Projects per year
Personal profile
Interests
- Historical geographies of ideas
- History of geographical knowledge
Research Statement
My research interests include the cultural history and geography of the life and earth sciences, with a particular emphasis on religious responses to scientific developments in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. My earliest work examined the reception of glacial theory in Victorian Edinburgh, investigated the historical geographies of Scottish natural history societies in the period 1831-1900 and, with Charles Withers and Rebekah Higgitt, explored the role of geography in the work of the British Association for the Advancement of Science from 1831 – c.1933. My book on natural history societies in Victorian Scotland was published by Pickering & Chatto in 2009 and was awarded the Frank Watson Book Prize for Scottish History in 2011. In 2014, I completed a two-year AHRC-funded project on science in nineteenth-century Belfast. I have also written about the mix of metaphysics and science in the writings of the geologist James Croll and the reception of ideas about human evolution in the context of religious debates about the creation of Eve (rather than Adam). More recent work has centred on public speech as a situated mode of interaction between science and culture in the nineteenth century. A monograph on this subject examining the lecture tours of five British celebrity scientists in Gilded Age America published by the University of Pittsburgh Press has recently appeared. With Professor David N. Livingstone, I have now completed a 27 month project investigating debates about evolution and theology in the early twentieth century. This is part of a larger John Templeton Foundation-funded project on conjunctive explanations in science and religion (CESAR). I am currently at the early stages of writing a biography of Scottish evolutionist and evangelist, Henry Drummond.
Teaching
GGY1011 Human Geography: Society, Power and Culture
GGY1012 Human Geography: Society, Economy and Population
GGY2055 Geographical Research Skills
GGY2056 Contemporary Approaches to Geographical Enquiry
GGY3066 Geography, Science and Society
GGY3081 Dissertation
GGY7001 Critical Geopolitics
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
Projects
- 2 Finished
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R8869NBE: Conjunctive Explanations: How Science and Religion Can work Together
Finnegan, D. (PI) & Livingstone, D. N. (CoI)
05/02/2019 → 31/03/2021
Project: Research
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R1040GGY: Scientific Metroplis: Belfast in an age of science, c. 1820-1914
Finnegan, D. (PI)
01/08/2011 → 21/09/2014
Project: Research
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Review: What hath Darwin to do with scripture? Comparing the conceptual worlds of the bible and evolution, by Dru Johnson
Finnegan, D. A., 09 Apr 2024, In: Evangelical Quarterly . 95, 1, p. 86-88 3 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
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Science in 19th-century Belfast
Finnegan, D., 30 Apr 2024, (Accepted) Antrim: history and society. Murphy, E. & Donnelly, C. (eds.). Geography PublicationsResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Conjunctive explanations in science and religion
Finnegan, D. A., Glass, D. H., Leidenhag, M. & Livingstone, D. N., 27 Feb 2023, Informa, Taylor & Francis Group. 335 p.Research output: Book/Report › Book
1 Citation (Scopus) -
Conjunctive explanations in science and religion. An introduction
Finnegan, D. A., Glass, D. H., Leidenhag, M. & Livingstone, D. N., 28 Feb 2023, Conjunctive explanations in science and religion. Finnegan, D. A., Glass, D. H., Leidenhag, M. & Livingstone, D. N. (eds.). Informa, Taylor & Francis Group, p. 1-10 10 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Foreword/postscript
5 Citations (Scopus) -
Review of William J. Ashworth. The Trinity Circle: anxiety, intelligence, and knowledge creation in nineteenth-century England
Finnegan, D. A., 01 Sept 2022, In: American Historical Review. 127, 3, p. 1449-1450 2 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Book/Film/Article review
Activities
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British Society for the History of Science Annual Conference
Finnegan, D. (Speaker)
08 Jul 2025 → 10 Jul 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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Journal of Historical Geography (Journal)
Finnegan, D. (Peer reviewer)
01 Jul 2025Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Publication peer-review
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John Tyndall’s Belfast address: histories and legacies of an infamous lecture
Finnegan, D. (Advisor)
22 May 2025Activity: Talk or presentation types › Public lecture/debate/seminar
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Conference of Irish Geographers
Finnegan, D. (Participant)
08 May 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Participation in conference
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Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences (Journal)
Finnegan, D. (Peer reviewer)
01 Apr 2025Activity: Publication peer-review and editorial work types › Publication peer-review
Press/Media
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John Tyndall: how a lecture in Belfast 150 years ago supercharged the modern debate on consciousness
16/08/2024
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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History of Science Walking Tour of Belfast
24/07/2022
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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‘Men of Rock: the Big Freeze’, BBC 2
14/12/2010
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
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Impacts
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Citizen Science: 150 Years of the Belfast Naturalists' Field Club
Finnegan, D. (Participant)
Impact: Cultural Impact