Dissertation Research: The International Cambium Controversy: An Examination of the Development of Paleobotany, 1804-1895

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This Science and Technology Studies Dissertation Research Improvement Grant will explore the history of paleobotany during the nineteenth century and will focus on the controversy over the cambium. a scientific debate that defined this nascent science from the 1830s to the 1890s. Natural history during the nineteenth century saw many controversies. Besides the wide-ranging Darwinian controversy, a good number hinged on the interpretation of specific sets of scientific evidence (e.g., the Devonian controversy and the Huxley/Owen debate). It is into this category of practice-oriented debate that the conflict in paleobotany falls. The controversy over the cambium illustrates how social, theoretical and technological factors influenced the practice of paleobotany. Two individuals defined the poles of the debate, Adolphe Theodore Brongniart (1801-1876) of the Museum d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris and William Crawford Williamson (1816-1895) of Owens College, Manchester. Brongniart attained international acclaim for his paleobotanical researches through his connection to the museum and his mentor, Georges Cuvier. Williamson began his paleobotanical career illustrating Lindley and Hutton's Fossil Flora, but gained notoriety in paleobotany as a result of the cambium debate. The graduate student investigator will tease out the spheres of interaction for both Brongniart and Williamson, in order to understand how other paleobotanists viewed the cambium debate and how theoretical biases and social networks influenced positions on either side of the controversy. Following David C. Oldroyd's lead, not only will written sources be studied, but also non-written sources (plant fossil specimens; thin section microscope slides) will be used to unearth the ways that paleobotanists observed and interpreted their collections. The student has completed some of her archival research on Williamson and Brongniart with the assistance of funding from Drew University in Spring 2003. With the funds from the National Science Foundation, the student will travel to London, Paris, Berlin and Prague to complete the remainder of her research on the international ramifications of the cambium controversy. This project will consider not only scientific achievements, but also how social ties, nationalism and evolutionary theory played a role in the practice of paleobotany during its development. Since the cambium controversy occurred during the period that established the fundamental framework of knowledge which created the modern science of paleobotany, careful study of this debate is a keystone for reconstructing the history of the discipline. Thus, the deeper goal of this research project is to ground the conceptual foundations of paleobotany in their historical context. Paleobotany today, as the Botanical Society of America urges in its mission statement, is essential for testing models and theories of global climate change, patterns of plant phylogeny, and the antecedents of current patterns of biodiversity. These are complex scientific issues with broad cultural significance. A historical understanding of paleobotany's development will foster the public understanding of what has become a pivotal environmental science.