1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910590081103321

Autore

Behrisch Erika

Titolo

Discovery, Innovation, and the Victorian Admiralty : Paper Navigators / / by Erika Behrisch

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Cham : , : Springer International Publishing : , : Imprint : Palgrave Macmillan, , 2022

ISBN

9783031067495

9783031067488

Edizione

[1st ed. 2022.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (229 pages)

Collana

Global Studies in Social and Cultural Maritime History

Disciplina

359.03094109034

359.00941

Soggetti

Great Britain - History

Military history

Science - History

Civilization - History

History of Britain and Ireland

Military History

History of Science

Cultural History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Chapter 1: Introduction: Triangulating the New: Discovery, Innovation, Bureaucracy -- Chapter 2: “A monotonous and arduous service”: Science, Surveying, and Servitude Aboard -- Chapter 3: "Considerable Magnetic Disturbance”: The Niger Expedition, Science, and Networks of Influence -- Chapter 4: En Route with the British Admiralty’s Manual of Scientific Enquiry (1849) -- Chapter 5: Private Inventions, Public Purse: Innovation and the Admiralty -- Chapter 6: Conclusion: Notes in the Margin.

Sommario/riassunto

This book examines the British Admiralty’s engagement with science and technological innovation in the nineteenth century. It is a book about people, and gross misunderstanding, about the dreams and disappointments of scientific workers and inventors in relation to the administrators who adjudicated their requests for support, and about



the power of paper to escalate arguments, reduce opinions, and frustrate hopes. From instructions for naval surveying to debates about rewards to civilians for inventions, Paper Navigators puts a wide range of primary sources in the context of public debates and explores the British Admiralty’s engagement with, decision-making around, and management of questions of value, support, and funding with citizen inventors, the broader public, and their own employees. Concentrating on the Admiralty’s private, internal correspondence to explore these themes, it offers a fresh perspective on the Victorian Navy's history of innovation and exploration and is a novel addition to literature on the history of science in the nineteenth century. Erika Behrisch is Professor in the Department of English, Culture, and Communication at the Royal Military College of Canada.