Recreating the late Victorian popular science experience

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Science and technology play prominent roles in our predictions of the future, whether we are imagining cures for disease, liberation from household chores, or interplanetary tourism. This was equally true in the late nineteenth century, when Victorians noted the significant technological and scientific advances since their grandparents' days: they were proud of bicycles and typewriters; of railways, steamships and electric telegraphs; of photography and electric lighting. Science fiction writers began to wonder what the world of the future would look like, while popularisers poured their energies into explicating the wonders of science and the workings of technology. The public could see these for themselves in the many demonstrations, lectures and shows that were part of late Victorian entertainment culture. Scientific shows were crucial to the process of selling the future to Victorian publics. They were highly skilled and often technologically sophisticated affairs that required careful management and meticulous choreography of performers' bodies and scientific apparatus. Our project aims to recreate such a show, and to perform it publicly.This project brings together three academics with established track records of research into Victorian and Edwardian popular science; the project will enable them to work with two experienced performers, both of whom specialise in historic scientific acts (magic lantern lectures, and circus/side-show acts).