Professor Robert Harkness FRS FRSE FGS (28 July 1816 – 4 October 1878), was a British geologist and mineralogist.
Returning to Ormskirk, he worked zealously at the local geology, especially on the Coal-measures and New Red Sandstone, his first paper (read before the Manchester Geol.
In these regions during the next few years, he discovered much information of the strata and their Fossils, especially graptolites, and elaborated in papers read before the Geological Society of London.
As the successor to William Nicol, in 1853, Harkness was appointed professor of geology in Queen's College, Cork, and in 1856 he was elected fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1876, the syllabus for the Queen's Colleges in Ireland was altered, and Professor Harkness was required to lecture not only on geology, palaeontology, mineralogy and physical geography, but also on zoology and botany.