Science & Technology

Solomon Shereshevsky died on 1 May 1958. He dreamt of being a hero but achieved greatness of another kind.

Was the Earth flatter around the poles or the Equator? In 1735 two expeditions set out to settle a matter of national pride.

An earthquake in Chile and the observations of eye-witness Maria Graham caused open hostility among 19th-century geologists.

Where does new life come from? According to one theory that held sway until the 18th century, it’s all been there from the very beginning.

John Hutchinson and Isaac Newton were both devout scholars who believed that the natural world and God were inextricably linked. The similarities ended there.

On his early travels across the world it was geology that struck Charles Darwin’s interest.

The debate over whether nature or nurture guides who we are is as dependent on politics and ideology as it is on scientific research.

Is lightning natural or divine? Opinion split royalists and republicans. 

The théâtrophone premiered in Paris, at the International Exposition of Electricity, on 11 August 1881.