Dissenting Spirit: Thomas Weaver, Geologist and Mining Engineer

Thomas Weaver was an accomplished Irish engineer and geologist who found success at a young age in the early nineteenth century. Known as a strict if considerate manager of mines in Ireland, he also participated in suppressing the 1798 Rebellion in Wicklow. He carried out geological mapping in Ireland, Mexico, Great Britain and North America. His story sheds light on industrial and social conditions in pre-Famine Ireland and elsewhere, as geology was coming of age as a scientific discipline. Weaver, like many people today, took issue with emerging new mindsets, and he was eventually marginalized. This book will appeal to those interested in the science and industry of the early nineteenth century, and to students of the philosophy and history of science.