarded him with an honorary doctoral degree in law in 1919. Harker Glacier on

South Georgia Island South Georgia is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean that is part of the British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. It lies around east of the Falkland Islands. ...

,United States Geological Survey (2002)
"Feature Name: Harker"

United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an agency of the U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geography, geology, and hydrology. The agency was founded on Mar ...

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the management and conservation ...

. Retrieved 10 May 2007. Mount Harker in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, and Dorsa Harker,United States Geological Survey (2007)
"Moon: Dorsa Harker"
Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature Feature Information. Retrieved 20 June 2007. a feature on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

, are named after him. The mineral harkerite, first found on the Isle of Skye, is named after him. After his retirement, he was given the post of honorary

curator A curator (from , meaning 'to take care') is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the particular ins ...

of the Cambridge Petrological Museum, and their extensive rock collection bears his name. Two lecture rooms are named after him in the Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge.

Works

A list of Harker's principal geological writings up to 1917 can be found in a biographical article published in the Geological Magazine.
''The Bala volcanic series of Caernarvonshire and associated rocks; being the Sedgwick Prize Essay for 1888''
1889, Cambridge University Press.
''Petrology for Students''
1895, Cambridge University Press
''The geology of North Arran, South Bute, and the Cumbraes, with parts of Ayrshire and Kintyre (Sheet 21, Scotland.)''
1903, HMSO
''The overthrust torridonian rocks of the Isle of Rum''
1903, The Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society of London Volume 59 pp. 189–215
''The Tertiary Igneous Rocks of Skye''
1904, Geological Survey of Scotland Memoir
''The Natural History of Igneous Rocks''
1909, Macmillan
''The Geology of the Small Isles of Inverness-shire: (Rum, Canna, Eigg, Muck etc.)(sheet 60, Scotland.)''
1909, Geological Survey of Scotland Memoir
''Notes on geological map-reading''
1920, Heffer *''Metamorphism: A Study of the Transformations of Rock-Masses'', 1923, Methuen
Second Edition 1939

References

Bibliography

*Young, Davis A., (2003) ''Mind Over Magma: The Story of Igneous Petrology'', Princeton University Press. * Bragg, William (1939) ''Address of the President Sir William Bragg, O.M., at the Anniversary Meeting, 30 November 1939'', Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences 173(954):286–312 (18 December 1939). Obituary pp. 294–295. {{DEFAULTSORT:Harker, Alfred 1859 births 1939 deaths Scientists from Kingston upon Hull Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge 20th-century British geologists Petrologists Fellows of the Royal Society Royal Medal winners Wollaston Medal winners Fellows of St John's College, Cambridge People educated at Hull and East Riding College 19th-century English geologists Murchison Medal winners Presidents of the Geological Society of London