Abstract

Using Dava Sobel’s best‐sellling Longitude as its departure point, this essay considers the varying goals of the popular and the academic historian of science. It argues that, though there is common ground, there are major differences between the two in terms of style, use of evidence, approach to context, and thematic focus. Nonetheless, academics have much to learn from writers such as Sobel in addressing a wider audience and relating specialized studies to wider concerns