Portrait of Abraham Gesner

People/geologist, scientist

Abraham Gesner

Abraham Gesner (1797–1864), geologist, scientist, from Canada. Linked to coal.

The lucky break

In 1849 he sought mining rights to an albertite bitumen deposit in New Brunswick, and he coined the name kerosene about 1850.1,2

The downfall

Lost out when William Cairns bought the coal lease and then suffered a shattering legal blow in the Albert County trial. He moved to New York in 1853.1,2

Legacy

Held US patents for kerosene burning fluids from 27 June 1854.1,2

Story cards

Sources

  1. GESNER, ABRAHAM Dictionary of Canadian Biography
  2. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons

Pictures on this page: Abraham Gesner Photo.png, Unknown author (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Haul trucks by Lechhabmed, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Earth Observations taken by the Expedition 15 Crew, NASA JSC (Public domain (NASA media, no copyright)).