Doctoral Dissertation Research: William Whewell's and Sir Francis Beaufort's Study of the Tides and the Organization of Science

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This study will bring to the fore essential questions concerning the center and periphery of science by focusing on the collaboration between the British savants and the British Admiralty in the early Victorian era. William Whewell and Sir Francis Beaufort were central in placing the empirical investigation of oceanic tides on a firm foundation. The present study will add an important and still unstudied dimension to William Whewell's achievements by analyzing his twenty-five year research project on the tides. It also will unveil Sir Francis Beaufort's role as the principal link between scientists and the British Admiralty in the early Victorian era. Support will be used to carry out research on the following unpublished manuscript sources: 1) the Whewell Papers at Trinity College, Cambridge; 2) the Francis Beaufort collection at the National Maritime Museum, and the Hydrographic Office; 3) John Lubbock's papers at the Royal Society; 4) Records of the Admiralty at the Public Records Office, London, and the National Maritime Museum; and 5) local records where a Royal Naval Dockyard operated: Bristol, Plymouth, Portsmouth, and Liverpool.