Life and works
Lightman began his career studying Victorian agnosticism amongst prominent scientific naturalists, including such figures as Thomas Henry Huxley and John Tyndall, producing the book The Origins of Agnosticism: Victorian Unbelief and the Limits of Knowledge published in 1987. The focus of this work was on the ways in which early agnostics did not simply see their agnosticism as a mask for atheism, but instead arrived at agnosticism via a questionable understanding of the philosophy of knowledge of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, as that philosophy was introduced into Britain by Henry Longueville Mansel. [6] [7] [8]
Since 1989, Lightman's work has largely focused on the popularization of science and particularly on the role that Victorian non-professional periodicals and print culture played in shaping the form of scientific debates in the public arena. [9] [10] [11] Lightman has authored, co-authored, and edited several books, and has published more than 44 refereed articles and book chapters. [12] In addition, he is the series editor of a book series titled "Science and Culture in the Nineteenth Century" including over 40 books as of 2024, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press. [13] Lightman was editor-in-chief of the journal Isis from 2004-2014 and served as president of the History of Science Society 2018–2019. [5]
The John Tyndall Correspondence Project, which is an international collaborative effort to obtain, digitalize, transcribe, and publish all surviving letters to and from John Tyndall, was initiated by Lightman [14] and funded by the National Science Foundation in 2009. [1] Lightman worked on a biography of John Tyndall and served as a general editor on the project. [15]
In 1998, Lightman was awarded a John Templeton Foundation funded Science-Religion Course Program Award for the course "Science and Religion In Modern Western Thought" by the Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences. [16] On December 4, 2010, he was elected a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of the History of Science, [4] and on November 26, 2011, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. [3]
At York University, Lightman has been appointed to a number of administrative positions over the years, including associate dean of arts, acting director of academic staff relation, coordinator of the interdisciplinary program science and society, and director of the graduate program in humanities. [17]
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, the divine, or the supernatural is either unknowable in principle or unknown in fact. It can also mean an apathy towards such religious belief and refer to personal limitations rather than a worldview. Another definition is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient rational grounds to justify either the belief that God exists or the belief that God does not exist."
In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the reign of Queen Victoria, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. Slightly different definitions are sometimes used. The era followed the Georgian era and preceded the Edwardian era, and its later half overlaps with the first part of the Belle Époque era of continental Europe.
St. George Jackson Mivart was an English biologist. He is famous for starting as an ardent believer in natural selection and later becoming one of its fiercest critics. Mivart attempted to reconcile the theory of evolution as propounded by Charles Darwin with the beliefs of the Catholic Church but was condemned by both Darwin and the Church. His belief in a soul created by God and insistence that evolutionism was not incompatible with the existence of such a God brought him into conflict with other evolutionists, while his theological theories on hell and on the compatibility between science and Catholicism led him to clash with the Church.
John Tyndall (; 2 August 1820 – 4 December 1893) was an Irish physicist and chemist. His scientific fame arose in the 1850s from his study of diamagnetism. Later he made discoveries in the realms of infrared radiation and the physical properties of air, proving the connection between atmospheric CO2 and what is now known as the greenhouse effect in 1859.
The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (SDUK) was founded in London in 1826, mainly at the instigation of Whig MP Henry Brougham, with the object of publishing information to people who were unable to obtain a formal education or who preferred self-education. It was a largely Whig organisation, and published inexpensive texts intended to adapt scientific and similarly high-minded material for the rapidly-expanding reading public over twenty years until it was disbanded in 1846.
The Latin maxim ignoramus et ignorabimus, meaning "we do not know and will not know", represents the idea that scientific knowledge is limited. It was popularized by Emil du Bois-Reymond, a German physiologist, in his 1872 address "Über die Grenzen des Naturerkennens".
The Bridgewater Treatises (1833–36) are a series of eight works that were written by leading scientific figures appointed by the President of the Royal Society in fulfilment of a bequest of £8000, made by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater, for work on "the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation."
Jay Clayton is an American literary critic who is known for his work on the relationship between nineteenth-century culture and postmodernism. He has published influential works on Romanticism and the novel, Neo-Victorian literature, steampunk, hypertext fiction, online games, contemporary American fiction, technology in literature, and genetics in literature and film. He is the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English and director of the Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy at Vanderbilt University.
The history of scholarship is the historical study of fields of study which are not covered by the English term "science", but are covered by, for example, the German term "Wissenschaft". Examples are the history of classical studies, the history of the study of religions, of philosophy, of Biblical studies, of historiography, of the study of music, the study of arts, the study of literature etc. It is a field which has recently undergone a complete renewal and is now a major branch of research. As of 2016, the journal History of Humanities is dedicated to writing the history of scholarship in the humanities as different from the sciences.
Barbara Caine is an Australian feminist historian.
Elizabeth Kirby (1823–1873) and Mary Kirby were successful English writers and illustrators of books for children and books on natural science. Mary Kirby is known particularly for leading the crowd-sourced Flora of Leicestershire and Elizabeth for her children's books. They both had a lifelong writing partnership that popularised science. Mary is thought to be one of the first British woman to publish a scientific study of the flora of her county in the nineteenth century.
Henry Neville Hutchinson was an Anglican clergyman and, during the 1890s, a leading writer of popular books on geology, palaeontology, evolution and anthropology.
The Great Writers series was a collection of literary biographies published in London from 1887, by Walter Scott & Co. The founding editor was Eric Sutherland Robertson, followed by Frank T. Marzials.
Alice Brooke Bodington or Alice Brook was a British Canadian science writer who wrote about biology, evolution and race.
Aileen Fyfe is a historian.
James (Jim) Andrew Secord is an American-born historian of science. He was a professor of history and philosophy of science within the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, and a fellow of Christ's College. He was also the director of the project to publish the complete Correspondence of Charles Darwin. Secord is especially well known for Victorian Sensation, his award-winning study of the reception of the anonymous Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation, a pioneering evolutionary book first published in 1844. In 2020 he was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy.
The Reader was a British weekly published from 1863 to 1867. Intended as a review journal, for both science and literature, it has been called "probably the last attempt, in Victorian England, to keep together liberal scientists, theologians, and men of letters."
Richard Bithell was an English agnostic philosopher and writer.
Watts & Co. was a British publishing house which aimed to promote rationalism and secular education and "publish free thought books at affordable prices". The firm had a close relationship with the Rationalist Press Association and many of books it published were imprinted "Issued for the Rationalist Press Association Limited".
Caroline Levine is an American literary critic. She is the David and Kathleen Ryan Professor of Humanities at Cornell University. Her published works are in the fields of Victorian literature, literary theory, literary criticism, formalism, television, and climate change.
