Technology fascinates and inspires people—a sentiment that persists to this day, despite critical voices. Especially during periods of major technological upheaval in the wake of industrialization since the 19th century, it was only natural that people would want to understand what was so profoundly changing their lives and in what ways.

One way to explain these changes was through the popularization of new knowledge and technologies. Discoveries—both major and minor—by researchers (and, at that time, still only a few female researchers) spread ever more rapidly, not only in specialized journals but also in the very same magazines that popularized history. This interest—and at times enthusiasm—for new developments is reflected to this day in countless publications on scientific and technical topics. Whether it was the thrill of speed that the railroad brought in the 19th century, the luxury of a floating grand hotel crossing the Atlantic as an ocean liner at the turn of the century, or the dream of a beneficial and peaceful use of nuclear power in the decades following World War II—the media response was always significant, as was the public’s interest.

It was not only nonfiction books and science programs on television that attracted attention. Rather, visual, textual, and audiovisual utopias and dystopias also played an important role. For just as there were proponents, there were always people who viewed scientific and technological progress with skepticism at best—or even rejected it outright. These perspectives gave rise to their own popularizations, which in turn shaped perceptions of science and technology.

Knowledge from the natural sciences and technology was presented to a broad public by professional popularizers—such as science journalists—as well as by the researchers themselves at universities and research institutions. Popular book series such as *Aus Natur und Geisteswelt: A Collection of Scientific Explanations Accessible to the General Public from All Fields of Knowledge* or *Popular Science Books* attest to the fact that there was—and still is—a great interest in scientific writings beyond the academic world—an interest that is now addressed through other media formats. Numerous scientists—and later, female scientists as well—encountered broad public interest; some even achieved great popularity. Above all, those individuals who ventured to tackle the big questions, such as the origin of humankind or the origin of the universe, became icons of research and celebrated superstars of science. The analysis of this kind of personification of (natural) science in the public perception, and the impact of scientists and their theories on popular culture, constitutes another important subarea of this research focus.

In recent years, the chair has produced numerous publications addressing both the popularization of scientific knowledge across various media formats and historical contexts and the dissemination of images of scientists:

• Angela Schwarz: “Devolutionalien” or: “Charles R. Darwin Is on Facebook”: A Scientist and His Theory in the Commodity World and Popular Culture of the 21st Century, in: ibid. (ed.): The Evolution Controversy: A Cultural History, Cologne/Vienna/Weimar 2017, pp. 693–731
• Daniela Mysliwietz-Fleiß/Jan Pasternak: “Darwin Rocks Now.” New Websites on the Theory of Evolution in Darwin Year 2009, in: Angela Schwarz (ed.): The Evolution Controversy: A Cultural History, Cologne/Vienna/Weimar 2017, pp. 666–692
• Angela Schwarz: Natural Science, History, and Spiritualism: Arabella Burton Buckley and the Fairy-Tale Land of Science, in: Uta Fenske/Daniel Groth/Matthias Weipert (eds.): Crossing Boundaries—Boundary Crossers. Historical Perspectives (Festschrift for Bärbel P. Kuhn on Her 60th Birthday), St. Ingbert 2017, pp. 77–91
• Angela Schwarz: “Intersecting Anglo-German Networks in Popular Science and Their Functions in the Late Nineteenth Century,” in: Heather Ellis and Ulrike Kirchberger (eds.): Anglo-German Scholarly Networks in the Long Nineteenth Century (History of Science and Medicine Library, Vol. 43), Leiden/Boston, MA 2014, pp. 65–83
• Angela Schwarz: Evolution “for better or for worse”? Science Fiction Literature and Film and the Public Debate on the Future of Humanity, in: Eckart Voigts/Barbara Schaff/Monika Pietrzak-Franger (eds.): Reflecting on Darwin, Farnham 2014, pp. 129–144
• Angela Schwarz: Staging and Marketing: Images of Scientists in 19th-Century Advertising Collectible Pictures, in: Stefanie Samida (ed.): Staged Science. On the Popularization of Knowledge in the 19th Century, Bielefeld 2011, pp. 83–102
• Angela Schwarz: “The Gateway to a New Dimension? Sputnik, Shock, and the Popularity of the Natural Sciences,” in: Igor J. Polianski and Matthias Schwartz (eds.): The Trail of Sputnik. Cultural-Historical Expeditions into the Cosmic Age, Frankfurt am Main/New York, NY 2009, pp. 31–55
• Angela Schwarz: Natural History or Natural Science? Women and Their Scientific Writings in the 19th Century, in: Historical Anthropology. Culture – Society – Everyday Life. Topic: The Popularization of Science, Vol. 16, No. 1, 2008, pp. 74–91
• Angela Schwarz: Educate, Persuade, Entertain: The Popularization of Knowledge and the Culture of Knowledge in the 19th Century, in: Carsten Kretschmann (ed.): The Popularization of Knowledge. Concepts of Knowledge Dissemination in Transition (Culture of Knowledge and Social Change, Vol. 4), Berlin 2003, pp. 221–234

Future research will aim to compare the public image of scientists with their self-image and self-conception in order to explore how “stars” of the scientific community are “made” and how they are subsequently perceived.