Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
of chemistry existed side by side as equal (Homburg 1994, pp. 451, 456-
60, 465-6). The new era of professional science was dawning - an era in
which the relationships between science practitioners and laypersons, be-
tween science and religion, and between scientific knowledge and social
utility were substantially revised and redefined.
8.
1845-1865: Period of Flowering and Transition
The 1850s and early 1860s were unmistakably the heyday of the popular
science book. Rarely so many different initiatives were undertaken in
such a short time span, and various motives and social groups played a
role. Precisely because so many dissimilar developments overlapped, the
third quarter of the nineteenth century was a decisive and exciting epi-
sode in the history of science popularization.
Apart from the role played by publishers, changes in the social posi-
tion of science practitioners influenced the popularizing of scientific in-
sights and research results. A single class of learned scholars dissolved
into numerous discipline-based communities of specialists who earned
their living by practicing their discipline. For chemists and other profes-
sional scientists the popularization of their field fulfilled an essential role
in their striving for social prestige. Publications by Justus Liebig (1803-
1873), notably his
Chemische Briefe
, provide a perfect example, but the
Nut der scheikunde voor den industrieel
('Usefulness of chemistry for
the manufacturer'), written by the Amsterdam chemistry professor E.H.
von Baumhauer, fits this pattern as well (Liebig 1840; Liebig 1844-46;
Bayertz 1985, pp. 214-5; Zott 1993). In addition, the professionalization
of science, because of the growing specialization that accompanied it,
exerted great influence on the relationship between scientists and layper-
sons. Everyone who did not belong to the small particular field involved
was now a layperson. In this respect it is interesting to observe that
around 1850 for the first time a group of authors emerged who became
active in the intersecting knowledge domain of the disciplinary specialist
and the layperson. Basically these new professional popularizers devoted
their life to translating the results of science to a large audience. In
France this involved well-known popularizers such as the abbot François
Moigno (1804-1884), Victor Meunier (1817-1903), Louis Figuier (1819-
