Bernard V Lightman
Professor
Office: McLaughlin College, 046
Phone: (416) 736-5164 Ext: 22028
Email: lightman@yorku.ca
Primary website: http://www.arts.yorku.ca/huma/lightman/index.html
Professor Bernard Lightman is Professor of Humanities at York University. He has published widely in the area of Cultural History of Victorian Science.
Professor Bernard Lightman is Professor of Humanities at York University, Toronto, Canada. Currently he is the Director of the Graduate Program in Science and Technology Studies, Director of a new research institute in Science and Technology Studies, and Society Editor for the History of Science Society. The latter job includes editing Isis, The Flagship Journal of the Society. Lightman has published widely in the area of 'Cultural History of Victorian Science'.
His books include The Origins of Agnosticism (Johns Hopkins UP, 1987), Victorian Popularizers of Science (U of Chicago Press, 2007), Evolutionary Naturalism in Victorian Britain (Ashgate, 2009), Victorian Science in Context (edited collection, U of Chicago Press, 1997), Science in the Marketplace (co-edited with Aileen Fyfe, U of Chicago Press, 2007), and Figuring it Out: Science, Gender and Visual Culture (co-edited with Ann Shteir, University Press of New England, 2006). He was the general editor of the Four volume Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Scientists (Thoemmes Continuum, 2004) and currently edits a monograph series titled Science and Culture in the Nineteenth-Century, published by Pickering and Chatto.
Lightman is now working on a biography of the Physicist John Tyndall, and has set up an international correspondence project, funded by the Mellon Foundation and the National Science Foundation, dedicated to obtaining, digitalizing, transcribing, and publishing Tyndall’s letters.
In his copious spare time Lightman takes guitar lessons in a vain attempt to pretend that he is a rock and roll superstar.
Degrees
PhD inHistory of Ideas, Brandeis UniversityMA in History, York University
BA Honours (First Class) in History, York University
Professional Leadership
Editorial Board, Spontaneous Generations, 2008-2011.
Advisory Board, Victorian Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Victorian Studies, 2008-2012.
Society Editor, Isis Editor, and Member of the Executive Committee, History of Science Society, 2004-2008. Renewed for second five-year term, 2009-2013.
Affiliate (Cross-appointed Full Member), Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2007. Renewed for second five-year term.
Associated Scholar of the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, 1998-2000.
Advisory Editor for the journal Isis, 1998-2000.
Council, History of Science Society, 2003-2005.
Committee on Finance, History of Science Society, 1997-1999.
Community Contributions
Green Paper Working Group on Strategic Expansion of Research Activity, Fall 2009
Member, Joint Committee on the Administration of the Agreement, 2009-2011
Member, Executive Committee, York University Faculty Association, 2009-2011
Chief Steward, York University Faculty Association, 2009-2011
Member, York University Faculty Association Grievance Sub-Committee, 2009-2010
Member, Recruitment Committee, Division of Humanities, 2008-2009.
Director, Graduate Program in Science and Technology Studies, July 2008-June 2010.
Chair, ad hoc committee to propose a new graduate Science and Technology Studies program, Spring 2007-Spring 2008.
Research Interests
- Dean’s Award for Outstanding Research 2007-2008 - 2007-2008
- York Seminar for Advanced Research for 2001-2002, Gerstein Foundation, for “Figural Vocabularies of Gender in Science, Medicine, and Technology,” co-proposed with Ann Shteir 2001-2002 - 2001-2002
- Leave Development Fellowship, York University 1997-1998 - 1997-1998
- Aid to Occasional Scholarly Conferences Award for Conference on “Science and Religion in Modern Western Thought,” 1993-1994 - 1993-1994
- Canada Council Post-Doctoral Fellowship 1981-1983 - 1981-82, 1982-83
- Canada Council Doctoral Fellowship 1975-1977 - 1975-76, 1976-77, fall of 1977
- Brandeis University: tuition scholarship 1974-1975 - 1974-75
- University Merit Award 2008 - 2008
- University Merit Award 2004 - 2004
- University Merit Award 2002 - 2002
- Faculty of Arts Fellowship 1999 - 1999
- Templeton Science-Religion Course Program Award 1998 - 1998
- Sabbatical Leave Fellowship Fund for “Voices of Nature: Popularizers of Victorian Science,” 1998 - 1998
- Fellow of the Royal Society - 2011
- Distinguished Research Professor - 2018
Science in the Marketplace: Nineteenth-Century Sites and Experiences. Ed. Bernard Lightman and Aileen Fyfe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Victorian Popularizers of Science: Designing Nature for New Audiences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
Figuring it Out: Science, Gender and Visual Culture. Ed. Bernard Lightman and Ann Shteir. Hanover, New Hampshire: Dartmouth College Press; Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 2006.
Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Scientists. Ed. Bernard Lightman. 4 vols. Bristol: Thoemmes Continuum, 2004.
The Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Philosophers. Ed. W. J. Mander and Alan P. F. Sell. 2 vols. Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 2002.
Creating the Jewish Future. Ed. Bernard Lightman and Michael Brown. Walnut Creek, California: Alta Mira Press, 1998.
Victorian Science in Context. Ed. Bernard Lightman. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; London: University of Chicago Press, 1997.
Victorian Faith in Crisis: Essays on Continuity and Change in Nineteenth Century Religious Belief. Ed. Bernard Lightman and and Richard Helmstadter. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press; London: Macmillan Press, 1990.
The Origins of Agnosticism: Victorian Unbelief and the Limits of Knowledge. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987.
'Refashioning the Spaces of London Science: Elite Epistemes in the Nineteenth Century .' Geographies of Nineteenth-Century Science. Ed. Charles Withers and David Livingstone. University of Chicago Press, 2011.
