ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

Nineteenth-Century Geology Caricatures: Public Reception of Geology in Society

• In Event: Popularisation and the 19th Century History of British Science

English Abstract

The work of nineteenth-century geologists like Charles Lyell, William Buckland and Henry De la Peche are being continually reevaluated. While researching the Visual History of Sir Charles Lyell’s field notebooks, it became apparent that one under-appreciated area of enquiry concerns the reception of the work of Lyell and his contemporaries with members of the wider public. Nineteenth-century scientific audiences were different than those of today, with interested members of the public generally keeping up to date with scientific discoveries and works across many disciplines. More like today, many people were engaged in what we now call citizen-science, reporting measurements and findings to figures like Lyell from across the globe. This paper will explore the visual engagement members of the public had with geological ideas through the medium of caricatures. Considering the visual history of the public reception of nineteenth-century geology will allow an exploration of the often unattributed and forgotten audiences of nineteenth-century geologists’ findings outwith the academy. While we are currently preoccupied with the effects of generative AI and the so called ‘age of misinformation’, considering the ways in which people in the nineteenth-century shared, understood and reacted to the cutting-edge science of their day allows us the opportunity to analyse the reception of these ideas by non-experts. Through archival research and visual analysis, this paper interrogates the ways in which the emerging science of geology was both received and understood in the public realm and highlights underused methodological tools which we can use to interrogate these rich sources.

Author

• Alison Clark, University of Aberdeen