Article ID: CBB001200845

The Poetic Science of Nineteenth-Century Electricity (2012)

unapi

The article discusses the use of literary techniques in 19th-century scientific explanations of electricity. Particular focus is given to the writings of scientists Michael Faraday and James Clerk Maxwell. According to the author, techniques such as metaphor, analogy, and poetics allowed audiences to visualize phenomena which was invisible and which had previously been too abstract to comprehend. It is suggested that these techniques are in themselves a way of reasoning and achieving knowledge, and that they illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of science. Details related to Maxwell's poem "Reflex Musings: Reflection From Various Surfaces" are also presented.

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001200845/

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Authors & Contributors
Bullock, Shawn Michael
Zito, Fredrick Anthony
Wylie, Caitlin Donahue
Wittje, Roland
Wiederkehr, Karl Heinrich
Whitaker, Andrew
Journals
Victorian Studies
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science
Sudhoffs Archiv: Zeitschrift fuer Wissenschaftsgeschichte
Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part B: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics
Science and Education
PSA: Proceedings of the Biennial Meeting of the Philosophy of Science Association
Publishers
Prometheus Books
Oxford University Press
Liverpool University Press
New York University
Cambridge University Press
Concepts
Electricity; magnetism
Physics
Electromagnetism
Metaphors; analogies
Science education and teaching
Science and literature
People
Maxwell, James Clerk
Faraday, Michael
MacAlister, Donald
Swinburne, Algernon Charles
Sommerfeld, Arnold Johannes Wilhelm
Hertz, Heinrich Rudolph
Time Periods
19th century
20th century
18th century
20th century, early
17th century
Places
Great Britain
England
United States
Norway
Germany
France
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