In James Joule's laboratory: Experimenting in Manchester and Salford circa 1850 March 6, 2012

Speaker: Professor Otto Sibum
Hans Rausing Professor of History of Science
Director of the Office for History of Science
Uppsala University, Sweden
Description of Lecture

This talk is concerned with the relationship between knowledge and science and the role of the human body in scientific knowledge production. It focuses on an early nineteenth-century landmark of scientific change, the birth of thermodynamics, i.e. James Joule's performance of experimental research on the nature of heat. A historical reconstruction based on a new understanding of the relation between knowledge and action demonstrates that Joule’s great discovery has to be reinterpreted to shed new light onto our current understanding of the relation between knowledge and science in early Victorian Manchester and Salford.
Note about the Cardwell Memorial Lecture

Professor Donald Cardwell (1919-1998) was a pivotal figure in the academic study of technological history, both locally and internationally. In 1962 he was appointed the founding head of the Department of History of Science and Technology at the new University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST): Cardwell's group created a critical mass of scholars in which both the Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at the University of Manchester and the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) originated. He was also closely involved with the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, serving as editor of its Memoirs and as President. His works, including Technology, Science and History (1972), Watt to Clausius (1973) and James Joule: a biography (1989), fundamentally redefined historical conceptions of science-technology relations and the role of industry.

In 1999 a Donald Cardwell Memorial Fund was set up, among its objectives to sponsor an annual lecture in Cardwell's name, hosted in turn by each of the Manchester institutions shaped by Cardwell's presence, and presented by a leading international figure in the history of technology. (http://www.chstm.manchester.ac.uk/newsandevents/seminars/cardwelllecture/)

The Cardwell Memorial lecture is a collaborative venture of the Universities of Manchester (CHSTM), Salford and MMU, MOSI and The Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. The subject of this year's lecture is James Prescott Joule. As Joule was Salford's most famous scientific son, as Professor Cardwell was Joule's biographer and as the University of Salford has recently acquired and opened 'Joule' House, one of Joule's homes, where he lived and experimented, it is appropriate that the Cardwell Memorial Lecture will be held at the University of Salford this year.
Biography of Speaker

H. Otto Sibum holds the endowed Hans Rausing Chair in the History of Science and is Director of the Office for History of Science at Uppsala University (Sweden). He has held academic appointments in academic institutions in Europe including the University of Cambridge and the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin. He was appointed to the Hans Rausing Chair at Uppsala University in 2007.
Practical Details

The 2012 Cardwell Memorial Lecture and will take place in the Lady Hale Lecture Theatre at 6.30 pm on Tuesday 6th March 2012. Tea and coffee will be available from 6pm in the foyer and refreshments after the lecture

Before the lecture we are offering a short tour of the exhibition of some Joule's experimental equipment and some of the public rooms in Joule House, 1 Acton Square at 5.30 p.m. To register, please contact Paul Butlin at [email protected] as numbers are limited.

Please note that Cardwell lecture is a public lecture which is open to all and there is no charge.

Official Website: http://www.salford.ac.uk/home-page/events/events/in-james-joules-laboratory-experimenting-in-manchester-and-salford-circa-1850