Iwan Rhys Morus

xiv, 324 p. : 24 cm

Although electricity was known about by the ancient Egyptians, it was not until the Victorian era that its potential really began to be realised. Luigi Galvani's discovery of bioelectricity opened up a whole new world of possibilities, in which it could cure sickness, restore sexual potency and even raise the dead.

"A century ago, most scientists would have agreed that science progressed by accumulating observations. According to this account, science proceeded by formulating hypotheses based on observation and testing those hypotheses through further experiment. If the hypotheses passed the test of experiment then they were confirmed as true descriptions of reality. More recently, the idea that science proceeds by falsifying rather than confirming hypotheses has gained currency. History tends to show us that in practice, it is difficult to discern any kind of consistent method in what scientists do. On the contrary, different accounts of scientific method are very much the products of particular historical circumstances. The Oxford Illustrated History of Science offers an accessible and entertaining introduction to the history of science as well as a valuable and authoritative reference work. Providing a chronological account of the variety of human efforts to understand the natural world over three millennia, it includes chapters on Islamic science, science in the medieval west, as well as detailed discussion of the Scientific Revolution. This beautifully illustrated volume demonstrates how the transformations that have taken place in human understanding of the world were very much products of the cultures within which they took place"--

From reanimating dead bodies with electricity, through to the use of machines to render hysterics and the insane fit for reintroduction into society, this book conveys the dark truths behind our relationship with machines.

Bowler & Morus explore the history of science & its influence on modern thought.

"Faraday's forte was electricity, a revolutionary force in 19th-century society. The electric telegraph made mass-communication possible; hopeful inventors during the 1840s looked forward to the day when everything would be done by electricity. By the end of the century, electricity really was in the process of transforming everyday life. What was Faraday's role in all this? How did his science come to have such an impact on the Victorians' (and ultimately on our) lives? Iwan Morus tells the story of his upbringing in scientific London and his apprenticeship at the Royal Institution with the flamboyant chemist, Sir Humphry Davy, against the backdrop of a vibrant scientific culture at the centre of an empire near the peak of its power."--Publisher description.