HPS Centre Seminar

Join us for the first HPS Seminar of 2019 as Dr Clare Hickman (Chester) speaks on Late Georgian Scottish botanic gardeners

Dr Clare Hickman (Department of History & Archaeology, University of Chester) will speak on:

‘The want of a proper Gardiner’: Late Georgian Scottish botanic gardeners as intermediaries of medical and scientific knowledge creation and dissemination

Abstract
Often overlooked by historians, specialist gardeners with an expert understanding of both native and exotic plant material, were central to the teaching and research activities of University botanic gardens beyond their more evident horticultural tasks. In this paper the interrelationships between the gardener, the garden, the botanic collection, the medical school, financial support and ways of knowing in the late Georgian period will be examined. Foregrounding these gardeners’ narratives will shed light on the way botanic material was gathered and utilised for teaching and research purposes, particularly for medical students, as well as highlighting the importance of the garden as a repository of botanic material for the classroom. In this way, the blurred lines between art and science, skill and scholarly activity, and shared pedagogic practices between botany and anatomy will be revealed. 

Information
The research seminar of the Centre for History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Leeds runs fortnightly during term time. Seminars are free and open to all. Tea/coffee will be available from 3:00, but please bring your own cups/mugs.