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The Victorian Ethos Of Discovery
To be a Naturalist is better then to be a King - William Beebe
'Design in Nature'
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Steampunk and the Philosophy of Discovery
The “Steampunk Naturalist ” documents a wide variety of interesting esoteric subjects and also explores the exploits of the mad but brilliant “Victorian era” scientists and naturalists.
Here you can marvel at the pure genius of inventors like Nikola Tesla and Leonardo Da Vinci or the irrepressible spirit of the Victorian explorers and be in awe of inventions like the Electrostatic Wimshurst machine or read about cryptozoological investigations into Yowies, Bigfoot and other unknown species.
Although Steampunk is considered a sub-genre of science fiction, I have mainly concentrated on real " backyard" science with a Steampunk flavour and cryptozoologic research into the natural world, chronicling the questions that have answers and the ones that don't.
So get out your magnifying glass and start discovering!
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Charles Brewer is a naturalist and polymath explorer in the Victorian Tradition
The Mind of the Polymath
Try to learn something about everything and everything about something - T H Huxley
The renaissance age and much later the Victorian era, were both epocs of unlimited creativity and the expansion of the mind. Natural scientists had a continuum of interests and a spirit of inquiry and experimentation that made them into self- taught Polymaths.
Polymath comes from the Greek word πολυμαθής, polymathēs - which means ‘having learned much’. A polymath, (or polymathic person) could also be described as a Renaissance man, someone who is skilled in various disciplines often in both the arts and sciences, such as Da Vinci displayed by combining his precise scientific and mathematical studies of nature and man with exquisitely beautiful technical drawings and sculptures that are also considered great works of art. The Italian architect Leon Battista Alberti was the first to describe the Renaissance personality as a "Uomo Universale" or Universal Man, - meaning that “a man can do all things if he will, a term often used to describe Leonardo Da Vinci. This is achieved through a continuous seeking for, and love of knowledge, and having a continuum of interests, often switching from topic to topic. Many of these polymathic personalities were operating the frontal lobe of their brains in creative mode much of the time, and had developed both left-brain and right-brain thought modalities early in life, and through training had highly tuned mental processing and extremely good visualisation skills, such as Nikola Tesla displayed in his never ceasing output of amazing inventions. Tesla said “My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get a new idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination, and make improvements and operate the device in my mind. When I have gone so far as to embody everything in my invention, every possible improvement I can think of, and when I see no fault anywhere, I put into concrete form the final product of my brain.”
A polymathic person can also see the connections, being able to apply what they learn from one field to another, and make transitions between these disciplines, thus gaining deeper insights by combining them. This is the Da Vician principle of "Connessione", which is the appreciation for the interconnectedness of all phenomena.
Polymath comes from the Greek word πολυμαθής, polymathēs - which means ‘having learned much’. A polymath, (or polymathic person) could also be described as a Renaissance man, someone who is skilled in various disciplines often in both the arts and sciences, such as Da Vinci displayed by combining his precise scientific and mathematical studies of nature and man with exquisitely beautiful technical drawings and sculptures that are also considered great works of art. The Italian architect Leon Battista Alberti was the first to describe the Renaissance personality as a "Uomo Universale" or Universal Man, - meaning that “a man can do all things if he will, a term often used to describe Leonardo Da Vinci. This is achieved through a continuous seeking for, and love of knowledge, and having a continuum of interests, often switching from topic to topic. Many of these polymathic personalities were operating the frontal lobe of their brains in creative mode much of the time, and had developed both left-brain and right-brain thought modalities early in life, and through training had highly tuned mental processing and extremely good visualisation skills, such as Nikola Tesla displayed in his never ceasing output of amazing inventions. Tesla said “My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get a new idea, I start at once building it up in my imagination, and make improvements and operate the device in my mind. When I have gone so far as to embody everything in my invention, every possible improvement I can think of, and when I see no fault anywhere, I put into concrete form the final product of my brain.”
A polymathic person can also see the connections, being able to apply what they learn from one field to another, and make transitions between these disciplines, thus gaining deeper insights by combining them. This is the Da Vician principle of "Connessione", which is the appreciation for the interconnectedness of all phenomena.
Polymathic and Renaissance men
American polymath Walter Bowman Russell
Victorian scientific Polymath, Joseph Leidy
Many ancient scientists were polymaths such as Archimedes, Athanasius Kircher, and of course Da Vinci. Spending their lives making brilliant discoveries and breakthroughs in one field after another, Da Vinci being a classic example. He excelled in many different areas of science, art, literature and mathematics.
He was as comfortable with a scalpel dissecting bodies and studying human and animal anatomy as he was perfecting his masterly sfumato oil painting techniques with his brush.
