Italy moves to ban lab-grown meat to protect food heritage

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IMAGE SOURCE,NICHOLAS YEO/AFP

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By Paul Kirby

BBC News

Italy's right-wing government has backed a bill that would ban laboratory-produced meat and other synthetic foods, highlighting Italian food heritage and health protection.

If the proposals go through, breaking the ban would attract fines of up to €60,000 (£53,000).

Francesco Lollobrigida, who runs the rebranded ministry for agriculture and food sovereignty, spoke of the importance of Italy's food tradition.

The farmers' lobby praised the move.

But it was a blow for some animal welfare groups, which have highlighted lab-made meat as a solution to issues including protecting the environment from carbon emissions and food safety.

Coldiretti and other agriculture lobbies have collected half a million signatures in recent months calling for protection of "natural food vs synthetic food", and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is among those who have signed.

"We could only celebrate with our farmers a measure that puts our farmers in the vanguard, not just on the issue of defending excellence... but also in defending consumers," she told a "flash mob" organised by Coldiretti outside her office in Rome.

The proposed bill came hard on the heels of a series of government decrees banning the use of flour derived from insects such as crickets and locusts in pizza or pasta.

Ministers have cited Italy's prized Mediterranean diet as their motivation for both measures.

Mr Lollobrigida, who comes from the same far-right Brothers of Italy party as the prime minister said: "Laboratory products do not guarantee quality, well-being and the protection of the Italian food and wine culture and tradition, to which part of our tradition is linked."

The proposals, approved by ministers on Tuesday, seek to ban synthetic foods produced from animal cells without killing the animal, and would apply to lab-produced fish and synthetic milk too.

Last November, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared cell-cultured chicken for human consumption after "careful evaluation". In 2020 Singapore gave regulatory approval for lab-grown chicken meat to be used in nuggets.

So far no approval has been sought from the European Food Safety Authority, but within the European Commission it has been suggested that cell-based agriculture such as cultured meat "could be considered as a promising and innovative solution... for healthy and environmentally friendly food systems".

Commentators have pointed out that Italy would not be able to oppose the sale of synthetic meat produced within the European Union when it does gain approval, because of the free movement of goods and services.

International Organization for Animal Protection (Oipa) stressed that lab-produced meat, while it came from animal cells, was an "ethical alternative" that did not harm animal welfare, environmental sustainability or food safety.

But Paolo Zanetti, the head of dairy industry group Assolatte, praised the government's decision.

He told Il Sole 24 Ore financial newspaper that milk producers were facing a paradox. On the one hand his colleagues were being asked to invest in making their product more environmentally friendly, while on the other "investors with no scruples" were promoting a product that was anything but natural "under the pretext of protecting the environment".

Is the EU a 'key partner' in starving, displacing and killing Palestinians?

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell [Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency]


Motasem A Dalloul
abujomaaGaza
March 17, 2023 

Early this week, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen phoned EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell asking him not to interfere in Israel's domestic affairs. This came following a one-hour debate held by the EU Parliament on the planned controversial judicial overhaul in Israel and its effect on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israel's Jerusalem Post reported Borrel saying: "We are a close observer because Israel is a key partner, and our shared values are based on a democratic and open society and the rule of law." However, he explained that the EU has discussed the situation of democracy in Israel because it is an observer and Israel is a "key partner", Cohen insisted that the EU was wrong.

An article Borrell published last week also angered Cohen. In it, Borrell criticised escalating Israeli settler violence and Israeli military operations that often lead to casualties among Palestinians. He also noted that settlement is increasing, as are attempts to change the status quo at holy sites in Jerusalem.

"Violence on the part of Israeli settlers in the West Bank is increasingly threatening Palestinian lives and livelihoods – almost always with impunity," he pointed out. "Moreover, Israeli military operations frequently cause civilian Palestinian deaths, often without effective accountability; illegal settlements are expanding on occupied land; and the delicate status quo concerning Holy Sites is eroding."

Cohen's reprimand bore fruit as Borrell returned to towing the line. He calmed his tone and begged forgiveness from Israel. He said that the EU's discussion of the status of democracy in Israel was not a means of meddling in Tel Aviv's internal affairs, but was an attempt to "understand what happens there with respect to our perception of values and interests in the region."

