The Laboratory Revolution and the Creation of the Modern University, 1830-1940 (Studies in the History of Knowledge)

The modern research university originated in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century, largely due to the creation and expansion of the teaching and research laboratory. The universities and the sciences underwent a laboratory revolution that fundamentally changed the nature of both. This revolutionary development began in chemistry, where Justus Liebig is credited with systematically employing his students in his ongoing research during the 1830s. Later, this development spread to other fields, including the social sciences and the humanities. The consequences for the universities were colossal. The expansion of the laboratories demanded extensive new building programs, reshaping the outlook of the university. The social structure of the university also diversified because of this laboratory expansion, while what it meant to be a scientist changed dramatically. This volume explores the spatial, social, and cultural dimensions of the rise of the modern research laboratory within universities and their consequent reshaping. Table of Contents List of Figures and Charts Preface Part I The Laboratory Revolution: Origins and Impact 1 The Joint Emergence of the Teaching-Research Laboratory and the Modern University: An Introduction 2 Origins and Spread of the ‘Giessen Model’ in University Science 3 The Laboratory Ethos, 1850–1900 Part II Laboratory Networks 4 Chemistry in Zürich, 1833–1930 : Developing the Teaching- Research Laboratory in the Swiss Context 5 Island Kingdoms in the Making : The New Laboratories and the Fragmentation of Dutch Universities c.1900 6 A Fertile Ecosystem : University Chemical Laboratories and their Suppliers in Fin-de-Siècle Paris 7 Fighting for Modern Teaching and Research Laboratories in Norway : The Chemistry Laboratory in Political Dispute around 1920 8 Religion and the Laboratory Revolution : Towards a Physiological Laboratory at a Calvinist University in the Netherlands, 1880–1924 Part III Laboratory Values 9 Aspects of the Social Organization of the Chemical Laboratory in Heidelberg and Imperial College, London 10 Of Growing Significance : The Support Staff in the Laboratories and Institutes of Utrecht University during the Interwar Period 11 A Revolution in Genetics at Gendered Experimental Venues : Cambridge and Berlin, 1890–1930 12 Serialized Laboratories : Laboratory Journals and the Making of Modern Science and Scientific Publishing, 1840s–1950s 13 Images of the Laboratory in the Popular Press Acknowledgements Index