Susannah Gibson - Four Way Interview

Photo: Seb Faulk

Dr Susannah Gibson is an Affiliated Scholar of the Department of History & Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of Animal, Vegetable, Mineral? How eighteenth-century science disrupted the natural order and was formerly Manager of the Cambridge Literary Festival. Her latest title is The Spirit of Inquiry.

Why history of science?

I took a class on history of science in my third year of a degree in experimental physics at University College Dublin. The class was worth 10% of my grade that year. I probably spent 60% of my time working on it. That was the first clue that maybe I wasn’t pursuing the right degree for me. I had always struggled to choose between science and arts subjects, but when I discovered history of science I realised I could do both. I went on to do a masters and PhD in history of science.

Why this book?

A few years ago the Cambridge Philosophical Society had their archives catalogued in preparation for their 200th anniversary in 2019. When I heard that they were looking for historians to go poke around in that archive I jumped at the chance. The CPS is the oldest scientific society in Cambridge; anyone who was anyone in (Cambridge) science since 1819 has been a member and the archive is filled with incredible documents. There have been a huge number of firsts at their meetings: the first public reading of Darwin’s Beagle letters; Bragg’s announcement of the discovery of x-ray diffraction; the first display of Venn diagrams. Writing this book was a chance to tell some very human stories of scientific discovery, and to look at how science developed in Britain over the last 200 years.

What’s next?

I’m working on two projects right now: one about psychical research in Cambridge in the nineteenth century; and the other about clever women in the eighteenth century who were denied access to education.

What’s exciting you at the moment?

Workwise, every day the archives I work on throw up some incredible surprises and keep everything fresh. Outside work... everything from Extinction Rebellion to learning the ukulele.

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