19th century
anatomy
authority
britain
british
Category=PDX
change
common points of discussion
cultural studies
culture
demonstrations
discovery
education
electricity
entertainment
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
exhibitions
galleries
historical
history
humanities
lectures
marketplace
museums
natural
nature
panoramic shows
phrenology
popular sciences
popularity
science
scientists
social status
transformation
victorian period
Product details
- ISBN 9780226276502
- Weight: 680g
- Dimensions: 16 x 23mm
- Publication Date: 22 Oct 2007
- Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Hardback
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The nineteenth century was an age of transformation in science, when scientists were rewarded for their startling new discoveries with increased social status and authority. But it was also a time when ordinary people from across the social spectrum were given the opportunity to participate in science, for education, entertainment, or both. In Victorian Britain, science could be encountered in myriad forms and in countless locations: in panoramic shows, exhibitions, and galleries; in city museums and country houses; in popular lectures; and even in domestic conversations that revolved around the latest books and periodicals. "Science in the Marketplace" reveals this other side of Victorian scientific life by placing the sciences in the wider cultural marketplace, ultimately showing that the creation of new sites and audiences was just as crucial to the growing public interest in science as were the scientists themselves.
By focusing attention on the scientific audience, as opposed to the scientific community or self-styled popularizers, "Science in the Marketplace" ably links larger societal changes - in literacy, in industrial technologies, and in leisure - to the evolution of "popular science."
Aileen Fyfe is lecturer in the Department of History at the National University of Ireland, Galway, and the author of Science and Salvation, also published by the University of Chicago Press. Bernard Lightman is professor of humanities at York University, Toronto, editor of Victorian Science in Context and Isis, and the author of Victorian Popularizers of Science, all published by the University of Chicago Press.
