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Book Cover
Book
Author Uglow, Jennifer S.

Title The lunar men : the friends who made the future, 1730-1810 / Jenny Uglow
Edition Paperback edition
Published London., [England] : Faber, [2002]
©2002

Copies

Location Call no. Vol. Availability
 MELB  608.74 Ugl/Lmt  DUE 10-04-24
 MELB SPC NAUGHTIN  608.74 Ugl/Lmt  AVAILABLE
Description xx, 588 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, maps., portraits, ; 20cm
Summary "In the 1760s a group of amateur experimenters met and made friends in the Midlands. Most came from poor families, all lived far from the centre of things, but they were young and their optimism was boundless: together they would change the world. Among them were the ambitious toy-maker 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 Priestley, discoverer of oxygen and fighting radical." "With a small band of allies, including the exuberant 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). 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." --Book Jacket
Notes American ed. subtitle: Five friends whose curiosity changed the world
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Subject Darwin, Erasmus, 1731-1802.
Boulton, Matthew, 1728-1809.
Priestley, Joseph, 1733-1804.
Wedgwood, Josiah, 1730-1795.
Watt, James, 1736-1819.
Lunar Society of Birmingham (England)
Science -- Great Britain -- History.
Scientists -- Great Britain -- Biography.
Inventions -- Great Britain -- History.
Discoveries in science -- Great Britain -- History.
Inventors -- Great Britain -- Biography.
Engineers -- Great Britain -- Biography.
Discoveries in science -- Great Britain -- History -- 18th century.
Genre/Form Biography.
History.
Biographies.
ISBN 0571196470
0571216102 paperback