Robert Kerr

Robert Kerr (1757–1813) was a Scottish surgeon, translator and writer. Trained in medicine at Edinburgh, he practiced as a surgeon there while translating important scientific works into English, including Lavoisier's Elements of Chemistry and the zoological writings of Linnaeus and Buffon. He later managed a paper mill and turned to history and compilation. His General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, published in eighteen volumes from 1811, arranged the history of navigation and discovery in systematic order, and was completed after his death by others.