Moll Gerrit (1 results)
More imagesPublished by London: T. & T. Boosey, 1831, 1831
- First Edition
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United KingdomPeter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB.
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Add to basketFirst edition of the only substantial rebuttal of Charles Babbage's Decline of Science, edited by Michael Faraday and published at his expense. Babbage had argued Britain was falling behind the continent in scientific achievement and criticized the Royal Society as a disorganized mess. Moll (1785-1838), professor of mathematics…and natural philosophy at Utrecht, defends the teaching of science in England and compares it favourably to its European counterpart. He opposes the specialization that Babbage admired in France. He is against the appointment of scientists to government positions, which in France leads to a tight state monopoly over research. Michael Faraday owed his success to the British scientific establishment, and his publication of the work "may have been an indirect means of supporting and defending the people and institutions that had given him so much" (Origins of Cyberspace). Faraday believed that the place of the scientist was the laboratory and that the discipline should remain generalized. Origins of Cyberspace 40. Octavo (221 x 140 mm), pp. [iv], 33, [1]. Recent green cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Occasional pencil side-ruling and marginalia in a contemporary hand. Title page soiled with slight chipping at extremities, light foxing. A very good copy.
