346 Lightman
October to June. The X- Club wielded tremendous power in the scientifi c
world.^23 Its formation allowed club members to pursue a number of com-
mon objectives, the foremost among them to turn science into a profes-
sional, meritocratic, publicly respected, and state- endowed activity. The
model for reforming British science existed in the state- funded system of
the German universities, with their emphasis on research and the labora-
tory. In order to succeed they had to be aggressive, opportunistic, and po-
litically savvy. They served on various government commissions related to
science, angled for and won high posts in scientifi c societies, participated
in reforms of scientifi c education, and remade the scientifi c institutions in
which they worked. They engaged supporters of the Anglican Church in
the pages of the periodical press or in public debate. Taking advantage
of the controversy surrounding On the Origin of Species (1859), they de-
fended the right of scientists like Darwin to put forward naturalistic theo-
ries without fear of reprisal from scientifi cally unqualifi ed Anglican in-
tellectuals and to be judged by their scientifi c peers on the basis of the
evidence. Professionalization could be used as a tool for forcing parson
naturalists, wealthy amateurs, and women out of science.^24 Though Hux-
ley and his friends were by no means consistent in their pursuit of the
goals of professionalization as defi ned by modern standards, by the end of
the century the scientifi c landscape had been profoundly transformed.^25
In the fi rst half of the century, when the gentlemen of science were de-
voted to the serious pursuit of knowledge as a vocation, the sites of sci-
entifi c work were the fi eld museum, the lecture hall, and the hospital.
To learn about nature everyone, gentlemen of science included, attended
lectures and experienced nature directly through fi eldwork. After Huxley
and his allies had done their work, the typical fi gure of the later period was
the paid professional “scientist” who conducted his experimental work in
a government, industrial, or academic laboratory.^26
A similar process of professionalization took place in other Western
nations during the nineteenth century, though the pace and exact na-
ture of change varied depending on the context. In the United States,
for example, historians have identifi ed 1820 to 1860 as a key period of
transition. By the middle of the century, earlier patterns of gentlemanly
scientifi c activity were becoming obsolete as a community of professional
scientists emerged. The fi rst professional scientifi c association in America
was founded in 1840 by a small group of working geologists, becoming
the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1847. Also
in the late forties, the astronomer Benjamin Gould (1824–1896) and
other Americans were urging the use of Whewell’s new term “scientist.”^27
Trained at Göttingen University, where he received a PhD in astronomy,