The natural philosopher Francis Bacon heralded the new age of science. The frontispiece to his 1620 edition of the
Instauratio Magna depicted a galleon travelling between the metaphorical pillars of Hercules thought to lie at the Strait of Gibraltar and believed to mark the end of the known world. The image encapsulated Bacon's desire to sail beyond the limits set by Aristotle and the curriculum of the Ancient universities towards the new continent of science. Bacon imagined practical scientists engaged in a collaborative effort to expand knowledge of the natural world. But it was not until the turbulence of the Civil War and Commonwealth years had passed that such a group of scientists would gather together in London for this purpose and form the Royal Society. Amongst its members were Robert Boyle, Robert Hooke, Christopher Wren and Isaac Newton, who explicitly rejected dogma and insisted on practical experimentation and observation. How was the Royal Society formed against a backdrop of religious and political strife? What was it about the way this group of men worked that allowed each individual to flourish in his own field? And how successful was the Royal Society in disseminating the benefits of experimental science?"In Our Time" treats the big ideas which form the intellectual agenda of our age, illuminated by some of the best minds. Host Melvyn Bragg investigates the history of ideas and debates their application in modern life with his guests Stephen Pumfrey, Senior Lecturer in the History of Science at the University of Lancaster; Lisa Jardine, Professor of Renaissance Studies at Queen Mary, University of London; and Michael Hunter, Professor of History at Birkbeck, University of London. Baron Bragg -- historian, journalist and novelist -- is Controller of Arts for London Weekend Television.
From Bragg's email newsletter: After the programme Michael Hunter and Lisa Jardine bolted back to university to give lectures or seminars, but Stephen Pumfrey, coming from Lancaster, had a bit more leisure. He wished that we had taken up the argument about the class system inside the Royal Society. He does not buy the view that Royal Society members left their social distinctions at the door when entering a space where scientific concerns predominated. He admits that the Royal Society did give opportunities to men who were good with their hands. But they tended to make a distinction between gentleman thinkers and practical doers, believing that there needed to be philosophical overseers of those who laboured. Robert Hooke started off as someone who laboured and was overseen by the gentlemen of the Royal Society. Hooke did escape being the one who simply performed the experiments and rose to become a natural philosopher in his own right, but the classification system, according to Stephen Pumfrey, remained. It’s curious that one of the bars to intellectual and particularly scientific advancement in this country over the last two centuries has been the firm distinction between gentlemen and players, and here it is even within what is often regarded as the egalitarian arena of the scientific world.
