Science Visualized and Popularized

An electrical experiment from Sir William Watson, Recueil
de traités sur l'electricité, traduits de l'Allemand &
de l'Anglois (Paris, 1748) – Science, Industry
and Business Library, NYPL

The daunting effect of the underlying mathematics on the diffusion of Newtonian ideas was also alleviated by the inventiveness of English and Dutch scientific practitioners in designing scientific instruments – and devising ingenious experiments – capable of establishing Newtonian principles. “Forces” and the laws of motion suddenly became every bit as visual (and demonstrable) as the refrangibility of light through a prism.

Plate from Willem Jacob’s Gravesande,
Elémens de physique (Leiden, 1746) –
Science, Industry and Business Library, NYPL

Thanks to the efforts of these university professors, instrument makers, and itinerant lecturers, the scientific lecture-demonstration became the backbone of university instruction in the natural sciences as well as a trendy form of public entertainment among aristocrats and members of the middle class. The popularity of science increased even more during the 1740s with the harnessing of electricity and the coming into vogue of natural history.