What's on
Veryard’s Account of divers choice remarks (1701)
Ellis Veryard (1657-1714) was a West Country physician from Plymtree. He studied medicine in Leyden and Utrecht before embarking on a long period of travel from 1682 to 1696, including […]
Accum’s System of theoretical and practical chemistry (1803)
Friedrich Christian Accum (1769-1838) popularised the study of chemistry in the early years of the 19th century. Originally from Germany, Accum moved to London in 1793. There he met William […]
Horsley’s Isaaci Newtoni opera (1779-1785)
Samuel Horsley (1733-1806) published his tremendous five-volume collected works of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) between 1779 and 1785. It was the first collected edition of Newton’s works to be published. […]
Nicholson’s Journal of natural philosophy, chemistry, and the arts (1797-1802)
William Nicholson (1753-1815) was an Enlightenment polymath – a chemist, scientist, civil engineer, translator, publisher and journalist. In his early career he even wrote literary skits for periodicals. When he […]
Tredgold’s The steam engine (1838)
Thomas Tredgold (1788-1829) was a self-taught engineer. He trained as an apprentice cabinetmaker in Durham and then in Scotland before moving to London to work at his uncle’s firm of […]
Bonnycastle’s Introduction to astronomy (1786)
John Bonnycastle (1750-1821) was a mathematics teacher at a private academy in Hackney, London, and the author of several treatises and textbooks. He published on arithmetic, algebra, geometry and trigonometry; […]
Mrs Barbauld’s Evenings at home (1792-1796)
Evenings at home was published in six volumes from 1792 to 1796. At the time, there was no formal education system for children. There were charity schools for the poor, […]
Joseph de Mendoza y Ríos (1761–1816) and the ‘Longitude Problem’
Successful sea navigation relies on being able to determine latitude (how far north or south you are) and longitude (how far east or west). When the Greenwich Royal Observatory was founded on 22 June 1675, sailors were able to measure latitude at sea by observing the altitude of the sun at midday, but once out of sight of land they had no easy means of determining longitude.
The art of bookbinding by Joseph Zaehnsdorf (1853-1930)
This week's Book in Isolation transports you to the Outer Library of the Institution to delve into the history of the Institution's bindings.
Our online Saturday programme for June and July 2020
We are delighted to bring you our popular adult and family Saturday programme online. Join in with gardening, craft activities, workshops and experiments, all inspired by the Institution's building and collection.
