Download or read book Science and Spectacle in the European Enlightenment written by Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-12-05 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Air-pumps, electrical machines, colliding ivory balls, coloured sparks, mechanical planetariums, magic mirrors, hot-air balloons - these are just a sample of the devices displayed in public demonstrations of science in the eighteenth century. Public and private demonstrations of natural philosophy in Europe then differed vastly from today's unadorned and anonymous laboratory experiments. Science was cultivated for a variety of purposes in many different places; scientific instruments were built and used for investigative and didactic experiments as well as for entertainment and popular shows. Between the culture of curiosities which characterized the seventeenth century and the distinction between academic and popular science that gradually emerged in the nineteenth, the eighteenth century was a period when scientific activities took place in a variety of sites, ranging from academies, and learned societies to salons and popular fairs, shops and streets. This collection of case studies describing public demonstrations in Britain, Germany, Italy and France exemplifies the wide variety of settings for scientific activities in the European Enlightenment. Filled with sparks and smells, the essays raise broader issues about the ways in which modern science established its legitimacy and social acceptability. They point to two major features of the cultures of science in the eighteenth-century: entertainment and utility. Experimental demonstrations were attended by apothecaries and craftsmen for vocational purposes. At the same time, they had to fit in with the taste of both polite society and market culture. Public demonstrations were a favourite entertainment for ladies and gentlemen and a profitable activity for instrument makers and booksellers.
Download or read book Aesthetic Illusion written by Frederick Burwick and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 1990 with total page 494 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Modern Enchantments written by Simon During and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2004-03-01 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Magic, Simon During suggests, has helped shape modern culture. Devoted to this deceptively simple proposition, During's superlative work, written over the course of a decade, gets at the aesthetic questions at the very heart of the study of culture. How can the most ordinary arts--and by "magic," During means not the supernatural, but the special effects and conjurings of magic shows--affect people? Modern Enchantments takes us deeply into the history and workings of modern secular magic, from the legerdemain of Isaac Fawkes in 1720, to the return of real magic in nineteenth-century spiritualism, to the role of magic in the emergence of the cinema. Through the course of this history, During shows how magic performances have drawn together heterogeneous audiences, contributed to the molding of cultural hierarchies, and extended cultural technologies and media at key moments, sometimes introducing spectators into rationality and helping to disseminate skepticism and publicize scientific innovation. In a more revealing argument still, Modern Enchantments shows that magic entertainments have increased the sway of fictions in our culture and helped define modern society's image of itself.
Download or read book Magic Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions Including Trick Photography written by Albert A. Hopkins and published by DigiCat. This book was released on 2022-09-16 with total page 509 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: DigiCat Publishing presents to you this special edition of "Magic, Stage Illusions and Scientific Diversions, Including Trick Photography" by Albert A. Hopkins. DigiCat Publishing considers every written word to be a legacy of humankind. Every DigiCat book has been carefully reproduced for republishing in a new modern format. The books are available in print, as well as ebooks. DigiCat hopes you will treat this work with the acknowledgment and passion it deserves as a classic of world literature.
Download or read book Bulletin written by and published by . This book was released on 1886 with total page 360 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bulletin of the Library Company of Philadelphia written by Library Company of Philadelphia and published by . This book was released on 1903 with total page 886 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Subaltern Silence written by Kevin Olson and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2024-05-14 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Subordination did not simply fade away in the aftermath of colonialism. Instead, this illuminating book shows, a host of subtle new techniques have arisen that dominate vast categories of people by rendering them silent. Kevin Olson investigates how contemporary societies silence the subaltern: sometimes a literal silencing, often a metaphor for other ways of making people unheard. Such forms of silence make some people invisible, push others to the margins, and devalue the voices and actions of still others. Subaltern Silence traces the development of these techniques to the early years of European colonialism, focusing on Haiti’s revolution and postcolonial trajectory. Exploring rich archives from Europe and the postcolonial world, Olson critiques fundamental modern institutions and technologies, such as the public sphere, the free press, and even progressively minded democratic revolution, as sites of exclusion. With the emergence of postcoloniality, he argues, subordination has become increasingly abstract, virtual, and symbolic. Nonetheless, it lies at the heart of contemporary racial politics, divides Global South from Global North, and allocates privileges and burdens in ways that are often scarcely perceptible. Engaging deeply with the thought of Gayatri Spivak and Michel Foucault, Subaltern Silence offers a new genealogy of colonialism and postcoloniality that is both historically informed and theoretically rich.