Borrell also stated that discussing the situation of democracy in Israel did not necessarily mean that there were mistakes that should be corrected, but it could be a kind of "appreciation" for a friend's way of life. "This cannot be seen as an interference, but a way of showing our interest and our appreciation for Israeli democracy," Borrell said.

This was very clear during the discussion when Swedish MEP David Lega of the European People's Party said: "True friends are honest with each other and can also discuss uncomfortable issues." During the discussion, a number of MEPs called for economic sanctions against Israel, and others called on the EU to cut ties with the occupation state altogether, but Borrell later reiterated that no such measures were under consideration.

Borrell and other MEPs did, however, recognised that Israel carries out "systematic" violations against Palestinians and that the Israeli military operations against them "are not proportionate". Defending the occupation's actions, they called them acts of "self-defence".

The EU representative went further, reminding Cohen that the bloc will never harm Israel. "This is not at all to have an anti-Israeli position – not at all," the Times of Israel quoted him saying.

But Borrell continually contradicts himself. He clearly said: "Settlements are illegal under international law and their expansion must stop, as well as demolitions and evictions of Palestinians from their homes. The Israeli government must seriously counter the violence of settler extremists and hold perpetrators accountable."

He also said that the operations of the Israeli occupation army, which are disproportionate, must stop because they are not in line with international law. While reiterating that the EU will not adopt any anti-Israeli position. This proves that the EU is really a "key partner" with Israel.

Why does Borrell not also recognise the Palestinians' right to self-defence in the face of Israeli aggression? Because the EU is a "key partner" with Israel.

Being a "key partner" with Israel means you are a partner in all of its crimes against Palestinians. What if your member states send arms to Israel to use against Palestinians and to commit crimes against them? This is very clear proof that you are a "key partner" with Israel.

"When taken together European countries are one of Israel's main suppliers of military systems and equipment, behind only the US," Research and Action for Peace and Disarmament said in 2014. "In the last ten years EU countries have licensed around €2 billion [$2.1 billion] of military contracts to Israel, including over €600 million [$632.5 million] in 2012 alone. This has included ammunition, weapon firing equipment and components for military aircrafts and vehicles. According to EU Reports, European countries have not sent arms or military systems to Palestine since 2002."

In 2021, Euro News reported that France, Germany, Spain and Italy "are the main [not the only] exporters" of arms in the EU, noting that they export weapons to countries including Israel. Francesco Vignarca, a member of the Peace and Disarmament Network, told Euro News that "Italy isn't only providing the Israeli Air Force with planes that could be used to train pilots that carry out attacks, but they could also be providing planes actually used for the attacks themselves." Meanwhile, Germany issued licences for arms sales to Israel worth €1.6 billion ($1.93 billion) from 2013-2017, according to CAAT.

Israel uses these arms to kill, wound, detain and displace Palestinians, as well as to steal their land and demolish their homes, mosques, hospitals and schools.

While the EU may condemn Israel and its violations, it continues to be a "key partner" in the very same crimes it is denouncing.

RIP
Keith Reid, ‘Whiter Shade of Pale’ lyricist, dies at 76

He was a member of the British band Procol Harum when he wrote the song, which sold more than 10 million copies

March 29, 2023 


From left, in 1972, Chris Copping, Mick Grabham, Alan Cartwright, Keith Reid, Gary Brooker and B.J. Wilson of Procol Harum. (Brian Cooke/Getty Images)

Keith Reid, who wrote the lyrics for “A Whiter Shade of Pale” and about 100 subsequent songs by the British band Procol Harum, died March 23 at a hospital in London. He was 76.

The cause was colon cancer that had metastasized to his liver, according to his wife, Pinkey Reid.

“A Whiter Shade of Pale,” Procol Harum’s first song and its greatest popular success by far, was issued in May 1967, at the beginning of what would later be remembered as the “Summer of Love.” It went immediately to the top of the charts in much of the world and remains one of the songs most closely associated with the hippie movement.

For his part, Mr. Reid disclaimed any psychedelic influence and said that his abstract, melancholy words came from “books, not drugs.”

“I had the phrase ‘a whiter shade of pale’,” he said in a 2008 interview with the website procolharum.com. “That was a start, and I knew it was a song.”

