Popular science and public opinion in eighteenth-century France

ISBN: 9780719073731 出版年：2018 页码：188 Michael Lynn Manchester University Press

Eighteenth century Parisians found themselves inundated with popular science, designed to be both useful and entertaining. Disseminators of popular science helped create a culture of scientific exchange between multiple levels of society. At the same time, they aided in the commodification of scientific culture and helped develop a demand for the consumption of popular science. In this book, Michael R. Lynn analyses the popularisation of science in Enlightenment France. He examines the content of popular science, the methods of dissemination, the status of the popularisers and the audience, and the settings for dissemination and appropriation. More specifically, he looks at individuals like Jean-Antoine Nollet, who made a career out of applying an electric shock to people, and Perrin, who used his talented dog to lure customers to his physics show.