The Spirit of Inquiry

How one extraordinary society shaped modern science

Susannah Gibson

Celebrates the 200th anniversary of the remarkable Cambridge Philosophical Society
Brings to life the many remarkable episodes and illustrious figures associated with the Society, including Adam Sedgwick, Mary Somerville, Charles Darwin, and Lawrence Bragg
Reflects the shaping of modern science, as well as a changing Cambridge University, against the backdrop of profound social and intellectual transformation, from early Victorian times, through the world wars, to the present
Offers background to current debates about the role of science in society

The Spirit of Inquiry

How one extraordinary society shaped modern science

Susannah Gibson

Description

Cambridge is now world-famous as a centre of science, but it wasn't always so. Before the nineteenth century, the sciences were of little importance in the University of Cambridge. But that began to change in 1819 when two young Cambridge fellows took a geological fieldtrip to the Isle of Wight. Adam Sedgwick and John Stevens Henslow spent their days there exploring, unearthing dazzling fossils, dreaming up elaborate theories about the formation of the earth, and bemoaning the lack of serious science in their ancient university. As they threw themselves into the exciting new science of geology - conjuring millions of years of history from the evidence they found in the island's rocks - they also began to dream of a new scientific society for Cambridge. This society would bring together like-minded young men who wished to learn of the latest science from overseas, and would encourage original research in Cambridge. It would be, they wrote, a society "to keep alive the spirit of inquiry".

Their vision was realised when they founded the Cambridge Philosophical Society later that same year. Its founders could not have imagined the impact the Cambridge Philosophical Society would have: it was responsible for the first publication of Charles Darwin's scientific writings, and hosted some of the most heated debates about evolutionary theory in the nineteenth century; it saw the first announcement of x-ray diffraction by a young Lawrence Bragg - a technique that would revolutionise the physical, chemical and life sciences; it published the first paper by C.T.R. Wilson on his cloud chamber - a device that opened up a previously-unimaginable world of sub-atomic particles. 200 years on from the Society's foundation, this book reflects on the achievements of Sedgwick, Henslow, their peers, and their successors. Susannah Gibson explains how Cambridge moved from what Sedgwick saw as a "death-like stagnation" (really little more than a provincial training school for Church of England clergy) to being a world-leader in the sciences. And she shows how science, once a peripheral activity undertaken for interest by a small number of wealthy gentlemen, has transformed into an enormously well-funded activity that can affect every aspect of our lives.

The Spirit of Inquiry

How one extraordinary society shaped modern science

Susannah Gibson

The Spirit of Inquiry

How one extraordinary society shaped modern science

Susannah Gibson

Author Information

Susannah Gibson, Affiliated scholar, Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge

Dr Susannah Gibson is an Affiliated Scholar of the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. She holds a PhD from Cambridge on the history of the life sciences of the eighteenth century, a master's degree in the history of nineteenth-century science, and a bachelor's degree in experimental physics. She is the author of Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? How eighteenth-century science disrupted the natural order (OUP, 2015), which was well reviewed in The Telegraph, The TLS, and The Independent, amongst other publications. She was formerly Manager of the Cambridge Literary Festival, and remains interested in both introducing new audiences to the history of science, and in bridging the gap between academic and popular writing.

The Spirit of Inquiry

How one extraordinary society shaped modern science

Susannah Gibson

Reviews and Awards

"Gibson has thoroughly filleted the archives and she tells a richly fascinating history. Her book is an excellent example of everything that public outreach should be: accessibly priced, informative, and entertaining." - Ann Kennedy Smith, Times Literary Supplement

"Reviewing a great book is much like witnessing a blue moon, infrequent but captivating. For me, The Spirit of Inquiry was one such event... This book deserves your time." - Dr Stephen Hoskins, The Biologist

"A vivid, deeply researched intellectual history." - Kirkus

"As part of its bicentenary celebration, the Cambridge Philosophical Society commissioned historian of science Susannah Gibson to tell the story of the Societys foundation, its rise, decline and resurrection. She has managed the difficult task of bringing together the many different strands, which were part of the wider story of the development of science, and made it very readable." - Douglas Palmer, Geoscientist

"Whether your particular area of interest is in the history of science, of Great Britain, of women in science, of intellectual history, or you [...] would simply reading enjoy an well-written, intelligent book that will significantly enlarge your understanding of the world in which we presently live by coming to know the stories behind some of the truly brilliant people who have formed the ideas and created so many of the technologies that make modern society possible, I highly recommend The Spirit of Inquiry to you." - The Well Read Naturalist

"I loved this book. And if you, too, are fascinated by the history of British science and are interested in Cambridge University, you will too ... Gibson has produced an impressive addition to the history of the development of the science..." - Brian Clegg, Popular Science

"How then did Cambridge transform into the world-beater in science of today? That is the subject matter of The Spirit of Inquiry by Susannah Gibson. She weaves a delightful tale about the institution that made it happen..." - Rajat Ghai, Down to Earth

"This is a bicentennial history of which the Society can be proud." - Michael A. Flannery, Metascience