'Science and Culture.' The Cambridge Companion to Victorian Culture. Ed. Francis O’Gorman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 12-42.
'Science and the Public: The Contested Meanings of Science in Victorian Britain.' Wrestling with Nature: From Omens to Science. Ed. Ronald Numbers, Michael Shank, and Peter Harrison. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2010.
'Unbelief.' Science and Religion around the World: Historical Perspectives. Ed. John Hedley Brooke and Ronald L. Numbers. Oxford University Press, 2010.
'Evolutionary Naturalism in Victorian Britain: The ‘Darwinians’ and Their Critics.' Variorum Collected Studies Series. Burlington, Vermont, USA; Farnham, Surrey, England: Ashgate, 2009.
'Lecturing in the Spatial Economy of Science.' Science in the Marketplace. Ed. Bernard Lightman and Aileen Fyfe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007. 97-132.
''A Conspiracy of One': Butler, Natural Theology, and Victorian Popularization.' Samuel Butler, Victorian Against the Grain: A Critical Overview. Ed. James Paradis. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007. 113-142.
'Agnosticism.' The Continuum Encyclopedia of British Philosophy. Ed A. C. Grayling, Andrew Pyle and Naomi Goulder. Vol. I. London and New York: Thoemmes Continuum International Publishing Group, 2006. 48-50.
'Celestial Objects for Common Readers: Webb as a Populariser of Science.' The Stargazer of Hardwicke: The Life and Work of Thomas William Webb. Ed. Janet and Mark Robinson. Leominster, Herefordshire: Gracewing, 2006. 215-234.
'Depicting Nature, Defining Roles: Visual Images and Female Popularizers of Victorian Science.' Figuring it Out: Science, Gender and Visual Culture. Ed. Ann Shteir and Bernard Lightman. Hanover, New Hampshire: Dartmouth College Press; Hanover and London: University Press of New England, 2006. 214-239.
'Interpreting Agnosticism as a Nonconformist Sect: T. H. Huxley’s 'New Reformation'.' Science and Dissent in England, 1688-1945. Ed. Paul Wood. Aldershot, Hampshire, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2004. 197-214.
'Scientists as Materialists in the Periodical Press: Tyndall’s Belfast Address.' Science Serialized: Representations of the Sciences in Nineteenth-Century Periodicals. Dibner Institute Studies in the History of Science and Technology. Ed. Geoffrey Cantor and Sally Shuttleworth. Cambridge, Massachusetts: M.I.T. Press, 2004. 199-237.
''Knowledge' Confronts 'Nature': Richard Proctor and Popular Science Periodicals.' Culture and Science in the Nineteenth-Century Media. Ed. Louise Henson, Geoffrey Cantor, Gowan Dawson, Richard Noakes, Sally Shuttleworth and Jonathan R. Topham. Aldershot, Hants, England: Ashgate Publishing Limited, 2004. 199-210.
''Bithell, Richard (1821-1902),' 'Laing, Samuel (1812-97),' and 'Ross, William Stewart (1844-1906)'.' The Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Philosophers. Ed. W. J. Mander and Alan P. F. Sell. 2 vols. Bristol: Thoemmes Press, 2002. Vol. 1: 100-101, Vol. 2: 649-650, 967-8
''Clerke, Agnes Mary,' and 'Clerke, Ellen Mary'.' The Biographical Dictionary of Women in Science. Ed. Marilyn Ogilvie and Joy Harvey. New York: Routledge, 2000. 269-271 & 271-272.
'Constructing Victorian Heavens: Agnes Clerke and the 'New Astronomy'.' Natural Eloquence: Women Reinscribe Science. Ed. Ann Shteir and Barbara Gates. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, 1997. 61-75.
''Fighting Even With Death': Balfour, Scientific Naturalism, and Thomas Henry Huxley’s Final Battle.' T.H. Huxley’s Place in Science and Letters: Centenary Essays. Ed. Alan Barr. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 1997. 323-350.
''Voices of Nature': Popularizers of Victorian Science.' Victorian Science in Context. Ed. Bernard Lightman. Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1997. 187-211.
'Astronomy for the People: R.A. Proctor and the Popularization of the Victorian Universe.' Facets of Faith and Science. Ed. Jitse van der Meer. Vol. 3. Lanham:The Pascal Centre for Advanced Studies in Faith; New York: Science, Redeemer College, Ancaster, Ontario; London:University Press of America, Inc., 1996. 31-45.
''Robert Elsmere' and the Agnostic Crises of Faith.' Victorian Faith in Crisis: Essays on Continuity and Change in Nineteenth Century Religious Belief. Ed. Richard Helmstadter and Bernard Lightman. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press; London: Macmillan Press, 1990. 283-311.
'Ideology, Evolution, and Late-Victorian Agnostic Popularizers.' History, Humanity and Evolution: New Perspectives in the History of Evolutionary Naturalism. Ed. James R. Moore. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989. 285-309.
'Agnosticism.' Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Ed. Sally Mitchell. New York: Garland Publishing, 1988. 8-9.
Rev. of The Earth on Show: Fossils and the Poetics of Popular Science, 1802-1856, by Ralph O’Connor. Journal of Modern History 81.3 (September 2009): 668-669.
Rev. of Science and Scientism in Nineteenth-Century Europe, by Richard G. Olson. Clio 38.1 (Fall 2008): 101-105.
Rev. of Thomas Hardy’s Novel Universe: Astronomy, Cosmology, and Gender in the Post-Darwinian World, by Pamela Gossin. Victorian Studies 50 (2008): 326-7.
Rev. of Unmapped Countries: Biological Visions in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture, ed. Anne-Julia Zwierlein. Victorian Studies 48 (2006): 358-360.
