Victorian Palace of Science - Scientific Knowledge and the Building of the Houses of Parliament

Edward J. Gillin explores the extraordinary role of scientific knowledge in the building of the Houses of Parliament in Victorian Britain.

List of contents

Introduction; 1. A radical building: the science of politics and the new Palace of Westminster; 2. Architecture and knowledge: Charles Barry and the world of mid-nineteenth-century science; 3. 'The Science of Architecture': making geological knowledge for the Houses of Parliament; 4. Chemistry in the Commons: Edinburgh science and David Boswell Reid's ventilating of Parliament, 1834-1854; 5. Enlightening Parliament: the Bude Light in the House of Commons and the illumination of politics; 6. Order in Parliament: George Biddell Airy and the construction of time at Westminster; Conclusion: the house of experiment.

About the author

Edward J. Gillin completed a D.Phil. at the University of Oxford in 2015 and is now a Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. He specialises in British science, technology, architecture, and politics in the nineteenth century, with his current work focusing on the role of sound in the production of Victorian scientific knowledge. Previous works cover topics such as the Cunard Steamship Company, early-twentieth-century political protest, and Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Great Eastern steamship. He received the 2015 Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain's Hawksmoor Medal, and in 2016 was awarded the Usher Prize from the Society for the History of Technology.

Summary

Edward J. Gillin provides a dramatic account of how the building of the Houses of Parliament involved the use of radically new science and how, while under construction, Parliament became a laboratory and place of scientific experiment. This book will be of value to readers interested in Victorian science, architecture, and politics.

Product details

• Authors: Edward J Gillin, Edward J. Gillin, Edward J. (University of Cambridge) Gillin, Edward John Gillin, GILLIN EDWARD J.
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2017
• EAN: 9781108419666
• ISBN: 978-1-108-41966-6
• No. of pages: 340
• Series: Science in History; Science in History
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > General, dictionaries; Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Technology > General, dictionaries; London, Greater London, TECHNOLOGY & ENGINEERING / History, c 1800 to c 1900, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, History of engineering and technology, History of engineering & technology, Building construction & materials, Building construction and materials