The effects of caffeine on short-term memory (STM) are controversial. Findings are inconsistent, as many effects of caffeine sometimes impair short-term and working memory, whereas the other studies indicate enhancing effects.
Increasing our capacities of STM and working memory only seem to have
beneficial impacts upon our daily lives. Increasing our memory
capacities would result in retaining more information for extended
periods of time and encoding information from STM to long-term memory.
However, the research consensus indicates an inhibitory effect,
reducing the capacity of our short-term memory and working memory.
Auditory effects within short-term memory
Caffeine’s effects in memory were also investigated in the auditory system.
The Auditory-Verbal Learning Test is a memory test that assesses recall
of lists of words on single and multiple trials given through the
subjects' auditory system. Caffeine subjects recalled fewer words than
did control subjects, and caffeine subjects showed a greater deficit in
recalling the middle- to end-portions of the lists.
Working memory effects
Caffeine has been thought to have some benefits when testing working memory by investigating the tip of the tongue
effect, the idea being that, if caffeine were present in one's system,
then one would be less likely to experience tip of the tongue effect, or
the feeling of knowing a familiar word but not being able to
immediately recall it. Previous research suggested that the tip of the
tongue phenomena can be corrected for with the use of caffeine, and that
caffeine could help one to more quickly retrieve the word they are
looking for. Current research refutes previous research accrediting
evidence to priming a phonological loop
within the working memory opposed to caffeine enhancing STM capacity. A
study has found that there are more correct tip of the tongue answers
with a caffeine group than those of the control group. The finding is
not that caffeine improves performance; it was finding the priming of
the phonological-system-effecting responses. When attempting to comprise
tip of the tongue effects, subjects were primed with similar-sounding
words to the target word; as a result, priming the target word was
reached faster regardless of caffeine intake.
A test also studied the effects of caffeine on working memory by
administering word lists to subjects. Ultimately, the study found that
there was a difference in the results for male and female subjects. Male
subjects saw no change in their ability to recall the word lists, thus
caffeine showed no effect on their working memory, while females under
the effects of the caffeine supplement saw their ability to recall the
word lists negatively effected and thus their working memories slightly
impaired by the drug
Time-of-day effects
Short-term
memory has been thought to be influenced differently throughout the day
when caffeine has been ingested; in the morning, STM performance will
be different from at the end of the day. As the effects of caffeine wear
off, there would be some effect on STM. Three groups of caffeine intake
(low, medium, and high) were compared during four daytime hours (01:00,
07:00, 13:00, 19:00). People with low caffeine intake have a decreased
performance later in the day, compared to moderate and a high-level
caffeine intake. Thus the effect of caffeine on short term memory can
differ due to many other factors and thus cannot be instantly
generalized.
State Dependent Memory
Caffeine
users are subject to state dependent memory effects when under the
effects of caffeine. For example, a study tasked two groups of subjects
to remember word lists; half of them had caffeine while the other half
were given placebos. When brought back the next day, each original group
was now split in half, half of them given the same treatment they were
encoded under, the other half given the opposite treatment. Ultimately
the study showed that subjects that were under the same treatment in
both encoding and retrieval out performed the other groups.
This study does not support a decline or enhancement in working memory
due to caffeine but rather a state dependent effect instead.
Long-term memory
Caffeine
has been shown to have positive, negative, and no effects on long-term
memory. When studying the effects of this and any drug,
potential ethical restraints on human study procedures may lead
researchers to conduct studies involving animal subjects in addition to
human subjects.
Positive effects of caffeine on long-term memory
Positive effects of caffeine on long-term memory have been shown in a study analyzing habitual caffeine intake of coffee or tea
in addition to consuming other substances. Their effect on cognitive
processes was observed by performing numerous cognitive tasks. Words
were presented and delayed recall was measured. Increased delayed recall
was demonstrated by individuals with moderate to high habitual caffeine
intake (mean 710 mg/week) as more words were successfully recalled
compared to those with low habitual caffeine intake (mean 178 mg/week).
Therefore, improved performance in long-term memory was shown with
increased habitual caffeine intake due to better storage or retrieval.
A similar study assessing effects of caffeine on cognition and mood
resulted in improved delayed recall with caffeine intake. A dose-response relationship was seen as individuals were able to recall more words after a period of time with increased caffeine. Improvement of long-term memory with caffeine intake was also seen in a study using rats and a water maze.
In this study, completion of training sessions prior to performing
numerous trials in finding a platform in the water maze was observed.
Caffeine was consumed by the rats before and after the training
sessions. There was no effect of caffeine consumption before the
training sessions; however, a greater effect was seen at a low dosage
immediately afterward. In other words, the rats were able to find the
platform faster when caffeine was consumed after the training sessions
rather than before. This implies that memory acquisition was not
affected, while increases in memory retention were.
Negative effects of caffeine on long-term memory
Researchers
have found that long-term consumption of low dose caffeine slowed
hippocampus-dependent learning and impaired long-term memory in mice.
Caffeine consumption for 4 weeks also significantly reduced hippocampal
neurogenesis, a process by which the brain creates new neurons to assist
in memory retention, compared to controls during the experiment. The
conclusion was that long-term consumption of caffeine could inhibit
hippocampus-dependent learning and memory partially through inhibition
of hippocampal neurogenesis.
Caffeine has been shown to have negative effects on long-term memory. In a study with mice,
a step-through passive-avoidance task was used, and the ability to
remember the task was assessed. Caffeine was given before the task in
varying doses, with low doses to start (11.55 mg/kg) and higher doses in
the end (92.4 mg/kg). (To put that in perspective, one 8 oz cup of coffee contains 95–200 mg of caffeine.)
An apparatus including a box with a light was connected to a dark box
with an electric floor. When the mice entered the dark box, a shock was
released from the floor. The next day, the mice entered the apparatus
again and completed the same task. Subjects that did not enter the dark
box for 180 seconds were thought to have put the task in long-term
memory, remembering the assignment from the previous day. However,
caffeine administered at higher doses resulted in decreased retention
time of the task from 180 seconds to 105 seconds. Lower doses of
caffeine had little to no effect on retention time. Therefore, in this
study, linear regression
analysis showed that higher doses of caffeine impaired long-term
memory, suggesting a dose-response relationship between caffeine intake
and retention time. Ultimately, long-term memory and caffeine intake
display varying results, in human as well as animal subjects.
No effect of caffeine on long-term memory
Alternatively,
other studies have shown that caffeine intake has no effect on
long-term memory. This was expressed in a study whereby either caffeine
or a placebo
was assigned to several subjects at two different times. Some subjects
received caffeine first, while others received a placebo. All
participants were shown a word list which would eventually be tested.
Two days later, the same process was repeated, with random distribution
of the two substances. This was also observed in a study involving the assessment of delayed recall using a verbal memory test. Two studies were completed using different control drinks containing caffeine.
