Peak District Mining Museum will be hosting a guest lecture from a PhD student, Josh Hillman of Leeds Uni, on the 2nd May 2023.

It explores how the work of John Woodward, a Derbyshire-born geologist, was shaped by the time he spent with Derbyshire miners.

When seventeenth and eighteenth century naturalists wanted to know about the Earth, minerals, or strata their first port of call was usually always their local mine.

However, historians of geology have tended to overlook the role that ordinary mineworkers played in the development of the earth sciences by focusing almost exclusively on the printed writings of naturalists - who were often unwilling to reveal their own intellectual debts.

Using a previously overlooked field notebook of the so-called first field geologist, the Derbyshire-born John Woodward (c. 1665-1728), this talk will uncover the hidden contributions that the mineworkers he interviewed made to his understanding of stratification and rock and mineral classification.

For tickets contact Peak District Mining Museum.