Popular Science Feature - Four Way Interview - Patricia Fara

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Four Way Interview - Patricia Fara - April 2009

Our four-way interviews give a quick insight into the current thinking of a popular science author.

Patricia Fara is a lecturer in the History and Philosophy of Science department at Cambridge University, where she is the Senior Tutor at Clare College. She has written a range of popular and academic books on the history of science. Her latest book is Science: a four thousand year history.

Why Science?

Science is the vital backbone of our modern world, the key component of industry, business, warfare, government and medicine. I’m interested not just in end results – such as theories, chemicals or instruments – but in how science glues society together and makes it tick.

Why this book?

We inhabit a scientific democracy, and its citizens need to appreciate how the decisions that are made about science affect their entire lives. Old-fashioned histories celebrate the rise of science, maintaining that science succeeded because it was right. In contrast, my book argues that science is successful not simply because it is right, but also because people have said that it is right. Understanding the transformations that enabled science to become so powerful means learning about far more than theories and instruments: it entails thinking about the financial interests, imperial ambitions and publishing enterprises that made science global. I challenge the notion of European superiority by showing how science has been built up from knowledge and skills developed in other parts of the world. Rather than concentrating on esoteric experiments and abstract theories, I explain how science belongs to the real world: its roots lie in traditional crafts, and it’s tied up with practical concerns of war, politics and business.

Too many books focus on celebrating scientific successes rather than understanding how they are achieved; in other words, people are encouraged to become consumers of finished scientific products without being told about the processes entailed in creating them. Scientists aren’t disinterested searchers after absolute truth, but fallible human beings who make mistakes, have personal commitments and are swayed by the demands of politics and big business. Things sometimes go wrong, and I believe that people should learn more about such episodes. Maintaining that science inevitably involves progress is a type of scientific fundamentalism that demands unquestioning belief – almost like a religion.

What's next?

POET OF PROGRESS: THE TRIALS AND TRIANGULATIONS OF ERASMUS DARWIN

Although unfamiliar now, Erasmus Darwin – Charles Darwin’s grandfather – was well-known among his contemporaries, highly respected by many but reviled by others. According to Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Darwin ‘possesses, perhaps, a greater range of knowledge than any other man in Europe, and is the most inventive of philosophical men’. Energetic and sociable, this corpulent teetotaller ran a successful medical practice, was a Fellow of the Royal Society, promoted industrial innovation in the Midlands, campaigned against slavery, and was famous for his long poems on plants, technology and evolution. The father of twelve children by two wives and his son’s governess, Darwin envisaged a progressive universe that is fuelled by sexual energy and governed by natural laws rather than directly by God.

Committed to progress in every field – scientific, technological, social, biological – Darwin was a champion of Enlightenment thought who became a target of abuse. Because of his links with industrialisation and his grandson Charles Darwin, Erasmus Darwin has mostly been portrayed as a unique individual who, with a greater or lesser degree of success, pointed the way towards the future. Instead, I want to situate him in relation to contemporary discussions of science, poetry and politics. In particular, slavery currently occupies only a marginal position in the history of science, and I explore its impact on late eighteenth-century debates about human origins and development. Darwin was less singular and more influential than generally portrayed. His sexualized combinations of botany, mythology and social commentary resembled those of other eminent poets, and he provided vital inspiration for Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. A controversial political radical, Darwin campaigned for abolition and female education, and predated Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in challenging Christian orthodoxy by publishing a theory of evolution based on the inheritance of acquired characteristics.

Since Erasmus Darwin’s contemporaries took him seriously, then so too should historians. This book will provide a unique appraisal of his significance, comparing him with contemporary poets of progress, setting him within the literary, political and scientific context of the late-eighteenth century, and demonstrating how his influence continued well into the Victorian era.

What's exciting you at the moment?

At Cambridge, I’m excited by the challenge of improving one of the best universities in the world and making its educational opportunities available to everyone. In the world, I’m excited by the new government in the USA and the promise it holds for transforming global politics. And in my personal life, I’m excited by having such marvelous friends and relatives who are helping me feel happier than ever before.

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