HPSC0081 Science in the Nineteenth Century - UCL
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Department of Science and Technology Studies HPSC0081 Science in the Nineteenth Century 1. Module syllabus v2 2020-21 session • Module tutor: Dr Jenny Bulstrode • Module tutor: Dr Cristiano Turbil • Module tutor: Professor Joe Cain 2. Description The nineteenth century saw the origin of much of what we might identify as “modern” scientific and technological research and practice. Laboratories, factories explorations, empires – all had scientific significance and all were paramount in nineteenth century science. This is also perhaps the period which has enjoyed most sustained attention from historians of science. This course will give a critical introduction to some major themes of nineteenth century science, from a range of historical approaches. This year we’re concentrating on global histories of science. 3. Key information 3.1 Digital resources Type Location Moodle moodle.ucl.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=7484 Timetable tinyurl.com/hpsc0081 ReadingLists@UCL tinyurl.com/read0081
HPSC0081 Science in the Nineteenth Century
2020-21 syllabus
3.2 Module tutors
Tutor Dr Jenny Bulstrode
Email j.bulstrode@ucl.ac.uk
Web ucl.ac.uk/sts/bulstrode
Office hours email tutor to book an appointment
Tutor Dr Cristiano Turbil
Email c.turbil@ucl.ac.uk
Web tinyurl.com/turbil
Office hours email tutor to book an appointment
Tutor (Convenor) Professor Joe Cain
Email J.Cain@ucl.ac.uk
Web ucl.ac.uk/sts/cain
Office hours book via tinyurl.com/profjoecain
4. Aims and objectives
4.1 aims
This is a Masters-level module. HPSC0081 pursues several kinds of goals. First, this is a
module about the history of science and technology. This includes not only the substance of
science, but also the people, places, contexts and consequences that surround and help to
shape the course of events. Time is strictly limited in this module, so we’ve made some choices
about how to focus the curriculum.
Content aims are straightforward:
• identify key themes in 19thC science, both regarding content and historiography
• study this period in an integrated way, combining written sources, material artifacts,
physical geography, and cultural geography
• while the focus is primarily on the British diaspora, this module will integrate some
limited material from other contexts and geographies
The nineteenth century is a subject given considerable attention in English-speaking academic
communities. The secondary literature is enormous. Another aim is to further develop the ability
to assess interpretative work and relate evidence to interpretations.
Primary sources will make up some of the essential readings. The aim is to promote a direct
encounter with the activity in this period. Students are expected to further develop their skills
working with original source materials: critical reading of testimony and evidence, plus critical
reflection on their interpretation and extension. They also will be expected to develop further
research skills to integrate archives, museum collections, and digital resources.
2HPSC0081 Science in the Nineteenth Century
2020-21 syllabus
4.2 objectives
a. Knowledge
By the end of this module students should be able to:
• demonstrate key themes in 19thC science, both in content and historiography
• demonstrate an ability to research historical topics, including collecting and assessing
primary sources, and relating primary sources to historiographical themes,
• demonstrate an ability to test historiographical arguments and develop relational points
• demonstrate professional-level research skills that integrate archives, museum
collections, and digital resources
b. Transferrable and Key Skills
By the end of this module students should be able to:
• demonstrate the ability to critically interpret both primary and secondary sources
• demonstrate skill in historical reasoning and comparative analysis
• demonstrate skill collecting primary materials relevant to the 19thC
• relate geographic and architectural knowledge to other types of historical artifacts
• approach new material in this course’s domain from a historical perspective and with a
critical historian's eye
• demonstrate critical analysis of science communication and public engagement over a
variety of venues
5. Module plan
Student responsibilities in this module will revolve around two components: seminars and
writing assignments.
a. seminars
A series of seminars is timetabled, with one contact hour per week for LIVE Zoom session.
Seminars are related to specific required readings, and students should come to seminar having
read the essential material. They should be prepared to actively discuss that material and
engage with others.
Additional readings and Web sites are suggested for continued investigation of module topics.
We expect students to actively engage module themes.
b. writing assignments
Assessment will consist of two items totalling 5,000 words of submitted materials. Details will be
provided separately.
