The Science of Frankenstein

Dr. Mark C. Glassy examines the science, real and implied, in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus, first published in 1818. A single line in the novel—"I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet"—has inspired countless interpretations. The science of 1818 consisted of alchemy, electricity, galvanism, anatomy, and physiology. This lecture explores what Shelley suggests (more than states) and what has changed in the past 200 years.