New book: For Science, King & Country. The Life and Legacy of Henry Moseley

Killed in action at Gallipoli in the Dardanelles Campaign of 1915, aged just twenty-seven, Henry Gwyn Jeffreys Moseley was widely regarded as the most promising British physicist of his generation. His pioneering measurements of X-ray spectra provided a firm basis for the concept of atomic number and re-cast the periodic table of the elements into its modern form. Had he survived, he seemed destined to win a Nobel Prize.

This book is a commemoration of Moseley’s life, work, and legacy. Inspired by the exhibition ‘Dear Harry… Henry Moseley: A Scientist Lost to War’, at the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, in 2015-2016, and revisiting earlier accounts, thirteen historians and scientists chart his experience of Manchester and Oxford; his military service; the reception of his work by the scientific community; and the impact of his work upon X-ray spectroscopy in physics, chemistry, and materials science.

For Science, King & Country speaks to those with an interest in history, science, and the First World War, and draws upon a wealth of archives, artefacts, and recent research on the reward systems of science. Overall, it presents a comprehensive account of a young scientist whose brief but mercurial career paved the way to a new understanding of nature, and to shaping the future of physical science.

Edited by Professor Roy MacLeod, Professor Emeritus of Modern History, University of Sydney, Professor Russell G. Egdell, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry, University of Oxford and Dr Elizabeth Bruton, Curator of Technology and Engineering at The Science Museum, London.

Download order form: For Science, King and Country Order form

WW1 Talk: “Uncertain at Present for Women But May Increase”, 19 April, 18.00

EVENING TALK at the MUSEUM OF THE HISTORY OF SCIENCE

“Uncertain at Present for Women But May Increase”
Thursday 19 April, 6pm

Dr Elizabeth Bruton (Science Museum, London) reveals the little-known history of female wireless telegraphists in World War One and their fight for opportunities to contribute to the war effort alongside their male colleagues.

Please book your free ticket through the Museum’s Eventbrite page at www.bit.ly/mhs-events.

 

Experts and volunteers needed for WW1 reminiscence event at Museum of the History of Science, Oxford, Saturday 26 September

Saturday 26 September, 1-4pm: Remembering the Great War

A reminiscence day inviting the public to share family memories, papers and objects from World War One.

Description: Do you have memorabilia from World War One? Bring your World War One letters, photographs, diaries, objects, and diaries to the Museum of the History of Science on Saturday 26 September to share your ancestors’ memorabilia and memories of the war. We want to save this material and share it on the internet so everyone has a better understand of what the war meant to ordinary people especially those in Oxfordshire.

Bring your objects to the Museum of the History of Science on Saturday 26 September. We will photograph and scan your pictures, objects and documents and put them online on Oxford at War and Europeana 1914-1918.