Rebekah Higgitt
@rhiggitt.bsky.social
Historian of science; Principal Curator of Science at National Museums Scotland & Hon Fellow, STIS, Uni of Edinburgh. VP British Society for the History of Science #histSTM. Views own.
Formerly known as @beckyfh
https://teleskopos.wordpress.com/profile
Formerly known as @beckyfh
https://teleskopos.wordpress.com/profile
Reposted by Rebekah Higgitt
📣 Call for submissions: Singer Prize 2026
Submit your unpublished essay (< 10 000 words), based
on original research into any aspect of #HistSTM!
🎓 Eligibility: current postgraduates or awarded a PG degree within the past 5 years
📅 Deadline: 30 April
ℹ️ Learn more:
Submit your unpublished essay (< 10 000 words), based
on original research into any aspect of #HistSTM!
🎓 Eligibility: current postgraduates or awarded a PG degree within the past 5 years
📅 Deadline: 30 April
ℹ️ Learn more:
Grants – BSHS – The British Society for the History of Science
BSHS – The British Society for the History of Science
bshs.org.uk
February 16, 2026 at 10:07 AM
📣 Call for submissions: Singer Prize 2026
Submit your unpublished essay (< 10 000 words), based
on original research into any aspect of #HistSTM!
🎓 Eligibility: current postgraduates or awarded a PG degree within the past 5 years
📅 Deadline: 30 April
ℹ️ Learn more:
Submit your unpublished essay (< 10 000 words), based
on original research into any aspect of #HistSTM!
🎓 Eligibility: current postgraduates or awarded a PG degree within the past 5 years
📅 Deadline: 30 April
ℹ️ Learn more:
Reposted by Rebekah Higgitt
You'd have thought this might be a good time to maintain our still outsized global influence. But apparently not.
February 15, 2026 at 9:25 PM
You'd have thought this might be a good time to maintain our still outsized global influence. But apparently not.
Reposted by Rebekah Higgitt
It is utterly extraordinary that one of the UK's greatest engines of soft power has to scrabble about with the begging bowl like this.
'With just seven wks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported.'
100% this.
'With just seven wks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported.'
100% this.
And another bites the dust?
The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The BBC World Service will run out of funding in just seven weeks. Its funding arrangement with the Foreign Office finishes at the end of March. There is no plan for what happens next.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
The Guardian view on the BBC World Service: this is London calling | Editorial
Editorial: With just seven weeks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported
www.theguardian.com
February 15, 2026 at 11:02 PM
It is utterly extraordinary that one of the UK's greatest engines of soft power has to scrabble about with the begging bowl like this.
'With just seven wks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported.'
100% this.
'With just seven wks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported.'
100% this.
Happy Valentine's!
Roses are red
Snowdrops are white
For just this one day
The weather was not 5h!+e
Snowdrops are white
For just this one day
The weather was not 5h!+e
February 14, 2026 at 7:20 PM
Happy Valentine's!
Reposted by Rebekah Higgitt
If you want a colourful weekend read, here's the extract from my book Alchemy: An Illustrated History published in @chemistryworld.com
www.chemistryworld.com/culture/cruc...
www.chemistryworld.com/culture/cruc...
Crucibles: from alchemy to chemistry
An excerpt from Philip Ball's book Alchemy traces chemistry back to its beginnings
www.chemistryworld.com
February 13, 2026 at 5:50 PM
If you want a colourful weekend read, here's the extract from my book Alchemy: An Illustrated History published in @chemistryworld.com
www.chemistryworld.com/culture/cruc...
www.chemistryworld.com/culture/cruc...
Farage is wrong shocker (useful thread on how he's wrong, and how wrong he is)
Nigel Farage claims "Look at net migration numbers. Oh, it isn't good that net migration is coming down".
"Do you know why? Its because there is an exodus: those of a situation + a financial position to be fortunate to have a choice"
A v misleading exaggeration/narrative of falling net migration
"Do you know why? Its because there is an exodus: those of a situation + a financial position to be fortunate to have a choice"
A v misleading exaggeration/narrative of falling net migration
February 13, 2026 at 4:13 PM
Farage is wrong shocker (useful thread on how he's wrong, and how wrong he is)
I had a pleasant day mostly looking at astrolabes. Did you know that the little bit of metal that keeps the pin in place is called the horse? In the case of the later example on the right it is actually shaped like one #histSTM 📜
February 12, 2026 at 8:34 PM
I had a pleasant day mostly looking at astrolabes. Did you know that the little bit of metal that keeps the pin in place is called the horse? In the case of the later example on the right it is actually shaped like one #histSTM 📜
"The seriousness of this failure should not be underestimated."
"It is frankly intolerable that the Royal Society has allowed itself to be hollowed out in this way."
"It is frankly intolerable that the Royal Society has allowed itself to be hollowed out in this way."
FOR THE RECORD: one year on, I lay out clearly how Elon Musk FRS has breached the @royalsociety.org’s code of conduct, why the Society’s failure to defend its values has been so damaging, & what they need do to recover their standing in the scientific community. occamstypewriter.org/scurry/2026/...
February 12, 2026 at 8:21 PM
"The seriousness of this failure should not be underestimated."
"It is frankly intolerable that the Royal Society has allowed itself to be hollowed out in this way."
"It is frankly intolerable that the Royal Society has allowed itself to be hollowed out in this way."
