1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910968174003321

Autore

Harkness Deborah E

Titolo

The jewel house : Elizabethan London and the scientific revolution / / Deborah E. Harkness

Pubbl/distr/stampa

New Haven ; ; London, : Yale University Press, 2007

ISBN

9781494505981

1494505983

9781299463615

1299463614

9780300185751

0300185758

Edizione

[1st ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (384 p.)

Classificazione

AK 17304

Disciplina

509.421/09031

Soggetti

Science - Great Britain - History

Natural history - Great Britain

London (England) Social conditions 16th century

London (England) Social life and customs 16th century

London (England) Intellectual life 16th century

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 299-329) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- ACKNOWLEDGMENTS -- CONVENTIONS -- A NOTE ABOUT "SCIENCE" -- PRELUDE -- 1. LIVING ON LIME STREET -- 2. THE CONTEST OVER MEDICAL AUTHORITY -- 3. EDUCATING ICARUS AND DISPLAYING DAEDALUS -- 4. "BIG SCIENCE" IN ELIZABETHAN LONDON -- 5. CLEMENT DRAPER'S PRISON NOTEBOOKS -- 6. FROM THE JEWEL HOUSE TO SALOMON'S HOUSE -- CODA -- NOTES -- BIBLIOGRAPHY -- INDEX

Sommario/riassunto

This book explores the streets, shops, back alleys, and gardens of Elizabethan London, where a boisterous and diverse group of men and women shared a keen interest in the study of nature. These assorted merchants, gardeners, barber-surgeons, midwives, instrument makers, mathematics teachers, engineers, alchemists, and other experimenters Deborah Harkness contends formed a patchwork scientific community



whose practices set the stage for the Scientific Revolution. While Francis Bacon has been widely regarded as the father of modern science, scores of his London contemporaries also deserve a share in this distinction. It was their collaborative, yet often contentious, ethos that helped to develop the ideals of modern scientific research. The book examines six particularly fascinating episodes of scientific inquiry and dispute in sixteenth-century London, bringing to life the individuals involved and the challenges they faced. These men and women experimented and invented, argued and competed, waged wars in the press, and struggled to understand the complexities of the natural world. Together their stories illuminate the blind alleys and surprising twists and turns taken as medieval philosophy gave way to the empirical, experimental culture that became a hallmark of the Scientific Revolution.