The Proctor-Parkes Incident

Politics, Protestants and Popular Astronomy in Australia in 1880

Bibliographic Data

ID9401344
AuthorsMartin Bush (0000-0001-9018-4373, corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume28
Issue1
Pages26-36
Publication date2017-05-07
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueHistorical Records of Australian Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0727-3061 • E-ISSN: 1448-5508
PublisherCSIRO Publishing (PUBLISHER • AU)
DOI10.1071/hr17001
OpenAlexW2610196667
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited6

Henry Parkes' intervention to placate the Sabbatarian movement and prevent British astronomer Richard Proctor from delivering an astronomical lecture on Sunday 5 September 1880 created a major controversy in the Australian colonies. Controversy had been central to much of Proctor's success, and in this case drew on a long-standing connection between astronomy and religion. An examination of the Proctor-Parkes incident shows how popular science works in culture by drawing on and sustaining the analogical connections between scientific ideas and broader cultural concerns

Archaeology · Art history · Astronomer · Astronomy · History of science · Media studies · Memoir · Obituary · Physics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Australian Indigenous Culture and History · Classics · Diverse Historical and Scientific Studies · History · History of Science and Natural History · Law

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