Electricity and Experimental Physics in Eighteenth-Century Europe

At the beginning of the 18th century, there was no science of physics as we recognize it today: by the early years of the 19th century, there was. The articles in this volume are concerned with the process by which this came about. They focus, in particular, on the rise of experimental physics and the interactions between experiment, theory and mathematics in the study of electricity and, to a lesser extent, magnetism and physical optics during this period. Along the way, they provide a reassessment of Isaac Newton's influence on the science of his successors. A further recurring theme is the process by which ideas were disseminated within the expanding scientific community of the day, and the manner of their reception, often in a form somewhat different from that envisaged by their inventors, as is argued took place in the case of Franklin. The social and intellectual context of the "scientist", Professor Home contends, cannot be neglected, and several of these essays are devoted to this aspect, not only in England and France, but also offering new insights into the position of science in 18th-century Russia.