Periods of nineteenth century British Public Science

PERIODS OF

NINETEENTH-CENTURY

BRITISH PUBLIC SCIENCE

Maria G. Mandourari

The PERIODS OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY BRITISH PUBLIC SCIENCE

The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

The Premier Age of British Public Science

The PERIODS OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY

BRITISH PUBLIC SCIENCE Seminal discoveries

Theoretical achievements

Application of new technology to transportation and manufacture

New physical landscape

Improved quality of everyday material life

The PERIODS OF NINETEENTH-CENTURY

BRITISH PUBLIC SCIENCEA) The First Period:

1800 – 1851 (Great Exhibition)

Public scientists as…

Sir Humphry Davy (17 December 1778 – 29 May 1829) was an English chemist and inventor

Sir David Brewster (11 December 1781 – 10 February 1868) was a

Scottish physicist, mathematician, astronomer,

inventor, writer and university principal

Charles Babbage (26 December 1791 – 18 October 1871) was an English

polymath. He was a mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical

engineer, who is best remembered now for originating the concept of a

programmable computer

The importance of science as:

Mode of useful knowledge

Instrument of self-improvement

Aid to profitable, rational and individualistic economic activity

Pillar of natural religion

British Association, in 1851, the astronomer George Airy

"In Science, as well as in almost

everything else, our national

genius inclines us to prefer

voluntary associations of private

persons to organizations of any

kind dependent on the State"

i. Britain's early industrial advance

ii. Gospel of free trade

Utilitarianism*

Natural Religion**

Social attitudes of scientists

* Utilitarianism is a theory in normative ethics holding that the proper course of action is the one that maximizes utility, usually defined as maximizing happiness and reducing suffering (Anscombe, G. E. M., ‘Modern Moral Philosophy’ in Philosophy, Vol. 33, No. 124. (Jan., 1958), pp. 12)**Natural religion most frequently means the "religion of nature," in which God, the soul, spirits, and all objects of the supernatural are considered as part of nature and not separate from it.

Emphasized:

a) Self-adjustment of the social mechanism

b) Social problems as matters for technical solution

B) The second period:

mid-1840s - late 1870s

Great Victorian scientific publicists

Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist (comparative anatomist), known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution

John Tyndall (2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was a prominent 19th century physicist. His initial scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism

William Kingdon Clifford (4 May 1845 – 3 March 1879) was an English mathematician and philosopher

Evolution

Atomism

Conservation

Clergy

Religion metaphysics

Self-conscious professional scientific community

New material

comfort

Better health and physical well being

Intellectual liberty

Incorporated into the educational system

Social mobility

Early 1870s British scientists:

Independent Professionally Self-defined

community

Little influence in the civic arena.

The state refused to patronize them in a regular fashion

Industry ignored them

Educational system marginally incorporated them

C) The third period:

More civic minded and state-oriented

Values of:

a. Collectivism

b. Nationalism,

c. Military Preparedness

d. Patriotism

e. Political Elitism

f. Social Imperialism

Science:

a. Create & educate better citizens for state service and stable politics

b. Ensure military security & economic efficiency of the nation.

Politicians and manufacturers replaced priests and clergy as the primary

perceived enemy of the progress and application of scientific knowledge