Science between the fairground and the academy: The case of Dutch science popularizer L. K. Maju (1823-1886)

摘要

Maju's wide-ranging activities fall under what James Secord designates as commercial science: the business opportunities engaged in science through "authorship, editing, reviewing, specimen dealing, industrial consulting, instrument making, museum curating, lecturing, and showmanship" (Secord, 2000:437). Yet, he does not conform to the more prevailing historic figure of the science popularizer insofar as he was no scientist, author, social educator, academic, activist, or amateur. Rather, Maju was an entrepreneur whose core activity was in the entertainment industry with a strong focus on importing and exporting performances and technologies. His conjuring background provided a showmanship outlook on his engagement with scientific and technological communication practices; he was in a perfect position to build upon the magical discourse on the wonders of technology, or to use Iwan Rhys Morus' (2007) phrasing, he "had the means of making the rational magical" (p. 362).