English physician, chemist, and geologist, Kidd became Reader in Chemistry at Oxford in 1801 and in 1803 was elected the first Aidrichian Professor of Chemistry. He then voluntarily gave lectures on mineralogy and geology, which introduced William Conybeare, William Buckland, Charles Daubeny, and others to geology. Through his efforts the first geological chair (held by Buckland) was established at Oxford. In 1818 he was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and in 1822 Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford. In 1834 he was appointed keeper of the Radcliffe Library and in delivered in the same year the Harveian Oration before the Royal College of Physicians.