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Alexander Nimmo
Nimmo was born in
FRSE
Fellowship of the Royal Society of Edinburgh (FRSE) is an award granted to individuals that the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland's national academy of science and letters, judged to be "eminently distinguished in their subject". This soci ...
MRIA MICE HFGS (1783 – January 20, 1832) was a Scottish civil engineer and geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid, liquid, and gaseous matter that constitutes Earth and other terrestrial planets, as well as the processes that shape them. Geologists usually study geology, earth science, or geophysics, althou ...
active in early 19th-century Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...
.
Life and career
Nimmo was born in Cupar
Cupar ( ; gd, Cùbar) is a town, former royal burgh and parish in Fife, Scotland. It lies between Dundee and Glenrothes. According to a 2011 population estimate, Cupar had a population around 9,000, making it the ninth-largest settlement in Fi ...
, Fife
Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...
in 1783, the son of a watchmaker, and grew up in Kirkcaldy
Kirkcaldy ( ; sco, Kirkcaldy; gd, Cair Chaladain) is a town and former royal burgh in Fife, on the east coast of Scotland. It is about north of Edinburgh and south-southwest of Dundee. The town had a recorded population of 49,460 in 2011, ...
. He may have been educated at Kirkcaldy Burgh School, then studied at the University of St Andrews
(Aien aristeuein)
, motto_lang = grc
, mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best
, established =
, type = Public research university
Ancient university
, endowment ...
and University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 15 ...
. His first role was as Rector of Inverness Royal Academy in 1802, aged only 19. Around 1805, he became a Commissioner for the Scottish Boundaries Commission. In 1811 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh for his contributions to marine geology. His proposers were George Steuart Mackenzie, Alexander Christison, and Thomas Allan.
From 1811, he worked in Ireland as an engineer, with his first major task being for the Commission for the Reclamation of Irish Bogs. This was apparently on the recommendation of Thomas Telford
Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scotla ...
. In 1814, he designed a new harbour at Dunmore in Waterford
"Waterford remains the untaken city"
, mapsize = 220px
, pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe
, pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe
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, coordinates ...
. In 1815, he improved the navigation on the river at Cork and improved the adjacent harbour at Cobh
Cobh ( ,), known from 1849 until 1920 as Queenstown, is a seaport town on the south coast of County Cork, Ireland. With a population of around 13,000 inhabitants, Cobh is on the south side of Great Island in Cork Harbour and home to Ireland's ...
. Beginning in 1820, he was employed by the Irish Fisheries Board to make extensive surveys and recommendations for Irelands fishing harbours.
In 1830, he was commissioned by the Knight of Kerry
Knight of Kerry (), also called The Green Knight, is one of three Hiberno-Norman hereditary knighthoods, all of which existed in Ireland since feudal times. The other two were The White Knight (surname fixed as Fitzgibbon), being dormant sinc ...
to design a new village on Valentia Island
Valentia Island () is one of Ireland's most westerly points. It lies off the Iveragh Peninsula in the southwest of County Kerry. It is linked to the mainland by the Maurice O'Neill Memorial Bridge at Portmagee. A car ferry also departs from ...
in County Kerry, which was later named
Knightstown. His maritime engineering designs combined classical motifs with utilitarian functionality. Among other projects, he is credited with designing the County Kerry
County Kerry ( gle, Contae Chiarraí) is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and forms part of the province of Munster. It is named after the Ciarraige who lived in part of the present county. The population of the co ...
village of Knightstown, the road from Galway to Clifden, and the harbour of Roundstone in Connemara.Journal of the Clifden & Connemara Heritage Group, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1995.
In the 1830s he redesigned over 30 harbours on the western Irish coast. At Limerick, one of his major projects was the Wellesley Bridge which was constructed between 1824-35. (It is now known as the Sarsfield Bridge.)
Nimmo died at his Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
home on 20 January 1832.
Select works
*Poulaphouca
Poulaphouca, officially Pollaphuca (), is the name of a waterfall and bridge on the River Liffey between County Wicklow and County Kildare. It is primarily known for its hydroelectric generating station and the associated artificial lake, k ...
Bridge, linking County Wicklow and County Kildare
Publications
*'' Boscovitch's Theory'' (1812) *''Navigation Inland'' (1821) *''On the Application of the Science of Geology to the purposes of Practical Navigation'' (1823)Further reading
*References
External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nimmo, Alexander 1783 births 1832 deaths Scottish civil engineers Harbour engineers Scottish geologists Scottish surveyors People from Cupar Alumni of the University of St Andrews Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh People from Kirkcaldy