Overview

The 499 letters in the fourteenth volume of The Correspondence of John Tyndall cover a number of particularly intense and acrimonious disputes. More notably, this volume spans the period of the composition, delivery, and furious reaction to Tyndall’s famous—or, more accurately, infamous—Belfast Address. This prestigious lecture, which he delivered as the newly inaugurated president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, has long been heralded as one of the most momentous events of the nineteenth century. The letters in this volume provide a new, and unprecedentedly detailed, account of all aspects of the era-defining address. For Tyndall himself, it afforded a new level of prominence as a public intellectual, and he deployed his position to engage directly with some of the most contentious issues in Victorian society, especially the role of religion in relation to science. But Tyndall’s expertise was also required on more practical matters, and the letters in this volume document his extensive role in determining official government policy on urgent questions such as safety at sea and public health. Additionally, they chart a dramatic shift in his personal life, with his initial correspondence with Louisa Hamilton, with whom he had previously communicated only through her family, marking the point where their burgeoning friendship developed into a formal relationship.

Full Product Details

9780822948186

Table of Contents

Reviews

"Such gems of Victorian prose and scientific gossip, along with the opportunity to see the personalities of the scientists emerge through what they chose to say to whom, make volumes such as this a pleasure to read--quite above and beyond following the development of the scientific ideas themselves.-- ""H-Net Reviews"""

"Such gems of Victorian prose and scientific gossip, along with the opportunity to see the personalities of the scientists emerge through what they chose to say to whom, make volumes such as this a pleasure to read--quite above and beyond following the development of the scientific ideas themselves.-- ""H-Net Reviews"" ""Such gems of Victorian prose and scientific gossip, along with the opportunity to see the personalities of the scientists emerge through what they chose to say to whom, make volumes such as this a pleasure to read--quite above and beyond following the development of the scientific ideas themselves."" --H-Net Reviews"

Author Information

Gowan Dawson is Professor of Victorian Literature and Culture at the University of Leicester and Honorary Research Fellow at the Natural History Museum, London. His books include Show Me the Bone: Reconstructing Prehistoric Monsters in Ninete

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available