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Watching the Fireworks: Early Modern Observation of Natural and Artificial Spectacles

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2011

Simon Werrett
Simon Werrett*
Affiliation:
University of Washington, Seattle
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Argument

Early modern Europeans routinely compared nature to a theater or spectacle, so it makes sense to examine the practices of observing real spectacles and performances in order to better comprehend acts of witnessing nature. Using examples from the history of fireworks, this essay explores acts of observing natural and artificial spectacles between the sixteenth and late eighteenth centuries and suggests these acts of observation were mutually constitutive and entailed ongoing and diverse exchanges. The essay follows the changing ways in which audiences were imagined or expected to react to fireworks and shows how these also shaped experiences of natural phenomena. Both natural and artificial spectacles were intended to teach morals about the state and nature, yet audiences rarely seemed to take away what they were expected to learn. The essay examines how performers thus sought to discipline audience observation, before exploring, in conclusion, how spectacle provided a vocabulary for discerning and articulating new natural phenomena, and sites for the pursuit of novel experiments.

Type
Research Article
Information
Science in Context , Volume 24 , Issue 2: Lay Participation in the History of Scientific Observation , June 2011 , pp. 167 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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