• 1x 1,000-word analysis of primary source material
• 1x 4,000-word research essay
3HPSC0081 Science in the Nineteenth Century
2020-21 syllabus
6. Schedule
This schedule lists topics for class sessions. Most materials are available via Moodle, as are
instructions for what we’d like you to prepare prior to the session. The activities here consist:
• Discussion material indicates readings you are expected to read before the live
session and to be prepared to discuss in the live session.
• Essential readings are sources of supporting value to the session and important
substantively for scholarship in the subject. At a minimum, you should skim two other
items selected. Ideally, you will read two of the items selected. These also will have
value in the assessment.
• London’s history are locations in the London region relevant to the subject; perhaps,
you’ll be able to visit them at some point during your studies.
Preview: What is Global History of Science?
Before first session Cain
Discussion material UoL (1826)
Essential reading none
Objective In this preview, we’ll introduce the module plan, the
coursework we expect students to undertake, and the
additional opportunities for study in this area. We’ll also
introduce some of the organising themes and historiography
for the module.
week 20 Food and Landscapes
15 January 2021 Cain
Discussion material Carey (1814: i-xii)
Essential readings Brockway (1979: 77-102)
Schiebinger (2004: 1-22)
London’s history Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew is the UK’s premier botanic
garden. The Garden Museum is a disappointment and
stands in contrast to just about every Royal Park in London.
Look for curated gardens with named specimens of exotic
plants, esp. in Greenwich Park and Queen Mary’s Gardens
in Regent’s Park. Chelsea Physic Garden is key in the
history of apothecaries and import. Also, food halls in major
retailers, such as Fortnum and Mason, Selfridges, and John
Lewis/Waitrose (Oxford Circus) nicely show themes in this
section. London has several commercial attractions
associated with food history, such as Vinopolis.
Objective This session considers the relation between food, botanical
gardens, and empire. The essential readings are key works
in framing the history of botanical gardens as a history of
extraction and exchange. The discussion material is the
introduction to a catalogue for a major botanical garden.
4HPSC0081 Science in the Nineteenth Century
2020-21 syllabus
week 21 Exploration
22 January 2021 Bulstrode
Discussion material La Pérouse (1798), see Moodle for page numbers
Essential readings Latour (1986)
Cruikshank (2005, 127-153)
Bravo (1999)
London’s history George Adams, No.60 Fleet Street, London. Instrument
Maker to the king, Adams provided scientific apparatus to
Captain Cook and, through the French spy Paul Monneron,
to La Pérouse.
Objective This session aims to introduce canonical literature in
STS/HPS (Latour, 1986) together with critical comment and
analysis (Cruikshank, 2005; Bravo, 1999). In this way the
session introduces essential 19th century history and
historiography, while supporting students to develop their
own critical awareness. Central to this session is to consider
whose histories are we telling?
week 22 Nature’s Secrets
29 January 2021 Cain
Discussion material Darwin (1839: 453-478), or
Davenport (1863: 64-84)
Essential readings Allen (1996)
Thwaite (2002: 170-203)
McCook (1996)
London’s history Down House is the museum and gardens advertised as the
home of Charles and Emma Darwin. The largest natural
history collection in the UK is the Natural History Museum.
Also of major value are the Oxford University Museum of
Natural History (Oxford) and the Museum of Zoology and the
Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences (Cambridge). The
Booth Museum in Brighton has a significant collection, too.
For living specimens, there is London Zoo and London
Aquarium. Aquaria at Horniman Museum and SeaLife
Brighton are smaller scale but have important 19thC
appeals.
Objective This section examine exploration and natural history
collecting on both global and national scales. We also
examine how history of natural history highlights gendered
histories of science.
week 23 Machine Economy
05 February 2021 Bulstrode
5HPSC0081 Science in the Nineteenth Century
2020-21 syllabus
Discussion material Taylor (1814)
Essential readings Schaffer (1994)
Williams (1994: 154-177)
Evans (2013)
London’s history You can also see Cornish engines at the London Museum of
Water and Steam and the first completed Difference Engine
at the Science Museum.
Objective This session aims to introduce canonical literature in
STS/HPS (Schaffer 1994); and put it in global context
(Williams 1994: 154-168, 169-177) and (Evans 2013).
