Dear CGF Subscribers,

Please could you take a moment to re-direct this PhD studentship advert to any potential student applicants. 

Many thanks indeed for your help.

Hayden Lorimer

University of Glasgow

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Magnetism, Scientific Instruments and Expeditionary Science in the Nineteenth Century

University of Glasgow / Royal Society

Fully-funded AHRC PhD Studentship

This project examines the historical geographies of magnetic research. At the centre of the project are a number of philosophical instruments that were used to study terrestrial magnetism during voyages of exploration in the nineteenth century, including the Fox Dip Circle, the Kater Azimuth Compass, and the Kew Pattern Dip Circle, or Barrow Circle. The project will follow the lives of these instruments and their makers and users, as they were deployed in various institutional and expeditionary contexts over the course of the nineteenth century. In doing so it will advance our understandings of the role of instruments in nineteenth-century science and exploration; of the history of non-metropolitan science and technology as it pertained to instrument makers; and of the relations between science, exploration and the military in the nineteenth century. The project will make extensive use of the archives of the Royal Society, along with supplementary use of the RGS (with IBG) archives and those of other repositories in the UK.

The project has three broad aims:
1) To trace the life-course of key philosophical instruments that were developed, promoted and used in various institutional and particularly expeditionary contexts over the course of the nineteenth century. The focus will be on magnetic instruments, such as Robert Were Fox’s dip circle, which was adopted by the British Admiralty, championed by men of science, and used on a number of voyages of exploration from the 1830s to the 1870s.
2) To map out the place of magnetic instruments in wider instrumental and philosophical economies. The thesis will examine the way instruments relied on one another in the reduction of observations. In a similar manner the research will consider the place of instruments in the production of credible scientific knowledge and credible observers.
3) To produce critical biographies of the instrument makers involved in the production of magnetic instruments. The project will contribute to a growing body of literature that recovers the work of previously invisible actors in the history of science and technology. Robert Were Fox was one such instrument maker, an almost unstudied natural philosopher and inventor of an improved dip circle, who worked in the important industrial but non-metropolitan setting of Cornwall. Other figures include Henry Kater and Henry Barrow.

This studentship is one of four PhD awards made by the Collaborative Doctoral Partnership managed jointly by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) and the Royal Society. The project will be supervised by Dr Simon Naylor and Dr Hayden Lorimer (University of Glasgow) and Keith Moore (Royal Society). The studentship, which is funded for three years full-time equivalent, will be available from 1 October 2014.

Applicants should have a good undergraduate degree in geography, history, history of science, literary studies or other relevant discipline, and should normally have or be studying for a Masters or equivalent postgraduate qualification. Preference may be given to applicants with prior experience of archival research. Due to AHRC stipulations, full funding is available only to UK citizens and citizens of the EU resident in the UK for at least three years by September 2014.

Applicants should submit a CV together with a cover letter outlining their qualifications for, and interest in, the studentship. The names and contact details of two academic referees should be included. A sample of written work should also be supplied, such as a Masters dissertation chapter or assignment. Applications should be sent by email to Dr Simon Naylor ([log in to unmask]) no later than 4.30pm on Monday 17 March 2014. Interviews will be held at the University of Glasgow on Tuesday 1 April 2014.

For further information concerning the project, please contact Dr Simon Naylor ([log in to unmask]).

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