History of Science
The Edward Worth Library has a large collection of texts on all aspects of early modern science. Some of these topics have been explored in our large annual exhibitions such as ‘Birds at the Edward Worth Library’; ‘Botany at the Edward Worth Library’; ‘Reading the Book of Nature at the Edward Worth Library and the Zoological Museum, Trinity College Dublin’; ‘Exploring the Danube at the Edward Worth Library’; ‘Mathematics at the Edward Worth Library’; ‘Astronomy at the Edward Worth Library’; ‘Alchemy and Chemistry at the Edward Worth Library’; and ‘Newton at the Edward Worth Library’.
Worth was a fellow of the Royal Society and evidently was keenly interested in all areas of experimental science, particularly works by members of the Royal Society such as Robert Boyle (1627-91), and Isaac Newton (1642-1727). The Worth Library has held a number of conferences specifically devoted to early modern science: in December 2011 a one-day symposium on Robert Boyle was held to mark the 350th anniversary of the publication of The Sceptical Chymist and the papers, edited by Professor Michael Hunter and Dr Elizabethanne Boran, have been published in a special issue of Intellectual History Review in volume 25, Issue 1 (2015). In July 2012, as part of Dublin City of Science 2012, a two-day conference took place which investigated ‘The Reception of Newton’. The papers were edited by Dr Elizabethanne Boran, and Professor Mordechai Feingold, and published by Brill. Likewise the proceedings of two conferences, one on ‘Botany in Early Modern Ireland’ and the other on ‘Gardening in Early Modern Ireland’ were edited by Charles E. Nelson, Elizabethanne Boran and Emer Lawlor, and were published by Four Courts Press. Information about all of these publications is available on the ‘Publications and Podcasts’ page.
Besides Worth’s own collections the Worth Library also possesses a complete digital archive of the Robert Boyle Papers at the Royal Society. This was donated to the Worth Library by Professor Michael Hunter, the foremost expert on the life and works of Robert Boyle. The Worth Library is delighted to be a member of the Society for the History of Natural History. This is a society for anyone interested in zoology, botany, geology and, more generally, composite natural collections. For more information about membership and events of the SHNH click here.