Everything about Abraham Gesner totally explained
Abraham Pineo Gesner, born
May 2,
1797 in
Cornwallis Township,
Nova Scotia,
Canada – died
April 29,
1864 in
Halifax,
Nova Scotia, was a
physician and
geologist who invented
kerosene and became the primary founder of the modern petroleum industry.
Education
Born to a well-established farming family in the
Annapolis Valley, Pineo Gesner pursued a career at sea from a young age. Twice shipwrecked by his early twenties, Gesner returned to the family farm near
Chipman Corner, northeast of
Kentville. He married Harriet Webster, the daughter of Kentville's Dr.
Isaac Webster in
1824, then went to
London to study medicine at
St Bartholomew's Hospital under
Sir Astley Paston Cooper, then surgery at
Guy's Hospital under
John Abernathy. While in London, he became interested in geology, making the acquaintance of
Charles Lyell
Returning to
Parrsboro as a practising physician, Gesner also kandace pursued his passion for geology. In
1836, he published a study on the mineralogy of Nova Scotia, which included a detailed geological map providing information on the key deposits of
iron ore and
coal in Nova Scotia. In
1838, he was appointed Provincial Geologist for
New Brunswick charged with the mission to undertake a similar geological survey. In the course of this survey, in
1839 Gesner discovered the
bituminous asphalt substance
albertite, which he named after
Albert County, New Brunswick where it was found.
In
1842, looking for coal, Gesner travelled to
Quebec, where he discovered the first of the great fossil deposits of the future
Miguasha National Park. However, little notice was taken of his report until the fossils were rediscovered in 1879.
Gesner started the Gesner Museum, in
Saint John,
New Brunswick, the first public museum in Canada. This later became the prestigious
New Brunswick Museum.
Kerosene
Gesner's research in minerals resulted in his
1846 development of a process to refine a liquid fuel from coal. His new discovery, which he named
kerosene but which was frequently referred to as
coal oil, burned cleaner and was less expensive than competing products such as
whale oil. In 1850, Gesner created the Kerosene Gaslight Company and began installing lighting in the streets in Halifax and other cities. By 1854 he'd expanded to the
United States where he created the North American Kerosene Gas Light Company at
Long Island, New York. Demand grew to where his company’s capacity to produce became a problem but the discovery of
petroleum, from which
kerosene could be more easily produced, solved the supply problem.
Abraham Gesner continued his research on fuels and wrote a number of scientific studies concerning the industry including an 1861 publication titled, "A Practical Treatise on Coal, Petroleum and Other Distilled Oils" that became a standard reference in the field. Eventually Gesner's company was absorbed into the petroleum monopoly,
Standard Oil and he returned to Halifax, where he was appointed a Professor of Natural History at
Dalhousie University.
In 1933,
Imperial Oil Ltd., a Standard Oil subsidiary, erected a memorial in
Camp Hill Cemetery in Halifax to pay tribute to Abraham Gesner's contribution to the petroleum industry. In 2000, he was honored by the placement of his image on a
postage stamp by
Canada Post.
Further Information
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