Scientists
Joseph Priestley
Joseph Priestley radical dissenter and champion for the open and inquiring mind. Joseph Priestly was quite possibly one of the most important thinkers of the Enlightenment. His direct and open inquiry into both religious beliefs and ideas was also directed at science, politics and society. Who was Joseph Priestley? He was born on the 13th…
Read MoreLaura Bassi Scientist
Laura Bassi was born in Bologna in 1711, the same year as St Paul’s Cathedral in London was completed. Laura Maria Caterina Bassi was a brilliant and erudite young woman, born into a heady atmosphere of early 18th century Bologna, a melting pot of ideas and fusion of like minded scholars, caught in the bosom…
Read MoreHenrietta Vansittart Engineer
Henrietta Vanstittart b.1833, was a woman who seemed to flout convention. She was a self taught engineer, a married woman with a high profile lover, Edward Lytton.
Read MoreC17th Human Dissection and Resurectionists
The enlightenment period of the C17th brought with it a new approach to science based on observation and experimentation and with that came the practice of human dissection in open observation anatomical theatres.
Read MoreHow the Higgs Boson Particle Was Found
History in the making a little about CERN and how the Higgs Boson is just a bonus because CERN already gave us the internet…:)
Read MoreCholera on the streets of 19th Century London
Mid C19th and the streets of London were filled with filth and disease. Poor science exacerbated the problem until the work of people such as John Snow and Joseph Bazalgette turned the situation around.
Read MoreThe Use of Antiseptics in Operating Theatres
The problem of infection in operating theatres had been known about from the end of the C18th through the C19th. More people were dying from infections acquired in the operating theatre than were dying of their ailments. Florence Nightingale highlighted the need for a rigorous approach to hospital hygiene and Lister’s work with carbolic, changed…
Read MoreChloroform For Anaesthesia
The miracle of the discovery of chloroform and it’s use as an anaesthetic by James Young Simpson
Read MoreThe Remarkable Influence of Sir Joseph Banks
The remarkable influence of Joseph Banks, explorer, botanist and ‘enlightened’ man, stretched itself over a multitude of disciplines and ages. The connections he made heralded a new wave of thinking about science which still impact today…
Read MoreMap of John Snow’s London 1859
An intriguing snippet to put you in touch with John Snow and his mapping study of cholera in London in 1859
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