How glassmakers and scientists learnt about ‘new’ glasses 350 years ago

On 6th October 1672 the group of diners at Lord Salisbury’s table included Robert Hooke, the Royal Society’s curator of experiments. He noted in his diary ‘Discoursd after dinner of new glasses...’. This interest in innovative glasses was not an isolated or transient one. The previous year Robert Boyle had argued that it was important that ‘curious people’ should understand ‘trades’: ‘It [experimental philosophy] may enable gentlemen and scholars to converse with tradesmen and benefit themselves (and perhaps the tradesmen too) by that conversation; or at least it will qualify them to ask questions of men that converse with things, and sometimes to exchange experiments with them.’ To achieve these aspirations scientists and those of the glass trade needed to communicate effectively ‐ a challenge given the cognitive gaps between them, since their: languages; vocabularies; and contextual knowledge all differed markedly. Perhaps more importantly their objectives diverged, the ‘curious’ scientists seeking knowledge for the sake of the knowledge, whilst the ‘artificers who communicated with glass’ sought it to create wealth. Some aimed to do this by making a heavier, clearer, stronger, glass resembling rock crystal to satisfy the newly-formed Worshipful Company of Glass‐sellers; others through new, state‐of‐the‐art decorative coloured glasses. This paper is about how these scientists and glass‐makers jointly learnt about ‘new’ glasses and together overcame a number of set‐backs, including crizzling and solarisation, to achieve world-class products. The ensuing co‐operation between these communities was not confined to England, but probably had more success here than abroad because many participants were collocated in London.