Science Serialized – Representations of the Sciences in Nineteenth–Century Periodicals (Dibner Institute Studies in the History of Science and Technology) - Hardcover

Cantor, Geoffrey; Shuttleworth, Sally; Smith, George E.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0262033186 ISBN 13: 9780262033183

Publisher: MIT Press, 2004

Synopsis

Essays examining the ways in which the Victorian periodical press presented the scientific developments of the time to general and specialized audiences. Nineteenth-century Britain saw an explosion of periodical literature, with the publication of over 100,000 different magazines and newspapers for a growing market of eager readers. The Victorian periodical press became an important medium for the dissemination of scientific ideas. Every major scientific advance in the nineteenth century was trumpeted and analyzed in periodicals ranging from intellectual quarterlies such as the Edinburgh Review to popular weeklies like the Mirror of Literature, from religious periodicals such as the Evangelical Magazine to the atheistic Oracle of Reason. Scientific articles appeared side by side with the latest fiction or political reporting, while articles on nonscientific topics and serialized novels invoked scientific theories or used analogies drawn from science.The essays collected in Science Serialized examine the variety of ways in which the nineteenth-century periodical press represented science to both general and specialized readerships. They explore the role of scientific controversy in the press and the cultural politics of publication. Subject range from the presentation of botany in women's magazines to the highly public dispute between Darwin and Samuel Butler, and from discussions of the mind-body problem to those of energy physics. Contributors include leading scholars in the fields of history of science and literature: Ann B. Shteir, Jonathan Topham, Frank A. J. L. James, Roger Smith, Graeme Gooday, Crosbie Smith, Ian Higginson, Gillian Beer, Bernard Lightman, Helen Small, Gowan Dawson, Jonathan Smith, James G. Paradis, and Harriet Ritvo

About this title

Synopsis

Nineteenth-century Britain saw an explosion of periodical literature, with the publication of over 100,000 different magazines and newspapers for a growing market of eager readers. The Victorian periodical press became an important medium for the dissemination of scientific ideas. Every major scientific advance in the nineteenth century was trumpeted and analysed in periodicals ranging from intellectual quarterlies such as the Edinburgh Review to popular weeklies like the Mirror of Literature, from religious periodicals such as the Evangelical Magazine to the atheistic Oracle of Reason. Scientific articles appeared side by side with the latest fiction or political reporting, while articles on non-scientific topics and serialised novels invoked scientific theories or used analogies drawn from science. The essays collected in Science Serialized examine the variety of ways in which the nineteenth-century periodical press represented science to both general and specialised readerships. They explore the role of scientific controversy in the press and the cultural politics of publication.

Subject range from the presentation of botany in women's magazines to the highly public dispute between Darwin and Samuel Butler, and from discussions of the mind-body problem to those of energy physics.

About the Author

Geoffrey Cantor is Professor in the History of Science at the University of Leeds and author of, among other books, Michael Faraday, Sandemanian and Scientist. Sally Shuttleworth is Professor of English Literature at the University of Sheffield and author of a number of books, including George Eliot and Nineteenth Century Science. They are codirectors of the SciPer (Science in the Nineteenth Century Periodical) project.

About this edition

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0262033186
• ISBN 13: 9780262033183
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 376