The chemical lectures at Oxford (1822-1854) of Charles Daubeny, M. D., F. R. S

Abstract

Charles Giles Bridle Daubeny (1795-1867) (1) is not remembered today for any contributions of outstanding significance in chemistry, his most important scientific researches being in geology and plant physiology (2). He did, however, play a considerable role in the history of education in Britain through his efforts to get science teaching well established at Oxford during the nineteenth century. Daubeny was virtually solely responsible for the teaching of chemistry at Oxford University for thirty-two years (1822-1854), a period that was in many ways critical for the institution as a whole. And it was in no small measure through his constant efforts to promote the teaching of science at Oxford that the University’s Museum was eventually established, an action that was an important factor contributing to the substantial place that science now occupies in Britain’s oldest and most traditionally-minded university .