“It’s like a jigsaw where you’ve got one piece, then you make up all the others to fit it,” he continued. “I was trying to conjure a mood as much as tell a straightforward, girl-leaves-boy story. With the ceiling flying away and room humming harder, I wanted to paint an image of a scene. I wasn’t trying to be mysterious with those images, I was trying to be evocative.”

The music was derived by pianist and vocalist Gary Brooker from J.S. Bach and played on what sounded like a pipe organ. It was a flash hit: As Mr. Reid remembered, the group went from rehearsing in a local church hall to the British TV music show “Top of the Pops.”

“We were constantly trying to catch up with the pace,” he said. “I don’t think we ever did. The royalties we got then would be considered laughable now. But we were just so happy to make a record. We were just a bunch of kids, really.”

“A Whiter Shade of Pale” sold more than 10 million copies in its first five years — it was reissued and became a hit again in 1972 — and was later rerecorded in arrangements for string quartet and full orchestra, for mariachi band and sitar ensemble. Artists as disparate as Mantovani, Percy Sledge, Annie Lennox and Sarah Brightman recorded the song, and tens of thousands have sung it to karaoke accompaniment.

Procol Harum was not a “one-hit wonder” band. “Homburg” was popular in Europe in 1968 and another early song, “Conquistador,” rerecorded by the group with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra in Canada, was a middling hit in the summer of 1972.

The group’s albums were much admired for their mixture of classical and blues elements, along with screaming dissonances from Robin Trower’s guitar, a searing backdrop from Matthew Fisher’s organ and the terse precision of B.J. Wilson’s drumming.

The self-titled first album was followed by “Shine on Brightly” (1968), “A Salty Dog” (1969), “Home” (1970) and “Broken Barricades” (1971), among others. The group broke up originally in 1977 but re-formed on several occasions.

Although the name Procol Harum was said to be Latin for “beyond these things” — perhaps befitting the elevated, otherworldly qualities of the band’s songs — it was actually the name of a friend’s cat.

“We actually misspelled the name; we should have spelled it ‘Prucul Harum,’” he told the Toronto Star in 1991. “By the time we found out we’d spelled it wrong, they’d already pressed the records and ‘Procol’ was in the charts, so we had to stick with it.”

Keith Stuart Brian Reid was born in Welwyn Garden City, north of London, on Oct. 19, 1946. He was raised in an observant Jewish household.

His father was a lawyer in Vienna until he was arrested during the antisemitic attacks on Kristallnacht in November 1938. He was taken to the Dachau concentration camp for months until he was eventually permitted to emigrate to England with his younger brother; his parents disappeared in the Holocaust.

“The tone of my work is very dark,” Keith Reid said in a 2003 interview with Scott R. Benarde, the author of a study of Judaism and rock. “I think it’s probably from my background in some subconscious way.”

A mutual friend introduced Mr. Reid to Brooker at a concert the singer was playing in 1966 with another band, the Paramounts. Mr. Reid gave Brooker the words, and a celebrated team was born when the two men decided to build a band around their songs. (As time went on, Mr. Reid also wrote music for Procol Harum songs by Trower and Fisher.)

The lyrics always came first, with Mr. Reid’s words setting the mood for Brooker’s imagination. “I have not found it possible to write words to suit a piece of Gary’s music,” Mr. Reid told Melody Maker magazine in 1973. Indeed, like their legendary predecessors Gilbert and Sullivan, the men were never close friends.

“I don’ know Keith from Adam,” Brooker told the Washington Times in 2003. “He’s a very deep person and a very private person. Although we work together, and we sometimes communicate in a very intimate way. Sometimes baring our souls. But at the end of the day, I don’t know who he is.”

When the group broke up for the first time, Mr. Reid was at sea. “I hadn’t written with anybody else, and so everything I did was Procol Harum music,” he later said. Yet in the 1980s, he teamed up with fellow songwriters Andy Qunta, Maggie Ryder and Chris Thompson to create a song called “You’re the Voice” that was recorded by the Australian singer John Farnham. It was a hit in most of the world but barely charted in the United States.

Survivors include his wife, the former Pinkie Sidhu, his companion of 38 years whom he married in 2004.

