The Scientist-Enabler

2020 ◽  
pp. 260-316
Author(s):  
Toby Musgrave
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
The People ◽  
Natural Philosophers ◽  
Christopher Wren

This chapter talks about the most prestigious office Joseph Banks held, which was president of the Royal Society for an unbroken forty-one and a half years from November 1778. It points out that the Royal Society was founded on 28 November 1660 by a committee of twelve natural philosophers following a lecture by Sir Christopher Wren at Gresham College. The chapter recounts how Banks devoted his presidency to the “Scientific Service of the People.” It explores Bank's advocacy of the Baconian ideal about a strong partnership between government and science. It also highlights Banks's efforts to advance governmental patronage of science by demonstrative applications of the usefulness of science to the state's advantage.

George Gabriel Stokes

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Dynamics ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Mathematical Analysis ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Science And Religion ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Public Servant ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Many ◽  
Natural Philosophers

George Gabriel Stokes was one of the most significant mathematicians and natural philosophers of the nineteenth century. Serving as Lucasian professor at Cambridge he made wide-ranging contributions to optics, fluid dynamics and mathematical analysis. As Secretary of the Royal Society he played a major role in the direction of British science acting as both a sounding board and a gatekeeper. Outside his own area he was a distinguished public servant and MP for Cambridge University. He was keenly interested in the relation between science and religion and wrote extensively on the matter. This edited collection of essays brings together experts in mathematics, physics and the history of science to cover the many facets of Stokes’s life in a scholarly but accessible way.

Cotton Mather Anguishes Over the Consequences of His Son's Inoculation Against Smallpox

PEDIATRICS ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 756-756
Author(s):  
T. E. C.
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
New Method ◽  
Poor People ◽  
Inoculation Technique ◽  
Cotton Mather ◽  
The People ◽  
Small Pox ◽  
Contemporary Science ◽  
Historical Writings ◽  
The Town

Cotton Mather (1663-1728), usually remembered for his theological and historical writings, was also much concerned with medicine. He was interested in many aspects of contemporary science and became one of the few colonial members of the Royal Society of London. In 1721, when a smallpox epidemic hit Boston, Mather urged Boston physicians, particularly Zabdiel Boylston, to employ the inoculation technique used by the Turks as a means of preventing fatal cases of the disease. In his Diary, Mather records the anguish he suffered for having taken this stand. [May] 26 [1721]. The grievous Calamity of the Small-Pox has now entered the Town. The Practice of conveying and suffering the Small-pox by Inoculation, has never been used in America, nor indeed in our Nation, But how many Lives might be saved by it, if it were practised? . . . [June] 13. What shall I do? what shall I do, with regard unto Sammy? He comes home, when the Small-pox begins to spread in the Neighbourhood; and he is lothe to return unto Cambridge. I must earnestly look up to Heaven for Direction. . . . [July] 16. At this Time, I enjoy an unspeakable Consolation. I have instructed our Physicians in the new Method used by the Africans and Asiaticks, to prevent and abate the Dangers of the Small-Pox, and infallibly to save the Lives of those that have it wisely managed upon them. The Destroyer, being enraged at the Proposal of any Thing, that may rescue the Lives of our poor People from him, has taken a strange Possession of the People on this Occasion.

The Greatest Beauty for the Greatest Number

2020 ◽  
pp. 106-122
Author(s):  
Anton Howes
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Jeremy Bentham ◽  
Flat Rate ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
The People ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Masses

This chapter introduces Henry Cole, who was heavily influenced by the ideas of the philosopher Jeremy Bentham and became the conduit for utilitarianism into the Royal Society of Arts. It analyzes Bentham's proposed alternative that based everything on a fundamental guiding principle of achieving the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people. It also mentions utilitarian reformers inspired by Bentham that introduced improvements for the benefit of “the masses” or the “people.” The chapter talks about Rowland Hill, a utilitarian reformer who tried to create a national prepaid postage system. It examines Hill's scheme to replace the messy postal system that favoured only the rich and powerful by promoting a flat rate so that any letter weighing under an ounce might be sent to anywhere in the country for just a penny.

Political Science

2018 ◽  
pp. 104-133
Author(s):  
Tita Chico
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
The Political ◽  
The Core ◽  
Gulliver's Travels ◽  
Experimental Project ◽  
History Of ◽  
Natural Philosophers

Late seventeenth-century natural philosophers inherited the conjunction of politics and science at the core of Francis Bacon’s experimental project. Thomas Sprat’s The History of the Royal Society, Margaret Cavendish’s The Blazing World, and Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels use the conventions of literary knowledge to express their scientific-political visions, insisting that natural philosophy cannot be understood apart from the political institutions enabling and enabled by its practice and promulgation. These writers use the experimental imagination to envisage, in turn, civil government, absolutist monarchy, and imperialism. Sprat advances scientific triumphalism and a model for schooling gentlemen into civil society.

Editorial. An Italian correspondence, an Italian earthquake and the homes of The Royal Society

2005 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Terry Quinn
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
College Professors ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Christopher Wren ◽  
City Of London ◽  
The City ◽  
The Mansion ◽  
Italian Earthquake

Introduction to the January 2005 issue of Notes and Records with a reproduction of an engraving by Nehemiah Grew, date unknown. The engraving shows Gresham College, Bishopsgate, London, the mansion of Sir Thomas Gresham and the original home of The Royal Society from 1660–1710, except for a short period just after the Great Fire of London when the Society was at Arundel House. The Society was founded at Gresham College following a lecture by Christopher Wren, at that time Gresham Professor of Astronomy. The College was named after Sir Thomas Gresham, son of Sir Richard Gresham, Lord Mayor of London (1537–38), who conceived the idea, brought to fruition by his son, of the Royal Exchange modelled on the Antwerp Bourse. Gresham College professors continue to give free public lectures in the City of London.

scholarly journals Historical notice to the supposed identity of the large mass of meteoric iron now in the British Museum, with the celebrated otumpa iron described by Rubin de Celis, in the philosophical transactions for 1786. Communicated in a letter from Woodbine Parish, jun., Esq., F. R. S., to Charles Konig, Esq., Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society

1837 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 213-213
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
British Museum ◽  
Large Mass ◽  
The People

The mass of iron in question was transmitted to Buenos Ayres, for the purpose of being manufactured into fire-arms, at the period when the people of that country declared themselves independent of Spain; but a supply of arms having in the meanwhile arrived, it was deposited in the Arsenal, and afterwards given to Mr. Parish, who transmitted it to England. Its identity with the mass of iron described by De Celis, though probable, is not exactly determined.

