Royal Society [ Institutions / Clubs & Societies ]
… Like other London academies, the Royal Society conformed to eighteenth-century notions of sociability. In the spaces of Gresham College, and later Crane Court, a wide range of individuals came together to witness experiments and … a credential formerly supplied by reference to ancient texts; ‘ located, explicitly or implicitly, at a precise point in space and time, the observer’s reported experience of a singular phenomenon constituted his authority .’ 7 The empirical … are largely contested, for the ‘showing’ and ‘discoursing’ of the experiment could operate between public and private spaces. Many experimental venues were private residences. Robert Boyle, for instance, resided in quarters in his sister, …
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