| Year
| Event
| Commentary
|
|---|
| 1726
| Hutton is born on June 3rd in Edinburgh; his father and elder
brother die while he is still young.
| As with Hume and Smith, Hutton lost his father early in life,
a common trait among creative geniuses (see Ochse, 1990, ch. 4, and
Simonton, 1999, ch. 4).
|
| 17??
| Enters the High School in Edinburgh (now the Royal High School)
|
|
| 17??
| Enters Edinburgh University, where he becomes fascinated with
chemistry, an interest that develops into a life-long passion.
| Edinburgh University had one of the top medical faculties in
Europe, which was the foundation for training in what was then
called natural philosophy, and we would now call the natural
sciences [see Daiches, D. (1996). The Scottish Enlightenment. In
Daiches, et al (Eds.), The Scottish Enlightenment,
1730–1790: A Hotbed of Genius — complete reference
is in the syllabus].
|
| 1743
| Hutton is apprenticed to a solicitor, but was soon dismissed
for amusing himself and his fellow apprentices with chemistry experiments.
| This is an episode strikingly similar to the one Hume had as a
clerk; although they will work passionately, and even
self-destructively, in areas that interest them, creative geniuses
frequently have difficulty with mundane
tasks in areas outside their primary interests (see Ochse, 1990,
chs. 7 & 8).
|
| 1744
| Hutton returns to the University as a medical student.
|
|
| 1747
| Hutton ventures to Paris to continue his medical studies.
| Hutton fits the common pattern of Scottish literati
studying and sharing ideas with their French counterparts of the
Enlightenment, which raises the question of how the
zeitgeist contributes to the intellectual activity of
individual creators (see Simonton, 1999, ch. 6).
|
| c. 1749
| Hutton moves to Leyden, finishes his medical studies, and
writes a thesis — Inaugural Physico-medical dissertation
on the blood and the circulation of the microcosm.
| Some scholars believe that Hutton's emphasis on cyclical
processes was apparent in his thinking even at this early date;
the role of mental models, or metaphors, in the creative process
has been especially well studied by Howard Gruber and his students.
|
| c. 1750
| Hutton travels to London, and then Edinburgh, where he
abandons any idea of becoming a doctor; he remains in the "City of
Light" for two years, where in partnership with John Davie, a
friend from Hutton's days as a student, they establish a chemistry
works for the manufacture of salammoniac; their enterprise is
successful, and Hutton is now an established business man.
|
|
| c. 1752
| Hutton takes a turn at farming (his father left him two
farms), and he begins by spending two years traveling England,
Scotland, and the Low Countries, gathering ideas about innovation
in agriculture.
| It was also during this time that Hutton began to develop a
serious interest in geology, and he studied geological formations
with an enthusiasm equal to his study of farming.
|
| 1754
| Hutton settles at Slighhouses, working and observing the land,
and developing and testing his ideas about geology and agriculture.
|
|
| 1764
| Hutton tours central and northeast Scotland with George Clerk
Maxwell; Maxwell is performing his duties as an Estate
Commissioner, but Hutton uses the trip as an opportunity to gather
more data about his ideas.
| One of the prerequisites to creative genius is the development
of a wide-ranging knowledge base relevant to the creative product;
Hume, Smith, and Hutton all read widely, and were keen observers
of natural phenomena (see Simonton, 1999, ch. 3, and Ochse, 1990,
ch. 8).
|
| c. 1767
| Hutton abandons farming and returns to Edinburgh — he
has a comfortable income generated by his various business interests.
|
|
| 1770
| Hutton builds a house on St. John's Hill, looking directly at
Salisbury Crags (the site of "Hutton's Unconformity"), and where
he lives with his three sisters until his death 17 years later;
during this period he:
- continues his agricultural studies, doing experiments in his
garden;
- is involved, both financially and professionally, with the
building of the Forth and Clyde Canal;
- socializes with his close friends, including Joseph Black,
James Watt, Adam Ferguson, Lord Monboddo, and William Robertson;
- becomes a founding member of the Royal Society of Edinburgh,
which along with the Royal Highland and Agricultural Society, is
one of the enduring legacies of the Scottish Enlightenment.
| There are two things worth noting about this aspect of
Hutton's life:
- First, many creative geniuses end up making what Howard
Gardner has called "a Faustian bargain", namely they trade the
trappings of a normal life, including marriage and raising a
family, for the freedoms associated with a life of intellectual
pursuit; notice that Hume, Smith, and Hutton all lived notably
independent lives, free of marriage — at one point Hume wrote
to a friend: "I (have) got a house of my own, and completed a
regular family; viz., myself ... a maid, and a cat."
- Second, most of the "Northern Lights" were members of literary
societies — Hume, Hutton, and Smith were actively involved in
Edinburgh societies such as the The Philosophical Society —
and these societies are thought by scholars of the Enlightenment
to have played a critical role in its intellectual life [see
Daiches, D. (1996). The Scottish Enlightenment. In Daiches, et al
(Eds.), The Scottish Enlightenment, 1730–1790: A Hotbed of
Genius — complete reference is in the syllabus] (but the
importance of social gatherings to creative genius is more general
than the Enlightenment — see Simonton, 1999, ch. 6, and
Ochse, 1990, ch. 3).
|
| 1785
| Hutton begins the final phase of his "career" by giving two
lectures to the Royal Society on his theory of the earth; his
lectures are followed by a flurry of publications, probably
related to his declining health, and the accompanying restrictions
on his activities:
- The lectures are first published in 1785 in summary form under
the title Abstract of a Dissertation concerning the System of
the Earth, its Duration and Stability;
- Next, the theory is published in monograph form in the first
volume of the Transactions of the Royal Society (1788),
under the title, "Theory of the Earth; or an Investigation of the
Laws observable in the Composition, Dissolution and Regeneration
of Land upon the Globe;"
- Finally, in response to an attack upon his thesis, an expanded
version appeared in 1795 as Theory of the Earth with proofs and
illustrations.
- Hutton's Theory of the Earth is the only publication
that made an impact within a domain of inquiry (in this case,
geology), but he had other publications, all written between 1792
and 1794, on topics in natural philosophy, moral philosophy, and
agricultural science.
| Two comments are pertinent to the final phase of Hutton's
life:
- First, his Theory of the Earth is an intellectual
achievement of the first magnitude; fortunately for us as students
of creative genius, Drs. Donovan and Breyer are here to share with
us their professional insights about the processes by which
Hutton achieved his far-reaching scientific framework (see Part
III in Ochse, and chs. 2 & 3 in Simonton).
- Second, Hutton's pattern of productivity is atypical; the
usual pattern shows a peak in the twenty or thirties, depending to
a certain extent upon the discipline, with a gradual tailing off
towards the later years (this pattern fits Smith and Hume very
well; see Simonton, ch. 5) — Hutton, however, shows a peak
near the end of his life; it appears that he literally had to age
before he could slow down enough to write down his ideas!
|
| 1797
| Hutton dies, and is buried in Greyfriars Churchyard
|
|
The following texts are excellent introductions to Hutton's life and
work, as well as the broader social and scientific context:
You will also find the following websites useful introductions to
the life and work of James Hutton:
