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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. […]

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. 1854 Photograph.

Queen Victoria Visited Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited Crystal Palace Dinosaurs several times during the site’s construction in 1853 and 1854. In November 1853, the Royals visited the Model-Room, or Studio, of [...]

SWOT analysis banner presented as interlocking jigsaw puzzle pieces

GenAI Helps Review Patterns in Student SWOT Projects for Publishing Module (Postgraduate)

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 […]

HPSC0010 History of Modern Science

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

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 […]

Eoörnis pterovelox gobiensis (Eoornis) | EGP

Meet Eoörnis (Eoornis), the woofen-poof. As the author explains, ‘Through countless ages and successive civilizations this remarkable bird has been the symbol of speed, stamina, grace of line, proportion of members, and beauty of motion.’ […]

Tiger in UCL Grant Museum of Zoology - cover for Cain - No Ordinary Space

No Ordinary Space: UCL Grant Museum | EGP

UCL’s Grant Museum of Zoology moved to the Thomas Lewis Room in UCL’s Rockefeller Building in 2011. No Ordinary Space is a book designed to answer popular historical questions about the room, the building, and […]

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

Using LLMs to query 1939 International Genetical Congress

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

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

One Hundred and One Mendelians – Buttolph (2008)

Exploring the Borderlands of Evolutionary Synthesis

Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

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

Queen Victoria Visited Crystal Palace Dinosaurs

GenAI in Research

GenAI Helps Review Patterns in Student SWOT Projects for Publishing Module (Postgraduate)

Using LLMs to query 1939 International Genetical Congress

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

Recent Posts

HPSC Modules 2026-27

HPSC0097 Research Project

HPSC0010 History of Modern Science

HPSC0028 History of Life Sciences

Open Access Titles | Euston Grove Press

Eoörnis pterovelox gobiensis (Eoornis) | EGP

No Ordinary Space: UCL Grant Museum | EGP

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