Rev. of Science in the Public Sphere, by Richard Yeo. Annals of Science 61 (2004): 512-3.
Rev. of Victorian Relativity: Radical Thought and Scientific Discovery, by Christopher Herbert. Victorian Studies 45 (Spring 2003): 493-499.
Rev. of Darwin’s Mentor: John Stevens Henslow, by S. M. Walters and E. A. Stow. Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences 39.4 (Fall 2003): 390-2.
Rev. of The ‘Creed of Science’ in Victorian England, by Roy M. MacLeod. Isis 92 (September 2001): 613-4.
Rev. of Frankenstein’s Children, by Iwan Rhys Morus. American Historical Review (December 1999): 1755-1756.
Rev. of Mesmerized: Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain, by Alison Winter. The Washington Times (January 1999): B7-8.
Rev. of Huxley: From Devil’s Disciple to Evolution’s High Priest, by Adrian Desmond. Canadian Journal of History XXXIII (April 1998): 149-151.
Rev. of British Idealism and Social Explanation, by Sandra Den Otter. Histoire Sociale: Social History XXX.60 (1997): 468-470.
Rev. of Huxley: The Devil’s Disciple, by Adrian Desmond. Metascience 7 (1995): 27-30.
Rev. of Truth and Interpretation: An Essay in Thinking, by Brayton Polka. History of European Ideas 17 (1993): 101-104.
Rev. of Thomas Henry Huxley: Communicating for Science, by J. Vernon Jensen. Isis 83 (1992): 677-678.
Rev. of Science and Religion: Baden Powell and the Anglican Debate, by Pietro Corsi. American Historical Review 96 (October 1991): 1199-1200.
Rev. of Evolution and Ethics: T. H. Huxley’s Evolution and Ethics with New Essays on Its Victorian and Sociobiological Context, by James Paradis and George C. Williams. Isis 82 (1991): 154-155.
Rev. of A History of Atheism in Britain. and Gordon Stein. A Second Anthology of Atheism and Rationalism, by David Berman. Albion 22 (Spring 1990): 136-139.
Rev. of The Godless Victorian, by Noel Annan, by Leslie Stephen. Victorian Studies 32 (Spring 1989): 442-4.
Rev. of Darwin and the Emergence of Evolutionary Theories of Mind and Behavior, by Robert J. Richards. American Historical Review 94 (October 1989): 1060-1061.
'Darwin and the Popularization of Evolution.' Notes and Records of the Royal Society 64.1 (March 2010): 5-24.
'The Many Lives of Charles Darwin: Biographies and the Definitive Evolutionist.' Notes and Records of the Royal Society. 2010
'Huxley and Scientific Agnosticism: The Strange History of a Failed Rhetorical Strategy.' British Journal for the History of Science 35 (2002): 271-289.
'Victorian Sciences and Religions: Discordant Harmonies.' Osiris 16 (2001): 343-366.
'Marketing Knowledge for the General Reader: Victorian Popularizers of Science.' Endeavour 24.3 (2000): 100-106.
'The Visual Theology of Victorian Popularizers of Science.' Isis 91 (Dec. 2000): 651-680.
'The Story of Nature: Victorian Popularizers and Scientific Narrative.' Victorian Review 25.2 (1999): 1-29.
'Science and Religion in Modern Western Thought.' Ed. Bernard Lightman and Bernard Zelechow. Special theme issue of The European Legacy 1.5 (August 1996).
'Henry Longueville Mansel and the Origins of Agnosticism.' History of European Ideas 5.1 (1984): 45-64.
'Pope Huxley and the Church Agnostic: The Religion of Science.' Historical Papers (1983): 150-163.
'Christian Evolutionists in the United States, 1860-1900.' Journal of Cambridge Studies 4.4 (December 2009): 14-22.
'Beating Up on the New Atheists.' Religion in the News 10 (Summer/Fall 2007): 2-4 & 19.
'Science and the Postmodern Crisis.' The European Legacy 1.5 (August 1996): 1764-1776.
'The Gendered Nature of Victorian Science: Recent Works.' Victorian Studies Association Newsletter 48 (Fall 1991): 15-21.
'Broad Church Reactions to the Mansel Controversy.' Victorian Studies Association Newsletter 28 (Fall 1981): 9-22.
'John Stuart Mill and Immanuel Kant on Nature: Idealism in Mill’s An Examination of Sir William Hamilton’s Philosophy.' he Mill Newsletter XIV.2 (Summer 1979): 2-12.
'The Many Lives of Charles Darwin: Biographies and the Definitive Evolutionist.' Victorian Studies Association of Ontario annual conference. Toronto. 24 April, 2010.
'Anglo-American Popularisers of Evolution, 1859-1900.' Popularizing and Policing ‘Darwinism’ 1859-1900. History of Science Society annual meeting, Phoenix. 20 November, 2009.
'Christian Evolutionists in the United States, 1860-1900.' 150 Years After the ‘Origin of Species’: Biological, Historical, and Philosophical Perspectives. University of Toronto. 21-24 November, 2009.
'Darwin and the Popularization of Evolution.' Wallace Russell Lecturer, Society for the History of Psychology, Division of the American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association Convention. Toronto. August 2009.
'Darwin and the Popularizers.' History of Science Colloquium. University of Oklahoma. 25 March, 2009.
'Darwin and the Popularizers of Evolution.' Darwin’s Living Legacy: A Conference on Evolution and Society, international conference organized by the British Council. Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt. 14-16 November, 2009.
'How the Victorians Learned about Darwin’s Theories: Popularizing Evolution.' Schulman Lectures in Science and the Humanities. Yale University. 1 April, 2009.
