ABSTRACT
Among the small number of early twentieth-century scientists who gained a reputation for being able to write for a nonspecialist readership, J. Arthur Thomson was one of the most prolific. As professor of Natural History at Aberdeen he occupied a well-established academic position which allowed him to be seen as a spokesman for the scientific community. Despite a heavy teaching load he became active in lecturing outside the university and began publishing textbooks at an early stage in his career. Thomson’s career may help us to understand the complex relationship between sciences as it is done in the laboratory and as it is perceived by the outside world. It drives another nail in the coffin of what has been called the ‘dominant view’ of popularisation, the assumption that popularisation is a derivative process in which technical knowledge generated by research scientists is simplified for presentation to a passive audience among the general public.
