Kirwan , Richard , 1733-1812 , chemist and natural philosopher

Born at Cloughballymore, Ireland, 1733; sent to Poictiers to complete his education; entered the Jesuit novitiate at St Omer, 1754; left and returned to Ireland, 1755; his elder brother having been killed in a duel, came into possession of the family estates; having conformed to the established church, called to the Irish bar, 1766; ceased to practise after two years and pursued scientific studies in London; studied Greek at Cregg, 1773; resided in London, 1777-1787; became known to eminent contemporaries and corresponded with learned men in Europe; his library, sent from Galway to London in 1780, was captured by an American privateer; elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, 1780; received the Copley medal for a series of papers on chemical affinity, 1782; published the first systematic treatise on mineralogy in English, 1784; his treatise was translated into French, German, and Russian; delicate health caused him to adopt a more retired life; settled at no 6 Cavendish Row, Dublin, 1787; joined the Royal Irish Academy; President of the Royal Irish Academy, 1799; presided over the Dublin Library and `Kirwanian' Societies; received a gold medal from the Royal Dublin Society in acknowledgment of his services in procuring the Leskeyan cabinet of minerals for their museum; a member of the Edinburgh Royal Society and of a number of foreign academies; honorary LLD, University of Dublin, 1794; declined Lord Castlereagh's offer of a baronetcy; honorary inspector-general of his majesty's mines in Ireland; involved in various scientific controversies; finally adopted a Unitarian form of belief, and spent much time in scriptural study; died, 1812; buried in St George's Church, Lower Temple Street, Dublin. Publications include: Elements of Mineralogy (London, 1784); An Estimate of the Temperatures of Different Latitudes (London, 1787); Essay on Phlogiston (London, 1787); Geological Essays (London, 1799); An Essay on the Analysis of Mineral Waters (1799); Logick (2 volumes, London, 1807); Metaphysical Essays (1811); many papers on various scientific subjects.