Jack Morrell – författare

Oxford University has not always possessed the high reputation in the sciences for which it is now renowned: it was not until the period between this centurys two world wars that science was firmly established in a university previously noted for its devotion to arts subjects. By 1939, despite only modest increases in the numbers of fellows or undergraduates in science, Oxford had developed an important new research identity. This transformation took place in the face of considerable opposition. The powers of the colleges, the poverty of the University relative to collegiate wealth, and the heightened individualism endemic in a polycratic university combined to produce academic conservatism which even in the early twenties, could argue that Oxford should cede science to Cambridge and concentrate on its more traditional strengths in the arts. Jack Morrell shows how the innovators in the sciences coped with these idiosyncrasies and mustered a variety of resources, including government departments, leading industrialists, philanthropic trusts, and individual benefactors, to overcome academic inertia and to promote their subjects. Those interested in the institutionalization of science will find this study particularly important: it is the first book in English to examine the development of all the sciences in a major university of the twentieth century.

This collection of case studies, focusing on British scientific culture during the first industrial revolution, explores the social basis of science in the period and asks why such an extraordinarily rich variety of cultural-scientific experience should have flourished at the time.The book analyses science and scientific culture in their local contexts, both metropolitan and provincial, examining where possibel the relations between the two, and emphasizing the range of scientific associations in London, to individual savants in the provinces.This book was first published in 1983.

John Phillips was one of the most remarkable and important scientists of the Victorian period. Orphaned at the age of seven and brought up by his uncle, he rose to hold a number of highly prestigious posts within the British academic and scientific community, despite lacking a university education. By the time of his death in 1874 he was widely regarded as one of the pioneers and champions of the science of geology, yet until now there has been no full length biography of Phillips. In rectifying this lacuna, Jack Morrell has produced a meticulous and magisterial piece of scholarship that does justice to the achievements and legacy of John Phillips. Adopting a broadly chronological approach, the book not only traces the development of Phillips's career but clarifies and highlights his role within Victorian culture, shedding light on many wider themes. It explores how Phillips' love of science was inseparable from his need to earn a living and develop a career which could sustain him. Hence questions of power, authority, reputation and patronage were central to Phillips's career and scientific work. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources and a rich body of recent writings on Victorian science, this biography provides a fascinating and compelling account of John Phillips and his legacy. Pulling together his personal story with the scientific theories and developments of the day, and fixing them firmly within the context of wider society, this biography will be vital reading for anyone with an interest in the history of British and nineteenth-century science.

First published in 2005, this book represents the first full length biography of John Phillips, one of the most remarkable and important scientists of the Victorian period. Adopting a broad chronological approach, this book not only traces the development of Phillips’ career but clarifies and highlights his role within Victorian culture, shedding light on many wider themes. It explores how Phillips’ love of science was inseparable from his need to earn a living and develop a career which could sustain him. Hence questions of power, authority, reputation and patronage were central to Phillips’ career and scientific work. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources and a rich body of recent writings on Victorian science, this biography brings together his personal story with the scientific theories and developments of the day, and fixes them firmly within the context of wider society.

First published in 2005, this book represents the first full length biography of John Phillips, one of the most remarkable and important scientists of the Victorian period. Adopting a broad chronological approach, this book not only traces the development of Phillips’ career but clarifies and highlights his role within Victorian culture, shedding light on many wider themes. It explores how Phillips’ love of science was inseparable from his need to earn a living and develop a career which could sustain him. Hence questions of power, authority, reputation and patronage were central to Phillips’ career and scientific work. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources and a rich body of recent writings on Victorian science, this biography brings together his personal story with the scientific theories and developments of the day, and fixes them firmly within the context of wider society.

John Phillips was one of the most remarkable and important scientists of the Victorian period. Orphaned at the age of seven and brought up by his uncle, he rose to hold a number of highly prestigious posts within the British academic and scientific community, despite lacking a university education. By the time of his death in 1874 he was widely regarded as one of the pioneers and champions of the science of geology, yet until now there has been no full length biography of Phillips. In rectifying this lacuna, Jack Morrell has produced a meticulous and magisterial piece of scholarship that does justice to the achievements and legacy of John Phillips. Adopting a broadly chronological approach, the book not only traces the development of Phillips's career but clarifies and highlights his role within Victorian culture, shedding light on many wider themes. It explores how Phillips' love of science was inseparable from his need to earn a living and develop a career which could sustain him. Hence questions of power, authority, reputation and patronage were central to Phillips's career and scientific work. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources and a rich body of recent writings on Victorian science, this biography provides a fascinating and compelling account of John Phillips and his legacy. Pulling together his personal story with the scientific theories and developments of the day, and fixing them firmly within the context of wider society, this biography will be vital reading for anyone with an interest in the history of British and nineteenth-century science.