Homepage | Professor Joe Cain

Gideon Mantell (1851) Petrifactions and Their Teaching, frontispiece, Notoris mantelli

Gideon Mantell’s 1851 Guide to Fossils at British Museum

Gideon Mantell’s 1851 guide to fossils at British Museum, including Iguanodon, Megalosaurus, Hylaeosaurus, marine reptiles, and more. […]

Close-up. Cartoon appearing in Punch 1855, volume 28, page 50, “The Effects of a Hearty Dinner After Visiting the Antediluvian Department at Crystal Palace,” featuring Crystal Palace Dinosaurs.

Punch 1855 Cartoon Dreaming of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

The cartoon depicting a man dreaming of monsters is one of two famous illustrations from Punch magazine referencing Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. In a previous post, I presented the other 1855 cartoon, [...]

Theodosius Dobzhansky’s (1937) Genetics and the Origin of Species. Title page

Genetics and the Origin of Species (1937) by Theodosius Dobzhansky

Theodosius Dobzhansky‘s (1900-1975) book, Genetics and the Origin of Species, was first published in 1937 by Columbia University Press in their Columbia Biological Series. This book played an important part [...]

Simpson's (1944) Tempo and Mode in Evolution and Simpson's (1953) Major Features of Evolution compared

Comparing Tempo and Mode (1944) with Major Features (1953) by George Gaylord Simpson

This post compares two of George Gaylord Simpson’s major theoretical works: Tempo and Mode in Evolution (1944) and Major Features of Evolution (1953). Both were published by Columbia University Press [...]

2026-27 Modules

HPSC0009 Introduction to History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science

This page is in development. Please return in September 2026. Find out more.

HPSC0011 STS Perspectives on Big Problems

The theme for 2026-27 will be “Food”. “Science and technology are two of the most important drivers of our world. As a field of study, STS is organised to interpret those activities in the past, […]

HPSC0097 Research Project

Postgraduate taught students in UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) undertake summer research projects resulting in dissertations or research reports. Professor Joe Cain supervises some students in this work, as do all academic […]

Evolution. Sewall Wright Taught Me, volume 1. Edited by Joe Cain. ISBN 9781906267025

Evolution: Sewall Wright Taught Me, volume 1 | EGP

Sewall Wright taught throughout his long career. Between 1926-1955, he worked at the University of Chicago. During this time, he developed and taught both undergraduate and graduate courses. By the early 1930s, Wright’s teaching load […]

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 […]

Richard the Lionheart statue outside UK Houses of Parliament

Nature of Gothic: A Chapter from The Stones of Venice (John Ruskin) | EGP

The famous essay by John Ruskin, The Nature of Gothic, first appeared as a chapter in his 1853 The Stones of Venice. This chapter proved immensely popular and took on a life of its own. […]

Professor Joe Cain

UCL Professor of History and Philosophy of Biology

Synthesis Period in Evolutionary Studies

Joseph Henry Woodger (1894-1981) Papers at University College London (UCL)

Genetics: Sewall Wright Taught Me, volume 2 | EGP

International Genetical Congress (1939, Seventh): Queries using LLM

Evolution: Sewall Wright Taught Me, volume 1 | EGP

New Evidence on Dobzhansky 1936 “Jesup” lectures

Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

Gideon Mantell’s 1851 Guide to Fossils at British Museum

Punch 1855 Cartoon Dreaming of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

GenAI in Research

Genetics and the Origin of Species (1937) by Theodosius Dobzhansky

Comparing Tempo and Mode (1944) with Major Features (1953) by George Gaylord Simpson

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#206 Deaf Sentence We May Be Losing Our Hearing, Darcy Watson

Recent Posts

HPSC Modules 2026-27

HPSC0009 Introduction to History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science

HPSC0011 STS Perspectives on Big Problems

HPSC0097 Research Project

Open Access Titles | Euston Grove Press

Evolution: Sewall Wright Taught Me, volume 1 | EGP

Brown Dog Statue in Battersea Park London | EGP

Nature of Gothic: A Chapter from The Stones of Venice (John Ruskin) | EGP