Inquiry: Richard Holmes: The Age of Wonder

In the early years of the 19th Century there was a Second Scientific Revolution that occurred in Britain and Europe. These were the days of the grand exploratory voyage to uncharted realms, the lonely scientific genius working for that “Eureka!” moment, and the notion of an infinite, mysterious nature, awaiting discovery. It was a time when poets wrote sonnets about science and scientists did art.  It was a time of dallying with the native Tahitians, gazing into the enormity of the cosmos, ballooning over Paris and Frankenstein’s horrific creation. Tonight on Inquiry we have a lively conversation with RICHARD HOLMES, writer and Professor of Biography at the University of East Anglia. Holmes has written one of the most entertaining and unusual histories of science: THE AGE OF WONDER: HOW THE ROMANTIC GENERATION DISCOVERED THE BEAUTY AND TERROR OF SCIENCE.