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Professor David M. Knight, MA, D.Phil

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Biography

Professor David M Knight is past editor of Cambridge University Press's scientific biography series and currently the General Editor of the Ashgate Series on the History of Science & Technology. He is also on the editorial boards of Annals of Science, Ambix and Archives of Natural History and he has served on a wide variety of scholarly committees, including a term as the president of the British Society for the History of Science. In 1998 he received a Templeton Foundation award for teaching a module on ‘Science & Religion in the 19th century’ and in 2003 he was given the American Chemical Society’s prestigious Edelstein Award for History of Chemistry. In recent decades he has published numerous edited volumes and journal articles. Most recently he has written widely acclaimed pieces for Nature and the New Scientist. Some of his single authored books include Atoms and Elements (1967), The Nature of Science (1976), Ordering the World (1981), The Age of Science (1986), Natural Science Books in English, 1600-1900 (1989), Humphry Davy: Science and Power (1992), Science in the Romantic Era (1998), Science and Spirituality (2003) and Public Understanding of Science (2006). At present he is writing a book about representations of scientific thought. In addition to his publications, he regularly appears on BBC radio and television programmes.

Research supervision

Prof Knight will be happy to be a co-supervisor on something to do with science from the C18 or C19.

Undergraduate modules

History of Science
Science & Religion
Dissertations

Indicators of Esteem

• 2006: External Examiner: Acting as External Examiner for the Open University 2006/07
• 2006: Invitation from the BA: Invitation to assist the BAAS programme Committee by refereeing proposals for events and sessions as proposed by the Chair of the BA Programme Planning Committee.
• 2006: Peer Review European Science Foundation: Invitation to join the pool of peer reviewers for the European Science Foundation for 2006-07
• 2005: International Conference: Invited to give a plenary address at the international conference on history of chemistry in Lisbon
• 2005: Invited Lecture: Invited to lecture in Lisbon at the celebrations to mark the 'Einstein Year'
• 2004: Bicentenary Conference: Invited to speak on Joseph Priestly at a bicentenary conference in Leeds.
• 2004: Translations of work into other languages: Trabalhando a luz de duas culturas', in AM Alfonso-Goldfarb & MHR Beltran ed., Esdrevendo a historia da ciencia: tendencies, propositas e discusoes historigraficas, sao paulo: EDUC 2004.
• 2003: Address a conference: Invited to Pisa to address a conference on History of Mathematics celebrating major acquisitions to the Library; and Aarhus, celebrating its 75th anniversary, where I gave the lecture
• 2003: Edelstein Award: Edelstein Award in History of Chemistry, American Chemical Society.
• 2003: Edelstein Award Address: Delivered teh Edelstein Award Address at the American Chemical Society in New York
• 2003: Invitation by Imperial College: Invited by Imperial College to join a small team reporting on the Humanities Department, interviewing students & staff
• 2002: Invited Paper at a Conference: I was invited to give a paper at a conference in Harvard on H C Oersted; and another in Norway celebrating 100 years of chemistry teaching there.
• 2002: Invited paper on Priestley: Invited paper in Paris conference at the Sorbonne on C18 England - about Priestley.
• Editorial Board: 'Annals of Science', 'Foundations of Chemistry' and 'The Seventeenth Century'and 'Ambix'
• Elected as corresponding member for the Academie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences:
• Outreach & Education Committee: British Society for the History of Science, Outreach and Education Committee
• Series Editor: Series editor with Trevor Levere of the peer-reviewed Ashgate series 'Science, Techology & Culture, 1700-1945' and with Sally Gregory Kohlstedt of the 'Cambridge Science Biographies'
• Service on Royal Society of Chemistry Committee: Royal Society of Chemistry, Committee on the Promotion of Chemistry to the Public.
• Society for the History of Alchemy & Chemistry Council:
• University Professor: Involved in a promotion to full university professor at the University of Toronto

Research Groups

• History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine

Research Interests

• History and bibliography of science between about 1600 and 1900
• History of popular science
• Nineteenth-century chemistry, including biography of Humphry Davy.
• Science & spirituality in the 19th century

Publications

• Knight DM 1999. Seeing and believing in chemistry. Video ergo sum: Reprasentation nach innen und aussen zwischen Kunst- und Naturwissenschaften. Hamburg: Hans-Bredow Institut 181-93
• Knight DM 1999. The case of 'Annals of Science'. Journals and the history of science. Florence: Olschki 153-66
• Knight DM 1998. Science in the Romantic Era. Aldershot: Ashgate Variorum xii+352
• Knight DM 1998. The making of the chemist: the social history of chemistry 1789-1914. Cambridge: Cambridge Unversity Press xvi + 353

Books: authored

• Knight DM 2004. Science and Spirituality: the Volatile Connection *. London New York: Routledge. (Additional information) (View publication online)

Books: edited

• Knight DM & Eddy MD 2005. Science and Beliefs; from Natural Philosophy to Natural Science. *. Science and Beliefs’ 3-13. Aldershot: Ashgate, Aldershot. (Additional information)

Books: sections

• Knight, D.M. 2002. ‘Scientists and their Publics: Popularization of Science in the Nineteenth Century’. In The Cambridge History of Science. Vol. 5, The Modern Physical and Mathematical Sciences. Nye, M.J. Cambridge New York: Cambridge University Press. 5: 72-90. (Additional information) (View publication online)
• Knight DM 2002. Then and Now. In Morris P London: Royal Society of Chemistry.

Journal papers: academic

• Knight DM 2004. ‘The 2003 Edelstein Award Address: Making Chemistry Popular’. *. American Chemical Society, Bulletin for the History of Chemistry 29(1): 1-8. (Additional information)

Journal papers: online

• Knight, DM 2003. Exalting Understanding Without Depressing Imagination: Depicting Chemical Process. Hyle 9(2): 171-189. (Additional information) (View publication online)

Media Contacts

Available for media contact about:

• Religion: science and religion
• Science: Education, industry & the community: History & Philosophy of Science
• Science: Education, industry & the community: History of Science since 1600
• Science: Education, industry & the community: 19th century science
• Science: Education, industry & the community: scientific illustration
• Science: Education, industry & the community: scientific language & its development
• Science: Education, industry & the community: history of scientific institutions