'Popularizing Evolution in Children's Books.' Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science annual conference. Carleton University, Ottawa. 26-28 May, 2009.
'Print Culture and the Popularization of Evolution.' Mellon Workshop on Science and Print Culture. University of Wisconsin. 17 February, 2009.
'Scientists, the Public, and Natural Selection: From Darwin to Dawkins.' Religion and Science: Dialogues of Faith and Reason. Noor Cultural Center, Toronto. 9 May, 2009.
'Spectacle in Leicester Square: James Wyld’s Great Globe, 1851-1861.' Keynote Instruction, Amusement and Spectacle: Popular Shows and Exhibitions 1800-1914. Centre for Victorian Studies, University of Exeter. 16-18 April, 2009.
'The Culture of Evolutionary Naturalism and Its Critics.' Department of History of Science, Medicine, and Technology Colloquium. University of Wisconsin. 17 February, 2009.
'The Making of a Cultural Icon: Early Biographies of Charles Darwin.' Michigan State University. October 2009.
'The Many Lives of Charles Darwin.' Natural History Cabinet. Cambridge University Department of History and Philosophy of Science. 20 April, 2009.
'Popularizing Darwin.' Public Science/Popular Science. Science, Technology and Society Initiative, Virginia Commonwealth University. 2 October, 2008.
'The Future of Science.' The Next Generation Counterfeit Prevention System: Initial Panel on Threats and Opportunities. Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group, Federal Reserve Building, Washington, D.C. 9-10 September, 2008.
'J. G. Wood and the Agenda of Scientific Naturalism.' History of Science Colloquium Series. University of Oklahoma. January 2007.
'Mapping the Geographies of Nineteenth-Century Science.' Geographies of Nineteenth-Century Science: An International Interdisciplinary Conference. Edinburgh. 18-21 July, 2007.
'Popularizing Science: Nineteenth Century Origins, Strategies, and Syntheses.' What’s the Value of History for Science. Woods Hole. 14-20 May, 2007.
'Frank Buckland and the Resilience of Natural Theology: Curiosity of Natural History?' Science and Religion: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Lancaster. 23-26 July, 2007.
'Redefining 'Popular Science': J. H. Pepper’s Theatre of Illusion.' Arizona State University, October, 2007.
'Science and Unbelief.' Science and Religion Around the World. Green College, University of British Columbia. May 2007.
''A Conspiracy of One': Butler, Natural Theology, and Victorian Popularisation. History Department Speakers Series, SUNY Buffalo. April 2007.
'Defining a New Audience: Women as Scientific Authors' Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science annual meeting. University of Western Ontario. May 2005.
'From Practitioner to Transmitter: Huxley’s Evolution as Scientific Author.' Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. Graduate Student Conference on The Transmission of Knowledge. University of Toronto. August 2005.
'Science and Religion at War: Nineteenth Century Origins Twenty-First Century Prospects.' Philosophy Café: Can Science and Religion Agree? School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto. November 2005.
'Scientific Authorship at Century’s End.' Victorian Studies Association of Ontario. Emmanuel College, University of Toronto. October 2005.
'The Evolution of the Evolutionary Epic.' History of Science Society Minneapolis. November 2005.
'The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Cosmic Evolution.' History of Biology Seminar on Cosmic Evolution and Astrobiology. Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory. 15-21 May, 2005.
'Celestial Objects for Common Readers: T. W. Webb as Popularizer of Science.' Circulating Knowledge (Fifth British-North American Joint Meeting of the BSHS, CSHPS, and HSS). Kings College, Halifax. August 2004.
'Depicting Nature, Defining Roles: Visual Images and Female Popularizers of Victorian Science.' Figural Vocabularies of Gender in Nineteenth Century Science. York University, Toronto, May 2004.
'John Henry Pepper, the Polytechnic , and the Theatre of Victorian Popular Science.' History of Science Colloquium. University of Oklahoma. September 2004.
'Science and the Public: The Contested Meanings of Science in Victorian Britain.' Wrestling with Nature: From Omens to Science. University of Wisconsin. 26-28 April, 2004.
'Sites of Amusement and Instruction: Popular Lecturing in the Economy of Science.' Popular Science: Nineteenth-Century Sites and Experiences. York University, Toronto. August 2004.
''Knowledge' Confronts 'Nature': Richard Proctor and Popular Science Periodicals.' Science in the Nineteenth Century Periodical: An Interdisciplinary Conference. University of Leeds. 10-12 April 2003.
'Huxley and Scientific Agnosticism: The Strange History of a Failed Rhetorical Strategy.' Locating the Victorians. Imperial College of Science and the Science Museum, London. 12-15 July, 2002.
'Interpreting Agnosticism as a Nonconformist Sect: T. H. Huxley’s New Reformation.' Dissent, Nonconformity and Science in Britain, 1600-1945. Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia. 14-15 September, 2001.
'Scientists as Anti-Heroes: Materialism and Tyndall’s ‘Belfast Address'.' History of Science Society annual meeting. Denver. November 2001.
'Scientists as Materialists in the Periodical Press: Tyndall’s Belfast Address.' Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical. Dibner Institute, Boston. 19-21 April, 2001.
'Agnes Clerke and the ‘Chemical Retina’: Natural Theology, Photography, and Popular Science.' Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science annual meeting. Edmonton. May 2000.
'The Story of Nature: Victorian Popularizers and Scientific Narrative.' Society for Literature and Science annual conference. University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City. October. 1999.
'Victorian Sciences and Religions: Discordant Harmonies.' Religion and Science: Tension, Accommodation, and Engagement. Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. May. 1999.
