ABSTRACT
The rise of laboratories as the vital site of scientific research compelled the development of more and new bench instrumentation. Growing professionalisation led to growing institutionalisation, with the establishment of numerous disciplinary societies, many of which founded their own collections, cabinets and museums. Industrialisation necessitated the scrutiny of processes and outputs. One significant consequence of the bifurcation was the space that it opened up for women. In the instrument trade itself, the role of women in the era appears to have been diverse, though mostly hidden. Public recognition and access to platforms of authorship and publicity had remained tightly controlled by the patriarchy. In London at the same moment, men of science such as Michael Faraday and John Tyndall combined cutting-edge research with spectacular showmanship, often in direct competition with the more sensational scientific entertainments of the city’s many exhibition halls and theatres.
