If you happen to be in the local area over the next few months, with half an hour to spare, pop in to University College London‘s Art Museum, where a small exhibition is showcasing the life of French philosopher and author Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). This event marks the 300th anniversary of his birth, and features books and… [Read more…]
December 6, 2011
Bloomsbury has a reputation as the home of historic and contemporary literary types, but University College London’s current exhibition on past inhabitants’ links to slavery aims to unsettle that genteel notion. But it wasn’t all bad news back then. For every George Hibbert (1757 – 1837), there was a Zachary Macaulay (1768 – 1838). Father of historian and politician… [Read more…]
November 1, 2011
When I read about UCL’s anechoic chamber, I had to get in there and see it for myself. A room where sound from the outside world is completely shut off…what would it look like? What would it sound like? The answer is, very strange, and very, very quiet. In fact, it’s one of the quietest… [Read more…]
October 4, 2011
Dr Joe Cain is a senior lecturer and historian of science at University College London. He is also a movie buff, and regularly dips into his dusty cinematic treasure vault to retrieve old sci-fi gems for his after-hours Film Night series in the Darwin Lecture Theatre, UCL. Previous screenings include The Lost World (1960), The Wolf Man… [Read more…]
September 28, 2011
Residents of Bloomsbury, Kings Cross and surrounds may be aware of the construction site now underway behind the British Library, and may even know that, when completed, the buildings will house medical and scientific research institutes and laboratories. But what exactly is it, and what will it all look like in the end? Members of… [Read more…]
September 16, 2011
This being the 100th anniversary of the death of Francis Galton (1822 – 1911), and having discovered that UCL‘s Galton Collection is not currently open to the public (due to staffing & relocation issues), I’ve delved into my photo album to bring you some pictures from my own visit to the archive a few years ago. Francis… [Read more…]
April 12, 2011
In the South Cloisters of the main building at University College London (above), is an unassuming wooden cupboard. Inside is the auto-icon of a philosopher. Dressed in his own clothes, and topped with a wax head (the original is preserved elsewhere in the college collections), he has proudly occupied the site since 1850, as specified in his will. The… [Read more…]
March 22, 2011
UCL’s Grant Museum of Zoology is once again open to the public, after moving across the street to more spacious premises at the corner of Gower and University Street in Bloomsbury. Its new home is an old library, and a variety of animal and hominid skeletons grin widely as they preside over visitors from the… [Read more…]
March 20, 2011
Andre Geim, physicist and Nobel Laureate for his work with 2-dimensional graphene, spoke on “Graphene Status and Prospects” at the University College London, Bloomsbury, October 27th, 2010. To watch the lecture, click here.
March 20, 2011
Harry Kroto, chemist, Nobel Laureate and co-discoverer of a new form of carbon, the C60 Buckminsterfullerine, gave the J.D. Bernal lecture, Science and Society in the 21st Century at Birkbeck College, 28th October 2010. This podcast is unavailable, but for audio/video of Harry Kroto and other scientists, click here.
London Bytes
February 10, 2012
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