Aloïs Humbert (1829–1887), the first professional curator of natural history in Geneva

2020 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 272-285
Author(s):  
John Hollier ◽  
Anita Hollier
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
The Status

Aloïs Humbert was the first scientist employed by the Musée académique de Genève, but his career as a whole has a much closer resemblance to his “gentleman scientist” contemporaries such as Henri de Saussure and Alphonse Pictet (both of whom also studied under François-Jules Pictet and contributed to the development of the museum) than to that of his successor in the post, Godefroy Lunel. His career is presented to throw light on the professionalization of science in nineteenth-century Geneva, and it is suggested that his prestige raised the status of the role of museum scientist, to the benefit of his successors.

scholarly journals Debating Scientific Medicine: Homoeopathy and Allopathy in Late Nineteenth-century Medical Print in Bengal1

2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 463-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shinjini Das
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Medical Systems ◽  
Scientific Medicine ◽  
Medical Journals ◽  
The Status ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Print Market

AbstractThe historiography of medicine in South Asia often assumes the presence of preordained, homogenous, coherent and clearly-bound medical systems. They also tend to take the existence of a medical ‘mainstream’ for granted. This article argues that the idea of an ‘orthodox’, ‘mainstream’ named allopathy and one of its ‘alternatives’ homoeopathy were co-produced in Bengal. It emphasises the role of the supposed ‘fringe’, ie. homoeopathy, in identifying and organising the ‘orthodoxy’ of the time. The shared market for medicine and print provided a crucial platform where such binary identities such as ‘homoeopaths’ and ‘allopaths’ were constituted and reinforced. This article focuses on a range of polemical writings by physicians in the Bengali print market since the 1860s. Published mostly in late nineteenth-century popular medical journals, these concerned the nature, definition and scope of ‘scientific’ medicine. The article highlights these published disputes and critical correspondence among physicians as instrumental in simultaneously shaping the categories ‘allopathy’ and ‘homoeopathy’ in Bengali print. It unravels how contemporary understandings of race, culture and nationalism informed these medical discussions. It further explores the status of these medical contestations, often self-consciously termed ‘debates’, as an essential contemporary trope in discussing ‘science’ in the vernacular.

Introduction

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Bill Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Great Britain ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Evolutionary Theories ◽  
Evolutionary Thought ◽  
History Of

The introduction sets the scene by exploring the role of Edinburgh as a centre for the development and propagation of pre-Darwinian evolutionary theories. It gives essential background on natural history in the Scottish capital in early nineteenth century and the history of evolutionary thought and outlines the aims and objectives of the book. In addition, it explores some of the historiographical issues raised by earlier historians of science who have discussed the role of Edinburgh in the development of evolutionary thought in Great Britain.

Natural History in Edinburgh, 1779–1832

2019 ◽  
pp. 37-74
Author(s):  
Bill Jenkins
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Early Nineteenth Century ◽  
Late Eighteenth ◽  
The University ◽  
John Walker ◽  
The City

This chapter focuses in on Edinburgh’s natural history circles in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. First it examines the chair of natural history at the University and the work of its two incumbents during this period, John Walker and Robert Jameson, before turning to natural history in the extra-mural anatomy schools. These were the site of some of the boldest thinkers on evolutionary themes in early nineteenth-century Britain. Edinburgh was also the home of a number of important natural history societies in this period, for example, the Plinian and Wernerian Natural History Societies. These served as lively forums for the discussion of the latest developments and theories. This chapter will explore the nature and role of these societies, before finally turning the spotlight on the scientific and natural history journals published in the city, such as the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal and the Edinburgh Journal of Science.

From the Quarrel of Monotheism to the Babel–Bibel Controversy

2021 ◽  
pp. 167-190
Author(s):  
Guy G. Stroumsa
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
International Impact ◽  
The Status ◽  
Political Borders

The chapter ponders the massive international impact of Renan’s views on Semitic monotheism. This impact, spread across linguistic, religious, and political borders, enduringly echoed the idea of Semitic monotheism. At the same time, it triggered a series of polemical responses that questioned the very legitimacy of the idea. The chapter also reviews new developments among German historians of religion in the last decades of the nineteenth century on the approach of biblical monotheism. In particular, we focus on another major scholarly affair, which took place at turn of the century, around a scholarly school that sought to discredit the idea of the Israelite origins of monotheism. These developments must be understood in the context of the growing racial anti-Semitism. The significant role of Jewish scholars in both affairs, in which the status of ancient Israelite monotheism was questioned, will also be surveyed.

