Robert Hunt (scientist)

Robert Hunt (6 September 1807 – 17 October 1887), a scientist and antiquarian, was born at Devonport, Plymouth, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He was involved in statistical, mineralogical and other studies. He died in London on 17 October 1887.

Hunt's father, a naval officer, drowned while Robert was a youth. Robert began to study in London for the medical profession, but ill-health caused him to return to settle in Cornwall. In 1829, he published The Mount’s Bay; a descriptive poem ... and other pieces but received little critical or financial success.

In 1840, Hunt became secretary to the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic Society at Falmouth. Here he met Robert Were Fox, and carried on some physical and chemical investigations with him.

Hunt took up photography with great zeal, following Daguerre's discovery, developed the actinograph and introducing business processes. His Manual of Photography (1841, ed. 5, 1857) was the first English treatise on the subject. Hunt also experimented generally on the action of light, and published Researches on Light (1844).

He was appointed Professor of Mechanical Science, Government School of Mines.

In 1845, he accepted the invitation of Sir Henry de la Beche to become keeper of mining records at the Museum of Economic (afterwards Practical) Geology, and when the school of mines was established in 1851 he lectured for two years on mechanical science, and afterwards for a short time on experimental physics.

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