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Science In Frankenstein Research Paper

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Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, is heavily influenced by science. The young woman was inspired to write the book by a nightmare and Elements of Chemical Philosophy by Humphrey Davy, a close family friend. The science of galvanism features as the science that Victor used to bring life to his creation. Scientists today have invented many useful and amazing things. For example, Daniel Nocera and Pamela Silver have created a synthetic leaf (Martin). Engineers from John Hopkins University have developed a prosthetic arm that can be controlled by the mind of the user (Lavars). With this technology, could the creation of the perfect man that Victor attempted to create be accomplished?
The time in which the story of Frankenstein was set was in the Age of Enlightenment, a time when many proficient scientists made many scientific discoveries. This is an excellent setting for Victor to excel in scientific studies. Victor immerses himself in his studies of Agrippa until he goes to school Ingolstadt, where is awakened to a whole new world of science. Though his professors inform him that the ideas of Agrippa have been disproven, Victor is only slightly swayed as he combines modern science with the ideas of Agrippa and successfully creates life out of nothing more than exhumed body parts and electricity. …show more content…

Many scientific discoveries have been made since. One of which is the development of a synthetic leaf. Daniel Nocera and Pamela Silver have devised a system in which one-tenth of the energy from the sun is captured turned into fuel using pure carbon dioxide (Martin). In the system, hydrogen and oxygen are separated by a pair of catalysts. The hydrogen is then fed to a bioengineered microorganism which then uses the hydrogen and carbon dioxide to create a liquid fuel. If this artificial photosynthesis can be achieved today then perhaps some day in the future a similar method could be used to create

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