Age differences
Effects on young adults
The
effects for this age group (15-25) were the most variable and
conflicting. On the one hand, caffeine effects appear to be detrimental
to short-term memory, working memory included, whereas the effects are
somewhat positive for memory over the long term (for example, you
remember something better many days later if you drank caffeine during encoding as well as retrieval, as opposed to no caffeine).
Many of the effects reported were for subjects who were not regular
caffeine consumers. Regular consumers of caffeine, on the other hand,
showed only positive effects when it came to memory tasks. An important
factor to consider is that there was fairly wide-range daily caffeine
consumption previous to the study, and this could have had a significant
effect on performance of the task because not everyone is at the same
baseline.
Another study used a much larger subject pool and found that
age-related differences were quite minimal for attentional memory, but
that over the long term, regular caffeine consumption was fairly
beneficial to younger subjects.
Effects on the middle aged
As
previously stated, the most pronounced effect of caffeine on memory
appears to be on middle-aged subjects (26-64). None of the studies
provide reasoning for why this group would be most affected, but one
could hypothesize that because of cognitive decline due to age, caffeine
has a powerful effect on brain chemistry (although this would suggest
the older the person, the stronger the effect of caffeine). Furthermore,
this age group is most likely to be the largest consumer of caffeine.
The main studies reporting this finding
show that at low, acute doses of caffeine consumption, working memory
only slightly affects those in this age group, while no effect is
observed for younger or older subjects. The authors conclude that larger
doses may be needed to produce results that are supported by previous
literature, and this is an avenue for further research. Furthermore, it
is argued that consumption of caffeine generally aids cognitive
performance for this age group, as long one does not exceed the
recommended dose of 300 mg per day.
Effects on the elderly
In
older adults, memory is typically best in the morning and gradually
declines over the day. Those who consumed caffeine in the morning showed
much better memory, both short-term and long-term than those who
consumed a placebo, especially in late afternoon, where memory and
attention may be most crucial to daily functioning for the elderly. This
is further supported by a study
which showed that adults over the age of 65 who regularly consume
caffeine in the morning are much more alert and function at a higher
cognitive level throughout the day. The authors conclude that it is
beneficial for older adults to regularly consume average doses of
caffeine in the morning to boost cognitive performance and alertness in
the afternoon. Again, one should not exceed the recommended dose of
about 300 mg per day, otherwise memory performance declines due to
over-consumption.
Conclusion
The
literature shows mixed results. Overall regular caffeine consumption
has a positive effect on one's short- and long-term memory only when
consumed on a regular basis. Consumption should be daily, in moderate
doses, and at around the same time, regardless of age.
Sex differences
Many studies provide support for the idea that caffeine has different effect on males versus females when related to memory.
These differences can be seen through a number of memory types
(short-term, long-term, etc.), with various theories accounting for
these differing effects.
Short-term memory
Caffeine has been shown to have an impairing effect on females (but not males) in a word-list test of short-term memory. One prevailing theory which aims to explain this sex difference identifies estrogen levels in the body as an important factor relating to caffeine’s effect on memory performance As a result, the female menstrual cycle
(which influences overall estrogen levels in the body) may play a role
in modifying the effect of caffeine on memory. Following this theory,
researchers tested females within the first 5 days of their menstrual
cycle and found that caffeine had a facilitative effect on female
performance on a short-term memory test.
A particular finding in this study relating to male memory performance
revealed that at a lower dose, caffeine had an impairing effect; but at
higher doses, no impairment was shown. Differing speeds of testing
(words delivered slowly or quickly) in males served as a modifying
factor on the effect of caffeine: higher doses aided in recall with
faster presentation of words, and lower doses aided in recall with
slower presentation of words. These findings are only based on a small
set of data collected from selective studies on this topic, so further
research in this area would be needed to gain a more clear understanding
of caffeine's differing effects on male and female short-term memory.
Long-term memory
Limited
research on long-term memory and sex differences indicates no notable
difference in the effect of caffeine between males and females.
Sex differences have not been thoroughly covered in the literature
concerning caffeine’s effect on memory. Since most studies do not report
significant sex differences in this area of memory study, it is
reasonable to assume that there is not strong evidence to support sex
differences in caffeine’s effect on memory. Further specific research
into sex differences would be needed to fully understand the impacts of
this popular drug on its users.
Withdrawal
Caffeine withdrawal
has been known about for over a hundred years. However, there are still
many unknowns that exist because only within the last decade has it
been researched scientifically. Currently, there is no known correlation
between caffeine withdrawal and an effect on memory. There are many
potential reasons for the lack of conclusions made about this issue. The
main speculation is that since caffeine affects many parts of the
central nervous system, this would imply that there is more than one
mechanism that is activated by caffeine. It would thus require the examination of multiple activation pathways in order to determine caffeine’s specific effect on the nervous system and consequently memory.
Caffeine withdrawal's physiological effects
Even though there is no direct evidence
that caffeine withdrawal impacts memory, there are many other
connections made that provide some insight into what memory effects are
possible. For example, there is evidence to show that attention
decreases when experiencing caffeine withdrawal. A study had school-age
children, who were regular caffeine users, go 24 hours without caffeine
consumption, and the results showed a decrease in performance on
reaction time of a task that required attention. Studies have also shown that regular caffeine users experience headaches and fatigue
during withdrawal. One study had a group of regular caffeine users
divided into three groups. Each group was designated an amount of time
to avoid caffeinated products, for either 1.5 hours, 13 hours, or 7
days. The study found that, to varying degrees, all participants
experienced an increase in fatigue, drowsiness, and headaches. A third study also found that among a group of participants receiving a placebo, anxiety was experienced by participants who had prior caffeine use.
This would imply that participants would also experience a deficit in
memory capabilities because attention and alertness positively impact
the amount of information that can be stored in both short- and
long-term memory, and anxiety would be a detriment to memory retention.
Duration of caffeine avoidance
There
is also existing evidence that reflects on the duration of the caffeine
avoidance period in relation to the significance of the withdrawal
symptoms. In the study previously mentioned, the strongest withdrawal
effects were seen among participants who underwent a 13-hour avoidance
period, followed by the 7-day avoidance group.
This would imply that memory effects would be at their strongest around
the 13-hour mark and would continue to be affected for the following
days. Memory would not be affected, however, within the first few hours.
This appears valid considering most daily caffeine users need to
consume caffeine shortly after awaking from sleep. For example, coffee
drinkers were given either caffeine or a placebo after overnight
caffeine abstinence. The study showed that regular coffee drinkers
became less alert and more anxious than non-coffee drinkers when
receiving the placebo.
To coincide with this finding, another study in 2001 found a
dose-related improvement in cognitive performance for daily caffeine
users. This means that coffee drinkers experience the same positive effects every day they consume coffee.
Universities
in northern Europe were more willing to accept the ideas of
Enlightenment and were often greatly influenced by them. For instance,
the historical ensemble of the University of Tartu in Estonia,
that was erected around that time, is now included in the European
Heritage Label list as an example of a university in the Age of
Enlightenment.
The Age of Enlightenment
dominated advanced thought in Europe from about the 1650s to the 1780s.
