This project explored the popular dissemination of science in the nineteenth century through the medium of periodicals designed for a general readership. In the pages of periodicals such as the Cornhill Magazine, articles on the latest scientific developments stood side by side with fiction and poetry, and discussions of political events. Research focused on the inter-relationship of scientific and other forms of discourse within the periodical frame.
Research over the initial three year period led to the production of an annotated electronic index of the scientific content of 16 periodicals, accompanied by a volume of interpretative essays, Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical: Reading the Magazine of Nature (Cambridge University Press). The two conferences held by the project in Leeds (2000) and M.I.T. (2001) resulted in two further volumes of essays: Culture and Science in the Nineteenth-Century Media (Ashgate Publishing, 2004) and Science Serialized: Representations of the Sciences in Nineteenth-Century Periodicals (M.I.T. Press, 2004).
The electronic index was published as a freely available online resource in January 2005 under the title: Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical: an Electronic Index.
Website
Duration: 1999 – December 2007
Project Team
- Prof. Sally Shuttleworth (Department of English Literature, University of Sheffield)
- Prof. Geoffrey Cantor (Division of the History and Philosophy of Science, University of Leeds)
- Jamie McLaughlin (Developer – The Digital Humanities Institute)