Robert Hook, sometimes called “London's Leonardo" was a natural philosopher, and true polymath. He studied everything from astronomy to Palaeontology, built the first Gregorian telescopes and developed elaborate clockwork mechanics. His book Micrographia is a scientific classic detailing his studies in microscopy and showcasing his talent as an artist with magnificent drawings ranging from minute fleas and other microscopic life to star clusters and lunar craters.
Victorian scientists where well known for their work in natural history and exploration.
While the current scientific community encourages specialization, the hallmark of the Victorian “Ethos was generalization. A time when maverick scientists, naturalists and explorers held a romantic view of science and nature.
Many of them being self - taught gentleman naturalists, such as Henry Bates, Phillip Henry Gosse and Joseph Leidy, who was a pioneer in microscopy. His autobiography "Joseph Leidy the Last Man Who Knew Everything" by Leonard Warren is a tour de force into the life and mind of a Victorian polymath. It showcases the vast range of fields he studied, from dinosaurs to parasites and everything in between; he was an encyclopaedist of the natural world.
Another polymath who excelled in the study of Natural history and natural form was D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, a Scottish mathematical biologist whose major work called “On Growth and Form”, is a classic in biological literature. A famous quote by D'Arcy is “The harmony of the world is made manifest in form and number.
English polymath and cousin of Charles Darwin, Sir Francis Galton, became a self taught expert in various scientific fields and was considered one of the most multi-disciplinary scientists of his time. The use of questionnaires in surveys for data gathering was first popularized by him. He also introduced eugenics and founded the Differential Psychology. His works are useful in forensic science through his classification of fingerprints. He also made his mark in tropical exploration in South Africa, and was elected a Fellow in the Royal Geographic Society.
Then there's the eccentric English Steampunkery genius, Charles Babbage, who in the mid 19th century is credited with inventing two elaborate cogwheel computers which he called the Difference engine and the more complex Analytical Engine. Although it was not successfully built in Babbage’s day, a fully functioning difference engine has now been constructed from Babbage's original plans.
He was as comfortable with a scalpel dissecting bodies and studying human and animal anatomy as he was perfecting his masterly sfumato oil painting techniques with his brush.
Robert Hook, sometimes called “London's Leonardo" was a natural philosopher, and true polymath. He studied everything from astronomy to Palaeontology, built the first Gregorian telescopes and developed elaborate clockwork mechanics. His book Micrographia is a scientific classic detailing his studies in microscopy and showcasing his talent as an artist with magnificent drawings ranging from minute fleas and other microscopic life to star clusters and lunar craters.
Victorian scientists where well known for their work in natural history and exploration.
While the current scientific community encourages specialization, the hallmark of the Victorian “Ethos was generalization. A time when maverick scientists, naturalists and explorers held a romantic view of science and nature.
Many of them being self - taught gentleman naturalists, such as Henry Bates, Phillip Henry Gosse and Joseph Leidy, who was a pioneer in microscopy. His autobiography "Joseph Leidy the Last Man Who Knew Everything" by Leonard Warren is a tour de force into the life and mind of a Victorian polymath. It showcases the vast range of fields he studied, from dinosaurs to parasites and everything in between; he was an encyclopaedist of the natural world.
Another polymath who excelled in the study of Natural history and natural form was D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, a Scottish mathematical biologist whose major work called “On Growth and Form”, is a classic in biological literature. A famous quote by D'Arcy is “The harmony of the world is made manifest in form and number.
English polymath and cousin of Charles Darwin, Sir Francis Galton, became a self taught expert in various scientific fields and was considered one of the most multi-disciplinary scientists of his time. The use of questionnaires in surveys for data gathering was first popularized by him. He also introduced eugenics and founded the Differential Psychology. His works are useful in forensic science through his classification of fingerprints. He also made his mark in tropical exploration in South Africa, and was elected a Fellow in the Royal Geographic Society.
Then there's the eccentric English Steampunkery genius, Charles Babbage, who in the mid 19th century is credited with inventing two elaborate cogwheel computers which he called the Difference engine and the more complex Analytical Engine. Although it was not successfully built in Babbage’s day, a fully functioning difference engine has now been constructed from Babbage's original plans.
Dale Pond speaking about the polymathic outlook of the ancient scientists
Teaching chart of snail anatomy, used by the early 19th century polymath D'Arcy Thompson
US inventor John Keely was another example of the Victorian era’s ability to give birth to misunderstood geniuses. A rogue inventor, he claimed to have discoved an unnamed force based on "vibratory sympathy or Vibratory Physics". He built his famous Keely Motor to utilize these "etheric" forces. Even the eminent professor Dr. Joseph Leidy came out as a supporter of the inventor, after examining Keely’s experiments.
