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==History== ===Foundation=== [[File:British Science Association logo.png|thumb|The former British Science Association logo launched in 2009]] [[File:BA science logo.gif|frame|right|Old logo used for "The BA"]] The Association was founded in 1831<ref>{{cite book|editor=Hessenbruch, Arne|title=Reader's Guide to the History of Science|author=James, Frank A.J.L.|chapter=British Association for the Advancement of Science|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|pages=106β107|isbn=9781134262946|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fjhdAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106}}</ref> and modelled on the German [[Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Γrzte]].<ref>The German organisation was founded in 1822.</ref> It was founded during post-war reconstruction after the Peninsula war to improve the advancement of science in England.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/history|title=Our history|website=British Science Association|date=12 December 2014|access-date=2019-03-08|archive-date=23 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201023214845/https://www.britishscienceassociation.org/history|url-status=live}}</ref> The prime mover (who is regarded as the main founder) was Reverend [[William Vernon Harcourt (scientist)|William Vernon Harcourt]], following a suggestion by Sir [[David Brewster]], who was disillusioned with the elitist and conservative attitude of the [[Royal Society]]. [[Charles Babbage]], [[William Whewell]] and [[James Finlay Weir Johnston|J. F. W. Johnston]]<ref>David Knight, 'Johnston, James Finlay Weir (1796β1855)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.</ref> are also considered to be founding members. The first meeting was held in [[York]] (at the [[Yorkshire Museum]]) on Tuesday 27 September 1831 with various scientific papers being presented on the following days. It was chaired by [[Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 5th Earl Fitzwilliam|Viscount Milton]], president of the [[Yorkshire Philosophical Society]], and "upwards of 300 gentlemen" attended the meeting.<ref>''Caledonian Mercury'', 6 October 1831.</ref> The ''Preston Mercury'' recorded that those gathered consisted of "persons of distinction from various parts of the kingdom, together with several of the gentry of Yorkshire and the members of philosopher societies in this country". The newspaper published the names of over a hundred of those attending and these included, amongst others, eighteen clergymen, eleven doctors, four knights, two Viscounts and one Lord.<ref>''Preston Chronicle'', 8 October 1831.</ref> From that date onwards a meeting was held annually at a place chosen at a previous meeting. In 1832, for example, the meeting was held in Oxford, chaired by Reverend Dr [[William Buckland]]. By this stage the Association had four sections: Physics (including Mathematics and Mechanical Arts), Chemistry (including [[Mineralogy]] and Chemical Arts), Geology (including Geography) and Natural History.<ref>''Jackson's Oxford Journal'', 23 June 1832.</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/252857|title=Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last1=British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last2=Science|first2=British Association for the Advancement of|date=1831β1832|volume=1st & 2nd Meeting (1831-1832)|location=London.|access-date=12 April 2019|archive-date=12 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412154909/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/252857|url-status=live}}</ref> During this second meeting, the first objects and rules of the Association were published. Objects included systematically directing the acquisition of scientific knowledge, spreading this knowledge as well as discussion between scientists across the world, and to focus on furthering science by removing obstacles to progress.<ref name=":2" /> The rules established included what constituted a member of the Association, the fee to remain a member, and the process for future meetings. They also include dividing the members into different committees. These committees separated members into their preferred subject matter, and were to recommend investigations into areas of interest, then report on these findings, as well as progress in their science at the annual meetings.<ref name=":2"/> Additional sections were added throughout the years by either splitting off part of an original section, like making Geography and Ethnology its own section apart from Geology in 1851, or by defining a new subject area of discussion, such as Anthropology in 1869.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/49150|title=Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last1=British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last2=Science|first2=British Association for the Advancement of|date=1851|volume=21st Meeting (1851)|location=London.|access-date=12 April 2019|archive-date=12 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412154913/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/49150|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/46630|title=Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last1=British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last2=Science|first2=British Association for the Advancement of|date=1857|volume=27th Meeting (1857)|location=London.|access-date=12 April 2019|archive-date=12 April 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412153847/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/46630|url-status=live}}</ref> A very important decision in the Association's history was made in 1842 when it was resolved to create a "physical observatory". A building that became well known as the [[Kew Observatory]] was taken on for the purpose and [[Francis Ronalds]] was chosen as the inaugural Honorary Director. Kew Observatory quickly became one of the most renowned [[meteorology|meteorological]] and [[earth's magnetic field|geomagnetic]] observatories in the world.