Michael Hunter tells how a mysterious phenomenon in the Highlands sparked a debate between scientific virtuosi and urban sceptics, in an episode that helps shed light on the vexed issue of ‘the decline of magic’.
David Moulson looks at the history of pewter, as a new dedicated museum opens in Stratford-upon-Avon.
The brilliant inventor and engineer William George Armstrong died on December 27th, 1900, aged ninety.
Joseph Needham, one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable scholars, was born on December 9th, 1900.
The pioneering astronomer was born on March 16th, 1750.
On January 31st, 1950, Truman announced that he had directed the Atomic Agency Commission 'to continue with its work on all forms of atomic energy weapons, including the so-called hydrogen or super-bomb'.
Dave Wright and Nicholas Hill explain the failure of Britain’s post-war attempts to join the space race.
Richard Cavendish describes the maiden flight of the world's first jet-propelled airliner, on July 27th 1949.
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.