One of the greatest polymaths in history was Nikola Tesla, perhaps equalling or surpassing that of Leonardo da Vinci, he was the archetype of the mad scientist. A giant of science and invention and an electrical engineer by profession, Tesla’s work and studies were beyond compare. A true visionary, he had highly developed mental and sensory abilities, particularly “visualization” ie: able to construct and run his inventions intitially in his mind and test for errors. He would already know exactly how it would perform when it came time to build the machine. He also claimed he could hear the sound of a watch ticking three rooms away, and a fly landing on a table in his room caused a dull thud in his ear. He was viewed as a kind of mystic or wizard who spoke six languages. Today he has achieved a sort of cult status especially in the search for free or zero point energy.
Sir Richard Francis Burton, a well known explorer, writer and eminent polyglot, was the very embodiment of a super eccentric British polymath. Most famous for his translation of the Arabian Nights, he was a soldier by profession, and spoke 29 different languages. As an explorer, he travelled in disguise to Mecca and in collaboration with the Royal Geographical Society, visited the Great Lakes of Africa together with John Henning Speke, in an effort to find the source of the Nile river.
Victorian explorer William John Wills was also a very polymathic character. He charted large areas of northern and central Australia, studied the geology, flora and fauna and also made extensive natural history collections.
Prussian naturalist and explorer polymath Alexander von Humboldt was described by David Attenborough as the last of the Universal Men. As a naturalist he strongly believed in the “unity of nature" and much like Da Vinci, that all the physical sciencntific fields were interconnected. Attempting to unify the many fields of scientific knowledge, he published his five-volume work, “Kosmos”, in 1845 as a result of his explorations and observations of natural history and geography.
The famed adventurer Percival Fawcett, was the last of the Victorian explorer polymaths. A stoic, moustachioed archetype of the Victorian age. Besides from being an explorer, he was an artist, artillery officer and archaeologist. He studied surveying and mapmaking in the Royal Geographical Society. He traced the sources of rivers in South America namely the Rio Verde in Brazil and the Heath River bordering Peru and Bolivia and eventually disappeared looking for a mythical lost city.
Above are just a few examples of the polymathic and Renaissance men from the pages of history. From them we can draw our inspiration for our own potential for creative discovery. Polymaths of the past where a testament to the unlimited capacity and creativity of the human mind, with their old school mastery of multidisciplinary fields and encyclopaedic knowledge,
Anyone can be a polymath, it’s just a matter of exploring.
One of the greatest polymaths in history was Nikola Tesla, perhaps equalling or surpassing that of Leonardo da Vinci, he was the archetype of the mad scientist. A giant of science and invention and an electrical engineer by profession, Tesla’s work and studies were beyond compare. A true visionary, he had highly developed mental and sensory abilities, particularly “visualization” ie: able to construct and run his inventions intitially in his mind and test for errors. He would already know exactly how it would perform when it came time to build the machine. He also claimed he could hear the sound of a watch ticking three rooms away, and a fly landing on a table in his room caused a dull thud in his ear. He was viewed as a kind of mystic or wizard who spoke six languages. Today he has achieved a sort of cult status especially in the search for free or zero point energy.
Sir Richard Francis Burton, a well known explorer, writer and eminent polyglot, was the very embodiment of a super eccentric British polymath. Most famous for his translation of the Arabian Nights, he was a soldier by profession, and spoke 29 different languages. As an explorer, he travelled in disguise to Mecca and in collaboration with the Royal Geographical Society, visited the Great Lakes of Africa together with John Henning Speke, in an effort to find the source of the Nile river.
Victorian explorer William John Wills was also a very polymathic character. He charted large areas of northern and central Australia, studied the geology, flora and fauna and also made extensive natural history collections.
Prussian naturalist and explorer polymath Alexander von Humboldt was described by David Attenborough as the last of the Universal Men. As a naturalist he strongly believed in the “unity of nature" and much like Da Vinci, that all the physical sciencntific fields were interconnected. Attempting to unify the many fields of scientific knowledge, he published his five-volume work, “Kosmos”, in 1845 as a result of his explorations and observations of natural history and geography.
The famed adventurer Percival Fawcett, was the last of the Victorian explorer polymaths. A stoic, moustachioed archetype of the Victorian age. Besides from being an explorer, he was an artist, artillery officer and archaeologist. He studied surveying and mapmaking in the Royal Geographical Society. He traced the sources of rivers in South America namely the Rio Verde in Brazil and the Heath River bordering Peru and Bolivia and eventually disappeared looking for a mythical lost city.
