An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump (1768)
Joseph Wright of Derby
An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump – detail
(view zoomed image at the National Gallery of London)
Wouldn’t it be excellent if science was still conducted in darkened, intimate chambers lit by candles, as in these wonderful paintings – part of a series of posts on chiaroscuro at { feuilleton }?
Sure, you could get the same dramatic effect by holding lab meeting huddled over a UV transilluminator – but oh, the inconvenient mutagenesis.
2 Responses to Science in the dark