Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical

Centre for Nineteenth Century Studies (Department of English Literature) and the Division of the History and Philosophy of Science (University of Leeds) Funded by the Leverhulme Trust, the AHRB, and the MHRA Directors: Professor Sally Shuttleworth and Professor Geoffrey Cantor Enquiries: sally.shuttleworth@admin.ox.ac.uk

This project explores the popular dissemination of science in the nineteenth century through the medium of periodicals designed for a general readership. In the pages of periodicals such as the Cornhill Magazine, articles on the latest scientific developments stood side by side with fiction and poetry, and discussions of political events. Research has focused on the inter-relationship of scientific and other forms of discourse within the periodical frame. Research over the initial three year period has led to the production of an annotated electronic index of the scientific content of 16 periodicals, accompanied by a volume of interpretative essays, Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical: Reading the Magazine of Nature (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).

The two conferences held by the project in Leeds (2000) and M.I.T. (2001) have resulted in two further volumes of essays: Culture and Science in the Nineteenth-Century Media (Ashgate Publishing, 2004) and Science Serialized: Representations of the Sciences in Nineteenth-Century Periodicals (M.I.T. Press, 2004). The electronic index has been published as a freely available online resource in January 2005 under the title: Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical: an Electronic Index.