Homepage | Professor Joe Cain

Sketch of Dinner in Iguanodon Model as remembered by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, 1862. Source: Letter from Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins to Edward James Alfred Trimmer, 27 August, British Library Add MS 50150 f215. Photo: ProfJoeCain CC BY NC.

Remembering Dinner in the Dinosaur: Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins’ 1862 Sketch

Near the end of August 1862, Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (1807-1894) wrote to Edward Trimmer (1827-1904) with a brief mention of the New Year’s Eve dinner in Iguanodon mould. The letter [...]

Crystal Palace Dinosaurs | Professor Joe Cain

Geology and Inhabitants of the Ancient World (Crystal Palace Guide 15) | EGP

Richard Owen’s original guide to the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs, created by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins and displayed in Crystal Palace Park, Sydenham, London since 1854. These life-sized sculptures of prehistoric “monsters” [...]

Sample Medical Card for Croydon Schoolboys 1920s-1930s

Medical Cards for Croydon Schoolchildren 1920s-1930s

Historians must make more – and more creative – use of AI technologies for data analysis as well as for routine task of data sorting and transcription. To create a [...]

Project Pitch Explained for HPSC0044 Undergraduates

In HPSC0044 Science and the Publishing Industry students develop a book proposal. First, they sketch an idea. Second, they deliver a project pitch. Third, they submit a book proposal. To [...]

Proceedings of the Seventh International Genetical Congress held in 1939 and published in 1941.

Using LLMs to query 1939 International Genetical Congress

What work can large-language models (LLMs) do for historical researching? They offer tools for voluminous compilation of data ready for complex human analysis. They can organise and reorganise data. They can extract data from source material. They can be set to search for trends. We’re coming to grips with LLM tools for historical researching, and we’re quickly moving well beyond the LLM-as-author model so distrusted in our community. Historians must push ourselves to be as creative and demanding of LLM resources as those in our sister disciplines.

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HPSC0010 History of Modern Science

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HPSC0155 Science Communication Final Project

UCL’s Science Communication MSc degree culminates in a science communication project of the student’s own design. This project is documented by a project proposal in Term 3 and a final product submitted near the end […]

HPSC0028 History of Life Sciences

A historical survey of the biological sciences from the Enlightenment to the present. What are the big names and big ideas? How were they received at the time and appropriated later? Who’s been ignored and […]

Cumberland Clark. 1929. Shakespeare and Science. ISBN 978-1-906267-39-1.

Shakespeare and Science: Biology, Physics, Chemistry and More from the Bard | EGP

Cumberland Clarke’s Shakespeare and Science is a monumental compilation of the William Shakespeare’s many references to natural and celestial phenomena, including a careful study of the Bard’s interest in, and dramatic use of, natural phenomena. […]

Second Brown Dog Statue, Battersea Park, London, UK. Joe Cain

Brown Dog Statue in Battersea Park London | EGP

Protests were sure to follow the unveiling of the brown dog statue in Battersea, London, in 1906 in Latchmere Recreation Ground. The little terrier had become the focus of an anti-vivisection campaign directed against Professor William Bayliss […]

Brown Dog and His Memorial (Battersea, London) | EGP

In 1907, London medical students protested over a statue raised to a little brown dog. Bonfires burned late into the night. Large groups marched through the streets clashing with police. Gangs were arrested trying to […]

Professor Joe Cain

UCL Professor of History and Philosophy of Biology

Synthesis Period in Evolutionary Studies

George Gaylord Simpson (1902-1984) bibliography

Descended from Darwin – Context for the Evolutionary Synthesis

Historical Significance of George Gaylord Simpson’s Tempo and Mode in Evolution (1944)

Physiological Genetics: Sewall Wright Taught Me, volume 3 | EGP

One Hundred and One Mendelians – Buttolph (2008)

Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

Remembering Dinner in the Dinosaur: Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins’ 1862 Sketch

Geology and Inhabitants of the Ancient World (Crystal Palace Guide 15) | EGP

LLMs and GenAI in Research

Medical Cards for Croydon Schoolchildren 1920s-1930s

Project Pitch Explained for HPSC0044 Undergraduates

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