Originally published in 2002 by Faber and Faber, Great Britain as: The lunar men : the friends who made the future. Includes bibliographical references (pages 511-558) and index. Originally published in 2002 by Faber and Faber, Great Britain as: The lunar men : the friends who made the future.
Contents:
40. 'Time is, time was. 2. Toys -- 3. Scotland -- 4. The doctor's bag -- 5. Pots -- 6. Heading for Soho -- 7. Ingenious philosophers -- 8. Reaching out -- 9. Steam -- 10. They build canals -- 11. Painting the light -- 12. Magic & mechanics -- 13. Derbyshire explorata -- 14. Chemical reactions -- 15. Trials of life -- 16. Rousseau & romance -- 17. Vases, Ormolu, silver & frogs -- 18. Running the show -- 19. Eddies -- 20. Experiements on air -- 21. 'What all the world desires' -- 22. 'Bandy'd like a shuttlecock' -- 23. Plants & passions -- 24. Conquering Cornwall -- 25. Dull earth & shining stones -- 26. Creative copying -- 27. Sons & daughters -- 28. Bringing on the artists -- 29. From the nation to the land -- 30. Fire -- 31. Boulton's blazing skies -- 32. The Linnaean row -- 33. Protecting our interests -- 34. Family & feeling -- 35. Grand projects -- 36. Turning -- 37. Riots -- 38. Handing on -- 39. 'Fire engines & Sundry works' -- 40. 'Time is, time was.
Summary:
"In the 1760s a group of amateur experimenters met and made friends in the English Midlands. Most came from humble families, all lived far from the center of things, but they were young and their optimism was boundless: together they would change the world. Among them were the ambitious toymaker Matthew Boulton and his partner James Watt, of steam-engine fame; the potter Josiah Wedgwood; and the larger-than-life Erasmus Darwin, physician, poet, inventor, and theorist of evolution (a forerunner of his grandson Charles). Later came Joseph Priestly, discover of oxygen and fighting radical." "With a small band of allies - the chemist James Keir, the doctors William Small and William Withering (the man who put digitalis on the medical map), and two wild young followers of Rousseau, Richard Lovell Edgeworth and Thomas Day - they formed the Lunar Society of Birmingham, so called because it met at each full moon, and kick-started the Industrial Revolution. Blending science, art, and commerce, the Lunar Men built canals; launched balloons; named plants, gases, and minerals; changed the face of England and the china in its drawing rooms; and plotted to revolutionize its soul."--Jacket.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.