Kirwan, Adrian
(2020)
Sociability, radium and the maintenance of scientific culture and authority in twentieth-century Ireland: a case study of the Royal Dublin Society.
British Journal for the History of Science, 53 (1).
pp. 47-66.
ISSN 1474-001X
(In Press)
Abstract
This article, through a case study of the Royal Dublin Society (RDS), traces the reception, experimentation with, and uses of radium in early twentieth-century Ireland. Throughout the nineteenth century there was increasing state intervention in the provision of scientific and technical education in Ireland. This culminated in the loss of the RDS's traditional role in this area. The article demonstrates that the RDS was forced to re-envisage its role as a scientific institution by actively seeking to support experimental research. Using radium as a case study, the article argues for the success of this tactic. It demonstrates that radium played a central role within the RDS as a nexus for the maintenance of an experimental and philanthropic culture that permeated much of the society's scientific output in this period. In doing this it highlights the importance of sociability in the promotion of science in Ireland in the early twentieth century. In addition, it explores the role of the RDS as an arbiter of scientific authority.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Additional Information: |
Post-print (accepted manuscript). |
| Keywords: |
Ireland; Irish; radium; History of Science; RDS; Royal Dublin Society; |
| Academic Unit: |
Centre for Teaching and Learning |
| Item ID: |
16522 |
| Identification Number: |
https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007087419000864 |
| Depositing User: |
Adrian Kirwan
|
| Date Deposited: |
20 Sep 2022 11:38 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
British Journal for the History of Science |
| Publisher: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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