Introduction: Domesticity and the Historiography of Science

Abstract

Nearly three decades ago, Steven Shapin argued that, among a range of venues in seventeenth-century England — places like the shops of apothecaries and instrument makers, coffeehouses, royal palaces, and college rooms — private residences of gentlemen were ‘by far the most significant’, with the ‘overwhelming majority of experimental trials, displays, and discussions that we know about’ having occurred within them. 1 Despite others’ recognition of the wider applicability of this assessment well beyond this context, Alix Cooper noted in her survey of scientific homes and households in the early modern period, ‘Few historians of science have paid attention to these kinds of “private” spaces.’ 2 Attuned to the historiography of science’s continued neglect of domestic space and related themes — domesticity, households, and families -this volume investigates the historical significance of domestic matters for the production of scientific knowledge. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.

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