It developed from a number of sources of “new” ideas, such as
challenges to the dogma and authority of the Catholic Church and by increasing interest in the ideas of science, in scientific methods.
In philosophy, it called into question traditional ways of thinking.
The Enlightenment thinkers wanted the educational system to be
modernized and play a more central role in the transmission of those
ideas and ideals. The development of educational systems in Europe
continued throughout the period of the Enlightenment and into the French Revolution. The improvements in the educational systems produced a larger reading public
which resulted in increased demand for printed material from readers
across a broader span of social classes with a wider range of interests.
After 1800, as the Enlightenment gave way to Romanticism,
there was less emphasis on reason and challenge to authority and more
support for emerging nationalism and compulsory school attendance.
History of education
Before
the Enlightenment, European educational systems were principally geared
for teaching a limited number of professions, e.g., religious orders such as priests, brothers, and sisters, health care workers such as physicians, and bureaucrats such as lawyers and scribes, and they were not yet greatly influenced by the scientific revolution.
As the scientific revolution and religious upheaval broke traditional
views and ways of thinking of that time, religion and superstition were
supplanted by reasoning and scientific facts. Philosophers such as John Locke proposed the idea that knowledge is obtained through sensation and reflection.
This proposition led to Locke's theory that everyone has the same
capacity of sensation, and, therefore, education should not be
restricted to a certain class or gender. Prior to the 17th and 18th
centuries, education and literacy were generally restricted to males who
belonged to the nobility and the mercantile and professional classes.
In England and France, “idealized notions of domesticity, which
emphasized the importance of preparing girls for motherhood and home
duties, fuelled the expansion of schooling for girls.”
Educational ideas
John
Locke in English and Jean Jacques Rousseau in French authored
influential works on education. Both emphasized the importance of
shaping young minds early. By the late Enlightenment, there was a
rising demand for a more universal approach to education, particularly
after the American and French Revolutions.
Enlightenment children were taught to memorize facts through oral and graphical methods that originated during the Renaissance.
The predominant educational psychology from the 1750s onward,
especially in northern European countries was associationism; the notion
that the mind associates or dissociates ideas through repeated
routines. It offered a practical theory of the mind that allowed
teachers to transform longstanding forms of print and manuscript culture
into effective graphic tools of learning for the lower and middle
orders of society.
Many of the leading universities associated with Enlightenment
progressive principles were located in northern Europe, with the most
renowned being the universities of Leiden, Göttingen, Halle,
Montpellier, Uppsala and Edinburgh. These universities, especially
Edinburgh, produced professors whose ideas had a significant impact on
Britain's North American colonies and, later, the American Republic.
Within the natural sciences Edinburgh's medical also led the way in
chemistry, anatomy and pharmacology.
However, in general the universities and schools of France and
most of Europe were bastions of traditionalism and were not hospitable
to the Enlightenment. In France the major exception was the medical
university at Montpellier.
Growth of the education system
Literacy
Education was once considered a privilege for only the upper class. However, during the 17th and 18th centuries, “education, literacy and learning” were gradually provided to “rich and poor alike”.
The literacy rate in Europe from the 17th century to the 18th century
grew significantly. The definition of the term "literacy" in the 17th
and 18th centuries is different from our current definition of literacy.
Historians measured the literacy rate during the 17th and 18th century
centuries by people's ability to sign their names. However, this method
of determining literacy did not reflect people's ability to read. This
affected the women's apparent literacy rate prior to the Age of
Enlightenment mainly because, while most women living between the Dark
Ages and the Age of Enlightenment could not write or sign their names,
many could read, at least to some extent.
The rate of illiteracy decreased more rapidly in more populated
areas and areas where there was mixture of religious schools. The
literacy rate in England in the 1640s was around 30 percent for males,
rising to 60 percent in the mid-18th century. In France, the rate of
literacy in 1686-90 was around 29 percent for men and 14 percent for
women, before it increased to 48 percent for men and 27 percent for
women.
The increase in literacy rate was more likely due, at least in
part, to religious influence, since most of the schools and colleges
were organized by clergy, missionaries, or other religious
organizations. The reason that motivated religions to help to increase
the literacy rate among the general public was that the Bible was being
printed in more languages and literacy was thought to be the key to
understanding the word of God.
“By 1714 the proportion of women able to read had risen, very
approximately, to 25%, and it rose again to 40% by 1750. This increase
was part of a general trend, fostered by the Reformation emphasis on
reading the Scripture and by the demand for literacy in an increasingly
mercantile society. The group most affected was the growing professional
and commercial class, and writing and arithmetic schools emerged to
provide the training their sons required”.
The impact of the Reformation on literacy was, of course, far more
dramatic in Protestant areas. Therefore, literacy rates in predominantly
Protestant Northern Europe rose much more quickly than those in
predominately Catholic southern Europe. The Jesuits, who were the
product of the Catholic Reformation (Counter Reformation) contributed
moderately to increased literacy in Catholic regions.
Prussian system
The
Kingdom of Prussia introduced a modern public educational system
designed to reach the entire population; it was widely copied across
Europe and the United States in the 19th century. The basic foundations
of the Prussian primary education system were laid out by Frederick the Great with his "Generallandschulreglement," a decree of 1763, drafted by Johann Julius Hecker.
It mandated the schooling of all young Prussians, both girls and boys,
to be educated by mainly municipality funded schools from age 5 until
age 13 or 14. Prussia was among the first countries in the world to
introduce a tax-funded and generally compulsory primary education. In
comparison, compulsory schooling in France or Great Britain was not
successfully enacted until the 1880s.
The Prussian system consisted of an eight-year course of primary education, called Volksschule.
It provided not only basic technical skills needed in a modernizing
world (as reading and writing), but also music (singing), religious
(Christian) education in close corporation with the churches and tried
to impose a strict ethos of duty, soberness and discipline. Mathematic
and calculus were not compulsory in the start and taking such courses
was requiring additional payment by parents. Frederick the Great also formalized further educational stages, such as the Realschule and the highest stage, the gymnasium (state funded secondary school), which was used as university-preparatory school. The final examination, Abitur,
was introduced in 1788, implemented in all Prussian secondary schools
by 1812, and extended to all of Germany in 1871 and is in place till the
present. Passing the Abitur was a pre-requisite to entering the learned
professions and higher echelons of civil service. Generations of
Prussian and as well German teachers, which in the 18th century often
had no formal education and in the very beginning often were former
petty officers without pedagogic training, tried to gain more academic
recognition, training and better pay and played an important role in
various protest and reform movements.
The Prussian system, after its modest beginnings, succeeded in
reaching compulsory attendance, specific training for teachers, national
testing for all students (of all genders), national curriculum set for each grade and mandatory Kindergarten. In 1810, Prussia introduced state certification requirements for teachers, which significantly raised the standard of teaching.
