Lunar Society of Birmingham

Japanese: ルナ･ソサエティ（英語表記）Lunar Society of Birmingham

A private scientific research society founded in Birmingham, England in 1766. It is translated as the Lunar Eccentrics' Society or Moonlight Society. The name comes from the fact that meetings were held on the Monday afternoon closest to the full moon, as the members were generally considered eccentric (people possessed by the moon) and the moonlight was a convenient time for returning home. Although it was a local society of just a dozen people, it attracted leading scholars and businessmen in medicine, chemistry, and natural history, and from it came many achievements, mainly in applied science, such as the development of steam engines, spinning machines, improvements to land and water transportation, new methods for manufacturing industrial caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) and pottery, and reforms in education methods, all of which were made possible by the Industrial Revolution in the booming city.

Source: Heibonsha World Encyclopedia, 2nd Edition Information

Japanese:

1766年にイギリスのバーミンガムで設立された私的な科学研究団体。月奇人協会，月光協会などと訳される。名称は満月に最も近い月曜の午後に会合を催したことに由来し，これは会員たちが世間から奇人(月に憑（つ）かれた人)と思われていたことと，月明りで帰宅に好つごうだったためだという。十数人から成る地域的団体であったにもかかわらず，医学，化学，博物学の一流学者と実業家が参集し，ここから新興都市の産業革命熱を背景に蒸気機関や紡績機械，陸運･水運の改良，工業用苛性ソーダ(水酸化ナトリウム)や陶器の新製法，教育方法の改革など，応用科学を中心に多くの業績が生まれた。

出典　株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について　情報

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