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…
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…
Today, Euston Grove, London NW1 is little more than a roundabout for buses outside Euston Rail Station. Its most noticable feature is Reginald Wynn Owen’s arresting memorial to railway men and women lost in war. One More…
John Cooke Bourne’s lithograph of Euston Arch and the neo-classical screen in from of the Euston Grove terminus for the railway was published among his Drawings of the London and Birmingham Railway (1839) (British Library 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…
Edward Wallis produced a Guide for Strangers through London that became an essential tool for visitors to London. Successive editions (1813, 1821, 1826, 1841) allow the historian to trace the growth of many parts of the city, More…
Copyright 2022 Professor Joe Cain
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