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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, [...]

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” [...]

Broadcast clock generator sample 30 minute episode

Broadcast Clock Generator App

I needed a quick and easy broadcast clock for creating podcast episodes. (There is a great episode of ‘99% Invisible’ on broadcast clocks that is well worth listening to.) While [...]

#208 When Fieldwork Goes Wrong Go Public | WeAreSTS

Today, an experiment: can Generative AI replace this podcast? There’s a new feature in the GenAI service, Google Notebook LM, that creates an audio discussion about texts you give it. [...]

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 […]

HPSC0010 History of Modern Science

This page is in development. Please return in September 2026. Until then, please enjoy these cartoons. What are these?

HPSC0044 Science and the Publishing Industry

The publishing industry is enormous. It shapes science communication in fundamental ways. This module investigates publishing. How does it work? How does it enable, constrain, and challenge science communication? The module covers a wide range […]

William Jennings Bryan arrives in Dayton, Tennessee for the 1925 Scopes Trial

Last Message of William Jennings Bryan (Scopes Trial) | EGP

As the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial came to an end in July 1925, William Jennings Bryan expected to deliver the prosecution’s closing argument. Procedural tactics by the defence prevented this. The trial ended without the long-awaited […]

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. […]

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

George Gaylord Simpson (1902-1984) bibliography

Evolution: Sewall Wright Taught Me, volume 1 | EGP

Exploring the Borderlands of Evolutionary Synthesis

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

Biodynamica, published by Basile J. Luyet

Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

Punch 1855 Cartoon Dreaming of Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

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

GenAI in Research

Broadcast Clock Generator App

#208 When Fieldwork Goes Wrong Go Public | WeAreSTS

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Studio for Crystal Palace Dinosaurs: Enter The Extinct Animals Model-Room

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