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SUMMARY:Men of eminence: science\, photography and biography in the self-f
 ashioning of Robert Hunt in 19th-century England - James Ryan (Victoria &a
 mp\; Albert Museum/University of Exeter)
DTSTART:20190520T120000Z
DTEND:20190520T130000Z
UID:TALK122872@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Laura Brassington
DESCRIPTION:This paper considers the way the one Victorian man of science 
 – Robert Hunt (1807–1887) – employed biography and the photographic 
 portrait in his wider self-fashioning. A chemist\, experimental researcher
  on light and photography\, folklorist\, geologist and writer\, Hunt manoe
 uvred his way from humble beginnings in Devon and Cornwall to the relative
  heights of metropolitan science in mid-19th century London. He used his t
 alents in chemistry\, photography and writing\, together with support from
  powerful patrons\, to enter the world of science and social respectabilit
 y. He is a good example of men who\, through their talents\, exertions and
  institutional networks\, forged careers in professional science in this p
 eriod. Like many such men\, Hunt lacked the gentlemanly background that ha
 d hitherto dominated the world of science. While Hunt's experiments in gen
 res of science writing and his romantic geological interests have recently
  received scholarly attention\, notably from historian of science Melanie 
 Keane\, the connections between his literary exertions and his experiments
  in visual culture have been little studied. This paper considers Robert H
 unt's own photographic image and how he used the art of biography to write
  himself into the history of science. It pays particular attention to Hunt
 's work in one particular experimental photographic and biographical publi
 cation: photographic portraits of men of eminence in literature\, science 
 and art\, with biographical memoirs\, published in six volumes from 1863 t
 o 1867\, with photographs by Ernest Edwards\, edited by Lovell Augustus Re
 eve (1814–1865) and E. Walford. In doing so the paper seeks to open up q
 uestions about the significance of the photographic portrait and biography
  in the cultural framing of scientific\, gender and class identities in mi
 d-19th century Britain.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Department of History and Philosophy of Science
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