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Thursday, March 11, 12:30-1:30 pm, via Zoom  The idea of progress – that civilization moves through time in a desirable direction — was a signature contribution of the eighteenth-century Enlightenment. In the view of most global historians, it also spelled the end of early-modern efforts to learn from the rest of the world, as Europeans claimed a monopoly on natural science for themselves alone. In this talk, I argue instead that debates about progress did not expel non-Western knowledge from the Enlightenment, but actively brought it in, reforming progress theory as it took new shape. T...

Espionage at the Edge of Empire Espionage at the Edge of Empire By BENJAMIN BREEN by Gregory Afinogenov    In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, it was commonplace to imagine a scientist as a lone toiler in a space of solitary reflection: Darwin on his walks on the grounds of Down House, say, or Caroline Herschel at her late night vigils beside her telescope. This changed, decisively, with the advent of “Big Science” in the early twentieth century. Historians began to re-envision science as an inherently collective endeavor, the work of teams, corporations, or states. “...