Methodology and Apologetics: Thomas Sprat's History of the Royal Society

1980 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. B. Wood
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Natural Philosophy ◽  
Self Perception ◽  
Social Basis ◽  
History Of ◽  
Novel Method ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Natural Philosophers

Central to Thomas Sprat's History of the Royal Society was the description and justification of the method adopted and advocated by the Fellows of the Society, for it was thought that it was their method which distinguished them from ancients, dogmatists, sceptics, and contemporary natural philosophers such as Descartes. The Fellows saw themselves as furthering primarily a novel method, rather than a system, of philosophy, and the History gave expression to this corporate self-perception. However, the History's description of their method was not necessarily accurate. Rather, as will be argued below, by a combination of subtle misrepresentation and selective exposition, Sprat portrayed a method which would further the aims of social and ecclesiastical stability and material prosperity, essential for the Royal Society since its continued existence depended upon the creation of a social basis for the institutionalized pursuit of natural philosophy. Some link had to be forged between the activities of the Society and the intellectual and social aspirations of the Restoration. To understand the intent and meaning of Sprat's History and the method there portrayed, we must therefore look to the institutional needs which it fulfilled.

scholarly journals VIII. On the surface-condensation of steam

1861 ◽  
Vol 151 ◽  
pp. 133-160 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Thin Plates ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Surface Condensation ◽  
Natural Philosophers

The laws which regulate the transmission of heat through thin plates of metal under various circumstances, although of extensive practical application, and although their elucidation would necessarily involve scientific conclusions of great interest, have hitherto received little of the attention of natural philosophers. Two great divisions of the inquiry are, first, the communication of heat from the products of combustion to a boiler; and second, the application of cold to a vessel employed for the condensation of steam. With a view to supply some information on the latter subject I have, with the assistance of a grant from the Royal Society, undertaken the present research.

The Presidential portraits

1946 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-42
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
William Hogarth ◽  
Humphry Davy ◽  
High Level ◽  
Lord Kelvin ◽  
Christopher Wren ◽  
Samuel Pepys

Among the treasured possessions of the Royal Society the portraits of the Presidents take an exalted place. From the time of the first President, Lord Brouncker, whose likeness was limned by Sir Peter Lely, the painted records of the great rulers of the Society have maintained a high level. It will suffice to mention such pictures as Sir Godfrey Kneller’s portrait of Sir Christopher Wren; Charles Jervas’s portrait of Newton; Thomas Phillips’s portrait of Sir Joseph Banks; Sir Thomas Lawrence’s portrait of Sir Humphry Davy; and, in more recent times, Orchardson’s Lord Kelvin; Eve’s Sir Charles Sherrington and Meredith Frampton’s Sir Gowland Hopkins. Samuel Pepys and Martin Folkes can scarcely be numbered among the Presidents who have shed a scientific lustre on the Society, but their portraits by Sir Godfrey Kneller and William Hogarth respectively are magnificent examples of the portraitist’s art.

scholarly journals VI. An anatomical description of a male rhinoceros

1801 ◽  
Vol 91 ◽  
pp. 145-152 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Internal Structure ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Large Mass ◽  
Upper Lip ◽  
East Indies ◽  
The People ◽  
Fresh Vegetables ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Soles Of The Feet

Our knowledge of this animal has hitherto been extremely limited, both with regard to its natural history, and also its internal structure. A paper by James Parsons, M. D. giving a very accurate description of a young rhinoceros, was read before the Royal Society, in June, 1743; but, as the Doctor does not attempt to describe more of it than the external figure and coverings, (which are delineated,) we may presume that he never had any opportunity of examining the internal parts : his account, however, as far as it goes, is in every respect correct ; I shall not, therefore, take up the time of this learned Society by a useless recapitulation, but proceed to describe such appearances as have not yet been noticed. The subject of the following observations was brought from the East Indies to England, where it was intended he should remain, until a favourable opportunity should offer of sending him to Vienna. During the passage from India, he appeared to enjoy a good slate of health, which continued uninterrupted, until a few days before his death ; at which time, he was attacked with difficulty of breathing, and died before he had attained his third year. In the course of this time, he had become perfectly docile and tame ; but never, by actions or otherwise, expressed the smallest regard or affection for his keeper, or for any of the people who occasionally fed him ; neither was he easily irritated, but preserved, on all occasions, the most perfect indifference and stupidity. He was fed chiefly upon hay and oats, also potatoes, and other fresh vegetables ; his consumption of which was prodigious, exceeding that of two or three working horses. It would appear, that this animal had not arrived to near its full growth : he was scarcely so high as a two year old heifer ; but the bulk of his body, by measurement, considerably exceeded the length. The horn, which is affixed to the upper lip of the adult rhinoceros, was here just beginning to sprout. The hoofs were divided into three obtuse parts: the soles of the feet were well defended, by a large mass of elastic matter, covered by a strong horn-like substance.

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