'The Visual Rhetoric of Victorian Popularizers of Science: From Reverent Eye to Chemical Retina.' Visual Imagination in Victorian Science and Medicine. Huntington Library, Pasadena. May 1998.
'Victorian Popularizers and Scientific Narrative.' Narrative Intersections Between Science, Religion, and Art in the Twentieth Century. Sixth Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas. Haifa, Israel. August 1998.
'Agnosticism and the Spectrum of Un/Belief.' A Philosophical Examination of Atheism, Agnosticism, and Humanism. Centre for Inquiry, Amherst, New York. December 1997.
'Victorian Popularizers and Pedagogy.' History of Science Society annual meeting. Atlanta. November 1996.
'The Voices of Nature: Popularizing Victorian Science.' Contexts of Victorian Science. Toronto. May 1995.
''Fighting Even With Death': Balfour, Scientific Naturalism and Huxley’s Final Battle.' T. H. Huxley: Victorian Science and Culture, Organized by the British Society for the History of Science, the Imperial College of Science, Technology, Medicine and the Royal Society. London. April 1995.
'Constructing Victorian Heavens: Agnes Clerke and Gendered Astronomy.' History of Science Society annual meeting. New Orleans. October 1994.
'Science and the Post-Modern Crisis.' Science and Culture Since the Enlightenment. Cambridge University. July 1994.
'Science in Context: New Directions in the History of Science.' Science Teachers’ Association of Ontario annual conference. Toronto. November 1994.
'The Construction of the Heavens: God and Nature in Late-Victorian Astronomy.' Midwest Victorian Studies Association Annual Meeting. Toronto. October 1994.
'Astronomy for the People: R. A. Proctor and the Popularization of the Victorian Universe.' Pascal Centre International Conference on Science and Belief. Ancaster, Ontario. August 1992.
'Gendering the Cosmos: R. A. Proctor and the Solar Family.' Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science annual meeting. Charlottetown, P.E.I. May 1992.
'R.A. Proctor’s Other Worlds Than Ours: Religion, Ideology and Gender in Late-Victorian Astronomy.' Departmental Seminar, Department of History and Philosophy of Science. University of Cambridge. April 1992.
'The Social Nature of Scientific Texts: Humanizing Science.' Directions in the Humanities: Dialogue and Debate. York University. April 1990.
'Ideology, Evolution, and Late-Victorian Agnostic Popularizers.' History of Science Society. Raleigh. October 1987.
'Science and the New Agnostic Religion.' Patterns of Secularization in Nineteenth Century Thought. Thirty Second Annual Drew Graduate School Colloquium. April 1987.
'The Agnostics and the Alps.' The Northwest Region, Conference on British Studies. University of Idaho. October 1986.
'Robert Elsmere and the Agnostic Crises of Faith.' Victorian Faith in Crisis. University of Toronto. November 1984.
'Scientific Agnosticism and the New Natural Theology.' Conference on British Studies. Chicago. December 1984.
'The Victory of Agnosticism.' History Department Invited Lecturer Series. Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. March 1984.
'Pope Huxley and the Church Agnostic.' Canadian Historical Association. Vancouver. June 1983.
'Evolution and the Development of the Victorian Agnostic Theory of Knowledge.' History of Biology and Medicine. University of Toronto. April 1979.
'Depicting Nature, Defining Roles: Visual Images and Female Popularizers of Victorian Science.' Figural Vocabularies of Gender in Nineteenth Century Science. York University, Toronto. May 2002.
'Victorian Science and Visual Culture.' Spec. issue of Journal Early Modern Visual Culture 2012.
Victorian Science and Literature. Ed. Gowan Dawson and Bernard Lightman. Vols 1-8. Pickering and Chatto Press, 2011-2012. http://www.pickeringchatto.com/major_works/victorian_science_and_literature
'Huxley and the Devonshire Commission.' Evolutionary Naturalism. Spring 2011.
'Huxley, Tyndall, and the London Patronage System.' Follow the Money: Networks, Peers, and Patronage. Aarhus University. Summer 2011.
'Evolution for Young Readers.' Spec. issue of Science and Education on popularizing and policing evolution. 2010.
'Huxley.' The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity. Ed. Daniel Patte. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
'Introduction to 'Science'.' Broadview anthology of Victorian non-fiction prose. Ed. Lisa Surridge and Mary Elizabeth Leighton. Broadview press, 2010.
'The Creed of Science and Its Critics.' The Victorian World. Ed. Martin Hewitt. Routledge Worlds Series, 2010.
'The Royal Panopticon.' North American Victorian Studies Association, Annual Conference on 'Scale and Perspective'. Montreal. 11-13 November, 2010.
'Tyndall and Patronage.' Workshop on John Tyndall. Leeds University. June 2010.
'Genesis and Geology in Britain, 1850-1900.' Album amicorum in honor of Charles Coulston Gillispie. Ed. Henk Kubbinga. Archimedes series.
'Spectacle in Leicester Square: James Wyld’s Great Globe, 1851-1861.' Instruction, Amusement and Spectacle: Popular Shows and Exhibitions 1800-1914. Ed. John Plunkett. Pickering and Chatto.
Professor Bernard Lightman is Professor of Humanities at York University. He has published widely in the area of Cultural History of Victorian Science.
Professor Bernard Lightman is Professor of Humanities at York University, Toronto, Canada. Currently he is the Director of the Graduate Program in Science and Technology Studies, Director of a new research institute in Science and Technology Studies, and Society Editor for the History of Science Society. The latter job includes editing Isis, The Flagship Journal of the Society. Lightman has published widely in the area of 'Cultural History of Victorian Science'.