Understanding this global context helps recognise the
significance of the history of 19th C science to present-day
global challenges.
week 24 Clinical and Experimental Medicine
12 February 2021 Turbil
Discussion material Foucault (2003: ix-xix, 3-21)
Bernard (1949 [1865]: TBC)
Essential readings Jewson (1976)
Nicolson (2009)
London’s history UCL Cruciform Building and UCL Rockefeller Building {Cain,
2011 #126 sketches a history of these buildings} were
facilities constructed to house medical sciences and clinical
medicine. These were constructed in the same decade as
UCL Medical Sciences (originally named, “Physiology”).
Objective In this session, we discuss the rise of “medicalisation” in the
diagnosis of illness and the conceptualisation of wellness.
We also discuss the evolving relationship between medicine
and science.
week 25 Reading Week
19 February 2021 No session. Reading Week is a period to read essential and
additional reading, undertake project work, reflect on your
studies, and engage in informal learning associated with
your programme of study. Here are some additional
resources to supplement your reflection and lateral thinking.
week 26 Great Exhibitions
26 February 2021 Cain
Discussion material Hunt (1851), or
CPC (1871)
Essential readings Qureshi (2011: 101-125)
6HPSC0081 Science in the Nineteenth Century
2020-21 syllabus
Bellon (2007)
Rydell (1984: 38-71)
London’s history Crystal Palace Park, including the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs
and Crystal Palace Sphinxes.
Objective This session focuses on international exhibitions as a
location for public engagement with science across the
nineteenth century. We’ll compare the 1851 Hyde Park
“Great Exhibition” and its successor, the 1854 Sydenham
“Crystal Palace and Park” as early examples of exhibitions.
Qureshi (2011: 101-125) examines anthropological and
ethnographic displays at exhibitions on this scale. Bellon
(2007) presents a day-in-the-live approach to visiting Hyde
Park in 1851. Rydell (1984: 38-71) shows international
expositions were significant globally.
week 27 A New Kind of Physics
05 March 2021 Bulstrode
Discussion material James Clerk Maxwell to Michael Faraday, 9 November 1857
in James (2008: 301-2)
Essential readings Gooding (1989)
Broadberry and Gupta (2009)
Ramalingam (2015)
London’s history In 1809 Michael Faraday moved in with his parents at No.
18 Weymouth St (where it joins the Portland Place
thoroughfare). Even after 1813, when he moved to the Royal
Institution to work for Humphry Davy, he would call at no. 18
every evening.
Objective This session introduces canonical literature in STS/HPS
(Gooding 1989) and puts this literature in global contexts
(Broadberry and Gupta 2009) to show how material
resources were also conceptual resources (Ramalingam
2015) in the development of modern physics.
week 28 Rise of Public Health
12 March 2021 Turbil
Discussion material LSACV (1880: 1-2)
Essential readings Durbach (2000)
more to come
London’s history Thames Embankment and Florence Nightingale Museum
Objective This sessions aims (1) to reflect critically on the meanings of
health, surveillance and state responses to disease
outbreaks in 19th century Britain, (2) to analyse why, in mid-
19th century London, the public’s health became a state
responsibility, and (3) to explain the nature of state
7HPSC0081 Science in the Nineteenth Century
2020-21 syllabus
intervention and why it provoked controversy looking at the
case study of compulsory vaccination against smallpox.
week 29 Race Sciences
19 March 2021 Cain
Discussion material Galton (1869: 336-362)
Essential readings Haller (1971: 203-210)
Gould (1996: 105-141)
Desmond and Moore (2009: 172-198)
London’s history Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford is one of the most extensive
museums of ethnography in the UK, followed by the
Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Cambridge. In
London, the Horniman Museum has good ethnographic
collections, especially with musical instruments.
Ethnographic collections are scattered across other
institutions, including the Victoria and Albert Museum and
Leighton House Museum. In Kent, the Powell Cotton
Museum has excellent collections from sub Saharan Africa.
UCL has several small ethnographic collections, including
the UCL Ethnography Collections and the UCL Petrie
Museum of Egyptian Archaeology. Anthropometric
collections are available through the Science Museum and
UCL Galton Collection.