In the 18th century, states were paying more attention to their
educational systems because they recognized that their subjects are more
useful to the state if they are well educated. The conflicts between
the crown and the church helped the expansion of the educational
systems. In the eyes of the church and the state, universities and
colleges were institutions that existed to maintain the dominance of one
over the other. The downside of this conflict was that the freedom of
thought on the subjects taught in these institutions was restricted. An
educational institution was either a supporter of the monarchy or the
religion, never both.
Also, changes in educational criteria for higher income
professions such as lawyers and physicians became stricter, e.g.,
requirements to have certain educational experience before being
licensed, helped to promote increases in the numbers of students
attending universities and colleges.
Print culture
The explosion of the print culture, which started in the 15th century with Johannes Gutenberg’s printing press,
was both a result of and a cause of the increase in literacy. The
number of books published in the period of the Enlightenment increased
dramatically due to the increase in demand for books, which resulted
from the increased literacy rates and the declining cost and easier
availability of books made possible by the printing press. There was a
shift in the percentages of books printed in various categories during
the 17th century.
Religious books had comprised around 50% of all books published
in Paris at that time. However, the percentage of religious books
dropped to 10% by 1790 and there was an increase in the popularity of
books such as almanacs.
The scientific literature in French might have increased slightly but
mostly it remained fairly constant throughout the 18th century. However,
contemporary literature seems to have increased as the century
progressed.
Also, there was a change in the languages that books were printed in.
Before the 18th century, a large percentage of the books were published
in Latin. As time progressed, there was a decline in the percentage of
books published in Latin. Concurrently, the percentage of books
published in French, and other languages, increased throughout Europe.
Of course the importance of print culture to education is not
simply about counting publication figures. Students had to use the books
that were given to them and they had to use pen and paper to organise
and make sense of the information that they were learning.
In this sense print culture was closely tied to manuscript culture,
particularly the skills and routines associated with note-taking.
Perhaps one of the most notable accomplishments of Enlightenment
educational systems is that they taught students how to efficiently
manage information on paper, both in school and then in university.
Public libraries
During
the Enlightenment period, there were changes in the public cultural
institutions, such as libraries and museums. The system of public libraries was a product of the Enlightenment. The public libraries were funded by the state and were accessible to everyone for free.
Prior to the Enlightenment, libraries in Europe were restricted
mostly to academies and the private collections of aristocrats and other
wealthy individuals. With the beginning of state funded institutions,
public libraries became places where the general public could study
topics of interest and educate themselves. During the 18th century, the
prices of books were generally too high for the average person,
especially the most popular works such as encyclopedias. Therefore, the public libraries offered commoners a chance of reading literature and other works that previously could only be read by the wealthier classes.
Intellectual exchange
During the 18th century, the increase in social gathering places such as coffeehouses, clubs, academies and Masonic Lodges
provided alternative places where people could read, learn and exchange
ideas. In England, coffeehouses became public spaces where political,
philosophical and scientific ideas were being discussed. The first
coffeehouse in Britain was established in Oxford in 1650 and the number
of coffeehouses expanded around Oxford.
The coffeehouse was a place for people to congregate, to read, to
learn and to debate with each other. Another name for the coffeehouse
is the Penny University, because the coffeehouse had a reputation as a
place of informal learning.
“The popularization of new ideas encouraged further changes in the
habits and beliefs of many ordinary people. Reading clubs and
coffeehouses allowed many urban artisans and businessmen to discuss the
latest reform ideas.”
Even though the coffeehouses were generally accessible to everyone,
most of the coffeehouses did not allow women to participate. Clubs,
academies, and Lodges, although not entirely open to the public,
established venues of intellectual exchange that functioned as de facto
institutions of education.
Education for girls
During
the 17th century, there were a number of schools dedicated to girls,
but the cultural norm was for girls to be informally educated at home.
During the 18th century, there was an increase in the number of girls
being educated in schools. This was especially true for middle-class
families whose rising financial status and social aspirations made
providing an aristocratic style of education for their daughters both
desirable and possible.
In France, one of the most famous schools for girls was the Saint-Cyr,
which was founded by Madame de Maintenon. Although the school Saint-Cyr
was meant to educate women, it did not dare to challenge the
traditional views towards women. Therefore, the fact that there were
schools for women did not bring about a social change because the
schools themselves did not challenge the social status quo. Women were
excluded from learning subjects such as science and politics. In
October, 1795, France created “a National Institute and Normal Schools
that excluded women from the professional study of Philosophy.”
In d’Épinay's recollection of her childhood education, she pointed out
that girls were not taught much of anything and that a proper education
was considered to be inappropriate for the female sex. The main issue
about female education relates to the traditional view of women's
weakness being due to nature. However, there were people, such as John
Locke and d’Épinay, who argue that women's weakness was due to faulty
education.
Catherine the Great of Russia was a patron of women's education in Russia throughout the 18th century. Heeding to the advice of Ivan Betskoy, an educational reformer and close adviser, the Empress created separate boarding schools for both boys and girls. The Smolny Institute for Noble Girls
in 1764 became the first higher learning institute for women in Europe,
an institution that Catherine helped establish; the following year the
Queen of Russia established the Novodevichii Institute, an all-female institute for the daughters of Russian commoners. Just as Frederick the Great
oversaw the establishment of compulsory education in Prussia, Catherine
contributed to the evolution of women's education on the continent and
enabled for the further modernization of the Russian state during the
Enlightenment.
The history of science during the Age of Enlightenment traces developments in science and technology during the Age of Reason, when Enlightenment ideas and ideals were being disseminated across Europe and North America. Generally, the period spans from the final days of the 16th and 17th-century Scientific Revolution until roughly the 19th century, after the French Revolution (1789) and the Napoleonic era (1799–1815). The scientific revolution saw the creation of the first scientific societies, the rise of Copernicanism, and the displacement of Aristotelian natural philosophy and Galen's
ancient medical doctrine. By the 18th century, scientific authority
began to displace religious authority, and the disciplines of alchemy and astrology lost scientific credibility.
While the Enlightenment cannot be pigeonholed into a specific
doctrine or set of dogmas, science came to play a leading role in
Enlightenment discourse and thought. Many Enlightenment writers and
thinkers had backgrounds in the sciences and associated scientific
advancement with the overthrow of religion and traditional authority in
favour of the development of free speech and thought. Broadly speaking,
Enlightenment science greatly valued empiricism
and rational thought, and was embedded with the Enlightenment ideal of
advancement and progress. As with most Enlightenment views, the benefits
of science were not seen universally; Jean-Jacques Rousseau criticized the sciences for distancing man from nature and not operating to make people happier.
Science during the Enlightenment was dominated by scientific societies and academies,
which had largely replaced universities as centres of scientific
research and development. Societies and academies were also the backbone
of the maturation of the scientific profession. Another important
development was the popularization of science among an increasingly literate population. Philosophes introduced the public to many scientific theories, most notably through the Encyclopédie and the popularization of Newtonianism by Voltaire as well as by Émilie du Châtelet, the French translator of Newton's Principia Mathematica. Some historians have marked the 18th century as a drab period in the history of science; however, the century saw significant advancements in the practice of medicine, mathematics, and physics; the development of biological taxonomy; a new understanding of magnetism and electricity; and the maturation of chemistry as a discipline, which established the foundations of modern chemistry.
