Editing Popular science (section)

== History==
Before the modern specialization and professionalization of science, there was often little distinction between "science" and "popular science", and works intended to share scientific knowledge with a general reader existed as far back as Greek and Roman antiquity.<ref>{{cite book |title=Genealogy of Popular Science: From Ancient Ecphrasis to Virtual Reality |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=u0sFEAAAQBAJ |first1=Jesús |last1=Muñoz Morcillo |first2=Caroline Y. |last2=Robertson-von Trotha | editor-first1=Jesús | editor-first2=Caroline Y. | editor-last1=Muñoz Morcillo | editor-last2=Robertson-von Trotha |publisher=Verlag |doi=10.1515/9783839448359 |year=2020| isbn=9783839448359 }}</ref> Without these popular works, much of the scientific knowledge of the era might have been lost. For example, none of the original works of the Greek astronomer [[Eudoxus of Cnidus|Eudoxus]] (4th century BC) have survived, but his contributions were largely preserved due to the didactic poem ''[[Aratus#Phenomena|Phenomena]]'' written a century later and commented on by [[Hipparchus]]. Explaining science in poetic form was not uncommon, and as recently as 1791, [[Erasmus Darwin]] wrote ''[[The Botanic Garden]]'', two long poems intended to interest and educate readers in botany. Many Greek and Roman scientific handbooks were written for the lay audience,<ref>{{cite book | first=William Harris | last=Stahl |title=Roman science: origins, development, and influence to the later Middle Ages | url=https://archive.org/details/romanscienceorig0000stah/page/15/mode/1up?q=laymen |location=Madison |publisher=University of Wisconsin Press |year=1962}}</ref> and this "handbook" tradition continued right through to the invention of the printing press, with much later examples including [[books of secrets]] such as [[Giambattista Della Porta]]'s ''[[Magia Naturalis]]'' (1558) and [[Isabella Cortese]]'s ''[[Isabella Cortese#The Secrets of Lady Isabella Cortese|Secreti]]'' (1561).

The 17th century saw the beginnings of the modern scientific revolution and the consequent need for explicit popular science writing. Although works such as [[Galileo Galilei|Galileo]]'s ''[[The Assayer]]'' (1632) and [[Robert Hooke]]'s ''[[Micrographia]]'' (1665) were read by both scientists and the public,<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.22459/CS.2020|url=https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/35412 |title=Communicating Science: A Global Perspective |chapter=20 Italy: The long and winding path of science communication |first1 = Giuseppe |last1=Pellegrini |first2=Andrea |last2=Rubin |editor-first1=Toss |editor-first2=Bernard |editor-first3=Joan |editor-first4=Michelle |editor-first5=Bruce V. |editor-first6=Luisa |editor-first7=Peter |editor-last1=Gascoigne |editor-last2=Schiele |editor-last3=Leach |editor-last4=Riedlinger |editor-last5=Lewenstein |editor-last6=Massarani |editor-last7=Broks |publisher= Australian National University Press |year=2020 |pages=469|isbn=9781760463656 |s2cid=230769184 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1515/9781400865727-004 |title=Life's Engines |chapter=2 Meet the Microbes. Life's Engines: How Microbes Made Earth Habitable |first = Paul G. |last=Falkowski |publisher= Princeton University Press |year=2015 |pages=25–27}}</ref> [[Isaac Newton|Newton's]] ''[[Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica|Principia]]'' (1687) was incomprehensible for most readers, so popularizations of Newton's ideas soon followed.<ref>{{cite journal |title=The growth of science popularization: a historical sketch |first=Jack |last=Meadows |journal=Impact |volume=144 |pages=341–346 |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000071157 |date=1986}}</ref> Popular science writing surged in countries such as France, where books such as [[Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle|Fontenelle]]'s ''[[Conversations on the Plurality of Worlds]]'' (1686) were best-sellers.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/18th-century-writers-created-genre-popular-science-enlightenment-180971481/ |title = How 18th-Century Writers Created the Genre of Popular Science |first= Lorraine |last=Boissoneault |magazine=Smithsonian Magazine |date = 13 February 2019}}</ref>

By 1830, astronomer [[John Herschel]] had recognized the need for the specific genre of popular science. In a letter to philosopher [[William Whewell]], he wrote that the general public needed "digests of what is actually known in each particular branch of science... to give a connected view of what has been done, and what remains to be accomplished."<ref name=":27">{{Cite journal|last=Holmes|first=Richard|date=22 October 2014|title=In retrospect: On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences|journal=Nature|volume=514|issue=7523|pages=432–433|doi=10.1038/514432a|bibcode=2014Natur.514..432H |s2cid=4453696 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Indeed, as the British population became not just increasingly literate but also well-educated, there was growing demand for science titles.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Yeo |first=Richard R. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/26673878 |title=Defining science : William Whewell, natural knowledge, and public debate in early Victorian Britain |date=1993 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-43182-4 |location=Cambridge |pages=43–44 |oclc=26673878}}</ref> [[Mary Somerville]] became an early and highly successful science writer of the nineteenth century. Her ''[[On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences]]'' (1834), intended for the mass audience, sold quite well.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Baraniuk|first=Chris|date=28 June 2017|title=Mary Somerville: Queen of 19th-century science|url=https://doi.org/10.1016/S0262-4079(17)31271-X|journal=New Scientist|volume=235|issue=3132|pages=40–1|doi=10.1016/S0262-4079(17)31271-X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Strickland|first=Elisabetta|date=September 2017|title=Mary Fairfax Somerville, Queen of Science|journal=Notices of the American Mathematical Society|volume=64|issue=8|pages=929–31|doi=10.1090/noti1569|doi-access=free}}</ref> Arguably one of the first books in modern popular science, it contained few diagrams and very little mathematics. Ten editions of the book were published, and it was translated into multiple languages. It was the most popular science title from the publisher [[John Murray (publishing house)|John Murray]] until ''[[On the Origin of Species]]'' (1859) by [[Charles Darwin]].<ref name=":27"/>