* with apologies for cross-posting*
Issue 15 out now! http://journal.sciencemuseum.ac.uk/issues/spring-2021/
This May brings a sense of hope and normality, with the re-opening of our museums and other indoor cultural venues across the UK, and of course the reliable appearance of the Spring Journal issue. As Tim Boon reflects in his Editorial, it is inspiring to see how much research has been conducted and written about despite pandemic disruption.
If you’ve missed visiting exhibitions, Issue 15 includes a collection of papers associated with one of them – the Science Museum’s Science City 1550–1800: The Linbury Gallery. In this trio of papers Jane Desborough and Gloria Clifton discuss how the absence of women in the sources on early modern science hide their very real contribution. Rebekah Higgitt et al analyse the importance of the physical spaces where science was conducted in London, while David Bryden focuses on a single trade card, showing how a small ephemeral object can bring a relatively unknown inventor and tradesman to life.
In other papers researchers continue to reveal hidden stories that contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the past. Emily Rees Koerner, for example, discusses the life and work of Henrietta Vansittart, an extraordinary Victorian female engineer; while Kristin Hussey and Martha Biggins analyse a small collection of photographs and paintings held by the Royal College of Surgeons Museum that depict Dr Bhau Daji’s secret cure for leprosy, using it to discuss how Imperial power mediated the exchange of medical knowledge. Farrah Lawrence-Mackay analyses the language used to describe medical equipment – exploring the origins and use of the metaphor of ‘iron lungs’ to describe machines that were generally made of plywood. Sarah Stradal et al present research on the ways that the wounds of Christ were used in devotional practice in Medieval Europe, making good use of the online Journal to show and properly interrogate some beautiful images. And finally the Group’s Director Sir Ian Blatchford has somehow found the time to draw together findings from his ongoing biographical study of Lyon Playfair, the chemist, educator and politician who was instrumental in the creation of the Great Exhibition but who tends to be overshadowed by the more extravert Henry Cole.
Issue 15 is rounded off with a book review and an obituary of another Science Museum Director, the extraordinary Dame Margaret Weston, who did so much to expand our group of museums. We would like to thank the authors, reviewers and contributors who helped us bring Issue 15 to publication under difficult circumstances, and we hope you enjoy reading it.
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