Research Articles
‘We want no authors’: William Nicholson and the contested role of the scientific journal in Britain, 1797–1813 IAIN P. WATTS The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 397 - 419 doi: 10.1017/S0007087413000964 Published Online on 11th February 2014
This article seeks to illuminate the shifting and unstable configuration of scientific print culture around 1800 through a close focus on William Nicholson's Journal of Natural Philosophy, Chemistry, and the Arts, generally known as Nicholson's Journal. Viewing Nicholson as a mediator between the two spheres of British commercial journalism and scientific enquiry, I investigate the ways he adapted practices and conventions from the domain of general-readership monthly periodicals for his Journal, forging a virtual community of scientific knowledge exchange in print. However, in pursing this project Nicholson ran up against disreputable associations connected with the politics of journalism and came into conflict with more established models of scientific publication. To illustrate this, I turn to examine in detail the practice of reprinting, a technique of information transmission which the Journal adapted from general periodicals and newspapers, looking at a clash between Nicholson and the Royal Society that exposes disagreements over the appropriate role for journals during this period of reorganization in the scientific world.
A sixteenth-century Neoplatonic synthesis: Francesco Piccolomini's theory of mathematics and imagination in the Academicae contemplationes GUY CLAESSENS The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 421 - 431 doi: 10.1017/S0007087413000666 Published Online on 18th October 2013
The metamathematical framework of the early modern period is primarily determined by two presuppositions stemming from the Aristotelian tradition: (1) mathematical objects are abstracted from sensible matter; (2) imagination is a reproductive faculty exclusively connected with the sensible realm. The recovery of the works of the Greek commentators confronted the early modern readers with rivalling philosophical–mathematical views that explicitly called into question some of their previously undisputed assumptions. In this article I will argue that Francesco Piccolomini (1523–1607) in his Academicae contemplationes brings about an original fusion of these colliding horizons, by transposing the synthesis established by (?)Simplicius between Aristotelian abstractionism and Neoplatonic innatism into the sixteenth century.
Gate-keeping and localizing in scientific translation publishing: the case of Richard Taylor and Scientific Memoirs MAEVE OLOHAN The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 433 - 450 doi: 10.1017/S0007087413000368 Published Online on 11th July 2013
Growing interest in studying translation through a sociological lens and the relative lack of attention by translation scholars to the production of scientific translations provide impetus and rationale for this case study. Richard Taylor's editorial work for the Scientific Memoirs periodical is examined, with a particular focus on his conception of the utility of translation in the service of scientific advancement in Britain. The roles of gate-keeper and localizer of scientific material are attributed to Taylor, roles which he exercised through promotion of scientific translation, selection of texts to publish and editorial interventions in translations. The historical case study sheds light on activities of editing, translating and publishing science in mid-nineteenth-century Britain but is also illustrative of research areas where the interests of translation scholars and historians of science may converge. By centring attention on Taylor's editorial role, some of the material and social contingencies of this publishing activity are highlighted, enabling us to gain a deeper appreciation of scientific translation as sociohistorical practice.
Unrolling Egyptian mummies in nineteenth-century Britain GABRIEL MOSHENSKA The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 451 - 477 doi: 10.1017/S0007087413000423 Published Online on 04th September 2013
The unrolling of Egyptian mummies was a popular spectacle in mid-nineteenth-century Britain. In hospitals, theatres, homes and learned institutions mummified bodies, brought from Egypt as souvenirs or curiosities, were opened and examined in front of rapt audiences. The scientific study of mummies emerged within the contexts of early nineteenth-century Egyptomania, particularly following the decipherment of hieroglyphics in 1822, and the changing attitudes towards medicine, anatomy and the corpse that led to the 1832 Anatomy Act. The best-known mummy unroller of this period was the surgeon and antiquary Thomas Pettigrew, author of the highly respected History of Egyptian Mummies. By examining the locations, audiences and formats of some of Pettigrew's unrollings this paper outlines a historical geography of mummy studies within the intellectual worlds of nineteenth-century Britain, illuminating the patterns of authority, respectability, place and performance that Pettigrew and his colleagues navigated with varying degrees of success.
On the boredom of science: positional astronomy in the nineteenth century KEVIN DONNELLY The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 479 - 503 doi: 10.1017/S0007087413000915 Published Online on 07th November 2013
To those not engaged in the practice of scientific research, or telling the story of this enterprise, the image of empirical observation may conjure up images of boredom more than anything else. Yet surprisingly, the profoundly uninteresting nature of research to many science workers and readers in history has received little attention. This paper seeks to examine one moment of encroaching boredom: nineteenth-century positional astronomy as practised at leading observatories. Though possibly a coincidence, this new form of astronomical observation arose only a few decades before the English term ‘boredom’, for which the Oxford English Dictionary has no record prior to 1850. Through examining forms of observatory labour and publications, I offer in this paper an example of how boring work and reading helped shape a scientific discipline.
‘What things mean in our daily lives’: a history of museum curating and visiting in the Science Museum's Children's Gallery from c.1929 to 1969 KRISTIAN H. NIELSEN The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 505 - 538 doi: 10.1017/S0007087413000940 Published Online on 18th December 2013
The Children's Gallery in the Science Museum in London opened in December 1931. Conceived partly as a response to the overwhelming number of children visiting the Museum and partly as a way in which to advance its educational uses, the Gallery proved to be an immediate success in terms of attendances. In the Gallery, children and adults found historical dioramas and models, all of which aimed at presenting visitors with the social, material and moral impacts of science and technology on society throughout history. Also, there were numerous working models with plenty of buttons to press, handles to turn and ropes to pull. Controversial visitor studies carried out in the 1950s revealed that the historical didacticism was more or less lost on the children who came to the Gallery. Consequently, the New Children's Gallery that opened in 1969 had to some extent abandoned the historical perspective in favour of combining instruction with pleasure in order to make the children feel that ‘science is a wonderful thing’.
From garden biotech to garage biotech: amateur experimental biology in historical perspective HELEN ANNE CURRY The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 539 - 565 doi: 10.1017/S0007087413000411 Published Online on 28th August 2013
This paper describes the activities of amateur plant breeders and their application of various methods and technologies derived from genetics research over the course of the twentieth century. These ranged from selection and hybridization to more interventionist approaches such as radiation treatment to induce genetic mutations and chemical manipulation of chromosomes. I argue that these activities share characteristics with twenty-first-century do-it-yourself (DIY) biology (a recent upswing in amateur experimental biology) as well as other amateur science and technology of the twentieth century. The characterization of amateur plant breeding as amateur experimental biology offers a corrective to a dominant narrative within the history of biology, in which the turn to experimental research in the early twentieth century is thought to have served as an obvious dividing line between amateur and professional activities. Considered alongside other better-known amateur efforts, it also suggests that we might gain something by taking a more unified approach to the study of amateur science and technology.
Book Reviews
Bernard Lightman, Gordon McOuat and Larry Stewart (eds.), The Circulation of Knowledge between Britain, India and China: The Early-Modern World to the Twentieth Century. Leiden: Brill, 2013. pp. xxi+339. ISBN: 978-90-04-24441-2. $146.00 (hardback). James Poskett The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 567 - 569 doi: 10.1017/S0007087414000466 Published Online on 24th July 2014
Robert Fox (ed.), Thomas Harriot and His World: Mathematics, Exploration and Natural Philosophy in Early Modern England. Farnham: Ashgate, 2012. Pp. xviii+255. ISBN 978-0-7546-6960.9. £65.00 (hardback). Peter Rowlands The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 569 - 570 doi: 10.1017/S0007087414000478 Published Online on 24th July 2014
Joseph Agassi, The Very Idea of Modern Science: Francis Bacon and Robert Boyle. Heidelberg, New York and London: Springer, 2013. Pp. xvii+315. ISBN 978-94-007-5350-1. £90.00 (hardback). Sheldon Richmond The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 570 - 572 doi: 10.1017/S000708741400048X Published Online on 24th July 2014
Sean Cocco, Watching Vesuvius: A History of Science and Culture in Early Modern Italy. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2013. Pp. xi+332. ISBN 978-0-226-92371-0. £29.00 (hardback). Antonio Clericuzio The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 572 - 573 doi: 10.1017/S0007087414000491 Published Online on 24th July 2014
Daniel Stolzenberg, Egyptian Oedipus: Athanasius Kircher and the Secrets of Antiquity. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2013. Pp. xi+307. ISBN 978-0-226-92414-4. £32.50 (hardback). Ole Peter Grell The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 573 - 574 doi: 10.1017/S0007087414000508 Published Online on 24th July 2014
Sanja Perovic, The Calendar in Revolutionary France: Perceptions of Time in Literature, Culture, Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Pp. xiv+276. ISBN 978-1-107-02595-0. £55.00 (hardback). Kostas Tampakis The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 574 - 575 doi: 10.1017/S000708741400051X Published Online on 24th July 2014
Deborah R. Coen, The Earthquake Observers: Disaster Science from Lisbon to Richter. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press, 2013. Pp. viii+348. ISBN 978-0-226-11181-0. £22.50 (hardback). Lorena B. Valderrama The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 576 - 577 doi: 10.1017/S0007087414000521 Published Online on 24th July 2014
James O'Brien, The Scientific Sherlock Holmes: Cracking the Case with Science and Forensics. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Pp. xx+175. ISBN 978-0-19979496-6. £18.99 (hardback). Georgette Taylor The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 577 - 579 doi: 10.1017/S0007087414000533 Published Online on 24th July 2014
Silvan S. Schweber, Nuclear Forces: The Making of the Physicist Hans Bethe. Cambridge, MA and London: Harvard University Press, 2012. Pp. viii+579. ISBN 978-0-674-06587-1. £25.95 (hardback). Jaume Navarro The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 579 - 580 doi: 10.1017/S0007087414000545 Published Online on 24th July 2014
W. Patrick McCray, The Visioneers: How a Group of Elite Scientists Pursued Space Colonies, Nanotechnologies, and a Limitless Future. Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2013. Pp. xii+351. ISBN 978-0-691-13983-8. £19.95 (hardback). Peder Roberts The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 580 - 581 doi: 10.1017/S0007087414000557 Published Online on 24th July 2014
Heiner Fangerau, Rethy Chhem, Irmgard Müller and Shih-Chang Wang (eds.), Medical Imaging and Philosophy: Challenges, Reflections and Actions. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag, 2012. Pp. 190. ISBN 978-3-515-10046-5. €38.00 (paperback). Norberto Serpente The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 581 - 583 doi: 10.1017/S0007087414000569 Published Online on 24th July 2014
Books Received
The British Journal for the History of Science , Volume 47 , Issue 03 , September 2014, pp 585 - 586 doi: 10.1017/S0007087414000454 Published Online on 24th July 2014