School of Historical and Philosophical Studies - Theses
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ItemCraft to applied science : the Institution of Civil Engineers, London and the development of scientific civil engineering in Britain, 1818-1880( 1996)This thesis examines civil engineering practitioners and practice in Britain in middle part of the nineteenth century. The background and education of a sample of the engineers of the period, who were members of the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, have been determined from the published records of that Institution. This showed, contrary to what has been commonly believed, that civil engineers were drawn from the middle and upper strata of society. They were well educated for the time. Many had advanced schooling, and almost a quarter of them has some university education. The technical papers on civil engineering subjects were also examined over the period from when they commenced publication in 1837 to 1880 to assess any change that may have taken place in the way the engineers approached their problems by adopting or adapting techniques developed in areas of science to their task so as to turn engineering towards applied science. This examination had to be restricted to a few representative areas of civil engineering activity, and structural design, hydrology and hydraulics, foundations and stability of slopes, materials and railway construction were taken as being fairly representative of the range of tasks faced by civil engineers. This study showed a slow and erratic movement towards embracing "scientific methods" into engineering practice. It became established in the field of structural design, but hardly impacted on the approach to railway permanent way or design, or in the area of foundations and slope stability. There were moves however in all areas. Interestingly these moves were generally led by members who had a university training. Their names appear in many of the areas studied indicating they made a significant contribution to shifting engineering towards applied science.
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ItemAn unreasonable profession : spiritualism and mediumship between the wars in Britain( 1996)In the latter half of the nineteenth century, Spiritualist claims that the dead survive in another world and communicate with the living became a subject of heated debate within English society. Originating in America in the eighteen-forties, Spiritualism found ready converts in England. By 1870, many periodicals were devoted to chronicling the activities of believers, while newspaper articles, church sermons and scientific reports issued a stream of diverse interpretations to a fascinated audience. Spiritualism has become a subject of lively historical interest in recent times, but most historians assume that it was a Victorian and Edwardian phenomenon, with little relevance in post World War I Britain. I began this study with similar assumptions, but as my research progressed, it became clear that the number of people who identified as Spiritualists grew in the interwar years and that Spiritualism was as controversial during this period as in the previous century. In sketching its passage and growth between the wars, I emphasise Spiritualism's ability to absorb and organise both modem and ancient tropes. As the movement continued to gain in popularity the debate over its meaning and possibilities for humankind grew apace. At the centre of these controversies stood the figure of the medium. The mediumistic persona was constructed inside and outside the Spiritualist movement as feminine. This project engages with issues of gender, subjectivity and power in relation to the development of the mediumistic identity. In doing so I stress the profound ambiguity of that identity. The medium, as represented through diverse narratives, appeared as both subject and object, the source of truth and lies, and the mother of life and death. It was always unclear whether she was psychically gifted or demented, or whether she intended to harm or heal. Confronted with opposing narratives, a coherent sense of "self' was not easily achieved by a medium. Ultimately, this study attempts to show that the mediumistic "self' was never a stable result of private conviction, but a deeply unstable and continually shifting production that developed within particular historical circumstances
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ItemThe role of symbols in the development of chemistry to 1916 : with, A dictionary of chemical terms (1600-1800)( 1966)The Oxford English Dictionary offers a number of meanings for the word symbol; "Something that stands for, represents, or denotes something else (not by exact resemblance, but by vague suggestion, or by some accidental or conventional relation).... a material object representing or taken to represent something immaterial or abstract ...... a written character or mark used to represent something: a letter, figure or sign conventionally standing for some object, process." When chemistry is taught today it is presented with its symbols developed and the rules of their combinations defined. However, in reaching this stage the chemist's symbols at various times have had the meanings listed above. Chemists and historians of chemistry have discussed the roles and origins of symbols only to a very limited extent. The aim if this thesis is to provide a chronological review of the use of chemical symbols beginning with the exoteric alchemical symbols and concluding with electron theory bonds. We shall show how this use varied from the time when empirical shorthand characters were employed to the time when formulae or combinations of symbols were used as structural diagrams of molecules written in conformity with rules provided by a theory of composition. This association of formulae and rules for their construction will be examined against the often uncertain and disputed nineteenth century background of atoms, radicals and valence. I shall include in this background two examples of mathematical interests in formulae, which have been almost completely ignored by historians of chemistry. They are Bridle's calculus and Sylvester's quantities.
