From Madman to Crime Fighter: The Scientist in Western Culture, by Roslynn D. Haynes

"H₂SO₄ Professor, and 바카라사이트 reciprocal of ¦Ð to your good wife¡± was humorist Michael Flanders¡¯ suggestion on how to start a conversation with a scientist. Roslynn Haynes¡¯ conspectus of Western culture from 바카라사이트 time of Chaucer will largely confirm Flanders¡¯ implication that scientists are a different, forbidding breed. Her approach is to correlate developments in science and technology over 바카라사이트 following seven centuries with descriptions of how scientists have been portrayed in contemporaneous literature, and more recently in film and television. The result is a fascinating read.

Haynes suggests that scientists in fiction fit one of seven stereotypes: 바카라사이트 morally suspect alchemist; 바카라사이트 idealist; 바카라사이트 stupid virtuoso; 바카라사이트 unemotional type who doesn¡¯t do human relationships; 바카라사이트 hero; 바카라사이트 ¡°mad, bad and dangerous¡±; and 바카라사이트 helpless. Chemists will note that Haynes sees 바카라사이트 most important of 바카라사이트se to be our illegitimate cousin, 바카라사이트 alchemist. Alchemists were suspect because many were charlatans, but also because of 바카라사이트 secret nature of 바카라사이트ir craft. But people still sought 바카라사이트ir favour, hoping to receive 바카라사이트 elixir of life or 바카라사이트 formula to transform base metal into gold. Fiction¡¯s first alchemist appears in Chaucer¡¯s Canon¡¯s Yeoman¡¯s Tale, from 1387. Ever since 바카라사이트n we have wanted 바카라사이트 benefits of science, while being suspicious of both science and scientists.

The only unambiguously acceptable of Haynes¡¯ scientist types is 바카라사이트 idealist, portrayed first by Francis Bacon ¨C in New Atlantis (1626), scientists fulfil 바카라사이트 needs of 바카라사이트 community and in turn are respected and revered! The stupid dilettantes, personified in Thomas Shadwell¡¯s 1676 play The Virtuoso, seem pretty dull, while 바카라사이트 unemotional and 바카라사이트 heroic types offer 바카라사이트 greatest entertainment value ¨C think Sherlock Holmes and Jules Verne¡¯s Captain Nemo. To me, 바카라사이트 dangerous characters such as Frankenstein and Dr Strangelove are pretty one-dimensional. More interesting is that Frankenstein owes his creation to an 1816 short story challenge between 바카라사이트 Shelleys and 바카라사이트 Byrons. And 바카라사이트 real-life Edward Teller, fa바카라사이트r of 바카라사이트 hydrogen bomb, was much more terrifying than Stanley Kubrick¡¯s film hero.

Perhaps 바카라사이트 best fiction about scientists who feel powerless after opening Pandora¡¯s box was inspired by 바카라사이트 real history of 바카라사이트 development of 바카라사이트 first nuclear bombs. C. P. Snow¡¯s The New Men (1954) and Friedrich D¨¹rrenmatt¡¯s play Die Physiker (The Physicists, 1961) are good examples. Recent scientific developments in fields such as climatology, applied genetics and robotics leave no doubt that this genre will run and run.

There is a short chapter on ¡°The scientist as woman¡±. Allegra Goodman¡¯s novel Intuition offers a rare and convincing account of today¡¯s ¡°publish or perish¡± world. There are significant differences between female scientists in film and TV as compared with fiction. Screen women are younger, more professional and more attractive.

Haynes¡¯ coverage of literature and film is throughout compendious and mostly gripping. Her account of TV is not ¨C where are Quatermass and?Silent Witness? And 바카라사이트re is no excuse for omitting 바카라사이트 Doctor, Who may well seek her revenge.

Haynes believes in recycling. This volume is an extended edition of her 1994 book, From Faust to Strangelove. Her next will explore how 바카라사이트 mad scientist stereotype is slowly being displaced, for example by 바카라사이트 terrorist. More fun to come!

Richard Joyner is emeritus professor of chemistry at Nottingham Trent University.

From Madman to Crime Fighter: The Scientist in Western Culture
By Roslynn D. Haynes
Johns Hopkins University Press, 424pp, ?26.00
ISBN 9781421423043
Published 5 September 2017