Narratives of science and practice in mid-nineteenth century Britain: applied science, stories and story-telling

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IntroductionThis fellowship is proposed under 'Science in Culture'. For two centuries the phrase 'Applied science' and its close relatives were much used to describe essential aspects of science. Nonetheless, their scope and meaning linking science and practice are still not well understood by historians. This research will be devoted to exploring the early decades in which these concepts came to be widely cited, in 19th-century Britain, and also develop a methodology for this study. It will focus on the allegorical narratives used to interpret the ideas. Multiple voices will be accessed through recently-digitised 19th century newspapers and periodicals. To understand stories and story-telling, the study will draw on methods developed in literature, folklore and organisational studies.The interpretation of the term 'applied science' varied considerably, including a thing in itself or, else, the application of pure science. Rather than philosophically, its interpretation was largely expressed through allegorical stories of past success. These narratives were cycled, during the 19th century, between various contexts of discussion including debates about the nature of modern society and industry, the identity of the engineer and education.This work will thus be valuable for historians interested in applied science, in Victorian Britain, education and political economy, and because of the work on narrative, historians more generally. The Department of History and Philosophy of Science at Cambridge will be a project partner.There is a practical application too. The allegorical stories inherited about applied science are still important parts of public discourse and in museums. The Science Museum is opening a new major gallery on science in 2014 and in its interpretations will need as good as possible an understanding of the stories it has inherited. Other museums will also benefit.The fellowship will be held over nine months by Robert Bud who has both published extensively on the history of applied science and of its nineteenth century context, and is an experienced curator.Questions and OutputsThe phrase 'applied sciences' was coined by Coleridge in 1817 in conceptualising the huge Encyclopaedia Metropolitana. The work will cover the sixty years between that industrial revolution period and the 1870s era of discussion of the meaning of science, its education and institutions,This research will ask how applied science was rendered in articles, reports of speeches and advertisements.1.How can we understand the development and use of the concept in Britain in the sixty years after the term was coined in 1817a.How was the category of applied science constituted by the stories told and what were the functions of the phrase itself?b.How was historical experience of the relationship between science and practice translated into retailed and standardised narratives, and how did these change?c.What was the relationship between the accounts of leaders and the retelling of such accounts, stories and models in periodicals and newspapers which structured the public sphere of the early nineteenth century?d.How does the understanding obtained in this way complement understanding derived from other sources?2. How can techniques developed in other historical spheres, in folklore studies, in studies of organisations and in political science be deployed to help the understanding of the recounting of stories in such public domains?Direct output will be peer-reviewed papers, on the 19th century concepts of applied science, and on the use of methodologies of analysing stories. An article will also be submitted to History Today, and the Science Museum will benefit immediately. Sessions on the analysis of narrative will be organised at conferences of the museums community and of the social-science historycommunity. The work will also underpin a future book on applied science over two centuries.