The timeliness of the past. Metrical images of the science during the verge of two centuries (l9th-20th c.)

George N. Vlahakis
National Hellenic Research Foundation

This paper discusses the image of science in the late I9tn and early 20tn century Greece. Our evidence are not based on the usual sources like scientific books and articles but on several poems published during that time. These poems, mainly written by the popular poet Georgios Souris, had a lot of references about the status of science and scientists in the society of that period. Souris, a progressive mind, criticized strongly the absence of an originality in the activities of the Greek scientists. Some other poems, which we present, also here, discuss mainly the ideal of science from a more or less romantic perspective. Finally we may conclude that the image of science, as science is undoubtedly a social coordinate, is spread in every cultural activity, poetry included.