Recent scholarship has revealed that pioneering Victorian scientists endeavored through voluminous writing to raise public interest in science and its implications. But it has generally been assumed that once science became a profession around the turn of the century, this new generation of scientists turned its collective back on public outreach. Science for All debunks this apocryphal notion.Peter J. Bowler surveys the books, serial works, magazines, and newspapers published between 1900 and the outbreak of World War II to show that practicing scientists were very active in writing about their work for a general readership. Science for All argues that the social environment of early twentieth-century Britain created a substantial market for science books and magazines aimed at those who had benefited from better secondary education but could not access higher learning. Scientists found it easy and profitable to write for this audience, Bowler reveals, and because their work was seen as educational, they faced no hostility from their peers. But when admission to colleges and universities became more accessible in the 1960s, this market diminished and professional scientists began to lose interest in writing at the nonspecialist level.Eagerly anticipated by scholars of scientific engagement throughout the ages, Science for All sheds light on our own era and the continuing tension between science and public understanding.

Science for All: The Popularization of Science in Early Twentieth-Century Britain

Peter J. Bowler

University of Chicago Press

Evolution, the history of an idea

Peter J. Bowler's comprehensive, fascinating account of the history of evolutionary theories introduces specialist and nonspecialist alike to one of the most potent scientific ideas of modern times. This new edition is updated in its content and includes an augmented bibliography that offers an unparalleled guide to further reading. As in the original edition, Bowler's even-handed approach not only clarifies the history of his controversial subject but also adds significantly to our understanding of contemporary debates over it. The idea of evolution continues to evolve.

Science & Math

Biological Sciences

University of California Press

An accessible and comprehensive history of discoveries and outlooks that culminated in the modern discipline of environmental studies. This authoritative volume chronicles humanity's long quest to understand its own origins. Peter J. Bowler brilliantly synthesizes discoveries in geography, geology, and evolutionary biology that have brought us to our current knowledge of the fragility and connectedness of life on earth and created the new science of ecology. Bowler adeptly balances a long historical perspective with discussion of specific developments in the major fields relating to the physical and organic environment. He brings to life theoretical debates surrounding the notion of nature as an interconnected whole and addresses the controversial ethical questions raised by the ways we investigate our world and our use of the planet's resources. This book is not only the history of a discipline but also a wide-ranging study of scientific and theoretical innovations and the cultural and professional factors that influence the way scientists explain and understand their observations. 8 pages of illustrations

Earth Encompassed : A History of the Environmental Sciences

Bt Bound

The Eclipse of Darwinism: Anti-Darwinian Evolution Theories in the Decades around 1900

In this pioneering study of the first major challenges to Darwinism, Bowler examines the completing theories of evolution, identifies their intellectual origins, and describes the process by which the modern concept of evolution emerged.

History & Philosophy

The Johns Hopkins University Press

Science and Society in Ireland: The Social Context of Science and Technology in Ireland, 1800-1950

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Institute of Irish

Paleontology -- Europe -- History.

Fossils and progress: Paleontology and the idea of progressive evolution in the nineteenth century

Science History Publications

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Books by Peter J. Bowler