Gunpowder and the rise of early modern science
Lead Research Organisation:
University of York
Department Name: History
Abstract
Francis Bacon's (1561-1626) motto 'knowledge is power' is well known. It aptly captures the application of scientific theorizing to technological solutions. Bacon pioneered a new method of science which called for the joining of theory and practice. Yet despite its impact on the emerging new sciences, the knowledge-power relation, as projected by Bacon and interpreted by his followers, is not well understood. In particular, few studies have examined in detail the synthesis of scientific theory and military practice during the early modern era. The purpose of this project is to investigate the role of gunpowder in early modern science. Gunpowder technology offers an especially fruitful locus for inquiry as it so vividly illustrates Bacon's belief that knowledge of nature's hidden forces will allow us to control its marvellous power.
To stimulate a more analytical approach to questions of military practice and scientific theorizing, this project aims to recover and interpret the role of gunpowder in the rise of early modern science. Using printed sources, together with historical reconstruction of early modern gunpowder experiments, the project student will seek, as a primary aim, to throw new light on the relationship between science and gunpowder technology. The combination of RA expertise with University of Leeds specialisms will illuminate the synthesis of scientific theory and military practice in this formative period. This project has been explicitly designed to partner with the RA where appropriate technical and safety expertise with gunpowder exists to undertake historical reconstructions.
The project student will, as a second aim, explore the interaction in the early modern world between natural philosophers concerned with causal and theoretical ideas about nature and artisans, powdermakers and craftsmen concerned with trade processes and the manual arts. The sociologist Edgar Zilsel was among the first to point to the traditional skills of artisans as being central to the emergence of natural science. Through a focus on gunpowder, the project explores the fluid boundaries between scholars and craftsmen, between pure and applied science. Historical analysis will be aided by replication of experiments and craft practices at the RA, with reference to, for example, Leonardo da Vinci's (c. 1508) and Robert Hooke's (1663) schemes for determining the force of gunpowder. Gunpowder experiment replication has the capacity to contribute decisively to the ongoing debates concerning artisan-science relations in this formative period.
A third aim will be to investigate why gunpowder was at the centre of a number of heated debates among the founder members of the Royal Society. In the mid-1660s, the Royal Society (the oldest scientific institution) began promoting Bacon's project, seeking knowledge of the natural world through observation and experiment. Bacon's stipulation that scholars write descriptions of trades called 'histories' to provide information for the new science was adopted as one of the Royal Society's main concerns in its early years. Thomas Henshaw presented a 'History of Saltpetre and Gunpowder' to the Royal Society. This history was fiercely attacked by Henry Stubbe, who argued it was false. To what extent was Stubbe's attack justified? Does Henshaw's history of gunpowder live up to Bacon's concept of a history? How does Henshaw's history compare with other histories of gunpowder? Addressing both the technical issues and wider dynamics of conflict, the project student will seek to answer these questions.
Two main project benefits are envisaged: first, a major contribution to our understanding of the relationship between theoretical abstraction and practical application as it featured in early modern experimental science; and second, via an online exhibition and the outreach media of the RA, greater pub
To stimulate a more analytical approach to questions of military practice and scientific theorizing, this project aims to recover and interpret the role of gunpowder in the rise of early modern science. Using printed sources, together with historical reconstruction of early modern gunpowder experiments, the project student will seek, as a primary aim, to throw new light on the relationship between science and gunpowder technology. The combination of RA expertise with University of Leeds specialisms will illuminate the synthesis of scientific theory and military practice in this formative period. This project has been explicitly designed to partner with the RA where appropriate technical and safety expertise with gunpowder exists to undertake historical reconstructions.
The project student will, as a second aim, explore the interaction in the early modern world between natural philosophers concerned with causal and theoretical ideas about nature and artisans, powdermakers and craftsmen concerned with trade processes and the manual arts. The sociologist Edgar Zilsel was among the first to point to the traditional skills of artisans as being central to the emergence of natural science. Through a focus on gunpowder, the project explores the fluid boundaries between scholars and craftsmen, between pure and applied science. Historical analysis will be aided by replication of experiments and craft practices at the RA, with reference to, for example, Leonardo da Vinci's (c. 1508) and Robert Hooke's (1663) schemes for determining the force of gunpowder. Gunpowder experiment replication has the capacity to contribute decisively to the ongoing debates concerning artisan-science relations in this formative period.
A third aim will be to investigate why gunpowder was at the centre of a number of heated debates among the founder members of the Royal Society. In the mid-1660s, the Royal Society (the oldest scientific institution) began promoting Bacon's project, seeking knowledge of the natural world through observation and experiment. Bacon's stipulation that scholars write descriptions of trades called 'histories' to provide information for the new science was adopted as one of the Royal Society's main concerns in its early years. Thomas Henshaw presented a 'History of Saltpetre and Gunpowder' to the Royal Society. This history was fiercely attacked by Henry Stubbe, who argued it was false. To what extent was Stubbe's attack justified? Does Henshaw's history of gunpowder live up to Bacon's concept of a history? How does Henshaw's history compare with other histories of gunpowder? Addressing both the technical issues and wider dynamics of conflict, the project student will seek to answer these questions.
Two main project benefits are envisaged: first, a major contribution to our understanding of the relationship between theoretical abstraction and practical application as it featured in early modern experimental science; and second, via an online exhibition and the outreach media of the RA, greater pub
Planned Impact
The principal benefits of the project outside of the academic context will be:
a) For the RA (each of these in accordance with its strategic priorities):
* An even closer working relationship with the university, leading to further collaboration.
