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James Campbell Irons's inscription to Father Arthur Henry Bertrand Wilberforce in a copy of Autobiographical sketch of James Croll (in the writer's possession).
Source publication
Source materials for investigating the life of James Croll are examined and collated. This is organised around the topics of: Croll's Autobiographical sketch and the Memoir of his life and work , both contained within the volume produced by James Campbell Irons; publications by Croll; aspects of his genealogy; manuscript sources in publicly accessi...
Similar publications
Citation: Iliev, M., Staykova, G., Anev, G., & Tsonev, T. (2021). Productivity assessment of sheep from the Karnobat Fine Fleece Breed by genealogical lines. Zhivotnovadni Nauki, 58(2), 13-19 (Bg). Abstract Subject of the study were 341 sheep from the Karnobat Fine Fleece breed, ownership of the Institute of Agriculture-Karnobat. The productivity o...
Citations
... Health and income were omnipresent aspects of Croll's life which exerted considerable negative influences on his conduct and thoughts. Within the Autobiographical Sketch (Croll, 1887), the Memoir (Irons, 1896) and in various archival sources (Edwards, 2021c) there are numerous references to health issues. These mainly refer to symptoms associated with the head, heart and elbow joint, as well as problems with eyes, fatigue and other ailments. ...
The year 2021 marked the bicentenary of the birth of James Croll (1821–1890), the self‐educated son of a crofter‐stonemason, whose life was characterised by a dizzying range of occupations and homes, poor health and financial concerns, and yet he became a pioneer of orbital dynamics and ice age climate change with an impressive record of publication. Drawing upon archival information and recently published observations, this paper explores selected aspects of Croll's biography, his scientific connections and controversies, and that area of his life relevant to Quaternary science. He was a 19th century polymath whose multifaceted contributions have been a catalyst for subsequent systems‐based climate science on the grand scale, including the foundations for the seminal work of Milutin Milankovitch on the rhythms of Quaternary environmental change.
In 1875, the climate change pioneer and autodidact, James Croll (1821–1890), saw the publication of his monumental volume Climate and time in their geological relations. The following year, a presentation copy of the book was received by Charles Wyville Thomson (1830–1882), then chief scientist on the Challenger expedition (1872–1876), by the time of his arrival in Ascension Island. Following Wyville Thomson’s death, the book became part of the library of John Murray (1841–1914), his successor as Director of the Challenger offices in Edinburgh. At some stage the book was obtained by an Amsterdam bookseller before it eventually made a return to the UK in 2003. This paper follows the biography of a documented copy of this influential book as it passed through the hands of three notable Fellows of the Royal Society of London. Embedded within the narrative is discussion of book giving and the connecting thread between Croll, ocean science and the scientists associated with the Challenger expedition.
Popular and scholarly information concerning the life of James Croll has been accumulating slowly since the death in 1890 of the self-taught climate change pioneer. The papers in the current volume offer thorough assessments of topics associated with Croll's work, but this contribution seeks to provide a personal context for an understanding of James Croll the man, as well as James Croll the scholar of sciences and religion. Using archival as well as published sources, emphasis is placed upon selected components of his life and some of the less recognised features of his biography. These include his family history, his many homes, his health, participation in learned societies and attitudes to collegiality, financial problems including the failed efforts to secure a larger pension, and friendship. Life delivered a mixture of ‘trials and sorrows’, but it seems clear from the affection and respect accorded him that many looked upon James Croll as a ‘man greater far than his work’.