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Sir Francis Ronalds: Father of the Electric Telegraph|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|publisher=Imperial College Press|year=2016|isbn=978-1-78326-917-4|location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Ronalds|first=B.F.|date=June 2016|title=Sir Francis Ronalds and the Early Years of the Kew Observatory|journal=Weather|volume=71|issue=6|pages=131β134|doi=10.1002/wea.2739|bibcode=2016Wthr...71..131R|s2cid=123788388 }}</ref> The Association relinquished control of the Kew Observatory in 1871 to the management of the Royal Society, after a large donation to grant the observatory its independence.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/93055|title=Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last1=British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last2=Science|first2=British Association for the Advancement of|date=1872|volume=41st Meeting (1871)|location=London.|access-date=13 January 2018|archive-date=1 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701223941/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/93055|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1872, the Association purchased its first central office in London, acquiring four rooms at 22 Albemarle Street. This office was intended to be a resource for members of the Association.<ref name=":1"/> One of the most famous events linked to the Association Meeting was an exchange between [[Thomas Henry Huxley]] and Bishop [[Samuel Wilberforce]] in 1860 (see the [[1860 Oxford evolution debate]]). Although it is often described as a "debate", the exchange occurred after the presentation of a paper by Prof Draper of New York, on the intellectual development of Europe with relation to Darwin's theory (one of a number of scientific papers presented during the week) and the subsequent discussion involved a number of other participants (although Wilberforce and Huxley were the most prominent).<ref>''Oxford Chronicle'', 7 July 1860.</ref> Although a number of newspapers made passing references to the exchange,<ref>''Liverpool Mercury'', 5 July 1860.</ref> it was not until later that it was accorded greater significance in the [[evolution debate]].<ref>''Jackson's Oxford Journal'', 4 August 1894.</ref> ===Electrical standards=== One of the most important contributions of the British Association was the establishment of standards for electrical usage: the [[ohm]] as the unit of [[electrical resistance]], the [[volt]] as the unit of [[electrical potential]], and the [[ampere]] as the unit of [[electrical current]].<ref name=Hunt1994>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/301998?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents "The Ohm is where the Art is: British Telegraph Engineers and the Development of Electrical Standards" Bruce J. Hunt (1994)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151126054156/http://www.jstor.org/stable/301998?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents |date=26 November 2015 }}, ''[[Osiris (journal)|Osiris]]'' 9: 48 to 63</ref> A need for standards arose with the [[submarine communications cable|submarine telegraph]] industry. Practitioners came to use their own standards established by wire coils: "By the late 1850s, Clark, [[C. F. Varley|Varley]], [[Charles Tilston Bright|Bright]], [[Willoughby Smith|Smith]] and other leading British cable engineers were using calibrated resistance coils on a regular basis and were beginning to use calibrated condensers as well."<ref name=Hunt1994/>{{rp|52}} The undertaking was suggested to the BA by [[William Thomson, Baron Kelvin|William Thomson]], and its success was due to the use of Thomson's [[mirror galvanometer]]. [[Josiah Latimer Clark]] and [[Fleeming Jenkin]] made preparations. Thomson, with his students, found that impure [[copper]], contaminated with [[arsenic]], introduced significant extra resistance. The chemist [[Augustus Matthiessen]] contributed an appendix (A) to the final 1873 report<ref>[[Fleeming Jenkin]] (1873) [http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015067305402;view=1up;seq=5 Reports of the Committee on Electrical Standards appointed by the British Association for the Advancement of Science] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20150317024058/http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015067305402;view=1up;seq=5 |date=17 March 2015 }}, link from [[HathiTrust]].</ref> that showed temperature-dependence of alloys. :The natural relation between these units are clearly, that a unit of electromotive force between two points of a conductor separated by a unit of resistance shall produce unit current, and that this current in a unit of time convey a unit quantity of electricity. The unit system was "absolute" since it agreed with previously accepted units of work, or energy: :The unit current of electricity, in passing through a conductor of unit resistance, does a unit of work or its equivalent in a unit of time. === Committee on Mechanical Nomenclature === In 1888, at a meeting of the British Association in [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]], the Committee on Mechanical Nomenclature suggested three new units: the kine for [[velocity]], equal to 1 [[centimeter]] per [[second]]; the bole for [[momentum]], equal to 1 [[gram]] times 1 kine; and the [[Barye|barad]] for [[pressure]], equal to 1 [[dyne]] per [[square centimeter]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Western_Electrician/v5dVAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=kine |title=Western Electrician |date=1888 |publisher=Electrician Publishing Company |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=184}} The London ''Electrical Review'' called the new units "an abomination, and wholly unnecessary" and attributed their creation to a "craze" for naming new units.