Thrifty science : making the most of materials in the history of experiment / Simon Werrett.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Werrett, Simon, author.

Series:

Chicago scholarship online.

Chicago scholarship online

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Science--Experiments--History--17th century.

Science.

Science--Experiments--History--18th century.

Science--Experiments--Economic aspects.

Scientific apparatus and instruments--History.

Scientific apparatus and instruments.

Science--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (327 pages)

Place of Publication:

Chicago : University of Chicago Press, [2019]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

If the twentieth century saw the rise of "Big Science," then the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries were surely an age of thrift. As Simon Werrett's new history shows, frugal early modern experimenters transformed their homes into laboratories as they recycled, repurposed, repaired, and reused their material possessions to learn about the natural world. Thrifty Science explores this distinctive culture of experiment and demonstrates how the values of the household helped to shape an array of experimental inquiries, ranging from esoteric investigations of glowworms and sour beer to famous experiments such as Benjamin Franklin's use of a kite to show lightning was electrical and Isaac Newton's investigations of color using prisms. Tracing the diverse ways that men and women put their material possessions into the service of experiment, Werrett offers a history of practices of recycling and repurposing that are often assumed to be more recent in origin. This thriving domestic culture of inquiry was eclipsed by new forms of experimental culture in the nineteenth century, however, culminating in the resource-hungry science of the twentieth. Could thrifty science be making a comeback today, as scientists grapple with the need to make their research more environmentally sustainable?

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Illustrations

Introduction

1. Thrifty Science: Oeconomy and Experiment

2. Making a Home for Experiment

3. Shifty Science: How to Make Use of Things

4. The Power of Lasting: Maintenance and Cleaning

5. The Broken World: Repairs and Recycling

6. Secondhand Science

7. Auctions and the Dismantling of Science

8. The Palatial Laboratory: Economy and Experiment

Conclusion

Acknowledgments

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Also issued in print: 2019.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 22. Okt 2019)

ISBN:

9780226610399

022661039X

OCLC:

1083266772