Dionysus Lardner, polymath, writer, lecturer and popularizer of science was born in Dublin on April 3rd, 1793. Lardner’s father was a solicitor and his son was initially expected to pursue the family trade in law, however the work did not appeal and he entered Trinity College in 1812 where he earned a BA and MA in 1816 and 1819, was ordained as a Church of Ireland minister and became college chaplain. His real interest , however, appears to have focused on mathematics and engineering and rather than preaching to college students he appears to have preferred lecturing on the steam engince at the Royal Dublin Society
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Lardner married Cecilia Flood in 1815 with whom he had 3 children. However the marriage fell apart due to a scandalous relationship with a married women, Ann Boursiquot, who bore him a child, the future actor and playwright Dion Boucicault.
Lardner’s marital difficulties likely drew unwelcome notoriety and so an appointment as professor of natural philosophy and astronomy to the newly established University College London was likely greeted with relief by both him and polite society in Dublin.
Lardner’s college tenure only lasted 3 years, but while there he began work as both editor and contributor to the Cabinet Cylopaedia This work resulted in the production of 133 volumes aimed at a middle class customer interested in self improvement.
Lardner could not seem to avoid controversy and got himself enmeshed in a public disagreement with Isambard Kingdom Brunel on issues of railway engineering and Atlantic steamship transportation. In both cases Lardner’s criticisms and calculations were shown to inaccurate. In the 1840s scandal called again when Lardner was caught on the wrong side of an affair with a married women. The aggrieved husband, a captain in the Dragoon Guards, sued and won a large judgement which not only damaged Lardner but effectively ended his career in England. Lardner went on, what proved to be, a lucrative lecture tour of America. With his finances in order, he settled in Paris where he did work for railroad companies and continued to write on science.
He died at the age of 66 in Naples on April 29th, 1859 and is buried in the English Cemetery there. For a more detailed account of Dionysius Lardner's life please visit the Dictionary of Irish Biography.