Download or read book The Library Bulletin of Cornell University written by and published by . This book was released on 1886 with total page 726 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Catalogue of Books written by and published by . This book was released on 1846 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book A Catalogue of the Library of the College of St Margaret and St Bernard written by Queens' College (University of Cambridge). Library and published by . This book was released on 1827 with total page 698 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Scenes of Projection written by Jill H. Casid and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theorizing vision and power at the intersections of the histories of psychoanalysis, media, scientific method, and colonization, Scenes of Projection poaches the prized instruments at the heart of the so-called scientific revolution: the projecting telescope, camera obscura, magic lantern, solar microscope, and prism. From the beginnings of what is retrospectively enshrined as the origins of the Enlightenment and in the wake of colonization, the scene of projection has functioned as a contraption for creating a fantasy subject of discarnate vision for the exercise of “reason.” Jill H. Casid demonstrates across a range of sites that the scene of projection is neither a static diagram of power nor a fixed architecture but rather a pedagogical setup that operates as an influencing machine of persistent training. Thinking with queer and feminist art projects that take up old devices for casting an image to reorient this apparatus of power that produces its subject, Scenes of Projection offers a set of theses on the possibilities for felt embodiment out of the damaged and difficult pasts that haunt our present.
Download or read book A Catalogue of the Library of the College of St Margaret Ad St Bernard Commonly Called Queen s College written by Queens' College (University of Cambridge) Library and published by . This book was released on 1827 with total page 904 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Bibliotheca scaccariana written by and published by . This book was released on 1861 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Devices of Wonder written by Barbara Maria Stafford and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2001 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exhibition held at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 13 November 2001 to 3 February 2002.
Download or read book Popular science and public opinion in eighteenth century France written by Michael Lynn and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2018-02-28 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Michael R. Lynn analyses the popularisation of science in Enlightenment France. He examines the content of popular science, the methods of dissemination, the status of the popularisers and the audience, and the settings for dissemination and appropriation. Lynn introduces individuals like Jean-Antoine Nollet, who made a career out of applying electric shocks to people, and Perrin, who used his talented dog to lure customers to his physics show. He also examines scientifically oriented clubs like Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier’s Musée de Monsieur which provided locations for people interested in science. Phenomena such as divining rods, used to find water and ores as well as to solve crimes; and balloons, the most spectacular of all types of popular science, demonstrate how people made use of their new knowledge. Lynn’s study provides a clearer understanding of the role played by science in the Republic of Letters and the participation of the general population in the formation of public opinion on scientific matters.
Download or read book Smoke Mirrors written by Gemma Milne and published by Robinson. This book was released on 2020-04-23 with total page 270 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Stop following the news until you've read Gemma Milne's persuasive analysis of the hype and bullshit that distort our understanding of emerging science. As she shows, the starting point to grasping the genuine opportunities of AI, life sciences and climate tech is a healthy dose of critical thinking' David Rowan, founding editor of WIRED UK and author of Non-Bullshit Innovation: Radical Ideas from the World's Smartest Minds 'Couldn't be more timely. Fascinating and vitally important' Jamie Bartlett, author of The People Vs Tech 'A much-needed blast of fresh air! Gemma Milne expertly shows us how to separate the truth from the hype surrounding the emerging techs of today, and those of the near-tomorrow' Lewis Dartnell, author of Origins: How the Earth Made Us 'I loved this book! This is exactly the sort of sceptical, cut-through-the crap-but-still-excited-about-what's-emerging book around tech innovation that's sorely needed, yet is so hard to find . . . essential reading for anyone who's serious about how real-world advances might be effectively harnessed to build a better future' Dr Andrew Maynard, scientist and author of Films from the Future and Future Rising '[A] vital contribution in a world where technological progress promises so much, but too often disappoints. If, like me, you believe that advances in science and technology are our best hope for solving the grand challenges of our times, this book is the indispensable guide to avoiding the mirages and the charlatans along the way' Matt Clifford, co-founder and CEO of Entrepreneur First 'A refreshingly grown-up, clear-headed look at the interaction between science, technology and the media - readable without being dumbed down, acknowledging complexities without being heavy' Tom Chivers, author of The AI Does Not Hate You 'ROBOTS WILL STEAL YOUR JOB!' 'AI WILL REVOLUTIONISE FARMING!' 'GENETIC EDITING WILL CURE CANCER!' Bombastic headlines about science and technology are nothing new. To cut through the constant stream of information and misinformation on social media, or grab the attention of investors, or convince governments to take notice, strident headlines or bold claims seem necessary to give complex, nuanced information some wow factor. But hype has a dark side, too. It can mislead. It can distract. It can blinker us from seeing what is actually going on. From AI, quantum computing and brain implants, to cancer drugs, future foods and fusion energy, science and technology journalist Gemma Milne reveals hype to be responsible for fundamentally misdirecting or even derailing crucial progress. Hype can be combated and discounted, though, if you're able to see exactly where, how and why it is being deployed. This book is your guide to doing just that.
