Queering the Museum Exploring LGBTQ+ Lives and Issues in the History
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No. 119: June 2019 VIEWPOINT MAGAZINE OF THE BRITISH SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE Queering the Museum Exploring LGBTQ+ lives and issues in the history of science, technology and medicine ISSN: 1751-8261 News • Avian Sex Transformation • LGBTQ+ Lives • Rethinking Sexology • Lennox Ross Broster • Notices RUNNING HEADER Contents BSHS Engagement Fellowships The BSHS Engagement Fellowships Welcome | News 2-3 are month-long funded placements Queering the Science Museum 4-6 at heritage organisations. During their placements the Fellows (UK postgrad- LGBTQ+ Lives in Science 7-9 uates) develop research and materials ing facilitator of Jamaican heritage. Queer Birds: Avian Sex Reversal 10-11 that allow their host organisation to This represented the outcome of engage new audiences with science his- Jason’s work in reframing and reconsid- 1930s Gender Variance 12-13 tory. In addition to events and material ering the 18th-century Jamaican herbals Interview: ‘Rethinking Sexology’ 14 produced last year, new outcomes from held by Bristol Museum. the 2018 Fellowships are still emerging. Laura Mainwaring, Engagement In memoriam: Jeff Hughes 15 Jason Irving, BSHS Engagement Fellow at George Marshall Medical BSHS information & publications 16 Fellow at Bristol Museum, put together Museum, Worcester, contributed to a a fantastic final event from his work dur- study day: ‘Bovril, Whisky and Gravedig- ing the placement. On 30 March, Bristol gers: the Spanish Flu Pandemic comes Museums hosted the workshop ‘Food to the West Midlands’, on 5 April. The Editorial Journeys’ exploring Caribbean food work of Ed Armston-Sheret, Engage- Commemorating the 50th anniversary of histories. The event was a collaboration ment Fellow at The Polar Museum, will the Stonewall Riots, which broke out in with Mama D Ujuaje, a community learn- be included in a new digital display. • New York City in June 1969, this issue is dedicated to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer/questioning+ (LGBTQ+) lives and issues in the history of science, technology, and medicine. Outreach grants awarded Our cover feature, by Eleanor Arm- Each year the BSHS Outreach and organisation of the inaugural ‘History strong, reports on the success of a BSHS Engagement Committee offers four of Science for Schools’ event on 27 grant which supported a new public tour small project grants that are intended April. The team developed material that series at the Science Museum. Next, Viewpoint takes a look at the to kick-start engagement events and engaged children and families with the lives and careers of five LGBTQ+ scien- opportunities that might not receive history of Darwin, his travel, and his net- tists, physicians, and engineers, includ- funding from other sources. works. The first event was a pilot, so do ing some lesser-known figures. Then Contributing Editor Ross Brooks The grant winners from May 2018, look out for future iterations of these. considers the origins of modern sexol- Eleanor Armstrong (UCL) and Damien The final grant from 2018, was th th ogy in 18 - and 19 -century studies on Arness Dalton, were awarded funds awarded to Matjaz Vidmar (University avian sex reversal, while Clare Tebbutt to support their ‘Queering the Science of Edinburgh) who is using the funds investigates the work of Lennox Ross Broster and the language surrounding Museum’ project. After a successful to support the development of a tour the unfixity of sex in the 20th century. series of museum tours in summer and information related to the history This issue’s interview is with Jana 2018, they have been engaged in several of astronomy in Edinburgh. This will Funke on behalf of the ‘Rethinking Sexology’ project currently being hosted further public events. These include a be transposed onto the app ‘Curious at the University of Exeter. Lastly, James public lecture, ‘Queering the History of Edinburgh’, joining a series of other Sumner remembers our late colleague Science’, at LSE as part of the ‘Narrative successful mobile-tours that showcase and former BSHS President Jeff Hughes. Let us know what you think of the Science’ project, and an afternoon of the history of science in the city. issue on Twitter @BSHSViewpoint or by ‘alternative archaeology’ at the Univer- The first project grant of 2019 has email. Contributions to the next edition sity of Cambridge. been awarded to Alexander Longworth- should be emailed, by 15 August 2019, The grant winner from August 2018, Dunbar (University of Manchester) as to [email protected]. Laura Brassington and colleagues seed funding for a history of technol- Hazel Blair, Editor (University of Cambridge), funded the ogy podcast. • 2 WELCOMEVIEWPOINT | NEWS 116 Watt anniversary events Sarton Prize 2018 Events commemorating the life and He teamed up with John Roebuck, The American Academy of Arts and work of inventor James Watt (1736- co-founder of Carron Ironworks, and, Sciences has named Jenny Bulstrode 1819) are taking place this summer. later, manufacturer Matthew Boulton. the recipient of the 2018 Sarton Prize for