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ItemHistory as science : Michael White and his contributions to cytogenetics and evolutionary theory( 1994)Michael White (1910-1983) was foundation professor of the Department of Genetics at the University of Melbourne and one of the world's leading cytogeneticists. He made fundamental contributions to general cytogenetics and evolutionary cytogenetics. In 1945 White published Animal Cytology and Evolution which integrated an enormous amount of previously disparate data on cytogenetics into an evolutionary framework. This book was praised by his colleagues as a primary contribution to the emerging Neo-Darwinian evolutionary synthesis. Yet since then his status in the history of the evolutionary synthesis has become ambiguous. Some recent commentators omit him from their accounts. In this thesis it is argued that White's disappearance from history is not accidental but the result of a successful strategy by competing scientists to construct a version of evolutionary biology that legitimates their own discipline, research program and world view. This study takes the form of a biography but with an emphasis on the social and cultural context of science. A social constructivist conflict model has been employed, specifically Bourdieu's 'struggle for scientific authority' metaphor, as articulated by Sapp (1987). It is suggested that unless social factors are included in any account of the production of scientific knowledge then the analysis is incomplete. It is further claimed that the 'internal politics of science' can be an important determinant in scientific knowledge construction. Competition between scientists can be both interdisciplinary and intradisciplinary. It will be shown that White was engaged in just such a struggle for scientific authority with several scientists and that this competition stimulated and informed his own research. A major theme of the thesis is that history itself is a resource which scientists can deploy in support of their knowledge claims and/or to enhance their own standing in the field. It is argued that White's place in the history of science has been determined (and is being re-determined) not only by the quantity and quality of his scientific work but also by the way this work had been interpreted (or ignored) by his colleagues and competitors. It is not simply a question of the 'factual' basis of the scientists' research but whether that work supports, or does not support, currently accepted views and whether or not it serves the social and technical interests of others within or outside the field. Scientific knowledge is thus both negotiated and constructed.
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ItemThe early Royal Society of London( 1989)The Early Royal Society of London - Alan B. H. Taylor This thesis examines the factors that influenced the Royal Society from c1663 to c1681. Included in these factors are the approaches to knowing of the time and the background intellectual beliefs from which they were derived, as well as the Society's administration, its activities and its approaches The findings of this thesis are that the classical intellectual framework played an influential role, as did the administration' of the Society, in its operations, also it is claimed that the Fellows of the Royal Society did not achieve their plans to conduct the investigations carried out at the Society in a Baconian style. I commence this work with an evaluation of the historical methods employed by writers on the Royal Society to date. In section one the emphasis of the writing is on the influence of the classical inteIlectual structure (in contrast to its content) on influential thinkers of the time. The section commences with the argument that the classical structure was implanted at Oxford and Cambridge in the thoughts of its students. Included in this chapter is a list of the influential Fellows of the Royal Society showing those who attended Oxford and Cambridge. These Fellows listed are assigned a weighting according to their degree of activity in the Society. An examination is made in subsequent chapters of the influence of the classical framework on Bacon, Harvey and Hooke. Included in the latter is the point that Hooke believed he could use the processes of analysis and synthesis as part of a process of discovery. Finally in this section the approaches to knowing of a mystic and a non-mystic are contrasted and the commoalities and differences highlighted. Again the classical framework is shown to be of influence. With the above as a background an evaluation is then carried out of the administration, approaches and activities of the Royal Society. Initially the focus is on the intended administration and approach of the Society. The claim is made that the Society's intention was to empirically evaluate all claims to knowing, both those made in the past and in the future. The Fellows were not against the teachings of Aristotle per se but were opposed to the blind acceptance of any claims on the basis of authority The planned administration and approach of the Royal Society, as will be shown in subsequent chapters, were of considerable influence on the day-to-day operations of the Society. In the following chapters, which cover the periods spanned by the years 1663, 1672 and 1680, the fortunes of the above facets of the Society's existence are addressed. It is argued that although initially the Society planned to conduct its operations in a Baconian style, this did not eventuate. The Society moved from its putative goal of initiating and conducting co-operative research to being an institution that reacted to and facilitated the contributions of its members. Nonetheless it is shown that in 1680 the Fellows did conduct a co-operative investigation, and investigation in which the Fellows placed theory first propounded by Hooke. In the approaches to knowing that are carried out under the Society's auspices the debt to the classical framework is most revealed in the episode of Newton's theory of colour and in the process of analysis, with its classical connotations, in the above mentioned 1680 investigation. Also discussed is the style of reporting that the Fellows employed in the investigations carried out at the Society and in the journals. It is argued that the Philosophical Transactions and the Philosophical Collections did not reflect the activities carried out at the Society.
