Science & Technology

The discoverer of oxygen - a man of ‘singular energy and varied abilities’ - was, writes A.D. Orange, also a bold progressive thinker.

Darwin’s cousin in the nineteenth century, writes C.H. Corning, was a daring explorer of the world and a pioneer in the scientific study of racial qualities.

‘A sort of giant’, with immensely long arms and legs and a mop of bristling red hair, Felix Nadar employed his creative gifts in several different arts and sciences.

Joanna Richardson describes the life and work of the French father of science fiction.

In 1785, writes Mary Beth Norton, a Loyalist physician from Boston made the first aerial flight across the English Channel.

Brunel's crossing opened on December 8th, 1864.

C. Northcote Parkinson traces the development of the tin mining and plating processes, from Chinese joss-sticks, to the modern tin can.

Christopher Lloyd traces the development of naval missile technology alongside the often adverse reactions these “infernal machines” provoked.

Describing the First World War as ‘an engineers’ war’, which required ‘arms more than men’, Lloyd George acted on the urgent need to employ women in the armaments industries. Henrietta Heald explains how they in turn responded to the challenges.

The early British engineers were masters of precise machinery; L.T.C. Rolt describes how sophisticated mass-production overtook them from America.