Charles Dickens and Fire Science

Excerpt

I would like to bring to the attention of our community two very stunning pieces of ‘anonymous’ literature that I recently had the pleasure to read. Apart from their remarkable prose, I feel their content may be of interest to those studying the history of fire safety science. The papers, written in 1850, deal with progresses in fire fighting technology, fire chemistry, behaviour of building materials in fire, fire dynamics, and education of fire science. Remarkably, both papers were influenced (if not written) by the famous Charles Dickens. Each paper appeared in Dickens’ magazine Household Words. Although Charles Dickens is not remembered as a fire scientist, his fascination with the subject and the popularity of his magazine evidently had a significant influence on the public perception of fire science. …