Page 45 - BBC History The Story of Science & Technology - 2017 UK

Knowledge was

based not on what
people claimed,

but on what they
did and what

they observed

and observation. Hooke advertised this
experimental approach in Micrographia,
whose drawings of fleas and lice (see
opposite) – those constant invisible compan-
ions of lords and labourers alike – so
enthralled the diarist Samuel Pepys that he
stayed awake all night marvelling at this
unfamiliar microscopic world. Hooke was
also responsible for looking after the
Society’s repository, a mixed collection of
curiosities that fascinated the public but
defied orderly classification.
Membership was restricted, but the
Society was effectively international.
Reports flowed in from all over the world,
while the latest London-based discussions
were transmitted outwards by the Society’s
journal, Philosophical Transactions. The first
secretary was Henry Oldenburg, a German
diplomat accused of trading government
secrets, but who made the Royal Society the
hub of an extended intellectual community
linked together by letters.
Through publishing diagrams, instruc-
tions and results, the Baconian Fellows
enabled their experiments to be replicated,
so that knowledge could (in principle,
anyway) be based not on what people
claimed, but on what they did and on what The frontispiece of L’Histoire Naturelle des Animaux (1671) shows Louis XIV
they observed. Reflecting the diversity of the in the palace of Versailles surrounded by instruments of scientific research.
members’ interests, the early articles covered The Royal Observatory can be seen through the right-hand window
an impressive range of topics, including
ancient coins, oceanic tides, unusual births, Louis XIV was an expert in self-promo-
geometrical theorems, spectacular load- tion and he used his investment in science to Patricia Fara is president of the British Society
stones (magnets), mining technology and advertise his magnificence. In the splendid for the History of Science
freak weather events. propaganda picture Louis commissioned
Despite their initial enthusiasm, many (shown above), the large mirror reflects his
DISCOVER MORE
Fellows were not punctilious about paying glory as the Sun King, and the Royal
their fees. Starved of financial patronage, the Observatory seen through the window BOOKS
Society could afford neither to fund research proclaims his generosity. This visit was Science: A Four Thousand Year
projects nor to obtain permanent premises, imaginary, but the differences between the History by Patricia Fara (Oxford University
and although symbolically it remained the Societies in London and Paris were real. Press, 2009)
flagship of European science, its member- Throughout the 18th century, French New Atlantis and the Great
ship declined sharply during the 17th research tended to be speculative, math- Instauration by Francis Bacon
(Harlan Davidson, 1989)
century. The situation was different in ematical and directed towards state interest,
The Man Who Knew Too Much: the
France, where the king took a close interest whereas English natural philosophers
Strange and Inventive Life of Robert
in Paris’s Académie Royale, founded in 1666. focused on experiments and commercially
Hooke 1635–1703 by Stephen Inwood
His pet society had a restricted number of viable inventions. Nevertheless, the unfurled (Macmillan, 2002)
ALAMY members, but they were appointed by the map at Louis’ feet illustrates how, on both On a Grander Scale: The Outstanding
state and paid to carry out research of
sides of the Channel, Bacon’s dictum ruled:
Career of Sir Christopher Wren
by Lisa Jardine (HarperCollins, 2002)
“Knowledge is power.”
national benefit.
The Story of Science & Technology 45