The number of universities in Paris remained relatively constant
throughout the 18th century. Europe had about 105 universities and
colleges by 1700. North America had 44, including the newly founded Harvard and Yale.
The number of university students remained roughly the same throughout
the Enlightenment in most Western nations, excluding Britain, where the
number of institutions and students increased.
University students were generally males from affluent families,
seeking a career in either medicine, law, or the Church. The
universities themselves existed primarily to educate future physicians, lawyers and members of the clergy.
The study of science under the heading of natural philosophy was divided into physics and a conglomerate grouping of chemistry and natural history, which included anatomy, biology, geology, mineralogy, and zoology. Most European universities taught a Cartesian form of mechanical philosophy
in the early 18th century, and only slowly adopted Newtonianism in the
mid-18th century. A notable exception were universities in Spain, which under the influence of Catholicism
focused almost entirely on Aristotelian natural philosophy until the
mid-18th century; they were among the last universities to do so.
Another exception occurred in the universities of Germany and Scandinavia, where University of Halle professor Christian Wolff taught a form of Cartesianism modified by Leibnizian physics.
Before the 18th century, science courses were taught almost exclusively through formal lectures. The structure of courses began to change in the first decades of the 18th century, when physical demonstrations were added to lectures. Pierre Polinière and Jacques Rohault
were among the first individuals to provide demonstrations of physical
principles in the classroom. Experiments ranged from swinging a bucket
of water at the end of a rope, demonstrating that centrifugal force would hold the water in the bucket, to more impressive experiments involving the use of an air-pump.
One particularly dramatic air-pump demonstration involved placing an
apple inside the glass receiver of the air-pump, and removing air until
the resulting vacuum caused the apple to explode. Polinière's demonstrations were so impressive that he was granted an invitation to present his course to Louis XV in 1722.
Some attempts at reforming the structure of the science
curriculum were made during the 18th century and the first decades of
the 19th century. Beginning around 1745, the Hats party
in Sweden made propositions to reform the university system by
separating natural philosophy into two separate faculties of physics and
mathematics. The propositions were never put into action, but they
represent the growing calls for institutional reform in the later part
of the 18th century. In 1777, the study of arts at Cracow and Vilna in Poland was divided into the two new faculties of moral philosophy and physics. However, the reform did not survive beyond 1795 and the Third Partition.
During the French Revolution, all colleges and universities in France
were abolished and reformed in 1808 under the single institution of the Université imperiale. The Université divided the arts and sciences into separate faculties, something that had never before been done before in Europe. The United Kingdom of the Netherlands
employed the same system in 1815. However, the other countries of
Europe did not adopt a similar division of the faculties until the
mid-19th century.
Universities in France tended to serve a downplayed role in the
development of science during the Enlightenment; that role was dominated
by the scientific academies, such as the French Academy of Sciences. The contributions of universities in Britain were mixed. On the one hand, the University of Cambridge
began teaching Newtonianism early in the Enlightenment, but failed to
become a central force behind the advancement of science. On the other
end of the spectrum were Scottish universities, which had strong medical
faculties and became centres of scientific development. Under Frederick II, German universities began to promote the sciences. Christian Wolff's unique blend of Cartesian-Leibnizian physics began to be adopted in universities outside of Halle. The University of Göttingen,
founded in 1734, was far more liberal than its counterparts, allowing
professors to plan their own courses and select their own textbooks.
Göttingen also emphasized research and publication. A further influential development in German universities was the abandonment of Latin in favour of the German vernacular.
While the number of universities did not dramatically increase
during the Enlightenment, new private and public institutions added to
the provision of education. Most of the new institutions emphasized
mathematics as a discipline, making them popular with professions that
required some working knowledge of mathematics, such as merchants,
military and naval officers, and engineers.
Universities, on the other hand, maintained their emphasis on the
classics, Greek, and Latin, encouraging the popularity of the new
institutions with individuals who had not been formally educated.
Societies and Academies
Scientific
academies and societies grew out of the Scientific Revolution as the
creators of scientific knowledge in contrast to the scholasticism of the
university.
During the Enlightenment, some societies created or retained links to
universities. However, contemporary sources distinguished universities
from scientific societies by claiming that the university's utility was
in the transmission of knowledge, while societies functioned to create
knowledge.
As the role of universities in institutionalized science began to
diminish, learned societies became the cornerstone of organized science.
After 1700 a tremendous number of official academies and societies were
founded in Europe and by 1789 there were over seventy official
scientific societies . In reference to this growth, Bernard de Fontenelle coined the term "the Age of Academies" to describe the 18th century.
Official scientific societies were chartered by the state in order to provide technical expertise.
This advisory capacity offered scientific societies the most direct
contact between the scientific community and government bodies available
during the Enlightenment.
State sponsorship was beneficial to the societies as it brought finance
and recognition, along with a measure of freedom in management. Most
societies were granted permission to oversee their own publications,
control the election of new members, and the administration of the
society.
Membership in academies and societies was therefore highly selective.
In some societies, members were required to pay an annual fee to
participate. For example, the Royal Society depended on contributions
from its members, which excluded a wide range of artisans and
mathematicians on account of the expense.
Society activities included research, experimentation, sponsoring essay
prize contests, and collaborative projects between societies. A
dialogue of formal communication also developed between societies and
society in general through the publication of scientific journals. Periodicals
offered society members the opportunity to publish, and for their ideas
to be consumed by other scientific societies and the literate public.
Scientific journals, readily accessible to members of learned societies,
became the most important form of publication for scientists during the
Enlightenment.
Academies and societies served to disseminate Enlightenment science
by publishing the scientific works of their members, as well as their
proceedings. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, published by the Royal Society of London, was the only scientific periodical being published on a regular, quarterly
basis. The Paris Academy of Sciences, formed in 1666, began publishing
in volumes of memoirs rather than a quarterly journal, with periods
between volumes sometimes lasting years. While some official periodicals
may have published more frequently, there was still a long delay from a
paper’s submission for review to its actual publication. Smaller
periodicals, such as Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, were only published when enough content was available to complete a volume.
At the Paris Academy, there was an average delay of three years for
publication. At one point the period extended to seven years. The Paris Academy processed submitted articles through the Comité de Librarie, which had the final word on what would or would not be published. In 1703, the mathematician Antoine Parent began a periodical, Researches in Physics and Mathematics, specifically to publish papers that had been rejected by the Comité.
The limitations of such academic journals left considerable space for
the rise of independent periodicals. Some eminent examples include Johann Ernst Immanuel Walch's Der Naturforscher (The Natural Investigator) (1725–1778), Journal des sçavans (1665–1792), the JesuitMémoires de Trévoux (1701–1779), and Leibniz’s Acta Eruditorum
(Reports/Acts of the Scholars) (1682–1782). Independent periodicals
were published throughout the Enlightenment and excited scientific
interest in the general public.