History of Science, recog- The 25 April saw the 250th anniver- Watt’s steam engine was 80% more nising her achievement and promise sary of Watt’s patent for the separate efficient than the one built by Thomas as an emerging scholar in the field. Jenny is a doctoral student and condenser – an invention which revolu- Newcomen, and drove Britain’s industrial researcher at Cambridge and the tionised the power of the steam engine and technological advancement. National Maritime Museum, Green- wich. Her research has focused on and drove the industrial revolution. This You can visit Watt’s workshop at the the history of mining, Victorian earth year is also the 200th anniversary of the Science Museum in London, explore sciences, geomagnetic survey, the Scottish inventor’s death. exhibitions, including at Heriot-Watt Uni- whaling industry, and the relation between innovation in the clock- Watt was born in Greenock, Glasgow. versity and the Scottish National Portrait trade and changes in economic He took an apprenticeship in London, Gallery, or visit the site of an early Watt regulation in the age of reform. • before he turned his attention to improv- engine at Galton Valley Canal Museum. ing the steam engine. See www.jameswatt2019.org/events. • New research hub A new History of Science and Tech- nology Hub has been launched at James Joule commemorated the University of Warwick. The university has wide-ranging A ceramic pavement to commemorate expertise in the history of science, physicist James Joule has been un- and technology, but the new hub veiled in Trafford.The artwork was unveiled also links up the history of scien- tific theories with wider historical in Worthington Park, Sale, where Joule phenomena such as war, religion, lived in the 19th century. courtesy of G. Cooke globalisation, ideology, and social, and environmental change. Joule, who has the unit of energy named Image: This work is integrated into various after him, established the important prin- 58 ceramic ‘tiles’ and three of black gran- projects in the History Department ciple that heat and mechanical work are ite. The bullet points are in solid brass. It is and other Warwick research centres. Visit warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/history/ both forms of energy. surrounded by Victorian setts.’ sat & @HistSciTechHub (Twitter). • Friends of Worthington Park raised Cooke said the artwork was constructed money for the pavement to be made and in his Poplar Grove studio in Sale, which is Survey sciences installed, with the work being done by local located ‘just round the corner from Wardle Royal Society Publishing has pub- ceramicist Gordon Cooke. Road, which is where Joule lived.’ lished a special issue of Notes and Cooke said, ‘The pavement to com- Funding for the piece came from a dona- Records, titled Nineteenth-century survey sciences: enterprises, memorate 200 years since the birth of J tion from a local resident, The Sale Mayoral expeditions and exhibitions. P Joule is the most complex work of this Fund, Manchester Airport Community The issue co-ordinates a kind that I’ve attempted. It’s comprised of Trust, and the Heritage Lottery Fund. • newly comparative and synthetic approach to some of the principal early 19th-century survey sciences prosecuted by British practitioners, President’s notice: BSHS e-newsletters including geomagnetism, geo- graphical exploration, navigation, After every Council meeting (January, April and October), and some- and meteorology. times between, I send out a newsletter e-mail as a service to members The essays attend to the conduct so that you are able to see what we are discussing on your behalf. This of large-scale 19th-century is sent via Mailchimp. It has come to our notice that many institutional surveys across a range of domestic firewalls block Mailchimp messages, miscategorising them as phishing and overseas areas, at sea, on e-mails. The good news is that asking your IT department to ‘whitelist’ land, and in the atmosphere. See Dan Vo the domain @bshs.org.uk can solve this problem. If you are still not royalsocietypublishing.org/toc/ receiving Presidential e-mails after that, please contact office@bshs. org.uk to check your membership status. — Tim Boon rsnr/73/2. • Cover Image: 3 Queering the Science Museum Eleanor Armstrong reflects on last year’s ‘Queering the Science Museum’ tour series, high- lighting its importance in communicating ideas in queer science and technology studies to non-academics. This work was supported by a BSHS Outreach Grant. here do you go to learn about galleries, the British Museum, and Oxford queer theory, to build critical thinking LGBTQ+ history? To a local University Museums, to name but a few about queerness in science and technology. W‘Pride’ event? To the archives institutions), I wondered why there were For example, with the Spitfire plane of your town or city? A podcast, Netflix no explorations of queer histories in that hangs in the third floor Flight series, or social media account? Or to science museums in general, and in the Gallery, we talked about Roberta Cowell one of the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Science Museum, London in particular.