Abstract
The year 1830 is significant in the cultivation of science in Great Britain not because of any great scientific discoveries or innovations but because of human factors. It was a year of intense self-examination in the English Scientific Establishment and of the bitterest confrontation yet in the Royal Society between those insistent on reform and those determined to maintain traditional ways. It brought to the fore two new figures — King William IV and his younger brother, the Duke of Sussex — who would have roles in the functioning of British science in the coming decade. It marked a point in the history of the Royal Society when, as reformers were defeated, the reforms they advocated slowly began to be instituted. All these events took place against a background of change and alarm in the civil sphere that had a profound influence on activities in the scientific sphere.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1983 Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, The Hague
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Patterson, E.C. (1983). The Mechanism of the Heavens. In: Mary Somerville and the Cultivation of Science, 1815–1840. Archives Internationales D’Histoire Des Idees/International Archives of the History of Ideas, vol 102. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6839-4_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-6839-4_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-009-6841-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-6839-4
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive