Science in the Church: The Sacred Spaces of Sonorous Experiment and the Formation of Modern Acoustics

Abstract

Until the twentieth century, the interiors of churches and cathedrals constituted the largest enclosed spaces accessible to natural philosophers. Such immense volumes of air provided unique opportunities for the examination of sonorous phenomena and, from the seventeenth century, featured centrally in the production of acoustic knowledge. During the nineteenth century, however, these ecclesiastical buildings took on increasing scientific significance following the publication of Ernst Chladni’s acoustic research and amid intense Anglo-French church-building programs. Focusing on France and Britain, this essay unpacks nineteenth-century churches as experimental sites and argues that these locations were crucial to the formation of new philosophical understandings of sound. From the design of church organs and the use of acoustic pots to the observation of echoes and resonance, these were places where understanding sonorous phenomena was extremely urgent. As the essay demonstrates, elite scientists were keen to draw on practical and architectural experiences in their own scientific works.