* The legacy of a better-organized reference collection of small arms ammunition.
* Having a raised profile in the wider community, thanks to the project student's web-based exhibition.
* Sustained use of the RA's important collection of gunpowder weaponry by a well-informed researcher during the project, and publicity concerning the scholarly potential of the collection, of major interest to historians of science and technology, battlefield archaeologists and military historians.
* The RA will benefit from this research by having additional scholarly input from the student (and supervisors) on the role of gunpowder in early modern science.
* Additional web-based materials relating to gunpowder, for use with school groups and the general public.
b) For schools: Children are a particular focus for the RA's education team. The student will, in close consultation with the RA's education dept., prepare pedagogic materials for the use of school groups, tied to the National Curriculum. E.g., in KS3:
* History: Unit 8: The Civil Wars; Unit 21: Scientific Discoveries that Changed the World;
* Science: Unit 7F simple chemical reactions (e.g. the chemistry of gunpowder); Unit 9L pressures and moments;
* Mathematics: Ratio, proportion and scale.
By presenting science in a different context, these materials (accessible via the RA's interactive website) will attempt to counter the general apathy and lack of enthusiasm regarding science in 11 to 13 year olds. The importance and interest of viewing artillery from a materials science perspective is a great opportunity to enthuse students with the potential attraction of studying sciences.
c) For the wider public: The project offers the opportunity to learn, to explore, and to be entertained.
* Web materials: The project student will, in consultation with RA staff, produce a suite of historical pages on the RA's website, based on the research, and intended to be of interest to members of the general public.
* Members of the public will be stimulated, via the online exhibit, to consider and explore the role of military technology in the development of modern science. The project enhances public understanding of science as a system of knowledge from the perspective of its historical context, impact which can be used to inform policy debate about science. The exhibit will enhance public engagement with science and technology; the project raises ethical and regulatory policy issues shared by some emerging areas of science and technology. E.g., national security prevented the early Royal Society from openly publishing military secrets, even though this was the whole point of the history of trades.
* The student will assist the education team with its work to mark National Science Week, designed to celebrate the importance of science, engineering and technology, to demonstrate the importance to the economy and wellbeing of the nation, and to stimulate broader thinking about science in our culture.
* Film project: The project's spectacular elements (explosions, noise-and-spectacle etc.) possess considerable potential for appealing to the interests of the general public. The RA has made two very successful series called Arms in Action with the History Channel in the USA. The student will, in close consultation with Mr Rimer, submit a proposal for a film project based on the PhD project. We have the following channels in mind: the History Channel, NOVA, BBC Two (Timewatch), BBC Four. If successful, early modern experiments with gunpowder will be accurately replicated and filmed under scientific conditions, producing illuminating evidence
a) For the RA (each of these in accordance with its strategic priorities):
* An even closer working relationship with the university, leading to further collaboration.
* The legacy of a better-organized reference collection of small arms ammunition.
* Having a raised profile in the wider community, thanks to the project student's web-based exhibition.
* Sustained use of the RA's important collection of gunpowder weaponry by a well-informed researcher during the project, and publicity concerning the scholarly potential of the collection, of major interest to historians of science and technology, battlefield archaeologists and military historians.
* The RA will benefit from this research by having additional scholarly input from the student (and supervisors) on the role of gunpowder in early modern science.
* Additional web-based materials relating to gunpowder, for use with school groups and the general public.
b) For schools: Children are a particular focus for the RA's education team. The student will, in close consultation with the RA's education dept., prepare pedagogic materials for the use of school groups, tied to the National Curriculum. E.g., in KS3:
* History: Unit 8: The Civil Wars; Unit 21: Scientific Discoveries that Changed the World;
* Science: Unit 7F simple chemical reactions (e.g. the chemistry of gunpowder); Unit 9L pressures and moments;
* Mathematics: Ratio, proportion and scale.
By presenting science in a different context, these materials (accessible via the RA's interactive website) will attempt to counter the general apathy and lack of enthusiasm regarding science in 11 to 13 year olds. The importance and interest of viewing artillery from a materials science perspective is a great opportunity to enthuse students with the potential attraction of studying sciences.
c) For the wider public: The project offers the opportunity to learn, to explore, and to be entertained.
* Web materials: The project student will, in consultation with RA staff, produce a suite of historical pages on the RA's website, based on the research, and intended to be of interest to members of the general public.
* Members of the public will be stimulated, via the online exhibit, to consider and explore the role of military technology in the development of modern science. The project enhances public understanding of science as a system of knowledge from the perspective of its historical context, impact which can be used to inform policy debate about science. The exhibit will enhance public engagement with science and technology; the project raises ethical and regulatory policy issues shared by some emerging areas of science and technology. E.g., national security prevented the early Royal Society from openly publishing military secrets, even though this was the whole point of the history of trades.
* The student will assist the education team with its work to mark National Science Week, designed to celebrate the importance of science, engineering and technology, to demonstrate the importance to the economy and wellbeing of the nation, and to stimulate broader thinking about science in our culture.
* Film project: The project's spectacular elements (explosions, noise-and-spectacle etc.) possess considerable potential for appealing to the interests of the general public. The RA has made two very successful series called Arms in Action with the History Channel in the USA. The student will, in close consultation with Mr Rimer, submit a proposal for a film project based on the PhD project. We have the following channels in mind: the History Channel, NOVA, BBC Two (Timewatch), BBC Four. If successful, early modern experiments with gunpowder will be accurately replicated and filmed under scientific conditions, producing illuminating evidence
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Sophie Weeks (Principal Investigator) |