While the journals of the academies primarily published scientific
papers, independent periodicals were a mix of reviews, abstracts,
translations of foreign texts, and sometimes derivative, reprinted
materials.
Most of these texts were published in the local vernacular, so their
continental spread depended on the language of the readers. For example, in 1761 Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov correctly attributed the ring of light around Venus, visible during the planet’s transit, as the planet's atmosphere; however, because few scientists understood Russian outside of Russia, his discovery was not widely credited until 1910.
Some changes in periodicals occurred during the course of the
Enlightenment. First, they increased in number and size. There was also a
move away from publishing in Latin in favour of publishing in the
vernacular. Experimental descriptions became more detailed and began to
be accompanied by reviews.
In the late 18th century, a second change occurred when a new breed of
periodical began to publish monthly about new developments and
experiments in the scientific community. The first of this kind of
journal was François Rozier's Observations sur la physiques, sur l'histoire naturelle et sur les arts,
commonly referred to as "Rozier's journal", which was first published
in 1772. The journal allowed new scientific developments to be published
relatively quickly compared to annuals and quarterlies. A third
important change was the specialization seen in the new development of
disciplinary journals. With a wider audience and ever increasing
publication material, specialized journals such as Curtis' Botanical Magazine (1787) and the Annals de Chimie (1789) reflect the growing division between scientific disciplines in the Enlightenment era.
Encyclopedias and dictionaries
Although the existence of dictionaries and encyclopedia
spanned into ancient times, and would be nothing new to Enlightenment
readers, the texts changed from simply defining words in a long running
list to far more detailed discussions of those words in 18th-century encyclopedic dictionaries.
The works were part of an Enlightenment movement to systematize
knowledge and provide education to a wider audience than the educated
elite. As the 18th century progressed, the content of encyclopedias also
changed according to readers’ tastes. Volumes tended to focus more
strongly on secular affairs, particularly science and technology, rather than matters of theology.
Along with secular matters, readers also favoured an alphabetical
ordering scheme over cumbersome works arranged along thematic lines. The historian Charles Porset,
commenting on alphabetization, has said that “as the zero degree of
taxonomy, alphabetical order authorizes all reading strategies; in this
respect it could be considered an emblem of the Enlightenment.” For
Porset, the avoidance of thematic and hierarchical systems thus allows free interpretation of the works and becomes an example of egalitarianism.
Encyclopedias and dictionaries also became more popular during the Age
of Reason as the number of educated consumers who could afford such
texts began to multiply.
In the later half of the 18th century, the number of dictionaries and
encyclopedias published by decade increased from 63 between 1760 and
1769 to approximately 148 in the decade proceeding the French Revolution
(1780–1789).
Along with growth in numbers, dictionaries and encyclopedias also grew
in length, often having multiple print runs that sometimes included in
supplemented editions.
The first technical dictionary was drafted by John Harris and entitled Lexicon Technicum: Or, An Universal English Dictionary of Arts and Sciences.
Harris’ book avoided theological and biographical entries; instead it
concentrated on science and technology. Published in 1704, the Lexicon technicum was the first book to be written in English that took a methodical approach to describing mathematics and commercial arithmetic along with the physical sciences and navigation. Other technical dictionaries followed Harris’ model, including Ephraim Chambers’ Cyclopaedia (1728), which included five editions, and was a substantially larger work than Harris’. The folio edition of the work even included foldout engravings. The Cyclopaedia emphasized Newtonian theories, Lockean philosophy, and contained thorough examinations of technologies, such as engraving, brewing, and dyeing.
"Figurative system of human knowledge", the structure that the Encyclopédie organised knowledge into. It had three main branches: memory, reason, and imagination
In Germany, practical reference works intended for the uneducated majority became popular in the 18th century. The Marperger Curieuses Natur-, Kunst-, Berg-, Gewerkund Handlungs-Lexicon (1712) explained terms that usefully described the trades and scientific and commercial education. Jablonksi Allgemeines Lexicon (1721) was better known than the Handlungs-Lexicon,
and underscored technical subjects rather than scientific theory. For
example, over five columns of text were dedicated to wine, while
geometry and logic were allocated only twenty-two and seventeen lines, respectively. The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica (1771) was modelled along the same lines as the German lexicons.
However, the prime example of reference works that systematized scientific knowledge in the age of Enlightenment were universal encyclopedias
rather than technical dictionaries. It was the goal of universal
encyclopedias to record all human knowledge in a comprehensive reference
work. The most well-known of these works is Denis Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert's Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers.
The work, which began publication in 1751, was composed of thirty-five
volumes and over 71 000 separate entries. A great number of the entries
were dedicated to describing the sciences and crafts in detail. In
d'Alembert's Preliminary Discourse to the Encyclopedia of Diderot, the work’s massive goal to record the extent of human knowledge in the arts and sciences is outlined:
As an Encyclopédie, it is to set
forth as well as possible the order and connection of the parts of human
knowledge. As a Reasoned Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Trades,
it is to contain the general principles that form the basis of each
science and each art, liberal or mechanical, and the most essential
facts that make up the body and substance of each.
The massive work was arranged according to a "tree of knowledge". The
tree reflected the marked division between the arts and sciences, which
was largely a result of the rise of empiricism. Both areas of knowledge
were united by philosophy, or the trunk of the tree of knowledge. The
Enlightenment's desacrilization of religion was pronounced in the tree’s
design, particularly where theology accounted for a peripheral branch,
with black magic as a close neighbour. As the Encyclopédie gained popularity, it was published in quarto and octavo editions after 1777. The quarto and octavo editions were much less expensive than previous editions, making the Encyclopédie more accessible to the non-elite. Robert Darnton estimates that there were approximately 25 000 copies of the Encyclopédie in circulation throughout France and Europe before the French Revolution.
The extensive, yet affordable encyclopedia came to represent the
transmission of Enlightenment and scientific education to an expanding
audience.
Popularization of science
One
of the most important developments that the Enlightenment era brought
to the discipline of science was its popularization. An increasingly
literate population seeking knowledge and education in both the arts and
the sciences drove the expansion of print culture and the dissemination
of scientific learning. The new literate population was due to a high
rise in the availability of food. This enabled many people to rise out
of poverty, and instead of paying more for food, they had money for
education. Popularization was generally part of an overarching Enlightenment ideal
that endeavoured “to make information available to the greatest number
of people.”
As public interest in natural philosophy grew during the 18th century,
public lecture courses and the publication of popular texts opened up
new roads to money and fame for amateurs and scientists who remained on
the periphery of universities and academies.
British coffeehouses
An early example of science emanating from the official institutions into the public realm was the British coffeehouse.
With the establishment of coffeehouses, a new public forum for
political, philosophical and scientific discourse was created. In the
mid-16th century, coffeehouses cropped up around Oxford, where the academic community began to capitalize on the unregulated conversation that the coffeehouse allowed.
The new social space began to be used by some scholars as a place to
discuss science and experiments outside of the laboratory of the
official institution.
