Royal Society Centre for History of Science: Spring 2014 Lecture Series

Our spring 2014 programme of Friday lunchtime history of science lectures begins on 28 February. All the talks start at 1pm and last an hour; doors open at 12:30pm. All are welcome, and no advance booking is required.

A summary of the titles and speakers is given below; click on the dates for full details of each talk. If you have any questions or require further information, please email us – thanks.


28 February
Dr Julie McDougall-Waters and Dr Noah Moxham
(Re)Inventing science publishing: the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society from the 17th to the 20th century


7 March
Professor Tom McLeish FRS, Dr Giles Gasper and Dr Hannah Smithson
The medieval science of light: uncovering meaning with an interdisciplinary methodology


14 March
Dr Mark Jervis
Robert Hooke's Micrographia: a biological cornucopia


21 March
Dr Christine Aicardi
Francis Crick: anti-vitalist activist


28 March
Professor Michael Hunter
The image of Restoration science: the frontispiece of Sprat’s History of the Royal Society


4 April
Georgina Ferry
Women’s work: Dorothy Hodgkin and the culture and craft of X-ray crystallography


11 April
Professor Hugh Pennington CBE
Staphylococcus aureus – biography of a bug sometimes super, most often not


25 April
Gillian Darley
Vesuvius: volcanic laboratory or miracle of divine intervention?


2 May
Professor Farah Mendlesohn
The Royal Society and science fiction


9 May
Dr Matthew Hunter
Experiments in paint: Reynolds, chemistry and the Royal Society



Rupert Baker
Library Manager
T +44 20 7451 2599

The Royal Society
6-9 Carlton House Terrace
London SW1Y 5AG
royalsociety.org