His books include The Origins of Agnosticism (Johns Hopkins UP, 1987), Victorian Popularizers of Science (U of Chicago Press, 2007), Evolutionary Naturalism in Victorian Britain (Ashgate, 2009), Victorian Science in Context (edited collection, U of Chicago Press, 1997), Science in the Marketplace (co-edited with Aileen Fyfe, U of Chicago Press, 2007), and Figuring it Out: Science, Gender and Visual Culture (co-edited with Ann Shteir, University Press of New England, 2006). He was the general editor of the Four volume Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Scientists (Thoemmes Continuum, 2004) and currently edits a monograph series titled Science and Culture in the Nineteenth-Century, published by Pickering and Chatto.
Lightman is now working on a biography of the Physicist John Tyndall, and has set up an international correspondence project, funded by the Mellon Foundation and the National Science Foundation, dedicated to obtaining, digitalizing, transcribing, and publishing Tyndall’s letters.
In his copious spare time Lightman takes guitar lessons in a vain attempt to pretend that he is a rock and roll superstar.
Degrees
PhD inHistory of Ideas, Brandeis UniversityMA in History, York University
BA Honours (First Class) in History, York University
Professional Leadership
Editorial Board, Spontaneous Generations, 2008-2011.
Advisory Board, Victorian Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Victorian Studies, 2008-2012.
Society Editor, Isis Editor, and Member of the Executive Committee, History of Science Society, 2004-2008. Renewed for second five-year term, 2009-2013.
Affiliate (Cross-appointed Full Member), Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2007. Renewed for second five-year term.
Associated Scholar of the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto, 1998-2000.
Advisory Editor for the journal Isis, 1998-2000.
Council, History of Science Society, 2003-2005.
Committee on Finance, History of Science Society, 1997-1999.
Community Contributions
Green Paper Working Group on Strategic Expansion of Research Activity, Fall 2009
Member, Joint Committee on the Administration of the Agreement, 2009-2011
Member, Executive Committee, York University Faculty Association, 2009-2011
Chief Steward, York University Faculty Association, 2009-2011
Member, York University Faculty Association Grievance Sub-Committee, 2009-2010
Member, Recruitment Committee, Division of Humanities, 2008-2009.
Director, Graduate Program in Science and Technology Studies, July 2008-June 2010.
Chair, ad hoc committee to propose a new graduate Science and Technology Studies program, Spring 2007-Spring 2008.
Research Interests
Awards
- Dean’s Award for Outstanding Research 2007-2008 - 2007-2008
- York Seminar for Advanced Research for 2001-2002, Gerstein Foundation, for “Figural Vocabularies of Gender in Science, Medicine, and Technology,” co-proposed with Ann Shteir 2001-2002 - 2001-2002
- Leave Development Fellowship, York University 1997-1998 - 1997-1998
- Aid to Occasional Scholarly Conferences Award for Conference on “Science and Religion in Modern Western Thought,” 1993-1994 - 1993-1994
- Canada Council Post-Doctoral Fellowship 1981-1983 - 1981-82, 1982-83
- Canada Council Doctoral Fellowship 1975-1977 - 1975-76, 1976-77, fall of 1977
- Brandeis University: tuition scholarship 1974-1975 - 1974-75
- University Merit Award 2008 - 2008
- University Merit Award 2004 - 2004
- University Merit Award 2002 - 2002
- Faculty of Arts Fellowship 1999 - 1999
- Templeton Science-Religion Course Program Award 1998 - 1998
- Sabbatical Leave Fellowship Fund for “Voices of Nature: Popularizers of Victorian Science,” 1998 - 1998
- Fellow of the Royal Society - 2011
- Distinguished Research Professor - 2018
All Publications
'Refashioning the Spaces of London Science: Elite Epistemes in the Nineteenth Century .' Geographies of Nineteenth-Century Science. Ed. Charles Withers and David Livingstone. University of Chicago Press, 2011.
'Science and Culture.' The Cambridge Companion to Victorian Culture. Ed. Francis O’Gorman. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010. 12-42.
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Rev. of The Earth on Show: Fossils and the Poetics of Popular Science, 1802-1856, by Ralph O’Connor. Journal of Modern History 81.3 (September 2009): 668-669.
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Rev. of Mesmerized: Powers of Mind in Victorian Britain, by Alison Winter. The Washington Times (January 1999): B7-8.
Rev. of Huxley: From Devil’s Disciple to Evolution’s High Priest, by Adrian Desmond. Canadian Journal of History XXXIII (April 1998): 149-151.
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Rev. of Truth and Interpretation: An Essay in Thinking, by Brayton Polka. History of European Ideas 17 (1993): 101-104.
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Victorian Popularizers of Science: Designing Nature for New Audiences. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2007.
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Creating the Jewish Future. Ed. Bernard Lightman and Michael Brown. Walnut Creek, California: Alta Mira Press, 1998.
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'The Many Lives of Charles Darwin: Biographies and the Definitive Evolutionist.' Victorian Studies Association of Ontario annual conference. Toronto. 24 April, 2010.
'Anglo-American Popularisers of Evolution, 1859-1900.' Popularizing and Policing ‘Darwinism’ 1859-1900. History of Science Society annual meeting, Phoenix. 20 November, 2009.
'Christian Evolutionists in the United States, 1860-1900.' 150 Years After the ‘Origin of Species’: Biological, Historical, and Philosophical Perspectives. University of Toronto. 21-24 November, 2009.
'Darwin and the Popularization of Evolution.' Wallace Russell Lecturer, Society for the History of Psychology, Division of the American Psychological Association, American Psychological Association Convention. Toronto. August 2009.
'Darwin and the Popularizers.' History of Science Colloquium. University of Oklahoma. 25 March, 2009.