Objective This session examines the racialised science of
anthropology and its relevance to projections about human
futures through eugenics, extinction, hybridity, and scientific
management.
week 30 Climate Coals
26 March 2021 Bulstrode
Discussion material Naoroji (1901: 212)
Essential readings Schöberlein (2016)
Anderson (2005: 235-284)
Davis(2002: 25-60)
London’s history Tyndall’s techniques for analysing atmospheres were
adapted from those used by the Admiralty Coal Enquiry at
the Museum of Economic Geology, Craig's Court, Charing
Cross in their efforts to develop coal as a universal fuel. The
ice for his demonstrations was imported all the way from
America by steamship, by the Massachusetts-based
Wenham Lake Company. The company stored its ice in the
dry arches under Waterloo Road and advertised from a shop
front at No. 125, The Strand, where they displayed a block
of ice with a newspaper behind it, so that passers-by could
read what was happening in the world through the ice.
8HPSC0081 Science in the Nineteenth Century
2020-21 syllabus
Objective The aim of this session is to bring together the objectives of
previous sessions: questions of whose histories we are
telling (Davis 2002: 25-60); why these histories matter to
present-day global challenges (Schöberlein 2016) and how
they help us to understand the ways in which society has
shaped modern science (Anderson 2005: 235-284).
7. References list
Allen, David Elliston. 1996. Tastes and Crazes. in Nicholas Jardine, James A. Secord and Emma C.
Spary (ed.). Cultures of Natural History. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: pp. 394-407.
Anderson, Katherine. 2005. Predicting the Weather: Victorians and the Science of Meteorology. Chicago,
University of Chicago Press.
Bellon, Richard. 2007. Science at the Crystal Focus of the World. in Aileen Fyfe and Bernard Lightman
(ed.). Science in the Marketplace: Nineteenth-Century Sites and Experiences. Chicago, University of
Chicago Press: pp. 301-335.
Bernard, Claude. 1949 [1865]. An Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine (Translated). New
York, Henry Schuman. .
Bravo, Michael T. 1999. Ethnographic Navigation and the Geographic Gift. in David Livingstone and
Charles W. Withers (ed.). Geography and Enlightenment. Chicago, University of Chicago Press: pp. 199-
235.
Broadberry, Stephen and Bishnupriya Gupta. 2009. Lancashire, India, and Shifting Competitive
Advantage in Cotton Textiles, 1700-1850: The Neglected Role of Factor Prices. The Economic history
review 62: 279-305. [10.1111/j.1468-0289.2008.00438.x].
Brockway, Lucile. 1979. Science and Colonial Expansion: The Role of the British Royal Botanic Gardens.
New York, Academic Press.
Carey, William. 1814. Introduction. in William Roxburgh (ed.). Hortus Bengalensis, or a Catalogue of the
Plants Growing in the Honourable East India Company’s Botanic Garden at Calcutta. Calcutta, Mission
Press: pp. i-xii. .
Cpc. 1871. Crystal Palace: Guide to the Palace and Park London, Crystal Palace Company.
Cruikshank, Julie. 2005. Do Glaciers Listen?: Local Knowledge, Colonial Encounters, and Social
Imagination. Vancouver, UBC Press.
Darwin, Charles Robert. 1839. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and
Beagle, between 1826 and 1836, Describing the Examination of the Southern Shores of South America,
and the Beagle's Circumnavigation of the Globe, in Three Volumes. Volume Iii. London, Henry Colburn.
Davenport, Emma. 1863. Fickle Flora and Her Seaside Friends. London, Griffith and Farran.
.
Davis, Mike. 2002. Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World.
London, Verso Books. .
Desmond, Adrian and James R. Moore. 2009. Darwin's Sacred Cause : Race, Slavery and the Quest for
Human Origins. London, Allen Lane. .
Durbach, Nadja. 2000. They Might as Well Brand Us’: Working-Class Resistance to Compulsory
Vaccination in Victorian England. Social History of Medicine 13: 45-62. [https://doi-
org.libproxy.ucl.ac.uk/10.1093/shm/13.1.45].