Above are just a few examples of the polymathic and Renaissance men from the pages of history. From them we can draw our inspiration for our own potential for creative discovery. Polymaths of the past where a testament to the unlimited capacity and creativity of the human mind, with their old school mastery of multidisciplinary fields and encyclopaedic knowledge,
Anyone can be a polymath, it’s just a matter of exploring.
Inspiration from the Victorian Age
For
many Steampunk enthusiasts the Victorian Era is inspiring because it
harks back to the incredible ornate craftmanship of the Victorians, when
every apparatus was made to look like a masterpiece and last forever
and the natural world held an endless fascination.
The Victorians had a love affair with the natural world. From carnivorous pitcher plants to the Victorian hobby of butterfly collecting and exploring far flung corners of the earth to catalogue and bring back new species, they were trailblazers in their field.
In contrast, the modern world is based on mass production and throw away junk, where most people, as a result of their environment, are alienated from the natural world and have little interest in the study of nature.
Indeed many can not even understand how it is possible to be interested in it. On a whole the 21st century world has lost the curiosity and wonder that captivated the Victorian scientists and explorers
A genre of science fiction, Steampunk takes inspiration from the19th century Victorian/Edwardian era inventors such as Nikola Tesla, Charles Babbage and explorers like Henry Morton Stanley, David Livingstone and Sir Richard Burton. It was also popularized in the novels of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells.
The world of Steampunk often features giant laboratories with Tesla style technology, and mad science, often described as Gas Lamp Fantasies such as seen in the movie Van Healsing and many of the Frankenstein films.
Many feature steam-powered technology which consists of brass, glass, wood and metal, and working parts are often exposed to reveal victorian clockwork gears, such as in the 2002 remake of H.G.Wells ‘The Time Machine’.
Another classic Steampunk technology that has been depicted in movies and cartoons are the bio-electrical devices often powered by electric eels or electric fish.
Much like the great artist and inventor Leonardo DaVinci, many of the Victorian Era scientists where generalists and excelled in many fields.
They studied many seemingly unrelated subjects. The great electrical engineer, Nikola Tesla, made pioneering breakthroughs in many fields. From inventing alternating current and the Tesla Coil to studying resonance and taking the first x ray to name a few.
Another example of a generalist scientist was Victorian naturalist and Amazon explorer, Henry Walter Bates, who specialized in Entomology, but also studied and catalogued everything from butterflies, mammals, reptiles, birds and the many native tribes of the Amazon.
Despite being specialists in their chosen disciplines, they did not hesitate to delve into more unknown and uncharted fields.
On this website, I'am attempting to focus on a variety of subjects in the fields of ‘Natural History’ and Victorian style Steampunk inspired ‘Industrial Science.
The Victorians had a love affair with the natural world. From carnivorous pitcher plants to the Victorian hobby of butterfly collecting and exploring far flung corners of the earth to catalogue and bring back new species, they were trailblazers in their field.
In contrast, the modern world is based on mass production and throw away junk, where most people, as a result of their environment, are alienated from the natural world and have little interest in the study of nature.
Indeed many can not even understand how it is possible to be interested in it. On a whole the 21st century world has lost the curiosity and wonder that captivated the Victorian scientists and explorers
A genre of science fiction, Steampunk takes inspiration from the19th century Victorian/Edwardian era inventors such as Nikola Tesla, Charles Babbage and explorers like Henry Morton Stanley, David Livingstone and Sir Richard Burton. It was also popularized in the novels of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells.
The world of Steampunk often features giant laboratories with Tesla style technology, and mad science, often described as Gas Lamp Fantasies such as seen in the movie Van Healsing and many of the Frankenstein films.
Many feature steam-powered technology which consists of brass, glass, wood and metal, and working parts are often exposed to reveal victorian clockwork gears, such as in the 2002 remake of H.G.Wells ‘The Time Machine’.
Another classic Steampunk technology that has been depicted in movies and cartoons are the bio-electrical devices often powered by electric eels or electric fish.
Much like the great artist and inventor Leonardo DaVinci, many of the Victorian Era scientists where generalists and excelled in many fields.
They studied many seemingly unrelated subjects. The great electrical engineer, Nikola Tesla, made pioneering breakthroughs in many fields. From inventing alternating current and the Tesla Coil to studying resonance and taking the first x ray to name a few.
Another example of a generalist scientist was Victorian naturalist and Amazon explorer, Henry Walter Bates, who specialized in Entomology, but also studied and catalogued everything from butterflies, mammals, reptiles, birds and the many native tribes of the Amazon.
Despite being specialists in their chosen disciplines, they did not hesitate to delve into more unknown and uncharted fields.
On this website, I'am attempting to focus on a variety of subjects in the fields of ‘Natural History’ and Victorian style Steampunk inspired ‘Industrial Science.
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