In 1986, Mr. Reid moved to New York and began writing with many other musicians. In 2008, he started the Keith Reid Project, in which other songwriters recorded songs to Mr. Reid’s lyrics; two albums have been issued so far, “The Common Thread” (2008) and “In My Head” (2018)

 

‘Queen’ Guitarist Brian May Is Knighted by King Charles III at Buckingham Palace

By Regina Sienra on March 16, 2023

On top of being a founding member of Queen, one of the biggest rock bands in history, Brian May is a respected astrophysicist and a renowned animal rights activist. Now, he has added another honor to his list of accolades. The British guitarist has been knighted by King Charles III in recognition of his contributions to “music and charity.” Going forward, May will be known as Sir Brian—a title that definitely goes along with the lasting impact he has had in science and pop culture.

The knighting ceremony took place at Buckingham Palace on March 14, 2023. He attended the ceremony alongside his wife, Anita Dobson, an actress known for her work in the long-running show EastEnders. May was seen chatting with the king afterwards, and he also posed for pictures with fellow musician YolanDa Brown, who was awarded an OBE.

His full citation reads: “Dr. Brian Harold MAY, CBE: Brian May is an acclaimed musician and songwriter, founding member of the rock group Queen. In 2020 he was named Greatest Guitarist of All Time by Total Guitar Magazine. Queen’s performance at Live Aid in 1985 is acknowledged as the greatest live set in history. Brian famously opened the Queen’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2002 performing live on Buckingham Palace roof—and 20 years later returned to open the Platinum Jubilee concert atop the Victoria Monument.

“He is also an accomplished astrophysicist, now attached as stereoscopist to many NASA Space exploration teams. He re-established the London Stereoscopic Company in 2008, was co-founder of Asteroid Day in 2015, for the protection of Earth from Asteroid strikes, and was Chancellor of Liverpool John Moore’s University from 2008–2013. His work defending Britain’s wild animals led him to found the Save-Me Trust in 2009, which is his continuing passion, campaigning for the rights of foxes and badgers, and hosting an active wild-life rescue operation.”

May had previously received the title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2005 as an acknowledgement for his multidisciplinary career. After rising to fame with Queen in the 1970s, he put aside his astrophysics studies for decades. He then received his PhD from Imperial College London in 2007.

With Queen, he wrote one of the most famous rock songs of all time, “We Will Rock You.” He was also key in the development and recording of the band's other hits, such as “We Are the Champions,” and “Bohemian Rhapsody.” The latter has become the most streamed song from the 20th century and was certified Diamond in the United States.

The guitarist was announced as one of the 1,000 people featured in King Charles III’s first New Year’s honors list, which was unveiled back in December 2022. May responded to the honor with the message: “I’m happy and grateful to receive this honor. I will regard the knighthood not so much as a reward, but more as a charge—a commission—for me to continue to fight for justice—to be a voice for those who have no voice. I will endeavor to be worthy—to be that Knight in Shining Armour.”

Elián González, elected to office in Cuba, says he wants to help improve relations with US

2023/03/29

Elian Gonzalez first gained notoriety when on Thanksgiving Day 1999 fisherman rescued the 5-year-old from a flimsy boat floating between Cuba and Florida

More than two decades after he was returned to Cuba from the United States following a diplomatic crisis and a custody battle between his father and his Miami relatives, Elián González says his election on Sunday to Cuba’s National Assembly puts him in a position to help improve the strained relationship between the two countries.

“I think I could be someone the American people recognize, and I can help bring the American and Cuban people together, and not just the people, but also that our governments reach an understanding and remove all the barriers between us. Our country doesn’t have any sanctions on the United States,” he told CNN in an interview after he voted Sunday in his Matanzas hometown of Cárdenas, the city he will represent in Cuba’s version of a parliament.

González, 29, who arrived in South Florida at age 5 clinging to an inner tube in November 1999, is well known in Cuba and and around the world. His mother drowned while attempting the perilous sea journey fleeing the island’s communist regime. A highly public custody battle between his Miami relatives and his father in Cuba, Juan Miguel González, ensued. The dispute quickly turned into a bitter political confrontation between Fidel Castro and the Cuban exile community, ending with a dramatic raid by federal agents of the Little Havana home where the boy was staying and his return to the island.