Coffeehouse patrons were only required to purchase a dish of coffee to
participate, leaving the opportunity for many, regardless of financial
means, to benefit from the conversation. Education was a central theme
and some patrons began offering lessons and lectures to others. The
chemist Peter Staehl provided chemistry lessons at Tilliard’s coffeehouse in the early 1660s. As coffeehouses developed in London, customers heard lectures on scientific subjects, such as astronomy and mathematics, for an exceedingly low price. Notable Coffeehouse enthusiasts included John Aubrey, Robert Hooke, James Brydges, and Samuel Pepys.
Public lectures
Public
lecture courses offered some scientists who were unaffiliated with
official organizations a forum to transmit scientific knowledge, at
times even their own ideas, and the opportunity to carve out a
reputation and, in some instances, a living. The public, on the other
hand, gained both knowledge and entertainment from demonstration
lectures.
Between 1735 and 1793, there were over seventy individuals offering
courses and demonstrations for public viewers in experimental physics.
Class sizes ranged from one hundred to four or five hundred attendees.
Courses varied in duration from one to four weeks, to a few months, or
even the entire academic year. Courses were offered at virtually any
time of day; the latest occurred at 8:00 or 9:00 at night. One of the
most popular start times was 6:00 pm, allowing the working population to
participate and signifying the attendance of the nonelite.
Barred from the universities and other institutions, women were often
in attendance at demonstration lectures and constituted a significant
number of auditors.
The importance of the lectures was not in teaching complex
mathematics or physics, but rather in demonstrating to the wider public
the principles of physics and encouraging discussion and debate.
Generally, individuals presenting the lectures did not adhere to any
particular brand of physics, but rather demonstrated a combination of
different theories.
New advancements in the study of electricity offered viewers
demonstrations that drew far more inspiration among the laity than
scientific papers could hold. An example of a popular demonstration used
by Jean-Antoine Nollet
and other lecturers was the ‘electrified boy’. In the demonstration, a
young boy would be suspended from the ceiling, horizontal to the floor,
with silk chords. An electrical machine would then be used to electrify
the boy. Essentially becoming a magnet, he would then attract a
collection of items scattered about him by the lecturer. Sometimes a
young girl would be called from the auditors to touch or kiss the boy on
the cheek, causing sparks to shoot between the two children in what was
dubbed the ‘electric kiss‘.
Such marvels would certainly have entertained the audience, but the
demonstration of physical principles also served an educational purpose.
One 18th-century lecturer insisted on the utility of his
demonstrations, stating that they were “useful for the good of society.”
Popular science in print
Increasing
literacy rates in Europe during the course of the Enlightenment enabled
science to enter popular culture through print. More formal works
included explanations of scientific theories for individuals lacking the
educational background to comprehend the original scientific text. Sir Isaac Newton’s celebrated Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
was published in Latin and remained inaccessible to readers without
education in the classics until Enlightenment writers began to translate
and analyze the text in the vernacular. The first French introduction
to Newtonianism and the Principia was Eléments de la philosophie de Newton, published by Voltaire in 1738. Émilie du Châtelet's translation of the Principia, published after her death in 1756, also helped to spread Newton’s theories beyond scientific academies and the university.
However, science took an ever greater step towards popular culture
before Voltaire’s introduction and Châtelet’s translation. The
publication of Bernard de Fontenelle's Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds
(1686) marked the first significant work that expressed scientific
theory and knowledge expressly for the laity, in the vernacular, and
with the entertainment of readers in mind. The book was produced
specifically for women with an interest in scientific writing and
inspired a variety of similar works.
These popular works were written in a discursive style, which was laid
out much more clearly for the reader than the complicated articles,
treatises, and books published by the academies and scientists. Charles Leadbetter’sAstronomy (1727) was advertised as “a Work entirely New” that would include “short and easie [sic] Rules and Astronomical Tables.” Francesco Algarotti, writing for a growing female audience, published Il Newtonianism per le dame, which was a tremendously popular work and was translated from Italian into English by Elizabeth Carter. A similar introduction to Newtonianism for women was produced by Henry Pembarton. His A View of Sir Isaac Newton’s Philosophy
was published by subscription. Extant records of subscribers show that
women from a wide range of social standings purchased the book,
indicating the growing number of scientifically inclined female readers
among the middling class. During the Enlightenment, women also began producing popular scientific works themselves. Sarah Trimmer wrote a successful natural history textbook for children entitled The Easy Introduction to the Knowledge of Nature (1782), which was published for many years after in eleven editions.
The influence of science also began appearing more commonly in
poetry and literature during the Enlightenment. Some poetry became
infused with scientific metaphor and imagery, while other poems were written directly about scientific topics. Sir Richard Blackmore committed the Newtonian system to verse in Creation, a Philosophical Poem in Seven Books (1712). After Newton’s death in 1727, poems were composed in his honour for decades. James Thomson
(1700–1748) penned his “Poem to the Memory of Newton,” which mourned
the loss of Newton, but also praised his science and legacy:
Thy swift career is with whirling orbs,
Comparing things with things in rapture loft,
And grateful adoration, for that light,
So plenteous ray'd into thy mind below.
While references to the sciences were often positive, there were some
Enlightenment writers who criticized scientists for what they viewed as
their obsessive, frivolous careers. Other antiscience writers,
including William Blake,
chastised scientists for attempting to use physics, mechanics and
mathematics to simplify the complexities of the universe, particularly
in relation to God. The character of the evil scientist was invoked
during this period in the romantic tradition. For example, the
characterization of the scientist as a nefarious manipulator in the work
of Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann.
During the Enlightenment era, women were excluded from scientific
societies, universities and learned professions. Women were educated, if
at all, through self-study, tutors, and by the teachings of more
open-minded fathers. With the exception of daughters of craftsmen, who
sometimes learned their father’s profession by assisting in the
workshop, learned women were primarily part of elite society.
A consequence of the exclusion of women from societies and universities
that prevented much independent research was their inability to access
scientific instruments, such as the microscope. In fact, restrictions
were so severe in the 18th century that women, including midwives, were
forbidden to use forceps.
That particular restriction exemplified the increasingly constrictive,
male-dominated medical community. Over the course of the 18th century,
male surgeons began to assume the role of midwives in gynaecology. Some
male satirists also ridiculed scientifically minded women, describing
them as neglectful of their domestic role.
The negative view of women in the sciences reflected the sentiment
apparent in some Enlightenment texts that women need not, nor ought to
be educated; the opinion is exemplified by Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Émile:
A woman’s education must... be
planned in relation to man. To be pleasing in his sight, to win his
respect and love, to train him in childhood, to tend him in manhood, to
counsel and console, to make his life pleasant and happy, these are the
duties of woman for all time, and this is what she should be taught
while she is young.
Portrait of M. and Mme Lavoisier, by Jacques-Louis David, 1788 (Metropolitan Museum)
Despite these limitations, there was support for women in the
sciences among some men, and many made valuable contributions to science
during the 18th century. Two notable women who managed to participate
in formal institutions were Laura Bassi and the Russian Princess Yekaterina Dashkova.