'Darwin and the Popularizers of Evolution.' Darwin’s Living Legacy: A Conference on Evolution and Society, international conference organized by the British Council. Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Egypt. 14-16 November, 2009.
'How the Victorians Learned about Darwin’s Theories: Popularizing Evolution.' Schulman Lectures in Science and the Humanities. Yale University. 1 April, 2009.
'Popularizing Evolution in Children's Books.' Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science annual conference. Carleton University, Ottawa. 26-28 May, 2009.
'Print Culture and the Popularization of Evolution.' Mellon Workshop on Science and Print Culture. University of Wisconsin. 17 February, 2009.
'Scientists, the Public, and Natural Selection: From Darwin to Dawkins.' Religion and Science: Dialogues of Faith and Reason. Noor Cultural Center, Toronto. 9 May, 2009.
'Spectacle in Leicester Square: James Wyld’s Great Globe, 1851-1861.' Keynote Instruction, Amusement and Spectacle: Popular Shows and Exhibitions 1800-1914. Centre for Victorian Studies, University of Exeter. 16-18 April, 2009.
'The Culture of Evolutionary Naturalism and Its Critics.' Department of History of Science, Medicine, and Technology Colloquium. University of Wisconsin. 17 February, 2009.
'The Making of a Cultural Icon: Early Biographies of Charles Darwin.' Michigan State University. October 2009.
'The Many Lives of Charles Darwin.' Natural History Cabinet. Cambridge University Department of History and Philosophy of Science. 20 April, 2009.
'Popularizing Darwin.' Public Science/Popular Science. Science, Technology and Society Initiative, Virginia Commonwealth University. 2 October, 2008.
'The Future of Science.' The Next Generation Counterfeit Prevention System: Initial Panel on Threats and Opportunities. Central Bank Counterfeit Deterrence Group, Federal Reserve Building, Washington, D.C. 9-10 September, 2008.
'J. G. Wood and the Agenda of Scientific Naturalism.' History of Science Colloquium Series. University of Oklahoma. January 2007.
'Mapping the Geographies of Nineteenth-Century Science.' Geographies of Nineteenth-Century Science: An International Interdisciplinary Conference. Edinburgh. 18-21 July, 2007.
'Popularizing Science: Nineteenth Century Origins, Strategies, and Syntheses.' What’s the Value of History for Science. Woods Hole. 14-20 May, 2007.
'Frank Buckland and the Resilience of Natural Theology: Curiosity of Natural History?' Science and Religion: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Lancaster. 23-26 July, 2007.
'Redefining 'Popular Science': J. H. Pepper’s Theatre of Illusion.' Arizona State University, October, 2007.
'Science and Unbelief.' Science and Religion Around the World. Green College, University of British Columbia. May 2007.
''A Conspiracy of One': Butler, Natural Theology, and Victorian Popularisation. History Department Speakers Series, SUNY Buffalo. April 2007.
'Defining a New Audience: Women as Scientific Authors' Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science annual meeting. University of Western Ontario. May 2005.
'From Practitioner to Transmitter: Huxley’s Evolution as Scientific Author.' Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. Graduate Student Conference on The Transmission of Knowledge. University of Toronto. August 2005.
'Science and Religion at War: Nineteenth Century Origins Twenty-First Century Prospects.' Philosophy Café: Can Science and Religion Agree? School of Continuing Studies, University of Toronto. November 2005.
'Scientific Authorship at Century’s End.' Victorian Studies Association of Ontario. Emmanuel College, University of Toronto. October 2005.
'The Evolution of the Evolutionary Epic.' History of Science Society Minneapolis. November 2005.
'The Nineteenth-Century Origins of Cosmic Evolution.' History of Biology Seminar on Cosmic Evolution and Astrobiology. Woods Hole Marine Biology Laboratory. 15-21 May, 2005.
'Celestial Objects for Common Readers: T. W. Webb as Popularizer of Science.' Circulating Knowledge (Fifth British-North American Joint Meeting of the BSHS, CSHPS, and HSS). Kings College, Halifax. August 2004.
'Depicting Nature, Defining Roles: Visual Images and Female Popularizers of Victorian Science.' Figural Vocabularies of Gender in Nineteenth Century Science. York University, Toronto, May 2004.
'John Henry Pepper, the Polytechnic , and the Theatre of Victorian Popular Science.' History of Science Colloquium. University of Oklahoma. September 2004.
'Science and the Public: The Contested Meanings of Science in Victorian Britain.' Wrestling with Nature: From Omens to Science. University of Wisconsin. 26-28 April, 2004.
'Sites of Amusement and Instruction: Popular Lecturing in the Economy of Science.' Popular Science: Nineteenth-Century Sites and Experiences. York University, Toronto. August 2004.
''Knowledge' Confronts 'Nature': Richard Proctor and Popular Science Periodicals.' Science in the Nineteenth Century Periodical: An Interdisciplinary Conference. University of Leeds. 10-12 April 2003.
'Huxley and Scientific Agnosticism: The Strange History of a Failed Rhetorical Strategy.' Locating the Victorians. Imperial College of Science and the Science Museum, London. 12-15 July, 2002.
'Interpreting Agnosticism as a Nonconformist Sect: T. H. Huxley’s New Reformation.' Dissent, Nonconformity and Science in Britain, 1600-1945. Centre for Studies in Religion and Society, University of Victoria, Victoria, British Columbia. 14-15 September, 2001.
'Scientists as Anti-Heroes: Materialism and Tyndall’s ‘Belfast Address'.' History of Science Society annual meeting. Denver. November 2001.
'Scientists as Materialists in the Periodical Press: Tyndall’s Belfast Address.' Science in the Nineteenth-Century Periodical. Dibner Institute, Boston. 19-21 April, 2001.
