An Entertainment for Angels (Icon Science)
Electricity in the Enlightenment
$21.39
- Paperback
192 pages
- Release Date
20 July 2017
Summary
Electricity was the scientific fashion of the Enlightenment, ‘an Entertainment for Angels, rather than for Men’. Lecturers attracted huge audiences to marvel at sparkling fountains, flaming drinks, pirouetting dancers and electrified boys. Enlightenment optimists predicted that this new-found power of nature would cure illnesses, improve crop production, even bring the dead back to life.Benjamin Franklin, better known as one of America’s founding fathers, played a key role in developing the n…
Book Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781785782077 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10: | 178578207X |
| Author: | Patricia Fara |
| Publisher: | Icon Books |
| Imprint: | Icon Books |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Number of Pages: | 192 |
| Release Date: | 20 July 2017 |
| Weight: | 182g |
| Dimensions: | 198mm x 129mm x 14mm |
| Series: | Icon Science |
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Critics Review
Vividly captures the ferment created by the new science of the Enlightenment… Fara deftly shows how new knowledge emerged from a rich mix of improved technology, medical quackery, Continental theorising, religious doubt and scientific rivalry. – New ScientistNeat and stylish… Fara’s account of Benjamin Franklin’s circle of friends and colleagues brings them squabbling, eureka-ing to life. – GuardianCombines telling anecdote with wise commentary… presents us with numerous tasty and well-presented historical morsels – Times Higher Education Supplement
About The Author
Patricia Fara
Patricia Fara is a Senior Tutor at Clare College at the University of Cambridge, where she teaches history of science. She is also the author of Newton: The Making of Genius (Macmillan, 2002) and Sex, Botany and Empire (Icon, 2003).
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