Bassi was an Italian physicist who received a PhD from the University
of Bologna and began teaching there in 1732. Dashkova became the
director of the Russian Imperial Academy of Sciences of St. Petersburg
in 1783. Her personal relationship with Empress Catherine the Great
(r. 1762-1796) allowed her to obtain the position, which marked in
history the first appointment of a woman to the directorship of a
scientific academy.
More commonly, women participated in the sciences through an association with a male relative or spouse. Caroline Herschel began her astronomical career, although somewhat reluctantly at first, by assisting her brother William Herschel. Caroline Herschel is most remembered for her discovery of eight comets and her Index to Flamsteed’s Observations of the Fixed Stars (1798). On August 1, 1786, Herschel discovered her first comet, much to the excitement of scientifically minded women. Fanny Burney
commented on the discovery, stating that “the comet was very small, and
had nothing grand or striking in its appearance; but it is the first
lady’s comet, and I was very desirous to see it.” Marie-Anne Pierette Paulze worked collaboratively with her husband, Antoine Lavoisier.
Aside from assisting in Lavoisier’s laboratory research, she was
responsible for translating a number of English texts into French for
her husband’s work on the new chemistry. Paulze also illustrated many of
her husband’s publications, such as his Treatise on Chemistry (1789). Eva Ekeblad became the first woman inducted into the Royal Swedish Academy of Science (1748).
Many other women became illustrators or translators of scientific texts. In France, Madeleine Françoise Basseporte was employed by the Royal Botanical Garden as an illustrator. Englishwoman Mary Delany
developed a unique method of illustration. Her technique involved using
hundreds of pieces of coloured-paper to recreate lifelike renditions of
living plants. German born Maria Sibylla Merian along with her daughters including Dorothea Maria Graff
were involved in the careful scientific study of insects and the
natural world. Using mostly watercolor, gauche on vellum, She became one
of the leading entomologist of the 18th century. They were also one of
the first female entomologists who took a scientific trip to Suriname to
study plant life for a total of a five year span.
Noblewomen sometimes cultivated their own botanical gardens, including Mary Somerset and Margaret Harley. Scientific translation sometimes required more than a grasp on multiple languages. Besides translating Newton’s Principia into French, Émilie du Châtelet expanded Newton’s work to include recent progress made in mathematical physics after his death.
Disciplines
Astronomy
Building on the body of work forwarded by Copernicus, Kepler and Newton, 18th-century astronomers refined telescopes, produced star catalogues, and worked towards explaining the motions of heavenly bodies and the consequences of universal gravitation. Among the prominent astronomers of the age was Edmund Halley.
In 1705, Halley correctly linked historical descriptions of
particularly bright comets to the reappearance of just one, which would
later be named Halley’s Comet, based on his computation of the orbits of comets.
Halley also changed the theory of the Newtonian universe, which
described the fixed stars. When he compared the ancient positions of
stars to their contemporary positions, he found that they had shifted. James Bradley, while attempting to document stellar parallax, realized that the unexplained motion of stars he had early observed with Samuel Molyneux was caused by the aberration of light. The discovery was proof of a heliocentric
model of the universe, since it is the revolution of the earth around
the sun that causes an apparent motion in the observed position of a
star. The discovery also led Bradley to a fairly close estimate to the
speed of light.
Observations of Venus in the 18th century became an important step in describing atmospheres. During the 1761 transit of Venus, the Russian scientist Mikhail Lomonosov
observed a ring of light around the planet. Lomonosov attributed the
ring to the refraction of sunlight, which he correctly hypothesized was
caused by the atmosphere of Venus. Further evidence of Venus' atmosphere
was gathered in observations by Johann Hieronymus Schröter in 1779. The planet also offered Alexis Claude de Clairaut
an opportunity to work his considerable mathematical skills when he
computed the mass of Venus through complex mathematical calculations.
However, much astronomical work of the period becomes shadowed by
one of the most dramatic scientific discoveries of the 18th century. On
13 March 1781, amateur astronomer William Herschel spotted a new planet with his powerful reflecting telescope. Initially identified as a comet, the celestial body later came to be accepted as a planet. Soon after, the planet was named Georgium Sidus by Herschel and was called Herschelium in France. The name Uranus, as proposed by Johann Bode, came into widespread usage after Herschel's death. On the theoretical side of astronomy, the English natural philosopher John Michell first proposed the existence of dark stars
in 1783. Michell postulated that if the density of a stellar object
became great enough, its attractive force would become so large that
even light could not escape. He also surmised that the location of a dark star could be determined by the strong gravitational force it would exert on surrounding stars. While differing somewhat from a black hole, the dark star can be understood as a predecessor to the black holes resulting from Albert Einstein'sgeneral theory of relativity.
Chemistry
The chemical revolution
was a period in the 18th century marked by significant advancements in
the theory and practice of chemistry. Despite the maturity of most of
the sciences during the scientific revolution, by the mid-18th century
chemistry had yet to outline a systematic framework or theoretical
doctrine. Elements of alchemy still permeated the study of chemistry,
and the belief that the natural world was composed of the classical elements of earth, water, air and fire remained prevalent. The key achievement of the chemical revolution has traditionally been viewed as the abandonment of phlogiston theory in favour of Antoine Lavoisier's oxygen theory of combustion; however, more recent studies attribute a wider range of factors as contributing forces behind the chemical revolution.
Developed under Johann Joachim Becher and Georg Ernst Stahl, phlogiston theory was an attempt to account for products of combustion. According to the theory, a substance called phlogiston was released from flammable materials through burning. The resulting product was termed calx, which was considered a 'dephlogisticated' substance in its 'true' form.
The first strong evidence against phlogiston theory came from pneumatic
chemists in Britain during the later half of the 18th century. Joseph Black, Joseph Priestley and Henry Cavendish
all identified different gases that composed air; however, it was not
until Antoine Lavoisier discovered in the fall of 1772 that, when
burned, sulphur and phosphorus “gain[ed] in weight” that the phlogiston theory began to unravel.
Lavoisier subsequently discovered and named oxygen, described its role in animal respiration and the calcination of metals exposed to air (1774–1778). In 1783, Lavoisier found that water was a compound of oxygen and hydrogen.
Lavoisier’s years of experimentation formed a body of work that
contested phlogiston theory. After reading his “Reflections on
Phlogiston” to the Academy in 1785, chemists began dividing into camps
based on the old phlogiston theory and the new oxygen theory. A new form of chemical nomenclature, developed by Louis Bernard Guyton de Morveau, with assistance from Lavoisier, classified elements binomially into a genus and a species. For example, burned lead was of the genus oxide and species lead.
Transition to and acceptance of Lavoisier’s new chemistry varied in
pace across Europe. The new chemistry was established in Glasgow and
Edinburgh early in the 1790s, but was slow to become established in
Germany.
Eventually the oxygen-based theory of combustion drowned out the
phlogiston theory and in the process created the basis of modern
chemistry.
.jpg)
