Eugenics Money at UCL from Francis Galton
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…
Blog
Professor Joe Cain publishes blog posts on many subjects related to his research interests.
What are office hours? What’s expected?
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…
Darwin in London
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…
Corruption Exposed in Body-Snatching Business, 1825
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…
Music of the Stars – Live Performance Celebrating History of Astronomy
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 is buried in Upper Norwood Cemetery (photographs)
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…
Charles Darwin’s Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals (1890 second edition)
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…
No Ordinary Space: UCL Grant Museum
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…
Why Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins Created Crystal Palace Dinosaurs
Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins (FGS, FLS) was the sculptor who created the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs. Specifically, he created over thirty statues of prehistoric animals for the Crystal Palace and Park (Sydenham), which opened in June 1854. More…
Where is the Piltdown Man Excavation Site?
The web is full of commentaries about Piltdown Man and its exposure as a fraud. But where is the original locality? Piltdown, of course. The exact location – the spot on the map – is More…