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Electrical_Review/fyEAAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22committee+on+mechanical+nomenclature%22&pg=PA330&printsec=frontcover |title=The Electrical Review |date=1888 |publisher=IPC Electrical-Electronic Press,. |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=330}} [[William Henry Preece]] noted in 1891 that he had only seen one instance of use of the new units.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Telegraphic_Journal_and_Electrical_R/zUJlmDMmc2AC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22kine%22+%22bole%22+%22barad%22&pg=PA506&printsec=frontcover |title=The Telegraphic Journal and Electrical Review |date=1892 |publisher=Henry Gillman |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=506}} By 1913, the units had fallen entirely out of use.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_National_Engineer/KslSDuMMt4UC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22kine%22+%22bole%22+%22barad%22&pg=PA345&printsec=frontcover |title=The National Engineer |date=1913 |publisher=National Association of Stationary Engineers |language=en}}</ref>{{Rp|page=344}} ===Other=== The Association was parodied by English novelist [[Charles Dickens]] as 'The Mudfog Society for the Advancement of Everything' in ''[[The Mudfog Papers]]'' (1837β38).<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/mudfogpapersetcn00dickrich|title=The mudfog papers, etc., now first collected|last1=Dickens|first1=Charles|last2=Bentley|first2=George|date=1880|publisher=London : R. Bentley|others=University of California Libraries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zerbe|first=Michael J.|date=2016-07-14|title=Satire of Science in Charles Dickens's Mudfog Papers: The Institutionalization of Science and the Importance of Rhetorical Diversity to Scientific Literacy|journal=Configurations|volume=24|issue=2|pages=197β227|doi=10.1353/con.2016.0016|s2cid=151876819 |issn=1080-6520}}</ref> In 1878 a committee of the Association recommended against constructing [[Charles Babbage]]'s [[analytical engine]], due to concerns about the current state of the machine's lack of complete working drawings, the machine's potential cost to produce, the machine's durability during repeated use, how and what the machine will actually be utilized for, and that more work would need to be done to bring the design up to a standard at which it is guaranteed to work.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/94499|title=Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last1=British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last2=Science|first2=British Association for the Advancement of|date=1879|volume=48th Meeting (1878)|location=London.|access-date=13 January 2018|archive-date=21 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921150522/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/94499|url-status=live}}</ref> The Association introduced the [[British Association screw threads|British Association (usually termed "BA") screw threads]], a series of screw thread standards in sizes from 0.25 mm up to 6 mm, in 1882.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/95237|title=Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last1=British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last2=Science|first2=British Association for the Advancement of|date=1883|volume=52nd Meeting (1882)|location=London.|access-date=13 January 2018|archive-date=8 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408140653/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/95237|url-status=live}}</ref> The standards were based on the [[metric system]], although they had to be re-defined in imperial terms for use by UK industry. Β The standard was modified in 1884 to restrict significant figures for the metric counterpart of diameter and pitch of the screw in the published table, as well as not designating screws by their number of threads per inch, and instead giving an approximation due to considerable actual differences in manufactured screws.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/85498|title=Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last1=British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last2=Science|first2=British Association for the Advancement of|date=1884|volume=54th Meeting (1884)|location=London.|access-date=13 January 2018|archive-date=1 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701220627/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/85498|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1889, a member of the [[Rational Dress Society]], [[Charlotte Carmichael Stopes]], stunned the proceedings of a meeting of the Association in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] by organizing an impromptu session where she introduced rational dress to a wide audience, her speech being noted in newspapers across Britain.<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephanie Green|title=The Public Lives of Charlotte and Marie Stopes|location=London|publisher=Pickering & Chatto|year=2013|isbn=9781848932388|page=64}}</ref> In 1903, microscopist and astronomer [[Washington Teasdale]] died whilst attending the annual meeting.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ras.ac.uk/obituaries/Washington/Teasdale|title=RAS Obituaries - Washington Teasdale|website=ras.ac.uk|date=8 August 1830|access-date=2019-12-22|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222182734/https://ras.ac.uk/obituaries/Washington/Teasdale|url-status=live}}</ref>
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