If you mention oysters to most people the reaction is either “yummy†or “yeuch†with little, or nothing, in between. The original Oyster Club was founded by James Hutton, often said to be the father of the science of geology and among the first to theorise about the antiquity of our planet. He, Joseph Black a chemistry scientist and the famous economist and author Adam Smith established the Oyster Club as a weekly meeting for Edinburgh intellectuals as well as visiting thinkers like James Watt and Benjamin Franklin.