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ItemIn search of identity : engineering in Australia 1788-1988( 1988)This is the first historical study of the social organisation of engineering in Australia. Engineering education, professional associations, industrial relations, engineering populations and attitudes concerning occupational title, professional recognition and nature of employment are analysed as to their influence upon occupational control and identity. The shared values among engineers concerning occupational identity stem from these factors. The study is not concerned with the technological and resource management functions of engineers. In considering the first of the research questions: 'How has the occupational identity of engineers developed in Australia?', two further questions arise. The second question: 'What have been the influences of the professional associations, engineering education and industrial relations in the development of occupational identity for engineers in Australia?', gives rise to the major historical themes in the study. The analysis goes well beyond the history of engineering education and the engineering associations in addressing the third research question: 'What are the shared values of engineering concerning occupational control and professionalisation, especially in relation to occupational identity?' The study shows that Australian engineers have long been concerned about the identity of their occupation, and that they have developed mechanisms for occupational control that not only depend upon clarity of Identity, but also reinforce it. Early concern about use of 'engineer' by the non-qualified persons caused adoption of the descriptor professional engineer. Concerns about community recognition caused engineers to argue that their education and the importance of their work should attract the prestige accorded to other professions. Believing that they deserve to be ranked high among the professions, engineers sought a commensurate level of income. But engineers predominantly are not independent practitioners, they are employed in teams in organisations, and such concerns existed mainly within the context of employment, requiring the issues of corporate patronage and industrial relations to be addressed. There was little engineering in the Australian colonies until after the gold rushes of the 1850s. The study includes quantitative analyses of the growth of the Australian engineering population from 1850 to gauge of the influence of different modes of formation of engineers in the evolution of shared values. The antecedents of Australian engineering are traced to the beginnings of the occupation in Britain and North America. During the last half-century industrial relations became a major element in the occupational control and identity of Australian engineers, and this factor provides a contrast between the manner in which occupational control, is exercised in Britain and North America. The conclusions are that occupational control in Australia differs from that in Britain and North America, and that, in contrast with those countries, occupational identity has been strongly reinforced in Australia through industrial relations. However, trends indicate possible changes in the future social organisation of Australian engineering, with diminished strength in occupational control mechanisms.
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ItemEarth science in the scientific revolution 1600-1728( 1985)Although recent historians of Earth science have attempted to show that the geological achievements of the seventeenth century provided the basis for the nineteenth-century development of geology, they have tended to regard seventeenth-century Ideas mainly as constructive elements in the preparation of the nineteenth century's approach to the Earth and have failed to treat them as being legitimate in their own right. My approach here is different from my predecessors not only in that I end my arguments by the mid-eighteenth century but also in that I attempt to illuminate the development of Earth science in seventeenth-century England as an integral part of the Scientific Revolution. Standard textbooks on the Scientific Revolution have discussed the development of physics, chemistry and biology, but not Earth science. This thesis discusses an aspect of the Scientific Revolution which has not previously been fully recognised. In the early seventeenth century the study of the Earth was not a distinctive discipline, but the formation of the Royal Society of London later in the century provided a forum where different approaches to the Earth could come into contact. The Society's plan for natural history facilitated the introduction of each programme, and eventually, by the mid-eighteenth century, created a basis for geology. I suggest here that the "internal" development of Earth science was conditioned by "external" factors such as the formation of the Royal Society and the ensuing interaction between scientists. I challenge the internalist historian's conviction that the "internal" development of science is autonomous and absolute. I even claim that the large-scale pursuit of Earth science was stimulated and motivated by "cultural values". Unlike the externalists, however, I do not intend to show any relation between the science and the value orientation of a society as a whole, because such an approach does not explain why conflicts at various levels occurred within a scientific community and eventually created a basis for geology. Therefore, this thesis is an attempt to synthesize the "internal" and "external" approaches to the history of science.
