An entertainment for angels : electricity in the Enlightenment / Patricia Fara.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fara, Patricia, author.

Series:

Icon science (Series)

Icon science

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Electricity.

Electricity--History--18th century.

Magnetism--History--18th century.

Magnetism.

Enlightenment.

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

177 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm.

Other Title:

Electricity in the Enlightenment

Place of Publication:

London : Icon Books, 2017.

Summary:

"Electricity was the scientific fashion of the Enlightenment, 'an Entertainment for Angels, rather than for Men'. Lecturers attracted huge audiences to marvel at sparkling fountains, flaming drinks, pirouetting dancers and electrified boys. Enlightenment optimists predicted that this new-found power of nature would cure illnesses, improve crop production, even bring the dead back to life. Benjamin Franklin, better known as one of America's founding fathers, played a key role in developing the new instruments and theories of electricity during the eighteenth century. Celebrated for drawing lightning down from the sky with a kite, Franklin was an Enlightenment expert on electricity, developing one of the most successful explanations of this mysterious phenomenon. But Patricia Fara, Senior Tutor of Clare College Cambridge, reveals how the study of electricity became intertwined with Enlightenment politics. By demonstrating their control of the natural world, Enlightenment philosophers hoped to gain authority over society. And their stunning electrical performances provided dramatic evidence of their special powers."--Jacket.

Contents:

Illuminations: the light of reason. Interpretations

Electricity and enlightenment

Shocking inventions: instruments. Robert Boyle and the air-pump

Francis Hauksbee and the electrical machine

Stephen Gray and the charity boy

Pieter van Musschenbroek and the Leyden jar

Lightning causes: applications. Benjamin Franklin

Knobs or points?

The business of medicine

Therapeutic shocks

Sparks of imagination: theories. Problems

Fluids and atmospheres

Theological aethers

Measurement and mathematics

The flow of life: current electricity. Henry Cavendish and the torpedo

Luigi Galvani and his frogs

Alessandro Volta and his pile

Resuscitation.

Notes:

"Originally published in 2002 by Icon Books Ltd."--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-177).

ISBN:

9781785782077

178578207X

OCLC:

1005667624

Publisher Number:

99973942509