Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please

If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit Subscriptions.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Interview

Kathryn Harkup

Tim Madigan meets the author of Making the Monster: The Science Behind Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.

Kathryn Harkup is a chemist and author. After completing her doctorate on her favourite chemicals, phosphines, she went on to further research before realising that talking, writing and demonstrating science was more appealing than hours of slaving over a hot fume-hood. In her new book, she takes a look at the science of meddling in God’s domain.

You begin your book with a quote from Frankenstein, Chapter III: “But these philosophers, whose hands seem only made to dabble in dirt, and their eyes to pore over the microscope or crucible, have indeed performed miracles.” Who were the ‘philosophers’ Victor Frankenstein had in mind here?

Mary Shelley is referring to people such as Humphry Davy, Benjamin Franklin, Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier, all of whom had made enormous contributions to the advancement of science, particularly chemistry and electricity.

…