Science & Technology

On December 20th, 1898, Pierre Curie scrawled the word 'radium' in his notebook as the name for a new element he and his wife Marie had discovered in their laboratory in Paris.

Patricia Fara investigates how the many paintings, prints and cartoons of Joseph Banks, botanist, explorer and scientific administrator, influenced public attitudes to science in the early 19th century.

The Morris Minor was launched at the British Motor Show of 1948, which opened at Earl's Court on October 27th.

A 19th-century French novelist’s vision of the future included not just television, air transport and women in the workplace, but also biological warfare and population crises. Robert Hendrick examines the predictions of Albert Robida.

Clive Foss tells how the airship phenomenon caught the imagination of the Soviet Union – becoming a key propaganda tool to Stalin, both at home and abroad.

Ian Fitzgerald describes the maiden flight of the 'Spruce Goose', the largest seaplane ever built, on November 2nd, 1947.

A cabinet of curiosities or a medium for enlightening the general public? Patricia Fara looks at how debate over democratising scientific knowledge crystalised in the development of the newly-formed British Museum.

David Nash on how Victorian arguments about design in the universe echo in science-theology debates today.

Penny Johnston introduces the National Museum of Civil War Medicine in Frederick, Maryland.