Alfred Russel Wallace and the flat earth controversy

In 1870, the eminent naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace accepted a wager for £500 from a flat earth fanatic to demonstrate in public that the earth is a globe. In effect, Wallace sought to prove a scientific fact for monetary gain. The wager and its wider context are important in highlighting issues of authority and professionalism in Victorian science.     

Spirited dispute: the secret split between Wallace and Romanes

Alfred Russel Wallace's role in prompting the original publication of "On the Origin of Species" is now generally acknowledged. Wallace is now widely recognised as 'Darwin's co-discoverer', but the role that he played in the development and promotion of Darwinism is more often overlooked. From the very beginning of their collaboration in 1858, there were important differences between the works of Wallace and Darwin. Within Darwin's lifetime, the two men also disagreed over several significant evolutionary debates, most notably the role that Natural Selection might play in evolution. Following Darwin's death in 1882, Wallace set about promoting his own version of 'Darwinism', but not without opposition. A rather ungentlemanly debate between Wallace and Darwin's chief disciple George John Romanes throws light on the contested nature of what it meant to be a Darwinian in the late nineteenth century.     

Worlds of wonder: Sensation and the Victorian scientific performance

Performances of various kinds were central to the strategies adopted by Victorian natural philosophers to constitute their authority. Appealing to the senses of their audience through spectacular effects or ingenious demonstrations of skill was key to the success of these performances. If we want to understand the politics and practice of Victorian science-and science more generally-we need to pay particular attention to these sorts of performances. We need to understand the ingredients that went into them and the relationships between scientific performers and their publics. In particular, we need to investigate the self-conscious nature of Victorian scientific performances. Looking at science as performance provides us with a new set of tools for understanding the politics of knowledge, the relationship between producers and consumers of scientific knowledge, and the construction and constitution of scientific authority.     

真与善的协调:爱因斯坦的榜样

当今世界几乎每个人都在倾听科学技术前进的脚步声.然而却有两种极端的回应,一部分人欢呼,而另一部分人诅咒.有些欢呼者似乎把科学技术看作了"菩萨",而有些诅咒者又好象把科学技术视为"魔鬼".有些人担心科学会在一片欢呼声中失落,而有些人又为科学无限制的发展忧虑.对待科学的这两种截然相反的态度,根源于科学是否带给人类幸福问题上的分歧.因为有一种伦理学的"善"的概念是由幸福定义的,所以深入的理论讨论必然要追溯到真与善的关系.也就是说.科学与幸福的问题可以转换为科学理性与道德理想的关系问题进行讨论.     

Geographers of Mars: cartographic inscription and exploration narrative in late Victorian representations of the red planet

Over two decades spanning the turn of the twentieth century, astronomers' claims about the landscape and climate of Mars spurred widespread scientific and popular interest in the possibility that the red planet might be inhabited. This essay offers a new explanation for the power with which the notion of an inhabited Mars gripped noted scholars and everyday citizens on both sides of the Atlantic. Rather than pointing to a rekindling of age-old philosophical interest in the plurality of worlds, it argues that turn-of-the-century scientific narratives about Mars derived much of their power and popularity from ties with the newly established discipline of geography. From mapmaking to travelogue-style writing, astronomers borrowed powerful representational strategies from the discipline of geography to legitimize their claims about the red planet. In making the link between geographical and astronomical science more explicit, the essay further suggests that turn-of-the-century representations of Mars could be productively recontextualized alongside geographical works produced in the same period.     

Science and scientists in Victorian and Edwardian literary novels: insights into the emergence of a new profession

Literary fiction has seldom been seriously considered as a mode of science communication. Here, I review novels from the 19th century canon of English literature in which characters either have, or aspire to have, substantive professional scientific roles to see what insights they provide into the practice of science in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. They reflect the historical transition of science from an intellectual hobby to a paid occupation, but also reveal that while a career in science became possible for a wider range of people, it seldom allowed these new entrants to undertake fundamental scientific research.