The seven ages of science. 2/7 Age of exploration.

Radio documentary presented by Lisa Jardine who traces the evolution of scientific endeavour in Britain over the last four centuries. In this episode she explores how Britain's desire for Empire helped to promote a scientific interest in plants. Lisa Jardine talks about Sir Hans Sloane, one of the great botanic collectors of the 18th century, and how when he took over as president of the Royal Society, there was a shift away from mathematics and mechanics towards botany. Emeritus professor of History, David Arnold, discusses the new scientific emphasis on classification and organisation and the challenge to bring order to the mass of material being collected. Science historian, James Delbourgo, talks about Sloane's collections and his importance. Charlie Jarvis, curator of the Sloane Herbarium at the Natural History Museum in London, discusses the Herbarium and Sloane's work. He points out that slaves were probably used in the collection of specimens. In the early 18th century, Swedish physician Carl Linnaeus, who visited Sloane in London, decided to organise plants by their sexual parts and is now celebrated as the father of taxonomy. Andrea Wulf, author of The Founding Gardners, talks about the sexual system of classification and Linnaeus. His system captured the imagination of Joseph Banks, who travelled with Captain Cook on the Endeavour. Banks' biographer, Richard Holmes, talks briefly about him. Judith Magee, Head of Special Collections at the Natural History Museum, mentions the plant drawings that were done on the Endeavour as an aid to classification and naming. In the wider sphere, women went botanising and drawing, and embroidered botanically correct flowers. The language of botany also permeated astronomy. William Herschel made astronomical observations and his sister Caroline provided technical support in helping to analyse the results. They were from a family of gardeners and frequently used botanical language. Herschel compared galaxies to plants and did delicate drawings of them. The Herschel's way of observing is discussed and how this differed to that at Greenwich. In the 18th century the work of astronomers was mapping stars to enable ships to travel the globe. David Arnold talks about the way botany opened up possibilities for agricultural development driven by a new sense of ecology and how plants might fare elsewhere. At the same time the quest for profit led to competition for colonies and commodities and the new science of botany ended up supporting a global botanical empire which included slavery and imperial ambition. Richard Holmes suggests that some of the innocence at the beginning of Empire, involving curiousity and discovery of plants, seems to be lost later on.