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ItemJohn Ridley's contributions to Australian technology and to the early progress of South Australia( 1979)This study is primarily concerned with the working career of John Ridley (1806-1887), and with his contributions to the flour-milling industry of South Australia, to wheat harvesting technology, and to the progress of the colony generally. Ridley emigrated to South Australia from the north of England in 1840, and remained there until early 1853. Although still a relatively young man, he then returned to England to live in semi-retirement. The following text will show that Ridley contributed substantially to the technical and economic progress of the young- colony in at least two separate ways :- (i) He built the first flour-mill in South Australia in the year 1840, and subsequently operated it as a very successful business until he left the colony in 1853. The mill was steam-driven, of substantial capacity for the time, and of considerable economic significance to the colony. The local flour-milling industry which grew up soon afterwards freed the colony from crippling expenditures for imported flour and other breadstuffs, thus permitting a sound local economy to be developed. During 1842 Ridley leased a second (inoperative) flourmill near Adelaide, completely refitted it, and brought it too into successful operation. As well as helping to alleviate the financial difficulties of the colony at the time, these two mills provided a timely stimulus to local wheat growing. Ridley exerted a considerable influence upon the early development of South Australia's flour-milling industry, by virtue of the high standards for efficiency, operating reliability, and sound profitability he established in his own businesses. The competitors he attracted were forced to achieve similarly high standards in order to survive. His work was thus of importance in helping to secure a sound base for the future growth of the industry. (ii) In late-1843 Ridley invented, constructed, and demonstrated a unique mechanical harvester for gathering grain crops. This machine, later known as the "Ridley Reaper" or the "South Australian Stripper", was subsequently manufactured and used in thousands within the colony. For more than half a century the machine played a major part in stimulating wheat production in the region by providing the simplest and cheapest harvesting method in the world at that time. Ridley's invention embodied a principle of operation which was entirely novel at the time it was introduced. In the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries this same principle was incorporated into the designs of many other widely used grain harvesters. Ridley's machine therefore occupies an important place in the evolution of modern grain-harvesting machinery. The first two machines (both built by Ridley) were directly responsible for averting a serious harvesting crisis in South Australia at the 1843-44 season. Afterwards, when ever-increasing numbers of the machines went into service, a dramatic expansion of the colony's wheat-growing industry became possible. This in turn led to the development of a large export trade in wheat, and thus to an enviable economic prosperity for the colony. Whilst there is unanimous agreement that Ridley constructed and demonstrated the first successful machine of the "Stripper" type, his claim to have also invented the principle of its operation has been disputed. John Wrathall Full, another. pioneer South Australian settler, insisted that he and not Ridley originated the fundamental principle. In fact, he directly accused Ridley of stealing his idea and putting it into practice. The resulting controversy is examined in detail, and Bull's claim shown to be falsely based. Two further points of historical interest are also made and substantiated. Firstly, the "Stripper" was the first ever harvesting machine to successfully combine the operations of gathering and threshing the grain. And secondly, Ridley's "Stripper" was the first machine in the world to substantially displace hand-methods of cereal harvesting in its region. In the light of all the above considerations, it is suggested that Ridley's machine has not received either fair or sufficient notice in the histories of agricultural technology published to date. John Ridley's importance in the story of the development of mechanical harvesting has thus been unjustly neglected.