Born on July 18, 1635, this polymath broke ground in fields ranging from pneumatics, microscopy, mechanics and astronomy to civil engineering and architecture.
Academic rigor, journalistic flair
Articles on History of science
Displaying 1 - 20 of 61 articles
The early days of science writing were largely confined to men, with women treated to texts labelled "for the ladies". Things have changed, but more needs to be done.
We talk about artistic inspiration all the time – but science demands inspiration too.
Left off publications due to Nazi prejudice, this Jewish woman lost her rightful place in the scientific pantheon as the discoverer of nuclear fission.
Reports of demonic possession are once again on the rise. But during the devil’s last apogee in early modern Europe, demonic afflictions were taken seriously by both priests and physicians.
The crucial phase of our discovery of black holes took place in a suitably dark period of human history – World War II.
Apollo 8 was the moment that humanity realised a dream conceived in our cultural imagination over two millennia ago.
Uncovering forgotten history can help explain why science still has a masculine bias today.
Religion has helped science, as well as hindered it.
Fossil hunter Mary Anning didn't get the recognition she deserved during her lifetime. Now her home town wants to raise a statue in her honour.
More than a thousand local people helped Alfred Russel Wallace in his eight year voyage collecting specimens of animals in the Malay archipelago.
Science fiction has been around for centuries.
Climate science in the computer age is the pursuit of elite scientists. A historian of science sees an upside to the popular, participatory approach of studying changes to the climate from the 19th century.
Once associated with mind-control experiments and counter-cultural defiance, psychedelics now show great promise for mental health treatments and may prompt a re-evaluation of the scientific method.
An evolutionary biologist visits the remote jungle mountaintop where a little-known naturalist wrote his insightful paper about the mechanisms of evolution that spurred on a rivalrous Charles Darwin.
The blood moon myths are many and varied, but, at the end of the day, it's just an eclipse.
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This episode of the In Depth Out Loud podcast outlines the importance of finding a way to remove the inequalities promoted by modern science.
From human 'gills' to reproducing rock, evidence hasn't always pointed scientists in the right direction.
The 19th-century British anatomist Richard Owen downplayed the role of colonial contributors and largely ignored the importance of Aboriginal testimony and knowledge in describing the marsupial lion.
A long read on how science's dark imperial past still shapes research today – and what to do about it.
Top contributors
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Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University
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Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Department of Physics, University of York
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Associate professor in astronomy, Monash University
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Professor of Science Communication and Chemistry, University of Hull
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Professor in High Medieval History, Durham University
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Associate Professor in Experimental Psychology (Perception), University of Oxford
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Lecturer in South Asian History, University of Reading
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Professor of History, University of Western Australia
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Professor and Head of School, School of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Sydney
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Professor Emerita, Classical Studies, The Open University
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Postdoctoral Researcher, Centre de Cosmologie Physique de Paris
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Honorary Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Sciences, University of Melbourne
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Royal Society Research Fellow and Senior Birmingham Fellow, University of Birmingham
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Pro Vice-Chancellor, Graduate & International Research, University of Melbourne
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Honorary Fellow, University of Leeds
