The Experimental Self

Humphry Davy and the Making of a Man of Science

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Other Sciences, History, British
Cover of the book The Experimental Self by Jan Golinski, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Jan Golinski ISBN: 9780226368849
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: May 11, 2016
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Jan Golinski
ISBN: 9780226368849
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: May 11, 2016
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

What did it mean to be a scientist before the profession itself existed? Jan Golinski finds an answer in the remarkable career of Humphry Davy, the foremost chemist of his day and one of the most distinguished British men of science of the nineteenth century. Originally a country boy from a modest background, Davy was propelled by his scientific accomplishments to a knighthood and the presidency of the Royal Society. An enigmatic figure to his contemporaries, Davy has continued to elude the efforts of biographers to classify him: poet, friend to Coleridge and Wordsworth, author of travel narratives and a book on fishing, chemist and inventor of the miners’ safety lamp. What are we to make of such a man?
           
In The Experimental Self, Golinski argues that Davy’s life is best understood as a prolonged process of self-experimentation. He follows Davy from his youthful enthusiasm for physiological experiment through his self-fashioning as a man of science in a period when the path to a scientific career was not as well-trodden as it is today. What emerges is a portrait of Davy as a creative fashioner of his own identity through a lifelong series of experiments in selfhood.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

What did it mean to be a scientist before the profession itself existed? Jan Golinski finds an answer in the remarkable career of Humphry Davy, the foremost chemist of his day and one of the most distinguished British men of science of the nineteenth century. Originally a country boy from a modest background, Davy was propelled by his scientific accomplishments to a knighthood and the presidency of the Royal Society. An enigmatic figure to his contemporaries, Davy has continued to elude the efforts of biographers to classify him: poet, friend to Coleridge and Wordsworth, author of travel narratives and a book on fishing, chemist and inventor of the miners’ safety lamp. What are we to make of such a man?
           
In The Experimental Self, Golinski argues that Davy’s life is best understood as a prolonged process of self-experimentation. He follows Davy from his youthful enthusiasm for physiological experiment through his self-fashioning as a man of science in a period when the path to a scientific career was not as well-trodden as it is today. What emerges is a portrait of Davy as a creative fashioner of his own identity through a lifelong series of experiments in selfhood.

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book Works of Hesiod and the Homeric Hymns by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book The Nixon Memo by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book The Last Hurrah by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book The Conquest of Cool by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book Foundations of Ecology by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book Non-Sovereign Futures by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book The Blackbird by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book Extinct Madagascar by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book Social Knowledge in the Making by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book City and Regime in the American Republic by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book The Pre-Raphaelites and Their Circle by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book The Longevity Seekers by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book Learning from Madness by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book Documenting the World by Jan Golinski
Cover of the book Derivatives and the Wealth of Societies by Jan Golinski
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy