Welcome to join ELBOW Talks, Talk 4 / Season 3!
The theme of the third season (autumn 2025) of ELBOW Talks is ”Electricity and Science”. The season will have four excellent talks around the theme, covered by our very own ELBOW Team and one special guest.
We are more than happy to have Doctoral Researcher Iida Turpeinen (University of Helsinki) as our final guest in our ELBOW Talks series, Season 3. She will give us a talk about ”Electric Hermaphrodites: The Snail Telegraph and Esoteric Interpretations of Electricity in 19th-Century Thought”.
Abstract:
In 19th-century imagination, electromagnetism was often conceptualized as a life force linked to sexual attraction. My presentation explores a mid-19th-century attempt to create a “pasilalinic-sympathetic compass” — a telegraph based on electromagnetic interaction between living snails. The project aimed to establish animal magnetism as a serious scientific theory and a practical alternative to electricity. Snails were not chosen by accident; as natural hermaphrodites, they were seen as particularly well-suited to embody the links between electromagnetism, sexuality, and the esoteric thought of the era.
Tapahtuma-ajat
- Alkaa:
- 16.12.2025 13:00
- Loppuu:
- 16.12.2025 14:00
- Tapahtumapaikka:
- Zoom
- Etätapahtuma nimi:
- ELBOW Talks Season 3 / Talk 4 – Electric Hermaphrodites: The Snail Telegraph and Esoteric Interpretations of Electricity in 19th-Century Thought
- Etätapahtuma osoite:
- Avaa verkkosivut
Tapahtuman muut tiedot
- Tapahtuman tyyppi:
- Esitelmät ja keskustelutilaisuudet
- Verkkosivut:
- Avaa verkkosivut
- Yhteyshenkilö:
- Lotta Vuorio
- Sähköpostiosoite: