%0 Thesis %A Parkison, Shawn Robert %D 2020 %T The Society of Mad Scientists: Scientists and Social Networking in the Victorian Novel %U https://hammer.purdue.edu/articles/thesis/The_Society_of_Mad_Scientists_Scientists_and_Social_Networking_in_the_Victorian_Novel/12567377 %R 10.25394/PGS.12567377.v1 %2 https://hammer.purdue.edu/ndownloader/files/23441762 %K literature %K Victorian %K nineteenth century %K mad scientist %K scientists %K science %K Jekyll %K Moreau %K Van Helsing %K Sherlock %K Kuhn %K Badiou %K Literature %K British and Irish Literature %X
This dissertation explores the figure of the mad scientist in Victorian literature through some of the most enduring literary examples, viewing these works not as anti-science cautionary tales but rather thought experiments for dealing with hazardous scientists and hazardous science. It makes a claim for a spectrum of hazardous scientists from the beneficial to the truly mad and argues that the primary difference between them is a matter of socialization. It argues that these novels advocate for the scientist and society to negotiate and co-construct a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship.
%I Purdue University Graduate School