Darwinian Inheritance: Communication and Empire in the Making of a Scientific Dynasty

Value

£174,000

Partners and collaborators

Natural History Museum, London Darwin College, Cambridge Cambridge University Library

Charles darwin

Description

The Darwin dynasty played a central role in the production and communication of natural knowledge from the early eighteenth to mid-twentieth century. Nevertheless, there has been no connected study of Britain’s longest surviving scientific family. Concentrating on the Darwin dynasty’s changing approaches to communicating information and interactions with empire, this project explores the evolution of scientific working practices over three centuries. It will be the first study to integrate the successful manipulation of print with the Darwins’ ability to found and dominate new disciplines in the sciences, engaging a global community of readers while securing their own legacy.

Main image caption: A magic lantern slide commissioned by George Howard Darwin (1845–1912) based on a photograph by William Usborne Moore depicting the tidal bore on the Tsien-Tang-Kiang (now Qiantang) river, China, in 1892. Darwin later reproduced this for his book The Tide.

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Publications and outputs

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00732753231181548