Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials Research

Autores
Podgorny, Irina; García, Susana Valeria
Año de publicación
2023
Idioma
inglés
Tipo de recurso
artículo
Estado
versión publicada
Descripción
In the nineteenth century, an animal from the Americas known as the armadillo offered an extraordinary subject for zoologists engaged in the study of the outer covering of four-limbed vertebrates and its components. The armadillo, a cuirassed living mammal, had excited the curiosity of European naturalists since the early sixteenth century, and their shells had thus become a common sight in collections. The armadillo’s carapace provided a structure that could be scrutinized in order to understand animal materials, one that afforded the use of microscopes and chemistry in the emerging life sciences that tried to understand the relationship between form and function and the chemical composition of animated matter. The carapace of the armadillo moved from the culture of curiosity in which it was first collected into the new field of animal chemistry, a key move that is crucial for historians to understand the emergence of the study of animal materials. Armadillos accompanied the expansion of chemistry, microscopy, and physics as they were used to study the materials that constituted the mammals’ dermal coverings. This paper mines nineteenth-century publications for episodes connected to the long story of the study of this shell’s anatomical and chemical contrivances, and the crucial role it played both in the emergence of new scientific knowledge and in the discovery of new bio-inspired materials still derived from this animal today. This paper is part of a special issue entitled “Making Animal Materials in Time,” edited by Laurence Douny and Lisa Onaga.
Fil: Podgorny, Irina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Archivo Histórico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina
Fil: García, Susana Valeria. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Archivo Histórico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina
Materia
ANIMAL CHEMISTRY
ARMADILLOS
BIOMATERIAL SCIENCES
MAMMAL SYSTEMATICS
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
TESSELLATED MATERIALS
Nivel de accesibilidad
acceso abierto
Condiciones de uso
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
Repositorio
CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Institución
Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
OAI Identificador
oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/222954

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spelling Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials ResearchPodgorny, IrinaGarcía, Susana ValeriaANIMAL CHEMISTRYARMADILLOSBIOMATERIAL SCIENCESMAMMAL SYSTEMATICSMUSEUM COLLECTIONSTESSELLATED MATERIALShttps://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6In the nineteenth century, an animal from the Americas known as the armadillo offered an extraordinary subject for zoologists engaged in the study of the outer covering of four-limbed vertebrates and its components. The armadillo, a cuirassed living mammal, had excited the curiosity of European naturalists since the early sixteenth century, and their shells had thus become a common sight in collections. The armadillo’s carapace provided a structure that could be scrutinized in order to understand animal materials, one that afforded the use of microscopes and chemistry in the emerging life sciences that tried to understand the relationship between form and function and the chemical composition of animated matter. The carapace of the armadillo moved from the culture of curiosity in which it was first collected into the new field of animal chemistry, a key move that is crucial for historians to understand the emergence of the study of animal materials. Armadillos accompanied the expansion of chemistry, microscopy, and physics as they were used to study the materials that constituted the mammals’ dermal coverings. This paper mines nineteenth-century publications for episodes connected to the long story of the study of this shell’s anatomical and chemical contrivances, and the crucial role it played both in the emergence of new scientific knowledge and in the discovery of new bio-inspired materials still derived from this animal today. This paper is part of a special issue entitled “Making Animal Materials in Time,” edited by Laurence Douny and Lisa Onaga.Fil: Podgorny, Irina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Archivo Histórico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaFil: García, Susana Valeria. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Archivo Histórico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; ArgentinaUniv California Press2023-06info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionhttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501info:ar-repo/semantics/articuloapplication/pdfapplication/pdfhttp://hdl.handle.net/11336/222954Podgorny, Irina; García, Susana Valeria; Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials Research; Univ California Press; Historical Studies In The Natural Sciences; 53; 3; 6-2023; 332-3481939-1811CONICET DigitalCONICETenginfo:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1525/hsns.2023.53.3.332info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/url/https://online.ucpress.edu/hsns/article-abstract/53/3/332/196656/Armadillos-under-the-MicroscopeThe-End-of-Natural?redirectedFrom=fulltextinfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccesshttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/reponame:CONICET Digital (CONICET)instname:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas2025-09-29T09:52:18Zoai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/222954instacron:CONICETInstitucionalhttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/Organismo científico-tecnológicoNo correspondehttp://ri.conicet.gov.ar/oai/requestdasensio@conicet.gov.ar; lcarlino@conicet.gov.arArgentinaNo correspondeNo correspondeNo correspondeopendoar:34982025-09-29 09:52:19.157CONICET Digital (CONICET) - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicasfalse
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials Research
title Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials Research
spellingShingle Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials Research
Podgorny, Irina
ANIMAL CHEMISTRY
ARMADILLOS
BIOMATERIAL SCIENCES
MAMMAL SYSTEMATICS
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
TESSELLATED MATERIALS
title_short Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials Research
title_full Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials Research
title_fullStr Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials Research
title_full_unstemmed Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials Research
title_sort Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials Research
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Podgorny, Irina
García, Susana Valeria
author Podgorny, Irina
author_facet Podgorny, Irina
García, Susana Valeria
author_role author
author2 García, Susana Valeria
author2_role author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv ANIMAL CHEMISTRY
ARMADILLOS
BIOMATERIAL SCIENCES
MAMMAL SYSTEMATICS
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
TESSELLATED MATERIALS
topic ANIMAL CHEMISTRY
ARMADILLOS
BIOMATERIAL SCIENCES
MAMMAL SYSTEMATICS
MUSEUM COLLECTIONS
TESSELLATED MATERIALS
purl_subject.fl_str_mv https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6.1
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/6
dc.description.none.fl_txt_mv In the nineteenth century, an animal from the Americas known as the armadillo offered an extraordinary subject for zoologists engaged in the study of the outer covering of four-limbed vertebrates and its components. The armadillo, a cuirassed living mammal, had excited the curiosity of European naturalists since the early sixteenth century, and their shells had thus become a common sight in collections. The armadillo’s carapace provided a structure that could be scrutinized in order to understand animal materials, one that afforded the use of microscopes and chemistry in the emerging life sciences that tried to understand the relationship between form and function and the chemical composition of animated matter. The carapace of the armadillo moved from the culture of curiosity in which it was first collected into the new field of animal chemistry, a key move that is crucial for historians to understand the emergence of the study of animal materials. Armadillos accompanied the expansion of chemistry, microscopy, and physics as they were used to study the materials that constituted the mammals’ dermal coverings. This paper mines nineteenth-century publications for episodes connected to the long story of the study of this shell’s anatomical and chemical contrivances, and the crucial role it played both in the emergence of new scientific knowledge and in the discovery of new bio-inspired materials still derived from this animal today. This paper is part of a special issue entitled “Making Animal Materials in Time,” edited by Laurence Douny and Lisa Onaga.
Fil: Podgorny, Irina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Archivo Histórico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina
Fil: García, Susana Valeria. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Archivo Histórico; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata; Argentina
description In the nineteenth century, an animal from the Americas known as the armadillo offered an extraordinary subject for zoologists engaged in the study of the outer covering of four-limbed vertebrates and its components. The armadillo, a cuirassed living mammal, had excited the curiosity of European naturalists since the early sixteenth century, and their shells had thus become a common sight in collections. The armadillo’s carapace provided a structure that could be scrutinized in order to understand animal materials, one that afforded the use of microscopes and chemistry in the emerging life sciences that tried to understand the relationship between form and function and the chemical composition of animated matter. The carapace of the armadillo moved from the culture of curiosity in which it was first collected into the new field of animal chemistry, a key move that is crucial for historians to understand the emergence of the study of animal materials. Armadillos accompanied the expansion of chemistry, microscopy, and physics as they were used to study the materials that constituted the mammals’ dermal coverings. This paper mines nineteenth-century publications for episodes connected to the long story of the study of this shell’s anatomical and chemical contrivances, and the crucial role it played both in the emergence of new scientific knowledge and in the discovery of new bio-inspired materials still derived from this animal today. This paper is part of a special issue entitled “Making Animal Materials in Time,” edited by Laurence Douny and Lisa Onaga.
publishDate 2023
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2023-06
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
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info:ar-repo/semantics/articulo
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://hdl.handle.net/11336/222954
Podgorny, Irina; García, Susana Valeria; Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials Research; Univ California Press; Historical Studies In The Natural Sciences; 53; 3; 6-2023; 332-348
1939-1811
CONICET Digital
CONICET
url http://hdl.handle.net/11336/222954
identifier_str_mv Podgorny, Irina; García, Susana Valeria; Armadillos under the Microscope: The End of Natural History and the Emergence of Bio-Materials Research; Univ California Press; Historical Studies In The Natural Sciences; 53; 3; 6-2023; 332-348
1939-1811
CONICET Digital
CONICET
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv eng
language eng
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/altIdentifier/doi/10.1525/hsns.2023.53.3.332
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dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ar/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
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dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv Univ California Press
publisher.none.fl_str_mv Univ California Press
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