'Agnes Clerke and the ‘Chemical Retina’: Natural Theology, Photography, and Popular Science.' Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science annual meeting. Edmonton. May 2000.
'The Story of Nature: Victorian Popularizers and Scientific Narrative.' Society for Literature and Science annual conference. University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City. October. 1999.
'Victorian Sciences and Religions: Discordant Harmonies.' Religion and Science: Tension, Accommodation, and Engagement. Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. May. 1999.
'The Visual Rhetoric of Victorian Popularizers of Science: From Reverent Eye to Chemical Retina.' Visual Imagination in Victorian Science and Medicine. Huntington Library, Pasadena. May 1998.
'Victorian Popularizers and Scientific Narrative.' Narrative Intersections Between Science, Religion, and Art in the Twentieth Century. Sixth Conference of the International Society for the Study of European Ideas. Haifa, Israel. August 1998.
'Agnosticism and the Spectrum of Un/Belief.' A Philosophical Examination of Atheism, Agnosticism, and Humanism. Centre for Inquiry, Amherst, New York. December 1997.
'Victorian Popularizers and Pedagogy.' History of Science Society annual meeting. Atlanta. November 1996.
'The Voices of Nature: Popularizing Victorian Science.' Contexts of Victorian Science. Toronto. May 1995.
''Fighting Even With Death': Balfour, Scientific Naturalism and Huxley’s Final Battle.' T. H. Huxley: Victorian Science and Culture, Organized by the British Society for the History of Science, the Imperial College of Science, Technology, Medicine and the Royal Society. London. April 1995.
'Constructing Victorian Heavens: Agnes Clerke and Gendered Astronomy.' History of Science Society annual meeting. New Orleans. October 1994.
'Science and the Post-Modern Crisis.' Science and Culture Since the Enlightenment. Cambridge University. July 1994.
'Science in Context: New Directions in the History of Science.' Science Teachers’ Association of Ontario annual conference. Toronto. November 1994.
'The Construction of the Heavens: God and Nature in Late-Victorian Astronomy.' Midwest Victorian Studies Association Annual Meeting. Toronto. October 1994.
'Astronomy for the People: R. A. Proctor and the Popularization of the Victorian Universe.' Pascal Centre International Conference on Science and Belief. Ancaster, Ontario. August 1992.
'Gendering the Cosmos: R. A. Proctor and the Solar Family.' Canadian Society for the History and Philosophy of Science annual meeting. Charlottetown, P.E.I. May 1992.
'R.A. Proctor’s Other Worlds Than Ours: Religion, Ideology and Gender in Late-Victorian Astronomy.' Departmental Seminar, Department of History and Philosophy of Science. University of Cambridge. April 1992.
'The Social Nature of Scientific Texts: Humanizing Science.' Directions in the Humanities: Dialogue and Debate. York University. April 1990.
'Ideology, Evolution, and Late-Victorian Agnostic Popularizers.' History of Science Society. Raleigh. October 1987.
'Science and the New Agnostic Religion.' Patterns of Secularization in Nineteenth Century Thought. Thirty Second Annual Drew Graduate School Colloquium. April 1987.
'The Agnostics and the Alps.' The Northwest Region, Conference on British Studies. University of Idaho. October 1986.
'Robert Elsmere and the Agnostic Crises of Faith.' Victorian Faith in Crisis. University of Toronto. November 1984.
'Scientific Agnosticism and the New Natural Theology.' Conference on British Studies. Chicago. December 1984.
'The Victory of Agnosticism.' History Department Invited Lecturer Series. Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. March 1984.
'Pope Huxley and the Church Agnostic.' Canadian Historical Association. Vancouver. June 1983.
'Evolution and the Development of the Victorian Agnostic Theory of Knowledge.' History of Biology and Medicine. University of Toronto. April 1979.
'Depicting Nature, Defining Roles: Visual Images and Female Popularizers of Victorian Science.' Figural Vocabularies of Gender in Nineteenth Century Science. York University, Toronto. May 2002.
'Victorian Science and Visual Culture.' Spec. issue of Journal Early Modern Visual Culture 2012.
Victorian Science and Literature. Ed. Gowan Dawson and Bernard Lightman. Vols 1-8. Pickering and Chatto Press, 2011-2012. http://www.pickeringchatto.com/major_works/victorian_science_and_literature
'Huxley and the Devonshire Commission.' Evolutionary Naturalism. Spring 2011.
'Huxley, Tyndall, and the London Patronage System.' Follow the Money: Networks, Peers, and Patronage. Aarhus University. Summer 2011.
'Evolution for Young Readers.' Spec. issue of Science and Education on popularizing and policing evolution. 2010.
'Huxley.' The Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity. Ed. Daniel Patte. Cambridge University Press, 2010.
'Introduction to 'Science'.' Broadview anthology of Victorian non-fiction prose. Ed. Lisa Surridge and Mary Elizabeth Leighton. Broadview press, 2010.
'The Creed of Science and Its Critics.' The Victorian World. Ed. Martin Hewitt. Routledge Worlds Series, 2010.
'The Royal Panopticon.' North American Victorian Studies Association, Annual Conference on 'Scale and Perspective'. Montreal. 11-13 November, 2010.
'Tyndall and Patronage.' Workshop on John Tyndall. Leeds University. June 2010.
'Genesis and Geology in Britain, 1850-1900.' Album amicorum in honor of Charles Coulston Gillispie. Ed. Henk Kubbinga. Archimedes series.
'Spectacle in Leicester Square: James Wyld’s Great Globe, 1851-1861.' Instruction, Amusement and Spectacle: Popular Shows and Exhibitions 1800-1914. Ed. John Plunkett. Pickering and Chatto.
