Professor Joe Cain publishes blog posts on many subjects related to his research interests.
In the course of my own research into activities that led to something like a “Department of Eugenics” at University College London (UCL) , I returned over and again to one work: “The origins and More…
I was reading Angelique Richardson’s 2014 TLS piece on the history of the Mental Deficiency Act 1913 (UK), which came into effect 1914 and was repealed in 1968. It inspired me to review that Act More…
Francis Galton’s Will left money to University of London “for establishment and endowment of a Professorship” related to eugenics. This blog gives the text of the original donation. More…
This is more-or-less a stairwell conversation recently had about the nature of academic office hours in which students were expected to attend. Conversation about Office Hours You: Hey Joe, what are “office hours”? Me: It’s More…
During research concerning Charles Darwin and Emma Darwin’s life at number 12 Upper Gower Street, London, I identified several errors and vagaries in biographical material found in standard reference works. This note communicates corrections and More…
In Britain, body-snatching was a cloak-and-dagger business. It also was corrupt. When her husband was arrested, tried, and executed for crimes associated with body-snatching, Ann Millard sought revenge. To her mind, local officials were complicit More…
In May 2011, Dr Silvia De Bianchi organised the workshop, “The Harmony of the Sphere: Kant and Herschel on the universe and the Astronomical Phenomena” at UCL. This brought together research on Kant, Herschel, and astronomy. More…
Robert Fitzroy (5 July 1805 – 30 April 1865) is buried in the church yard of All Saints Church, Upper Norwood, London. The memorial was restored in 1997. At the time of his death, he lived More…
First published in 1872, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals was a book at the very heart of Charles Darwin‘s research interests – a central pillar of his ‘human’ series. This book More…
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 More…
Copyright 2020 Professor Joe Cain
