Science Writing in the Romantic Era 1770-1837
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18th Century
19th Century
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forthcoming
Humphry Davy
Mary Shelley
professionalisation
Romanticism
science fiction
Product details
- ISBN 9781041350996
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 30 Oct 2026
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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These areas of enquiry were related in the period: the chemical changes produced by heat were the subject of intense investigation in an effort to provide a comprehensive account of why and how substances combined. Priestley’s isolation of gases was made under the aegis of a phlogiston theory; this was superseded by Lavoisier’s caloric theory, which was in turn undermined by Davy’s discovery of chlorine’s role in reactions. New gases were discovered – oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide; photosynthesis was postulated; infrared and ultraviolet rays were detected. The Voltaic pile was a spectacular instrument for harnessing electricity – Davy used it to decompose substances, reveal unknown elements, and show that substances were bonded by electrochemical forces. Dalton codified the operation of these forces – and the structure of matter – in his atomic theory. Meanwhile Herschel, when not detecting infra red, was observing previously invisible points of light in the heavens with improved telescopes, while Young was proposing a wave theory of light. Towards the end of the period, Oersted and then Faraday began the pioneering work on electromagnetism that changed understanding of the interaction of forces and enabled the construction of the electric motor.
Tim Fulford is Professor of English at de Montfort University. His publications include Experimentalism in Wordsworth's later Poetry: Dialogues with the Dead (2023) Robert Southey, Lives of Labouring-class Poets, ed. Tim Fulford (2023) and Robert Southey, The Life of Wesley and Rise and Progress of Methodism (2022).
