Background
Robert Harkness was born on the 28th of July,1816 in Ormskirk, Lancashire, United Kingdom.
Robert Harkness was born on the 28th of July,1816 in Ormskirk, Lancashire, United Kingdom.
Harkness was educated at the high school, Dumfries, and afterwards (1833-1834) at the University of Edinburgh where he acquired an interest in geology from the teachings of Robert Jameson and Juris Doctor Forbes.
Returning to Ormskirk, Robert Harkness worked zealously at the local geology, especially on the Coal-measures and New Red Sandstone, his first paper (read before the Manchester Geological Social in 1843) being on The Climate of the Coal Epoch. In 1848 his family went to reside in Dumfries and when there, he commenced to work on the Silurian rocks of the Southwest of Scotland, in 1849 he carried his investigations into Cumberland. In these regions during the next few years he added much to our knowledge of the strata and their Fossils, especially graptolites, in papers read before the Geological Society of London.
Robert Harkness wrote also on the New Red rocks of the north of England and Scotland. As the successor to William Nicol, in 1853 Harkness was appointed professor of geology in Queen"s College, Cork, and in 1856 he was elected fellow of the Royal Society. During this period he wrote some articles on the geology of parts of Ireland, and exercised much influence as a teacher, but he returned to England during his vacations and devoted himself assiduously to the geology of the Lake district.
Robert Harkness was also a constant attendant at the meetings of the British Association. In 1876 the syllabus for the Queen's Colleges in Ireland was altered, and Professor Harkness was required to lecture not only on geology, palaeontology, mineralogy and physical geography, but also on zoology and botany.
Because the strain of the extra work was too much, Robert Harkness decided to relinquish his post and retired, but then a short time later he died, on 4 October 1878.