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John Ruskin (1854) The Opening of the Crystal Palace. Title page

Ruskin’s 1854 Critique of Crystal Palace (Sydenham)

John Ruskin did not like the new Crystal Palace Sydenham when it opened in 1854. In Opening of the Crystal Palace (1854), he launches his critique, arguing that while the glass structure [...]

Bernissart Iguanodons in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels

The Dinosaur Gallery in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences (Brussels Museum of Natural History) includes the famous Bernissart Iguanodons. This consists of thirty complete or nearly complete skeletons [...]

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

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

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 [...]

HPSC0044 Book Proposal feedback form 2025

GenAI Helps Review Patterns in Student Book Proposals for Publishing Module (Undergraduate)

I’ve used generative AI to help me review patterns in my marking and feedback given for student assignments in the module, HPSC0044 Publishing as Science Communication. This module is taught [...]

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 […]

2026-27 Modules

HPSC0009 Introduction to History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science

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George Baxter print showing Crystal Palace 1854 Sydenham view from the north

Guide to Crystal Palace and Park from 1871 | EGP

The Crystal Palace Company published a Guide to Crystal Palace and Park nearly every year in the first few decades after opening their attraction in Sydenham in 1854. These guides described main attractions – especially […]

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 […]

Cain 2007 Regular Contact With Anyone Interested - Dobzhansky and friends on his new car

Regular Contact with Anyone Interested: Documents of Society for the Study of Speciation | EGP

Organising the Society for the Study of Speciation was a simple affair in 1939. The job of implementing its vision fell upon the entomologist Alfred Emerson, recruited to serve as Secretary. ‘The need was felt by […]

Professor Joe Cain

UCL Professor of History and Philosophy of Biology

Synthesis Period in Evolutionary Studies

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

Sewall Wright Taught Me series: Evolution, Genetics, Physiological Genetics | EGP

George Gaylord Simpson (1902-1984) bibliography

Descended from Darwin – Context for the Evolutionary Synthesis

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

Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

Ruskin’s 1854 Critique of Crystal Palace (Sydenham)

Bernissart Iguanodons in the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels

GenAI in Research

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

GenAI Helps Review Patterns in Student Book Proposals for Publishing Module (Undergraduate)

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HPSC Modules 2026-27

HPSC0010 History of Modern Science

HPSC0155 Science Communication Final Project

HPSC0009 Introduction to History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Science

Open Access Titles | Euston Grove Press

Guide to Crystal Palace and Park from 1871 | EGP

Brown Dog Statue in Battersea Park London | EGP

Regular Contact with Anyone Interested: Documents of Society for the Study of Speciation | EGP