Abraham Gesner

1797 – 1864

Abraham Pineo Gesner was a Canadian physician, geologist, and inventor who in 1846 distilled a clean-burning lamp fuel from coal and bitumen that he named kerosene. The new fuel quickly displaced whale oil as the dominant illuminant of the 19th century, lowering lighting costs for ordinary households and incidentally helping to relieve the catastrophic pressure of commercial whaling on global cetacean populations. He also produced foundational survey work on the geology and natural history of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

Last checked: May 10, 2026, 1:06 PM