John HornePRSEFRSFRSE FEGS LLD (1 January 1848 – 30 May 1928) was a Scottish geologist.[1] He served as president of the Royal Society of Edinburgh from 1915 to 1919.
Life
Horne was born on 1 January 1848, in Campsie, Stirlingshire, the son of Janet (née Braid) and James Horne of Newmill, a farmer. He was educated at the High School, Glasgow, and the University of Glasgow where he studied under Lord Kelvin. He left university without graduating at the age on 19.[2]
In 1867 he joined the Scottish Branch of HM Geological Survey as an assistant and became an apprentice to Ben Peach. The two soon became good friends and collaborators. Horne was involved in mapping the Central Lowlands. Horne was a logical thinker and writer, complementing Peach's skills of resolving the internal structure of mountains by looking at the surface rocks. Thia approach allowed them to resolve a long-running debate on the "Highlands Controversy" in the 1907 publication of The Geological Structure of the North-West Highlands of Scotland. After their work in the Highlands, Horne and Peach wrote 'Northwest Highlands Memoir' in 1907. The work is regarded as one of the most important geological memoirs. Horne wrote most of the memoir himself. From 1901 until 1911, John Horne was the Director of the Scottish Branch of the Survey.[2]
A monument to the work of Peach and Horne was erected at Inchnadamph, close to the Moine Thrust where they did some of their best-known work. The inscription reads: "To Ben N Peach and John Horne who played the foremost part in unravelling the geological structure of the North West Highlands 1883-1897. An international tribute. Erected 1930.".[5]
As well as the 1930 memorial at Inchnadamph, a statue of the two geologists was erected at Knockan Crag in 2001.[6]