Inaugural Foundations Lecture Event Examines the Enlightenment Across Disciplines 

Assumption University hosted the first Foundations Lecture Series event on Wednesday before a packed Curtis Performance Hall on September 10 featuring panelists Toby Norris, professor of art history; Ben Knurr, associate professor of chemistry; Jeremy Geddert, associate professor of political science; and Rachel Ramsey, associate professor of English as moderator. 

Each lecturer first examined Joseph Wright of Derby’s 1768 painting “An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump,” through their own discipline—exploring the artist’s life and other work, the scientific principles displayed in it, and the sociopolitical period in which it was created—before jointly analyzing how those factors come together in one coherent piece of art.  

Norris began with a biographic overview of Wright, including the significance of his epithet “of Derby”, which reflected his unusual choice to live and work in Derby, England, instead of London like other notable painters of the time. Wright further differentiated himself by capturing subjects that few of his contemporaries deigned to paint—factories. 

“His paintings that represent scenes of the Industrial Revolution get a lot of attention from historians because most artists thought factories were ugly and did not want to paint them,” said Norris. “Joseph Wright of Derby did choose to paint a few of them, and they’ve become a big part of his reputation—in one sense, he’s thought of as the artist of the Industrial Revolution.”  

Knurr then spoke about the scientific experiment depicted in the painting, a dramatization of Robert Boyle’s original 1659 experiment that probed the effects of vacuum and established what would later come to be known as Boyle’s law.  

“Boyle wanted a visual container out of which he could suck the air to achieve a vacuum and carry out experiments inside to see what happens when there’s no air,” said Knurr. “In this painting, the experimenter is holding a valve that can open or close the glass ball to let air in or out as necessary. This is now a commercialized version of Boyle’s experiment—it could have traveled from town to town, bringing the bird to near death and then back to life, kind of like a magician.”  

Geddert emphasized the importance of Wright depicting ordinary citizens observing the experiment because science was not as accessible to the public in 1768 as it is today.  

“The painting isn’t just about the scientific method. It’s not just about the doing of science. It’s about how the lab can be brought to everybody, even to school children,” he said. “Note that the teacher here doesn’t have to be an expert—he can just be a traveling salesman, because any person can understand this. All you have to do is to have the right method.” 

Geddert also suggested that the painting references parallels between modern science and modern capitalism, which was being established in Britain during the Industrial Revolution, through the giving of power to ordinary people. 

Ramsey, noting the importance of light in the painting, pointed out that the full moon can be seen to the side and that Wright was a part of a group of men who would travel by moonlight to gather and speak about scientific advancements.  

“There is some speculation about whether having the moon in the painting was a nod again to science and industry and Wright’s fellow ‘strivers’, so to speak—these kinds of middle-class men who were making Britain,” she said. Drawing together themes that each of the panelists touched upon, she reflected, “In a way, this painting is trying to reconcile scientific advancement with a religious moral framework. We have the family at the center, and the father has introduced the daughters to the scientific method, but it is not incompatible with religious enlightenment as well—the two can go side by side.”    

The Foundations Lecture Series is a forum for professors across disciplines at the University to come together and show the fruits of a Catholic, liberal arts education. To learn more about the series, view photos, and watch the entire lecture, visit the Foundations Lecture Series webpage. The next Foundations Lecture Series event will be held in the spring semester.