James MacAdam (1801,
Belfast – 1861) was an Irish
naturalist and
geologist.
Mcadam was educated at the
Royal Belfast Academical Institution, and then at
Trinity College Dublin. He had a private geological museum, which included specimens collected during excavations made during the construction of the
Irish railways. In 1849 he was appointed the first librarian of
Queen's College, Belfast.
He was a Fellow of the
Geological Society
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 ...
, founder member and President of the
Belfast Natural History Society and one of the founders of
Belfast Botanic Gardens.
His younger brother was his business partner in the Soho Foundry in Townsend Street which they had established in 1846.
At its height in the 1850s, the firm had a workforce of 250 and an international reputation for the production of
turbine engines (horizontal water wheels developed in France by
Benoît Fourneyron).
Robert Shipboy MacAdam
Robert Shipboy MacAdam (1808-1895) was an Irish antiquary, folklorist and linguist and was the most active figure among the Belfast Presbyterians prominent in the early Irish-language revival. He was a secretary of ''Cuideacht Gaoidhilge Uladh'' ( ...
was an antiquary and leading Irish-language revivalist.
References
*Nash, R. and Ross, H.C.G. ''The development of natural history in early 19th century Ireland in From Linnaeus to Darwin: commentaries on the history of biology and geology'' Society for the bibliography of Natural History 13:27-
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:McAdam, James
1801 births
1861 deaths
Scientists from Belfast
Irish naturalists
People educated at the Royal Belfast Academical Institution
Fellows of the Geological Society of London
Alumni of Trinity College Dublin
19th-century Irish geologists