Cuyban exiles feared González would be indoctrinated if sent back to Cuba and used as a poster child of the revolution.

Over the years, he attended public events close to Fidel and Raúl Castro, and in his public statements and social media accounts he frequently talks about them and his support for the island’s regime. Fidel Castro attended some of his birthday parties and school graduation ceremonies.

González received a military education and graduated as an industrial engineer, and is currently working at a company in the beach town of Varadero that belongs to GAESA, a conglomerate run by the Cuban military that is under U.S. sanctions.

In a video produced by Cuban state media to mark the twentieth anniversary of what became known in Cuba as “the Battle for Elián,” González said the “Cuban people’s fight was not in vain... I am here to serve the people, the Comandante and the Revolution.”

As a new member of the National Assembly, González told local TV station Yumurí talked about the fact that about a quarter of the voters in Cuba failed to come out for Sunday’s elections. He blamed it on U.S. sanctions he said were designed to create discontent in the population. He also said he would fight to “change whatever we need to change. We will face all challenges, cry out in the assembly when things go wrong.”

But while parroting the usual talking points from the Cuban government, he also gave interviewers more candid responses.

Speaking of how being a father of a two-year-old girl has changed him, he told CNN that the experience has made him better understand what his father did to get him back, but also “how all the Cubans who are separated from their families feel and fathers who aren’t able to give all the attention and things their children want.”

Family separation has become a visible problem on the island as migration to the United States and other countries has spiked in recent years.

He also said the country should welcome exiles back regardless of ideologies or parties, a far cry from government propaganda calling Miami Cuban exiles “terrorists” and “haters.”

“What we want is to reach a day when they are no longer exiles, that they come home,” González said. “That all the young people that we don´t have today feel that as long as they are willing to work for Cuba, for the well-being of all Cubans, beyond a party, beyond ideology, to work for the people of Cuba, to work for a common well-being, our doors are open to all to build a better country, which is what we need.”

© Miami Herald

CELIBACY FAILURE COVER UP

Public face of Pope Francis' efforts to root out child sex abuse in the Catholic Church resigns
Sky Palma
March 29, 2023

German Jesuit priest Hans Zollner talks to journalists following a press conference held by an independent commission for the study of sexual abuse of children in the Portuguese Catholic Church last month. (PATRICIA DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP)

The public face of Pope Francis' efforts to root out child sex abuse in the Catholic Church has quit his position after growing "increasingly concerned" over how the papal advisory body works, Agence France Presse reported.

Hans Zollner's resignation from the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors comes as the agency continued to be dogged by controversy.

“The protection of children and vulnerable persons must be at the heart of the Catholic Church’s mission,” he wrote in a statement. “Over the last few years, I have grown increasingly concerned with how the commission, in my perception, has gone about achieving that goal, particularly in the areas of responsibility, compliance, accountability and transparency.”

Contradicting Zollner's statement, Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors head Cardinal Sean O’Malley claimed that Zollner resigned because of his busy workload.

"Zollner was the last remaining founding member of the group, which was set up by Pope Francis in 2014 as he strove to rid the Catholic Church of the scourge of sex abuse by clerics," AFP's report states. "Problems emerged as early as 2017, when abuse survivor Marie Collins resigned as a member of the commission, saying the body was under-resourced and faced fierce resistance within high echelons of the church. Fellow commission member and survivor Peter Saunders also quit later that year."

Fears of Monarch butterfly extinction as numbers plummet 22% in annual count

Brett Wilkins, Common Dreams
March 23, 2023

Monarch Butterflies www.monarch-butterfly.com

Wildlife conservationists sounded the alarm Wednesday as an annual count of monarch butterflies revealed a sharp decline in the number of the iconic insects hibernating in Mexican forests, stoking renewed fears of their extinction.

The annual survey—led by Mexico's National Commission of Natural Protected Areas and the Mexican branch of the World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF)—showed a 22% drop in the hibernating monarch population amid accelerating habitat loss driven primarily by deforestation.

"Despite heroic efforts to save monarchs by planting milkweed, we could still lose these extraordinary butterflies by not taking bolder action," Tierra Curry, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD), said in a statement.

