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This collection of case studies, focusing on British scientific
culture during the first industrial revolution, explores the social
basis of science in the period and asks why such an extraordinarily
rich variety of cultural-scientific experience should have
flourished at the time. The book analyses science and scientific
culture in their local contexts, both metropolitan and provincial,
examining where possibel the relations between the two, and
emphasizing the range of scientific associations in London, to
individual savants in the provinces. This book was first published
in 1983.
First published in 2005, this book represents the first full length
biography of John Phillips, one of the most remarkable and
important scientists of the Victorian period. Adopting a broad
chronological approach, this book not only traces the development
of Phillips' career but clarifies and highlights his role within
Victorian culture, shedding light on many wider themes. It explores
how Phillips' love of science was inseparable from his need to earn
a living and develop a career which could sustain him. Hence
questions of power, authority, reputation and patronage were
central to Phillips' career and scientific work. Drawing on a
wealth of primary sources and a rich body of recent writings on
Victorian science, this biography brings together his personal
story with the scientific theories and developments of the day, and
fixes them firmly within the context of wider society.
John Phillips was one of the most remarkable and important
scientists of the Victorian period. Orphaned at the age of seven
and brought up by his uncle, he rose to hold a number of highly
prestigious posts within the British academic and scientific
community, despite lacking a university education. By the time of
his death in 1874 he was widely regarded as one of the pioneers and
champions of the science of geology, yet until now there has been
no full length biography of Phillips. In rectifying this lacuna,
Jack Morrell has produced a meticulous and magisterial piece of
scholarship that does justice to the achievements and legacy of
John Phillips. Adopting a broadly chronological approach, the book
not only traces the development of Phillips's career but clarifies
and highlights his role within Victorian culture, shedding light on
many wider themes. It explores how Phillips' love of science was
inseparable from his need to earn a living and develop a career
which could sustain him. Hence questions of power, authority,
reputation and patronage were central to Phillips's career and
scientific work. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources and a rich
body of recent writings on Victorian science, this biography
provides a fascinating and compelling account of John Phillips and
his legacy. Pulling together his personal story with the scientific
theories and developments of the day, and fixing them firmly within
the context of wider society, this biography will be vital reading
for anyone with an interest in the history of British and
nineteenth-century science.
First published in 2005, this book represents the first full length
biography of John Phillips, one of the most remarkable and
important scientists of the Victorian period. Adopting a broad
chronological approach, this book not only traces the development
of Phillips' career but clarifies and highlights his role within
Victorian culture, shedding light on many wider themes. It explores
how Phillips' love of science was inseparable from his need to earn
a living and develop a career which could sustain him. Hence
questions of power, authority, reputation and patronage were
central to Phillips' career and scientific work. Drawing on a
wealth of primary sources and a rich body of recent writings on
Victorian science, this biography brings together his personal
story with the scientific theories and developments of the day, and
fixes them firmly within the context of wider society.
This collection of case studies, focusing on British scientific
culture during the first industrial revolution, explores the social
basis of science in the period and asks why such an extraordinarily
rich variety of cultural-scientific experience should have
flourished at the time. The book analyses science and scientific
culture in their local contexts, both metropolitan and provincial,
examining where possibel the relations between the two, and
emphasizing the range of scientific associations in London, to
individual savants in the provinces. This book was first published
in 1983.
This fascinating and unique history reveals the major influence of
the Oxford Chemistry School on the advancement of chemistry. It
shows how the nature of the University, and individuals within it,
have shaped the school and made great achievements both in teaching
and research. The book will appeal to those interested in the
history of science and education, the city of Oxford and chemistry
in general. Chemistry has been studied in Oxford for centuries but
this book focuses on the last 400 years and, in particular, the
seminal work of Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, and the proto- Royal
Society of the 1650's. Arranged in chronological fashion, it
includes specialist studies of particular areas of innovation. The
book shows that chemistry has advanced, not just as a consequence
of research but, because of the idiosynchratic nature of the
collegiate system and the characters of the individuals involved.
In other words, it demonstrates that science is a human endeavour
and its advance in any institution is conditioned by the
organization and people within it. For chemists, the main appeal
will be the book's examination of the way separate branches of
chemistry (organic, physical, inorganic and biological) have
evolved in Oxford. It also enables comparison with the development
of the subject at other universities such as Cambridge, London and
Manchester. For historians and sociologists, the book reveals the
motivations of both scientists and non-scientists in the management
of the School. It exposes the unusual character of Oxford
University and the tensions between science and administration. The
desire of the college to retain its academic values in the face of
external and financial pressures is emphasized.
Oxford University has not always possessed the high reputation in
the sciences for which it is now renowned: it was not until the
period between this centurys two world wars that science was firmly
established in a university previously noted for its devotion to
arts subjects. By 1939, despite only modest increases in the
numbers of fellows or undergraduates in science, Oxford had
developed an important new research identity. This transformation
took place in the face of considerable opposition. The powers of
the colleges, the poverty of the University relative to collegiate
wealth, and the heightened individualism endemic in a polycratic
university combined to produce academic conservatism which even in
the early twenties, could argue that Oxford should cede science to
Cambridge and concentrate on its more traditional strengths in the
arts. Jack Morrell shows how the innovators in the sciences coped
with these idiosyncrasies and mustered a variety of resources,
including government departments, leading industrialists,
philanthropic trusts, and individual benefactors, to overcome
academic inertia and to promote their subjects. Those interested in
the institutionalization of science will find this study
particularly important: it is the first book in English to examine
the development of all the sciences in a major university of the
twentieth century.
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