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John Martin's 1837 The Country of the Iguanodon

The Country of the Iguanodon, by Gideon Mantell – Two Versions

“The Country of the Iguanodon” is Gideon Mantell’s attempt to imagine the paleoecology of dinosaurs. Transcripts of 1838 and 1851 descriptions. […]

Dinner in the Iguanodon Model, at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham

New Year’s Eve Dinner in the Iguanodon at Crystal Palace 31 December 1853

The “Dinner in the Iguanodon Model” is the best known story involving Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. That dinner took place on New Year’s Eve 31 December 1853. It was immortalised in an [...]

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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HPSC0041 Dissertation

Undergraduates in UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) undertake final year projects resulting in dissertations or research reports. Students undertake a research project largely of their own design in the field of science […]

HPSC0010 History of Modern Science

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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 […]

Sewall Wright Taught Me - Evolution - lecture notes Robert E Sloan

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

The mathematical population geneticist and evolutionary biologist 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. […]

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 […]

Professor Joe Cain

UCL Professor of History and Philosophy of Biology

Synthesis Period in Evolutionary Studies

Genetics: Sewall Wright Taught Me, volume 2 | EGP

New Evidence on Dobzhansky 1936 “Jesup” lectures

Patricide in the Repeated Assassination of George Gaylord Simpson

One Hundred and One Mendelians – Buttolph (2008)

George Gaylord Simpson (1902-1984) bibliography

Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

The Country of the Iguanodon, by Gideon Mantell – Two Versions

New Year’s Eve Dinner in the Iguanodon at Crystal Palace 31 December 1853

LLMs and GenAI in Research

Medical Cards for Croydon Schoolchildren 1920s-1930s

Project Pitch Explained for HPSC0044 Undergraduates

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