9HPSC0081 Science in the Nineteenth Century 2020-21 syllabus Evans, Chris. 2013. Brazilian Gold, Cuban Copper and the Final Frontier of British Anti-Slavery. Slavery & Abolition 34: 118-134. Foucault, Michel. 2003. The Birth of the Clinic: An Archaeology of Medical Perception. London, Taylor and Francis. . Galton, Francis. 1869. Hereditary Genius: An Enquiry into Its Laws and Consequences. London, Macmillan. . Gooding, David. 1989. ‘Magnetic Curves’ and the Magnetic Field: Experimentation and Representation in Hte History of a Theory. in David Gooding, Trevor Pinch and Simon Schaffer (ed.). The Uses of Experiment: Studies in the Physical Sciences. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press: pp. 182-223. . Gould, Stephen Jay. 1996. The Mismeasure of Man. New York, W.W. Norton and Company. Haller, John. 1971. Outcasts from Evolution: Scientific Attitudes of Racial Inferiority, 1859-1900. Carbondale, IL, Southern Illinois University Press. Hunt, Robert. 1851. The Science of the Great Exhibition. in Aj (ed.). Industry of All Nations Exhibition: The Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue. London, The Art Journal: pp. 1-16. James, Frank, Ed. (2008). The Correspondence of Michael Faraday, 1855-1860, Volume 5. London, The Institute of Engineering and Technology. . Jewson, N. D. 1976. The Disappearance of the Sick-Man from Medical Cosmology, 1770-1870. Sociology 10: 225-244. [https://doi.org/10.1177/003803857601000202]. La Pérouse, Jean-François De Galaup. 1798. The Voyage of La Pérouse Round the World in the Years 1785, 1786, 1787, and 1788, with the Nautical Tables. Arranged by M. L. A. Milet Mureau, ... To Which Is Prefixed, Narrative of an Interesting Voyage ... And Annexed, Travels over the Continent, ... Translated from the French. Illustrated ... In Two Volumes. London, Printed for John Stockdale. . Latour, Bruno. 1986. Visualisation and Cognition: Drawing Things Together. Knowledge and Society: Studies in the Sociology of Culture Past and Present 6: 1-40. . Lsacv. 1880. The Vaccination Inquirer and Health Review (London Society for the Abolition of Compulsory Vaccination), Edward W. Allen. . Mccook, Stuart. 1996. "It May Be Truth, but It Is Not Evidence": Paul Du Chaillu and the Legitimation of Evidence in the Field Sciences. IOsiris 11: 177-197. [10.1086/368759]. . Naoroji, Dadabhai. 1901. Poverty and Un-British Rule in India. London, S. Sonnenschein & Co. . Nicolson, Malcolm. 2009. Commentary: Nicholas Jewson and the Disappearance of the Sick Man from Medical Cosmology, 1770–1870. International Journal of Epidemiology 38: 639–642. . Qureshi, Sadiah. 2011. Peoples on Parade : Exhibitions, Empire, and Anthropology in Nineteenth- Century Britain. Chicago, University of Chicago Press. . Ramalingam, Chitra. 2015. Dust Plate, Retina, Photograph: Imaging on Experimental Surfaces in Early Nineteenth-Century Physics. Science in context 28: 317-355. [10.1017/S0269889715000125]. Rydell, Robert. 1984. All the World’s a Fair: Visions of Empire at American International Expositions, 1876-1916. Chicago, IL, University of Chicago Press. Schaffer, Simon. 1994. Babbage's Intelligence: Calculating Engines and the Factory System. Critical Inquiry 21: 203-227. [10.1086/448746]. 10
HPSC0081 Science in the Nineteenth Century 2020-21 syllabus Schiebinger, Londa L. 2004. Plants and Empire : Colonial Bioprospecting in the Atlantic World. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press. . Schöberlein, Stefan. 2016. Herman Melville and the International Paper Machine. Interdisciplinary studies in literature and environment 23: 730-754. [10.1093/isle/isw077]. . Taylor, John. 1814. Xiv. On the Economy of the Mines of Cornwall and Devon. Transactions of the Geological Society of London s1-2: 309-327. . Thwaite, Ann. 2002. Glimpses of the Wonderful: The Life of Philip Henry Gosse. London, Faber and Faber. Uol. 1826. University of London Prospectus [1826], with Medical Classes [1828]. in Negley Harte and John North (ed.). The World of Ucl 1828-1990. London, University College London: pp. 17-19, 32. Williams, Eric. 1994. Capitalism and Slavery. Chapel Hill, NC, The University of North Carolina Press. 11
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