An empire of magnetism : global science and the British magnetic enterprise in the age of imperialism / Edward J. Gillin.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gillin, Edward John, 1990- author.

Series:

Oxford scholarship online.

Oxford scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Magnetism--History--19th century.

Magnetism.

Imperialism and science--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Imperialism and science.

Geomagnetism--History--19th century.

Geomagnetism.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (0 pages)

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2023.

Summary:

This book offers an in-depth, global history of the British Magnetic Survey - the nineteenth-century, British-government-funded efforts to measure and understand the earth's magnetic field. These scientific efforts are situated within the context of the development of 'global science' and the ways they intersected with empire and colonialism.

Contents:

Intro

Halftitle page

Title page

Copyright page

Dedication page

Acknowledgements

Contents

List of Figures

List of Abbreviations

Preface

0° 24′ North, 330° 19′ East: 3 December 1839

Introduction: Empires of Magnetism

0.1. A History of a Global Science

0.2. The State of Science

0.3. From Regional Experiment to Global System

1. Steam-Engine Economy and the Heat of the Mine in Early Nineteenth-Century Cornwall

1.1. Economies of Coal

1.2. Cornwall's Societies and Patrons of Science

1.3. Pressure, Steam, and Subterranean Heat

1.4. The Earth's Great Heat

1.5. Conclusion

2. The Earth's Laboratory: Underground Experiments, Philosophical Miners, and Knowledge from the Mine

2.1. Mine Experiments

2.2. Rejection at the Royal Society

2.3. Philosophical Miners

2.4. Credibility and Consensus

2.5. Conclusion

3. Survey and Science: Polar Expeditions, Terrestrial Magnetism, and the Instruments of Empire, 1815-1839

3.1. The Science of Terrestrial Magnetism

3.2. Fox's Dipping Needle

3.3. Sir John Franklin and the Magnetism of the British Isles

3.4. Europe and the Atlantic

3.5. Conclusion

4. The Antarctic Foxes: Dipping Needles on James Clark Ross's South Pole Expedition, 1838-1843

4.1. International Fox: The Navy, Europe, and the Atlantic

4.2. The British Magnetic Scheme

4.3. Dipping Needles on the Atlantic

4.4. Into the Southern Hemisphere

4.5. Magnetic Contributions

4.6. Conclusion

5. Expedition and Experiment: The British Magnetic Scheme, 1841-1843

5.1. The Niger Expedition

5.2. Instrumental Upheavals

5.3. Lefroy and the North American Challenge

5.4. Conclusion

6. Discovery, Disaster, and the Dipping Needle: Britain's Global Magnetic System, 1843-1850

6.1. Science on HMS Samarang

6.2. Magnetic Miseries.

6.3. The Voyage of HMS Rattlesnake

6.4. Relics and Rejects: The Franklin Expedition

6.5. Conclusion

7. The Twilight of Cornish Science and the Systematization of Oceanic Navigation, 1850-1907

7.1. Trusting Wilton

7.2. Reporting the BMS

7.3. The British Isles Survey of 1857

7.4. Systems of Navigation

7.5. Conclusion

Epilogue: Global Science in an Age of Empire

8.1. Reputation and Endurance

8.2. Global Systems

Select Bibliography

Index.

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2023.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource and publisher information; title from PDF title page (viewed on September 11, 2023).

Other Format:

Print version: Gillin, Edward J. An Empire of Magnetism

ISBN:

0-19-199612-2

0-19-889097-4

0-19-889096-6

OCLC:

1411309460