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Climate change urges us to reconsider the very cold. Its natural manifestations – ice and snow – are today shrinking elements, and the gravity of melting glaciers and thawing polar regions is indeed deeply worrying for the planet as a whole. In this article questions will be raised concerning how cold was understood and imagined during the Little Ice Age, when the freezing cold was a regular part of the everyday life in large parts of Europe. The very cold became an object of enquiry for natural philosophers in unprecedented ways. The article focuses on Robert Boyle’s New Experiments and Observations touching Cold, or an Experimental History of Cold, begun (London, 1665) and Margaret Cavendish’s Observations upon Experimental Philosophy (London, 1666) and explores early modern English imaginaries of the polar regions, and how they join in the scientific debate on how to understand the cold.

The object of this article is to discuss how images of science and northern space were also images of a type of masculinity which emerged in the decades around the turn of the century. The connection made between masculinity and the north comprises several aspects, including science, tourism, mountaineering and a society in the throes of change. The premise is that "masculinity" (like "femininity") is shaped by social and cultural processes. However masculinity is also constructed in relation to other men. These gender relationships imply a struggle for male hegemony. The hypothesis is that at the turn of the century, the development of a successful masculine type featuring a connection between masculinity and the north, literally or symbolically, can be observed. The turn of the century also comprised a period of development within the natural sciences and their application to industry during the industrial breakthrough in Sweden. Mankind's struggle against nature was an important theme at that time. The explorer personified mankind's struggle to chart and subjugate nature. This struggle was particularly evident in two regions ⁠— the voyages of discovery to Africa and the expeditions into the northern Arctic. This meant that academic scientific ability need to be combined with practical skills, deliberation and stamina. In other words, here were demanded all the characteristics deemed fitting for the modern, middle-class (male) subject, a combination of rationality, enterprise and physical strength ⁠— particularly suited to adventures in the mountains and in the north.