Thursday, April 3, 2025, 6.00pm to 7.30pm EDT
Cambridge University alumni and friends based in New York and the surrounding areas are welcome to join Fellow of Darwin College, Dr Edwin Rose for a presentation on George Howard Darwin and the “Public” Interpretation of The Tides. Following the presentation guests will have time to connect over drinks and canapes. We look forward to welcoming you and your guests!
If you have any questions, please contact Hannah Milne at alumni@darwin.cam.ac.uk.
George Howard Darwin and the “Public” Interpretation of The Tides
On 8th October 1897 George Howard Darwin (1845–1912) of Newnham Grange, Cambridge (now Darwin College) and his wife Maud du Puy (1861–1947), who was originally from Pennsylvania, arrived in New York City. Darwin, the son of the famous naturalist Charles Darwin, had been invited to give a series of public lectures in the USA. As Plumian Professor of Astronomy at the University of Cambridge, Darwin had made a series of important breakthroughs regarding both oceanic tides and tides within the body of the earth. This talk examines Darwin’s approaches to giving public lectures that made use of projected images and demonstrations of scientific apparatus to both instruct and entertain a broad public audience. After this, I explore Darwin’s approach to converting these lectures into one of the first popular scientific books on the tides. Published by John Murray in 1898, who had published many of Charles Darwin’s works including On the Origin of Species, George Darwin's The Tides and Kindred Phenomena of the Solar System was aimed at a broad global audience and designed to convey details on the evolution of the earth itself. Through untangling the relationships Darwin developed with his publisher, scientific illustrator and printer this talk explores how this book was designed to introduce general audiences to new scientific ideas, securing Darwin’s legacy while ensuring The Tides met multiple editions and was translated into several languages.
Date: Thursday, April 3, 2025
Time: 6:00-7:30pm ET
Location: ElevatedNY, 1120 Ave of the Americas FL 4 New York, NY 10036
Speaker
Dr Edwin Rose is a historian of science, environment and empire with particular interests in the life, environmental, earth and human sciences, the history of the book and communication from the late seventeenth to early twentieth centuries. His new book is Reading the World: British Practices of Natural History 1760-1820 (University of Pittsburgh Press, March 2025).
Dr Rose is currently Principal Investigator on the Arts and Humanities Research Council funded research project 'Natural History in the Age of Revolutions, 1776–1848' based in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and Advanced Research Fellow at Darwin College, Cambridge. Dr Rose's previous projects include 'The Darwin Family and Cambridge: Science, Art and Nature, 1750-1964.'
