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Book Reviews by Niall Hodson

Research paper thumbnail of Dirk van Miert (ed.), Communicating Observations in Early Modern Letters: Epistolography and Epistemology in the Age of the Scientific Revolution

British Society for Literature and Science, Nov 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Nancy G. Siraisi, Communities of Learned Experience: Epistolary Medicine in the Renaissance

Exhibitions by Niall Hodson

Research paper thumbnail of About Face: Pastels by Henry Tonks

Research paper thumbnail of Treasures from the Shipley Art Gallery: Dutch and Flemish Artists

Exhibition Reviews by Niall Hodson

Research paper thumbnail of Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist

Lectures by Niall Hodson

Research paper thumbnail of Forging a Career in Medicine in the Seventeenth Century: the Life and Letters of Johan van Beverwijck (1594-1647)

Invited Talks by Niall Hodson

Research paper thumbnail of Henry Oldenburg’s Philosophical Transactions as a repository of translations

As secretary of the early Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg exchanged thousands of letters with scie... more As secretary of the early Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg exchanged thousands of letters with scientists around the world. These letters made their way into Oldenburg’s magazine, the Philosophical Transactions, usually in his own English translation. Oldenburg translated both the language and the format of his letters: rearranging his correspondence into standardized accounts of scientific news. In doing so, he earnt himself a key position in the development of the scientific article, and modern scientific prose.

The ‘accounts’, ‘narratives’, ‘epitomes’ and ‘relations’ Oldenburg created from his correspondence have long been studied by historians of science as records of the Scientific Revolution. However they are also unique resource for the study of the communication and exchange of ideas in the early modern world. Indeed, Oldenburg envisioned the Transactions as a digest of international scientific correspondence. He did not simply translate his letters: he collated and extracted arguments and observations from them, presented translations and paraphrases within an objective editorial framework, and provided updates, challenges and corroborations.

This complex practice of exchanging, interpreting, and distributing ‘Philosophical Commerce’ also demonstrates Oldenburg’s own commitment to empiricism and the experimental scientific method, and underlines his conception of the Philosophical Transactions: as a printed manifestation of his international, multilingual, scientific correspondence, and a forum for scientific debate.

Research paper thumbnail of '…we leave the curious to judge': Henry Oldenburg as a reader and reviewer of scientific texts

Research paper thumbnail of Dirk van Miert (ed.), Communicating Observations in Early Modern Letters: Epistolography and Epistemology in the Age of the Scientific Revolution

British Society for Literature and Science, Nov 2014

Research paper thumbnail of Nancy G. Siraisi, Communities of Learned Experience: Epistolary Medicine in the Renaissance

Research paper thumbnail of About Face: Pastels by Henry Tonks

Research paper thumbnail of Treasures from the Shipley Art Gallery: Dutch and Flemish Artists

Research paper thumbnail of Leonardo da Vinci: Anatomist

Research paper thumbnail of Forging a Career in Medicine in the Seventeenth Century: the Life and Letters of Johan van Beverwijck (1594-1647)

Research paper thumbnail of Henry Oldenburg’s Philosophical Transactions as a repository of translations

As secretary of the early Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg exchanged thousands of letters with scie... more As secretary of the early Royal Society, Henry Oldenburg exchanged thousands of letters with scientists around the world. These letters made their way into Oldenburg’s magazine, the Philosophical Transactions, usually in his own English translation. Oldenburg translated both the language and the format of his letters: rearranging his correspondence into standardized accounts of scientific news. In doing so, he earnt himself a key position in the development of the scientific article, and modern scientific prose.

The ‘accounts’, ‘narratives’, ‘epitomes’ and ‘relations’ Oldenburg created from his correspondence have long been studied by historians of science as records of the Scientific Revolution. However they are also unique resource for the study of the communication and exchange of ideas in the early modern world. Indeed, Oldenburg envisioned the Transactions as a digest of international scientific correspondence. He did not simply translate his letters: he collated and extracted arguments and observations from them, presented translations and paraphrases within an objective editorial framework, and provided updates, challenges and corroborations.

This complex practice of exchanging, interpreting, and distributing ‘Philosophical Commerce’ also demonstrates Oldenburg’s own commitment to empiricism and the experimental scientific method, and underlines his conception of the Philosophical Transactions: as a printed manifestation of his international, multilingual, scientific correspondence, and a forum for scientific debate.

Research paper thumbnail of '…we leave the curious to judge': Henry Oldenburg as a reader and reviewer of scientific texts