I’m a historian of science. This category is for posts covering material in this subject area.
English Heritage commemorates Charles Darwin with a blue plaque located on Gower Street in Bloomsbury, central London. The “Darwin plaque” is fixed to the Darwin Building, one of the substantial science buildings of University College More…
For many years, we operated in STS UCL a portfolio website, “Made in STS UCL“. Recently, we took the difficult decision to withdraw that site. The concept behind the site was to provide a portfolio More…
A historian colleague of mine asked if I knew anything about the genealogy of UCL’s first Professor of Chemistry, Edward Turner (1796-1837). My colleague said he had heard a report that Turner was mixed race, More…
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.’ 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