Robert Chambers and the Nebular Hypothesis

1975 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 214-232 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
History Of Science ◽  
Reading Public ◽  
Literary Style ◽  
History Of ◽  
Scientific Value

The role of Robert Chambers's anonymous Vestiges of the natural history of creation in popularizing evolutionary ideas establishes it as a significant work in the history of science even though its intrinsic scientific value is not great. Its fascinating subject, a universally applicable developmental hypothesis, piqued the curiosity of the nineteenth-century reading public. The clientele to whom the book especially appealed was not too concerned with errors in fact and unsupported generalizations, but instead was attracted by the smoothness of its literary style and the glibness of its pronouncements. These same characteristics caused it to be an anathema to both scientists and clergymen, who joined together to voice their disapproval; they agreed that the ideas in it were potentially harmful to those untrained in scientific procedures and unaware of the book's inherent religious heresies.

‘Entering upon an Honourable and Important Profession’: Irish Medical Student Image and Representation in the Age of Medical Reform, c.1850–1900

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Kelly
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Medical Student ◽  
Medical Students ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Religious Affiliation ◽  
Medical Schools ◽  
Medical Reform ◽  
The Status ◽  
Irish Medical

This chapter investigates how Irish medical schools from the mid-nineteenth century attempted to inculcate students with the ideals of the profession and reform the reputation of the rowdy medical student in order to help improve the status of the profession. Utilising lecturers’ introductory addresses, contemporary medical journals and doctors’ memoirs, it illustrates the role of lecturers in enforcing decorum, shaping the image and identity of students and encouraging traits such as gentility. The chapter explores what was considered to be a ‘good’ medical student in the period, assessing the role of medical schools in shaping respectable gentlemen who were most likely Protestant and middle-class in the nineteenth century and Catholic and middle-class in the twentieth century. Representations of medical students in the Irish press are also examined. This chapter shows how such representations changed over the period, examining the importance of class, religious affiliation and the appropriate traits that students were expected to possess.

Charles and Emile Parzudaki: natural history dealers in nineteenth-century Paris

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christophe Gouraud ◽  
Laurent Chevrier ◽  
Richard Mearns
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
The Status ◽  
Biographical Account

Although Charles and Emile Parzudaki were important natural history dealers during the nineteenth century, little is known about them, their collections or their archives. We present here the first biographical account of Charles and his stepson Emile Parzudaki. The status of both Charles and Emile Parzudaki as travellers and collectors is discussed and analysed.

scholarly journals Mainstream or Tributary? The Question of ‘Hibernian’ Fishes in William Thompson’s The Natural History of Ireland (1849–56)

2019 ◽  
pp. 159-182
Author(s):  
Mary Orr
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Histoire Naturelle ◽  
The Status ◽  
History Of ◽  
Scientific Endeavour

In providing the first evaluation of the contributions of William Thompson’s The Natural History of Ireland (1856) in the history of nineteenth-century ichthyology, this chapter concomitantly re-evaluates the status of ‘Ireland’ in the history of European natural history. By arguing that both Thompson and (nineteenth-century) Ireland merit a more centrally contributory rather than auxiliary positioning in knowledge of scientific endeavour, the chapter challenges the use by historians of allegedly a-temporal river metaphors: they are never culturally, scientifically or historically neutral. In demonstrating how Thompson’s work on Ireland re-centres nineteenth-century ichthyology – by comparison with the findings of Agassiz and the Histoire naturelle des poissons by Cuvier and Valenciennes – the chapter proposes that overly terrestrial and territorialized conceptions of natural history endeavour lose sight of more significantly fluid, and inter-connective, scientific and cultural understandings of the natural world.

The study of interfacial reactions of nickel thin films on GaAs

1983 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 156-157
Author(s):  
L.J. Chen ◽  
Y.F. Hsieh
Keyword(s):  
Thin Films ◽  
Integrated Circuits ◽  
Interfacial Reactions ◽  
Metal Contacts ◽  
Nickel Thin Films ◽  
Thin Foils ◽  
The Status ◽  
Si Doped ◽  
Electron Microscopes

One measure of the maturity of a device technology is the ease and reliability of applying contact metallurgy. Compared to metal contact of silicon, the status of GaAs metallization is still at its primitive stage. With the advent of GaAs MESFET and integrated circuits, very stringent requirements were placed on their metal contacts. During the past few years, extensive researches have been conducted in the area of Au-Ge-Ni in order to lower contact resistances and improve uniformity. In this paper, we report the results of TEM study of interfacial reactions between Ni and GaAs as part of the attempt to understand the role of nickel in Au-Ge-Ni contact of GaAs.N-type, Si-doped, (001) oriented GaAs wafers, 15 mil in thickness, were grown by gradient-freeze method. Nickel thin films, 300Å in thickness, were e-gun deposited on GaAs wafers. The samples were then annealed in dry N2 in a 3-zone diffusion furnace at temperatures 200°C - 600°C for 5-180 minutes. Thin foils for TEM examinations were prepared by chemical polishing from the GaA.s side. TEM investigations were performed with JE0L- 100B and JE0L-200CX electron microscopes.

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