Book review: <i>James Hector. Explorer, Scientist, Leader</i>

Abstract

This book is by a prominent New Zealand geologist and science historian about one of the leading 19th century scientists, James Hector (1834–1907). His influence on New Zealand’s science in the second half of the century was so dominant that one science historian called this period “Hector hegemony”. But contrary to his contemporary, the German-born scientist Julius Haast, the full story of Hector’s achievements for New Zealand’s science had never been told and his name survived mainly in connection with the Hector dolphin, an endangered endemic species that he was the first to describe. But as of now, Nathan’s book will fill this gap. This is a well written, aptly designed and richly illustrated chronological biography of Hector’s life and work. It is remarkable how many details were unearthed from a large number of archives and libraries and especially from the letters Hector exchanged with friends and colleagues, mostly with Julius Haast, director of the Canterbury Museum at Christchurch, and Joseph Hooker, director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, UK; Nathan had previously edited the correspondence of Hector and Haast and a bibliography of Hector’s publications prior to the book under review (Nathan et al., 2012, 2015). James Hector was born in Edinburgh; he graduated from his home university in 1856 as a doctor of medicine and developed a strong interest in geology, biology and tramping. Consequently, his first involvement in a major scientific exploration led him to Western Canada, where he joined an expedition into the Canadian Rockies with the aim of finding a suitable pass for the railway to connect the western Prairies with the Pacific. The pass discovered by this expedition is still in use; its name “Kicking Horse Pass” recalls an incident which almost cost Hector his life. His reputation as a keen and successful explorer reached the distant colony of New Zealand. In the 1860s, the Otago Provincial Council at Dunedin initiated a geological survey of the province with the aim of detecting new mineral and coal deposits and a suitable route linking the province of Otago to the remote west coast. Hector was appointed as government scientist and arrived in Dunedin in 1862. After an effective exploration on land and sea he served as one of the curators for the New Zealand Exhibition in Dunedin in 1865. In the same year, he arrived in Wellington as a government employee. Nathan’s book marks the 150th anniversary of Hector’s appointment as New Zealand’s first government scientist, the year when the seat of government was moved from Auckland to Wellington. From this year on, Hector was the great organiser of New Zealand’s science. At first he was involved in the foundation of a colonial museum, the forerunner of Te Papa, which is now New Zealand’s National Museum; he organised the central New Zealand Institute, which included the publication of the annual and influential Transactions and Proceedings. He masterminded the first comprehensive New Zealand Geological Survey (now GNS Science), which resulted in the publication of the first Geological Map of New Zealand. Hector also became the conductor and supervisor of the Colonial Botanical Gardens, the Colonial Observatory and was director of the meteorological stations. He used the expanding telegraph network to establish a nationwide recording system for the location and intensity of earthquakes. Hector was a foundation member of the Council and Chancellor of the University of New Zealand, and he was knighted in 1887. All these and a number of various other achievements are the topic of separate chapters in Nathan’s book, and they underline the outstanding importance of a scientist whom a newspaper once called “a man who knows everything” (p. 12).