📋 The Science That Made Frankenstein
The Science That Made Frankenstein
How early experiments with electricity inspired Mary Shelley’s reanimated monster. Alan S. Brown, Contributor (Inside Science) — It has all the makings of a great monster story: an attempt to draw lightning from the sky, a scientist passionate to show that electricity held the secret of life, body parts and, of course, reanimation of the dead.
It’s interesting to read about the background that brought some inspiration to Mary Shelley. However, I think its really wild (and really weird) that Giovanni Aldini used the dead bodies of criminals in his experiments. In the name of science thats interesting but I couldn’t imagine what it was like to see a headless corpse sit upright. Given this example, one would think that its perfect inspiration to write a novel about a scientist who can make dead people(or parts of people) come to life.
I never knew that Frankenstein was loosely based off of a science experiment done on a deceased prisoner. Although it sounds pretty ghoulish to essentially shock a corpse, I bet it was very interesting to see. It’s funny that you can give the same person credit for both the battery as well as Frankenstein.
I think the creation of Frankenstein is something that sparked up a new genre of thinking about science. Bring something back to life is something we gemmedas impossible and the idea of it becoming a monster might just be more superstition then science. The science that was being conducted back then is also something that would deem you as crazy now
I did not know that Frankenstein was based off experiments done in real life. The ones done with the prisoners bodies is especially unsettling.
I thought this was an interesting article. I think it’s interesting to see how our knowledge evolves so much throughout history. For example, the idea of “animal electricity” obviously seems wrong to us now but at that time it seemed revolutionary.
On the other hand things like reiki and other kinds of alternative therapies, as well as traditional Chinese and Hindu medicine still all very popular here as well as around the world, are all based on some veraion of this idea of animal electricity.
Energy healing in all of its modes looks at what is special about humans as more or less a literal “spark of life,” that can be interacted with by trained practitioners. Controlled tests of these claims have not yielded any evidence that it is more than magical thinking, but it sure sounds scientific to people who are into it.
I had no clue about these things having to do with Frankenstein. I also had no idea that they were based on real experiments I always thought of this creature as representing Halloween or something.
It seems that Mary Shelley definitely found inspiration through Giovanni Aldini’s experiments with deceased prisoners seeing’s how the character “Frankenstein” resembles a somewhat exaggerated version of the deceased prisoner that Aldini was electrocuting. It is also very interesting to learn that electricity was first really discovered on a set of frog legs, and then further attempted on humans whom have more sophisticated nervous systems.
I agree it was interesting the way things came together both in terms of a deeper understanding of electrical phenomena as well as living organisms, and a demonstration how science works — poking around in things with curiosity, patience and an eye for connections. But since the human mind is a pattern detecting machine on hyperalert, especially in stressful times, you can see how the myth also took on a life of its own. Science and superstition both got a huge boost in the nineteenth century, probably owing to the development of means of mass communication from the telegraph to the newspaper to social media.
It was interesting to learn that Galvani and Volta had somewhat of a rivalry over where the electricity came from with the frog experiment. It amazes me that this is what fueled Volta’s motivation to create the world’s first battery.
I actually just had to read Frankenstein for another class and I personally found the backstory of what inspired Mary Shelley to write it to be more interesting than the story itself. Mary Shelley became obsessed with making human flesh come alive.
As a kid, Frankenstein was always cool to me but never knew where it came from. I thought it was just a fictional character with no science or meaning to it, just completely made up. After reading the article, it’s quite interesting to find out that he “came” from scientific experiments.
I had always thought that Frankenstein was just another imaginary monster like bigfoot or chum chum. I could have never guessed it was based on the experiments that were done on dead bodies
It is interesting to find out that Frankenstein was based off experiments that were being done around that time period. At first when I was reading about animal electricity and the experiments that were being done I did not think too much about it. But, as the article furthers into Aldani’s experimentation with deceased prisoners I found myself wondering what would have happened if these experiments had been successful. It creates a scary mental picture alongside with the description of the headless prisoner that sat up.
It is also very interesting to find that Mary Shelley had found her inspiration off something that was actually happening and that it is not really spoken of that much. She paved the path for disney creating their own version and many other companies and writers use her work as inspiration.
I remember being very young and interested in Frankenstein when I watched the black and white film. I didn’t know all the details to how this story came to be but it definitely makes sense this was based on real experiments. Pretty wild the lengths people will go in the name of science. This experiment reminds me of human experiments I learned about during WW2 and the horrific studies conducted.
I had no Idea that Frankenstein was based off a real experiment and I think it was somewhat unethical to try to bring people back from the dead.
I didn’t know that Frankenstein was actually based on a true event. Always heard about the story as a kid and it’s weird to hear about it now that I’m older the science that occurred behind it.
I thought it was cool to actually find out that Frankenstein is an actual thing and is based off of a real life science experiment.