Science on Stage. Professor Pepper and the Shows of London, 1830–1900

Science has long been performed in public, but since the 1830s, several institutions in central London stood out. In particular, the Adelaide Gallery on the Strand and the Polytechnic Institution in Regent Street, but also the nearby Collosseum and the Royal Institution or even the Great Globe in Leicester Square. As "National Gallery of Practical Science, Blending Instruction and Amusement "(Adelaide Gallery) or as "Gallery of Sciences "for "the education of the eye "(Royal Polytechnic) they served to present scientific and technological advances in the city centre. Demonstrations, hands-on experiences and theatrical shows provided the basis for a Victorian public culture of science. And Professor Pepper became the best-known science presenter with his spell-binding projection techniques that created ghost illusions or a speaking decapitated head and invisible rays causing combustion.