Joseph Barclay Pentland (1797 – 12 July 1873) was an Irish

Republic of Ireland

Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...

 geographer

Geographer

A geographer is a scholar whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society.Although geographers are historically known as people who make maps, map making is actually the field of study of cartography, a subset of geography...

, natural scientist

Natural science

The natural sciences are branches of science that seek to elucidate the rules that govern the natural world by using empirical and scientific methods...

, and traveller

Travel

Travel is the movement of people or objects between relatively distant geographical locations. 'Travel' can also include relatively short stays between successive movements.-Etymology:...

. Born in Ireland, Pentland was educated at Armagh

Armagh

Armagh is a large settlement in Northern Ireland, and the county town of County Armagh. It is a site of historical importance for both Celtic paganism and Christianity and is the seat, for both the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland, of the Archbishop of Armagh...

. He also studied in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

, and worked with Georges Cuvier

Georges Cuvier

Georges Chrétien Léopold Dagobert Cuvier or Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric Cuvier , known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist...

.

With Woodbine Parish

Woodbine Parish

Sir Woodbine Parish KCH was a British diplomat, traveller and scientist.Educated at Eton College, he took up his first diplomatic post in 1814, and was involved in events immediately following the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo...

, Pentland surveyed

Surveying

See Also: Public Land Survey SystemSurveying or land surveying is the technique, profession, and science of accurately determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional position of points and the distances and angles between them...

 a large part of the Bolivian Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

 between 1826 and 1827. He published his Report on Bolivia in 1827. From 1836 to 1839, he served as British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 consul-general

Consul (representative)

The political title Consul is used for the official representatives of the government of one state in the territory of another, normally acting to assist and protect the citizens of the consul's own country, and to facilitate trade and friendship between the peoples of the two countries...

 in Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

. He corresponded with Charles Darwin

Charles Darwin

Charles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...

 and William Buckland

William Buckland

The Very Rev. Dr William Buckland DD FRS was an English geologist, palaeontologist and Dean of Westminster, who wrote the first full account of a fossil dinosaur, which he named Megalosaurus...

.

Pentland died 12 July 1873, and is buried in Brompton Cemetery

Brompton Cemetery

Brompton Cemetery is located near Earl's Court in South West London, England . It is managed by The Royal Parks and is one of the Magnificent Seven...

, London.

Legacy

• The mineral pentlandite
  Pentlandite
  Pentlandite is an iron-nickel sulfide, 9S8. Pentlandite usually has a Ni:Fe ratio of close to 1:1. It also contains minor cobalt.Pentlandite forms isometric crystals, but is normally found in massive granular aggregates. It is brittle with a hardness of 3.5 - 4 and specific gravity of 4.6 - 5.0 and...
  
  , which Pentland first noted
• The crater Pentland
  Pentland (crater)
  Pentland is a lunar impact crater that lies in the southern part of the Moon, and appears foreshortened when viewed from the Earth. About one crater diameter to the southwest is the larger crater Curtius, and to the north-northwest lies Zach....
  
   on the Moon
  Moon
  The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
  
  
• The Andean Tinamou
  Andean Tinamou
  The Andean Tinamou is a tinamou, found commonly in high altitude shrubland, in the Andes of South America.-Etymology:...
  
   (binomial name, Nothoprocta pentlandii)
• The Puna Tinamou
  Puna Tinamou
  The Puna Tinamou, Tinamotis pentlandii also known as Pentland’s Tinamou is a member of the most ancient groups of bird families, the tinamous. This species is native to southern South America.-Taxonomy:...
  
   (binomial name, Tinamotis pentlandii)

Sources

Mineral names The Darwin Correspondence Online Database

Further reading

• Sarjeant, W.A.S. and Delair, J.B., "Joseph Pentland: a forgotten pioneer in the osteology of fossil marine reptiles," Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeology Society, 1976, pp. 12-16.
• Sarjeant, W.A.S. and Delair, J.B., "An Irishman in Cuvier’s laboratory. The letters of Joseph Pentland, 1820-1832," Bulletin of the British Museum of Natural History, Historical Series, vol. 6, no. 7, 1979, pp. 245-319.
• Sarjeant, W.A.S., "Joseph Pentland’s early geological and geographical work in Bolivia and Peru," in S. Figueiroa and M. Lopes (eds.), Geological sciences in Latin America. Scientific relations and exchanges. (Papers presented at the XVII INHIGEO
  International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences
  The International Commission on the History of Geological Sciences promotes ongoing research into the history of the earth sciences, particularly the history of geology...
  
  Congress, Campinas, SP, Brazil, July 19-25, 1993). Campinas Brazil: Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Instituto de Geociencias, pp. 11-27.