The Seventeenth Century: The Age of Individuality
J.W.N. Watkins illustrates how the great individualist thinkers of the 17th century had a profound effect upon the development of modern Europe.
Science & Technology
The Testament of Sir Humphry Davy
R.J. White introduces Humphry Davy: the inventor of the safety-lamp and one of Britain's greatest chemists was by temperament a romantic poet and philosopher.
First Fatalities
William Huskisson was the first person to die in a railway accident.
Can Science Explain History?
Britain's Olympic success was the result of marrying science with sporting methodology. Can the same techniques be applied to history?
Penicillin: The Quiet Cultivator
The story of penicillin is well known, as are those Nobel Prize winners who were honoured for their part in its discovery. But one man’s contribution has been overlooked. Malcolm Murfett sets the record straight on the biochemist Norman G. Heatley.
How Oil Became King
The great historical shifts in energy use, from wood to coal, to oil, nuclear power and beyond, have transformed civilisation and will do so again, as Richard Rhodes explains.
The Royal Society's First Charter
The illustrious champion of science was created on July 15th, 1662.
Venus in the Face of the Sun
Nicholas Mee recalls Jeremiah Horrocks, the first astronomer to observe Venus cross in front of the Sun, whose discoveries paved the way for the achievements of Isaac Newton.
Cern, The Divine Comedy and All That
The links between Dante's The Divine Comedy and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN are deeper than one might imagine.
Yorkshire’s Luddites: At War with the Future
In 1811 skilled textile workers in Britain attacked factories and factory owners to defend their livelihoods. By the time the Luddite cause hit Yorkshire in 1812, it had become a genuine mass movement.