2022 | Page 6 of 7 | Professor Joe Cain

Statue from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the British Museum

The statue from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) in the British Museum is a beautiful, captivating object. It is a “moai”. Its name is Hoa Hakananai’a (loosely translated to “Stolen Friend”, sometimes spelled Hoa Haka Nanai’a). […]

Plesiosaur skeleton (Thalassiodracon hawkinsi) cast at UCL Grant Museum of Zoology.

Thalassiodracon – Plesiosaur at UCL Grant Museum of Zoology

Humans came to understand the significance of fossils only in the early nineteenth century: their extraordinary variety and quantity, forms unlike anything seen in the world today, incomprehensibly vast periods of time for layer upon […]

Portraits of Charles Darwin and Emma Darwin. 1840. By George Richmond

Darwin in London – Commemorative Plaques and Family Baptism Records

During research concerning Charles and Emma Darwin’s life at number 12 Upper Gower Street, Bloomsbury, London, I identified several errors and vagaries in biographical material found in standard reference works. This note communicates corrections and […]

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

Some years ago I searched for archival materials, or papers, related to Joseph Henry Woodger, philosopher, biologist and advocate of logical positivism (Cain 2000) (obituary). The hope was to assess the extent of informal contact […]

Highlights

New Evidence on Dobzhansky 1936 “Jesup” lectures

Who says nothing exciting ever happens in historical research? This letter reports on a recent important find regarding the population geneticist, Theodosius Dobzhansky, and his famous 1937 book, Genetics and the Origin of Species. Most historians […]

Who Is Your Favourite Person from History?

UCL Talking Heads asked me to answer some questions about student life and teaching at the university. In this film, I answer the question, “Who Is Your Favourite Person from History?” This is a project for UCL. […]

ProfJoeCain answers question from UCL Talking Heads: What is your favourite place in London?

Where Is Your Favourite Place to Visit in London?

UCL Talking Heads asked me to answer some questions about student life and teaching at the university. In this film, I answer the question, “Where Is Your Favourite Place to Visit in London?” This is a project […]

Professor Cross's Phrenological Chart, 1892

Phrenology Consultation with Professor Cross

Professor W. Cross was a phrenologist who gave popular public performances at London’s Royal Aquarium in the 1880s and 1890s. Phrenology was the quack medical practice of studying bumps on the head under the false pretence of […]

Closed sign during Covid Lockdown, from "When the Roof Blew Off," in Lockdown Cultures - Photo Essay - ProfJoeCain

When The Roof Blew Off – Photoessay – Covid Lockdown Cultures

This photo essay was written in 2021 for a volume about the closure of communities associated with covid pandemic lockdowns. It began as a photoessay to document the closure of my town (Hove, UK) during […]

Benjamin Harrison Cain. 1960. Town and Country Pulpit coverart

Benjamin Harrison Cain (1889-1972) biography and bibliography

Named for the recently elected Indiana-born US President, Benjamin Harrison Cain (“Ben”) was born in Pulaski County, near San Pierre, Indiana. He had five brothers and four sisters. All were raised in a rural culture, […]

Professor Joe Cain

UCL Professor of History and Philosophy of Biology

Year: 2022