Victorian Popularizers of Science: Designing Nature for New AudiencesThe ideas of Charles Darwin and his fellow Victorian scientists have had an abiding effect on the modern world. But at the time The Origin of Species was published in 1859, the British public looked not to practicing scientists but to a growing group of professional writers and journalists to interpret the larger meaning of scientific theories in terms they could understand and in ways they could appreciate. Victorian Popularizers of Science focuses on this important group of men and women who wrote about science for a general audience in the second half of the nineteenth century. Bernard Lightman examines more than thirty of the most prolific, influential, and interesting popularizers of the day, investigating the dramatic lecturing techniques, vivid illustrations, and accessible literary styles they used to communicate with their audience. By focusing on a forgotten coterie of science writers, their publishers, and their public, Lightman offers new insights into the role of women in scientific inquiry, the market for scientific knowledge, tensions between religion and science, and the complexities of scientific authority in nineteenth-century Britain. |
Other editions - View all
Victorian Popularizers of Science: Designing Nature for New Audiences Bernard Lightman Limited preview - 2009 |
Victorian Popularizers of Science: Designing Nature for New Audiences Bernard Lightman No preview available - 2007 |
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Agnes Giberne Allen Anglican animals Archives argued asserted astronomical Ball Ball's became Bodington botany Brewer Brightwen British Buckley Cambridge career chapter Clerke Clerke's Clodd Common Objects copies correspondence cosmic Crayfish Darwin declared discussion divine earth edition essays evolution evolutionary epic evolutionary theory female popularizers Gatty geology Giberne Grant Allen Henslow human Hutchinson Huxley Huxley's Ibid illustrations important insects Institution Jarrold John John George Wood journal Kingsley Kirby Knowledge lectures literary Lockyer London Longman Macmillan natural history natural selection natural theology nebulae nineteenth century Origin Origin of Species Pepper period plants Polytechnic popular audience popular science popularizers of science practitioners presented Proctor professional published readers reading audience religious Review role Routledge Royal Royal Literary Fund scientific naturalists scientists Sheffield Archives shillings Shteir Society Spencer story T. H. Huxley themes theology of nature Tyndall University Library Victorian Webb women wonder Wood Wood's wrote