We are accustomed to thinking of science and its findings as universal.
After all, one atom of carbon plus two of oxygen yields carbon dioxide
in Amazonia as well as in Alaska; a scientist in Bombay can use the same
materials and techniques to challenge the work of a scientist in New
York; and of course the laws of gravity apply worldwide. Why, then,
should the spaces where science is done matter at all? David N.
Livingstone here puts that question to the test with his fascinating
study of how science bears the marks of its place of production.
Putting Science in Its Place establishes the fundamental importance of
geography in both the generation and the consumption of scientific
knowledge, using historical examples of the many places where science
has been practiced. Livingstone first turns his attention to some of the
specific sites where science has been made-the laboratory, museum, and
botanical garden, to name some of the more conventional locales, but
also places like the coffeehouse and cathedral, ship's deck and asylum,
even the human body itself. In each case, he reveals just how the space
of inquiry has conditioned the investigations carried out there. He then
describes how, on a regional scale, provincial cultures have shaped
scientific endeavor and how, in turn, scientific practices have been
instrumental in forming local identities. Widening his inquiry,
Livingstone points gently to the fundamental instability of scientific
meaning, based on case studies of how scientific theories have been
received in different locales. Putting Science in Its Place powerfully
concludes by examining the remarkable mobility of science and the
seemingly effortless way it moves around the globe.
From the reception of Darwin in the land of the Maori to the giraffe
that walked from Marseilles to Paris, Livingstone shows that place does
matter, even in the world of science.