"Monarchs were once incredibly common," she added. "Now they're the face of the extinction crisis as U.S. populations crash amid habitat loss and the climate meltdown."

Renowned for its epic annual migrations from the northern U.S. and southern Canada to Florida, California, and Mexico, monarchs have suffered a precipitous plunge in population in North America this century.

According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), the number of eastern monarchs fell from around 384 million in 1996 to 60 million in 2019, and in the West their numbers declined from 1.2 million in 1997 to fewer than 30,000 last year.

As CBD noted:

At the end of summer, eastern monarchs migrate from the northern United States and southern Canada to high-elevation fir forests in central Mexico. Scientists estimate the population size by measuring the area of trees turned orange by the clustering butterflies...The eastern population has been perilously low since 2008.

Last year, the International Union for Conservation of Nature formally listed the monarch butterfly as endangered, citing critical threats posed by the climate emergency, deforestation, pesticides, and logging.

(Graphic: Center for Biological Diversity)


In the United States, the Trump administration in 2020 placed monarchs on the wait list for consideration for Endangered Species Act protection. FWS has until next year to make a final listing determination.

"It is not just about conserving a species, it's also about conserving a unique migratory phenomenon in nature," said WWF Mexico general director Jorge Rickards. "Monarchs contribute to healthy and diverse terrestrial ecosystems across North America as they carry pollen from one plant to another."

"With 80% of agricultural food production depending on pollinators like monarchs, when people help the species, we are also helping ourselves," he added.

New 'glass-like' orchid species discovered in Japan
Agence France-Presse
March 23, 2023

The new species of orchid was discovered by Japanese scientists, who found the pink and white plant hiding in plain sight in gardens and parks 

© Kenji Suetsugu / Courtesy of Kenji Suetsugu/AFP

A new species of orchid with delicate, glass-like blooms has been discovered by Japanese scientists, who found the pink and white plant hiding in plain sight.

Despite its presence in Japan's parks and gardens, it took researchers at Kobe University a decade to confirm that the plant -- dubbed the "Spiranthes hachijoensis" -- was a previously unknown species.

"It was a surprise to discover a new species of spiranthes, which is so common that you can see it in parks, gardens and among potted plants," lead researcher Kenji Suetsugu told AFP Thursday.

Some of the samples were "from potted plants and gardens", including ones kept at a high school in Japan's central Gifu region, the phytology professor said.
Recommended videos

"From its curious look and dainty blooms that resemble glasswork, this flower has long been loved by people," the university said in a press release.

The plant, with its spiralling blossoms, was even mentioned in Japan's oldest anthology of poems, the eighth-century "Manyoshu".

The discovery of the new type of spiranthes, sometimes known as "ladies' tresses", was announced last week in the Journal of Plant Research. It was given the name "hachijoensis" because many samples were found on Tokyo's Hachijojima island.

FETUS FETISHIST WANTS TO KILL WOLF CUBS
Lauren Boebert brings photos of human fetuses to hearing on endangered species
David Edwards
March 23, 2023

YouTube/screen grab FAKE PHOTO

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) on Thursday presented photos of human fetuses at a hearing on endangered species.

During Water, Wildlife and Fisheries Subcommittee hearing, Boebert was recognized to present her bill to remove the Gray Wolf from the list of endangered species.

"I appreciate this time today and thank you so much for everyone who's attending here and traveling so far to be here," Boebert began. "I do want to say before my opening remarks, you know, since we're talking about the Endangered Species Act, I'm just wondering if my colleagues on the other side would put babies on the endangered species list."

The lawmaker held up photos of fetuses as she spoke.

"These babies were born in Washington, D.C. full term," she added. UNTRUE

"I don't know, maybe that's a way we can save some children here in the United States."

Boebert then launched into her presentation on the gray wolf.

"For far too long, the Endangered Species Act has been weaponized by extremists, extremist environmentalists, to obstruct common sense multiple-use activities that they disagree with," she said.

Watch the video below or at this link.

Why thousands of volunteers are transcribing the notebooks of the scientist who inspired Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein

The Conversation
March 24, 2023

An etching of a Royal Institution lecture by James Gillray (1802). 

Davy is on the right, holding the bellows. 

