Chemistry and Enlightenment in Britain, 1760 1820
Buch, Englisch, 356 Seiten, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 229 mm, Gewicht: 581 g
ISBN: 978-0-521-65952-9
Verlag: Cambridge University Press
Science as Public Culture joins a growing number of recent studies examining science as a practical activity in specific social settings. Jan Golinski considers the development of chemistry in Britain from 1760 to 1820, and relates it to the rise and subsequent eclipse of forms of civic life characteristic of the European Enlightenment. Within this framework the careers of prominent chemists like William Cullen, Joseph Black, Joseph Priestley, Thomas Beddoes, and Humphry Davy are interpreted in a new light. The major discoveries of the time, including nitrous oxide (laughing gas) and the electrical decomposition of water, are set against the background of alternative ways of constructing science as a public enterprise. The book makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the relationship between scientific activity and processes of social and political change in a period of great transformations in chemistry and in the conditions of public life.
Autoren/Hrsg.
Fachgebiete
- Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Geschichte der Psychologie
- Naturwissenschaften Physik Physik Allgemein Geschichte der Physik
- Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Moderne Philosophische Disziplinen Philosophische Anthropologie
- Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Human- und Sozialwissenschaften
- Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
- Naturwissenschaften Chemie Chemie Allgemein Geschichte der Chemie
- Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
Weitere Infos & Material
Acknowledgments; List of illustrations; 1. Introduction: science as public culture; 2. 'The study of a gentlemen': chemistry as a public science in the Scottish Enlightenment; 3. Joseph Priestley and the English Enlightement; 4. Airs and their uses; 5. The coming of the chemical revolution; 6. 'Dr Beddoes's Breath': nitrous oxide and the culmination of Enlightenment medical chemistry; 7. Humphry Davy: the public face of genius; 8. Analysis, education and the chemical community; Bibliography; Index.
