PhD project by Torsten Bendl
After the Langenheim brothers invented the photographic glass plate slide in 1850, they heralded the beginning of a new form of knowledge dissemination. It was now possible to show photographs to a larger audience all at once, as they could be projected onto a large screen. With the advent of photographic slides, the magic lantern also took on a new significance. Whilst it had primarily been a means of entertainment since its invention in the 17th century, it was now used chiefly as a teaching aid.
These changes led to the development of a new industry dedicated to the popularisation of science, that is, the dissemination of scientific knowledge to a non-specialist audience. From the 1870s onwards, companies in the photographic industry – such as the Berlin-based camera manufacturer Romain Talbot, projection technology firms (above all Liesegang), and publishers such as Benzinger and Seemann – recognised the potential of slides as teaching aids and produced and distributed their own series. In Liesegang’s case, the company even went so far as to produce its own series of photographs, the so-called ‘Dodeka series’, and provided accompanying lecture texts so that the slides could be presented as a self-contained programme without the lecturers needing prior knowledge.
The project examines the journey a photograph took from being taken to being used as a slide in a popular science lecture. This is traced using the case study of astronomy. Astronomy is particularly suitable as it is a science in which visual impressions play a particularly strong role. Planets, interstellar nebulae and galaxies can only be seen in their full splendour through a telescope. This means that one is dependent on having access to such an instrument. Furthermore, visual astronomy is only possible at night when the sky is clear. Through photography, astronomical objects became accessible regardless of time and weather and could turn day into night when projected in the lecture theatre. The emergence of dozens of public observatories in German-speaking countries from the late 1880s also demonstrates the level of interest amongst the general public.
On the other hand, astrophotography was a technique that could only be practised by a very small number of people until well after the Second World War. The equipment was expensive, the process was time-consuming and required a great deal of precision. For this reason, it is particularly easy to trace who the photographers were, making it possible to follow the entire process from the photograph to its use. Overall, the project addresses the following questions: How does photography lead to a new infrastructure in the popularisation of science and astronomy? Which new actors emerged in the process? What effect did photography have on the dissemination of knowledge? What path did astrophotography take from the astronomer to the lecture theatre?
Sources for the project will include the collection of Max Wolf at the University of Heidelberg, the archives of the companies involved (particularly Liesegang, held in the Düsseldorf Film Museum’s repository) and the collections of various public observatories and adult education centres in German-speaking countries. Karl Stöckl’s estate at the University of Regensburg and his collection of glass plate slides, which are currently being digitised by the MMZ, also play an important role.