Science History Images/Alamy Stock Photo

Sir Humphry Davy (1778-1829) is usually remembered as the inventor of a revolutionary miner’s safety lamp. But his wild popularity came as much from his influence on popular culture as it did from his contributions to chemistry and applied science.

In the first few years of the 19th century, there was no hotter spectacle in London than Davy’s lectures at the Royal Institution. The carriage traffic jams caused by his keen audience led to the introduction of London’s first one-way street.

Hundreds of members of the public, many of them women, crowded into the lecture theatre to hear the charismatic Davy speak about his cutting edge research. They would watch demonstrations of his work, which often included elaborate explosions and other breathtaking displays.

In more recent times, Davy’s star has waned. Through our work on the Davy Notebooks Project, we aim to change that. Thanks to the help of thousands of volunteers, we’re creating the first digital edition of Davy’s 83 manuscript notebooks, an exciting and important collection that we’ll soon be able to share with readers all over the world.
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The first lecture Davy gave at the Royal Institution was on the subject of galvanism (the electricity generated by chemical actions). The force was thought at the time to be capable of animating matter – or of bringing something dead to life.

Davy was born in Penzance, Cornwall and despite a lack of formal education, he rose quickly from obscurity to become an important force at the centre of Britain’s scientific community.

As a young chemist, he spent several years in Bristol, where he experimented with new gases, including nitrous oxide (laughing gas) which he frequently inhaled himself to test its effect.


The Royal Institution by Thomas Hosmer Shepherd (c. 1838)
Wiki Commons


Moving to London, Davy eventually became director of the Royal Institution’s programme of chemical research and, later, President of the Royal Society. In his scientific life, he isolated more chemical elements than anyone before or since.

Davy’s famous lectures on the animating power of electricity at the Royal Institution may have inspired a young Mary Shelley as she came up with the idea for Frankenstein (1818), a novel that questioned the boundaries of creation using emerging scientific ideas.

Shelley may have even modelled aspects of the charming but reckless Victor Frankenstein on Davy himself. In fact, many of the things that Davy said in his lectures were borrowed word-for-word to craft the fictional scientist’s dangerous experiments.




Portrait of Mary Shelley by Richard Rothwell (1831-1840).

National Portrait Gallery, London, CC BY

But, as Mary Shelley probably would have known, Davy was also a writer himself with close ties to the leading authors of his day.

He was friends with poets Lord Byron and Robert Southey and had a hand in the creation of some of the greatest works of the Romantic period. This included editing the second edition of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads (1800).

And he wrote his own poetry – lots of it. The pages of Davy’s dozens of surviving notebooks are crammed full of poems, both published and obscure, which share space with the complex records of his scientific experiments, alongside the notes for Davy’s jaw-dropping lectures.

Discovering Davy’s poetry

Our project aims to make these notebooks – which have never been transcribed in their entirety – available in a free to read, online edition based on crowd-sourced transcriptions provided by nearly 3,000 volunteers.

Their hard work has enabled us to bring Davy’s fascinating work in the arts and sciences to a whole new generation.

Davy’s notebooks give invaluable insights into how his mind worked. His firm conviction in the powers of the intellect, coupled with an unshakeable self belief, lay at the heart of his considerable success. As he declares in notebook 19E, containing drafts of lectures dating from around 1802:
Man is formed for pure enjoyments / his duties are high his destination / is lofty and he must then be / most accused of ignorance and folly / when he grovels in the dust having / wings which can carry him to the / skies.

These manuscript discoveries show how Davy influenced others, including Mary Shelley, through fantastical ideas rooted in scientific enquiry. While he may not be widely known today, his outsized achievements and towering public personality jump from their pages.

Whether influencing some of the greatest works of literature, or pioneering new modes of experimentation, Davy’s notebooks tell a fascinating story about the intertwined history of the arts and sciences in British history.

Understanding Davy’s legacy – and his possible influence as Victor Frankenstein’s role model – reminds us that these two arenas are much more closely, and importantly, linked to one another than we often hold them to be.

Alexis Wolf, Research Associate on the Davy Notebooks Project, Lancaster University and Andrew Lacey, Senior Research Associate on the Davy Notebooks Project, Lancaster University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.