The voice of science : British scientists on the lecture circuit in Gilded Age America / Diarmid A. Finnegan.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Finnegan, Diarmid A., author.

Series:

Science and culture in the nineteenth century.

Science and Culture in the Nineteenth Century

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Communication in science--History--19th century.

Communication in science.

Lectures and lecturing--United States--History--19th century.

Lectures and lecturing.

Great Britain--Intellectual life--History--19th century.

Great Britain.

United States--Intellectual life--History--19th century.

United States.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xiii, 286 pages) : illustrations, map ;

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Pittsburgh, Pa. : University of Pittsburgh Press, [2021]

Summary:

"For many in the nineteenth century, the spoken word had a vivacity and power that exceeded other modes of communication. This conviction helped to sustain a diverse and dynamic lecture culture that provided a crucial vehicle for shaping and contesting cultural norms and beliefs. As science increasingly became part of public culture and debate, its spokespersons recognized the need to harness the presumed power of public speech to recommend the moral relevance of scientific ideas and attitudes. With this wider context in mind, The Voice of Science explores the efforts of five celebrity British scientists-John Tyndall, Thomas Henry Huxley, Richard Proctor, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Henry Drummond-to articulate and embody a moral vision of the scientific life on American lecture platforms. These evangelists for science negotiated the fraught but intimate relationship between platform and newsprint culture and faced the demands of audiences searching for meaningful and memorable lecture performances. As Diarmid Finnegan reveals, all five attracted unrivaled attention, provoking responses in the press, from church pulpits, and on other platforms. Their lectures became potent cultural catalysts, provoking far-reaching debate on the consequences and relevance of scientific thought for reconstructing cultural meaning and moral purpose"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Introduction: Science lectures in an age of oratory

Science, speech and character : John Tyndall's lectures on light

Reason's rhetor : the scientific oratory of Thomas Henry Huxley

Richard Proctor and the tempo of science

Alfred Russel Wallace, anticelebrity

Evolution's evangelist : the American addresses of Henry Drummond

Conclusion: Science, historically speaking.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780822946816

0822946815

OCLC:

1285052010