Apr 10, 2013 - Enlightened Amateurs and Professional Academics: Astronomy in Eighteenth-Century Scotland - Prof. Paul Wood

Apr 10, 2013 - Enlightened Amateurs and Professional Academics: Astronomy in Eighteenth-Century Scotland - Prof. Paul Wood, FRHist, Department of History, University of Victoria

After reading the April 1981 RASC National Newsletter article  by Ian Stuart discussing the failure of Scotland to develop a strong astronomical tradition in the 18th century, Professor Wood decided to spend his time with us refuting (at least to a degree) Mr Stuart's assertions. Prof. Wood's main protagonist for his case was Thomas Reid (1710-1796), who was a Moral Philosopher and Man of Science, and who studied and taught in Aberdeen and Glasgow, Scotland.

Speaker Notes (82kb pdf)

Bio:

I took my first degree in Philosophy at the University of Western Ontario and was the Department's Gold Medalist in 1975. I then went to study at University College London, where I completed an M.Phil. in History and Philosophy of Science in 1978. I did my PhD at the University of Leeds, and was awarded my degree in 1984 for a doctoral thesis on the Scottish thinker Thomas Reid. I then taught in the History Department at Queen's University, where I was a Canada Research Fellow. I moved to the History Department here at the University of Victoria in 1991. Over the years I have published widely on the intellectual history of early modern Europe, with a special interest in the Scottish Enlightenment. I was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in 1996.