Reposted by Rebekah Higgitt
The AIP stats team has released its latest data of physics & astronomy PhD trends, with breakdown by gender. What is extraordinary to me is how clearly the overall trends exhibit an important gender dimension, and that that story is quite different between physics and astronomy.
February 11, 2026 at 9:58 PM
The AIP stats team has released its latest data of physics & astronomy PhD trends, with breakdown by gender. What is extraordinary to me is how clearly the overall trends exhibit an important gender dimension, and that that story is quite different between physics and astronomy.
Reposted by Rebekah Higgitt
There hasn't been much media coverage outside the science media of the Epstein scientists. So I wrote about them here for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social. As many in science know, John Brockman was central in linking Epstein to scientific "public intellectuals".
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
Epstein and the moral rot of US public intellectuals
The disgraced sex offender was able to gather a group of scientists and thinkers around him who shared his anti-woke, anti-women and Silicon Valley techno-fascist views. But it doesn’t end with Epstei...
www.thenewworld.co.uk
February 11, 2026 at 9:53 PM
There hasn't been much media coverage outside the science media of the Epstein scientists. So I wrote about them here for @thenewworldmag.bsky.social. As many in science know, John Brockman was central in linking Epstein to scientific "public intellectuals".
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
www.thenewworld.co.uk/philip-ball-...
Reposted by Rebekah Higgitt
💜🎂 Happy 200th birthday @ucl.ac.uk!
In 1826, UCL was founded as London’s very first university with a progressive vision: higher education for all, regardless of religion or social background.
Today we mark our Bicentenary and the beginning of a year of celebration! #UCL200
In 1826, UCL was founded as London’s very first university with a progressive vision: higher education for all, regardless of religion or social background.
Today we mark our Bicentenary and the beginning of a year of celebration! #UCL200
February 11, 2026 at 2:25 PM
💜🎂 Happy 200th birthday @ucl.ac.uk!
In 1826, UCL was founded as London’s very first university with a progressive vision: higher education for all, regardless of religion or social background.
Today we mark our Bicentenary and the beginning of a year of celebration! #UCL200
In 1826, UCL was founded as London’s very first university with a progressive vision: higher education for all, regardless of religion or social background.
Today we mark our Bicentenary and the beginning of a year of celebration! #UCL200
Happy birthday UCL! (I was going to say that it was probably raining in 1826 too, but I see that year was mostly remarkable for a cold January and a very hot summer.)
February 11, 2026 at 6:00 PM
Happy birthday UCL! (I was going to say that it was probably raining in 1826 too, but I see that year was mostly remarkable for a cold January and a very hot summer.)
There are just a handful of women marked so far, I'm sure the #histsci community on here can suggest many more (brief submission form via link below).
Help us map science history for #InternationalDayofWomenandGirlsinScience. We've launched a new interactive map of landmarks across the UK connected to women from science history, and we want your suggestions.
Explore the map and submit your landmark now: royalsociety.org/news-resourc...
Explore the map and submit your landmark now: royalsociety.org/news-resourc...
February 11, 2026 at 1:54 PM
There are just a handful of women marked so far, I'm sure the #histsci community on here can suggest many more (brief submission form via link below).
This would be fabulous! I had a chance to see some scientific instruments there, but there's so much more to explore 📜
#jobfairy this is an intriguing one - 18 month research fellowship for an object-focused historian, museums studies person or similar at Chatsworth House! £48k + £11k travel, outreach etc #skystorians
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQK358/d...
www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DQK358/d...
Devonshire Collections Research Fellow at Chatsworth House Trust
Searching for an academic job? Explore this Devonshire Collections Research Fellow opening on jobs.ac.uk! Click to view more details and browse other academic jobs.
www.jobs.ac.uk
February 10, 2026 at 12:48 PM
This would be fabulous! I had a chance to see some scientific instruments there, but there's so much more to explore 📜
I was in a restaurant about 100m from this and didn't notice anything! Saw the pics on social media and the burnt-out bus when we left.
February 9, 2026 at 10:57 PM
I was in a restaurant about 100m from this and didn't notice anything! Saw the pics on social media and the burnt-out bus when we left.
Reposted by Rebekah Higgitt
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
February 9, 2026 at 12:25 PM
1/ ProPublica collected handwritten letters in mid-January from children held at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center, the same facility where 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was taken.
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Hundreds of kids are still detained.
We’ll let the children’s words speak for themselves. 🧵
Reposted by Rebekah Higgitt
Call for Contributions to a Sourcebook for Histories of Weather & Weathering teleskopos.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/c...
Full details linked and here teleskopos.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
It will be edited by me, @lottaleiwo.bsky.social and Tamara Culkins. Please share! #histSTM #envhist 🗃️📜
Full details linked and here teleskopos.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
It will be edited by me, @lottaleiwo.bsky.social and Tamara Culkins. Please share! #histSTM #envhist 🗃️📜
Call for Contributions: Histories of Weather & Weathering
Call for Contributions: A Sourcebook for Histories of Weather and Weathering (working title) Editors: Rebekah Higgitt, Tamara Caulkins and Lotta Leiwo We invite contributions to this planned open a…
teleskopos.wordpress.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:01 AM
Call for Contributions to a Sourcebook for Histories of Weather & Weathering teleskopos.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/c...
Full details linked and here teleskopos.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
It will be edited by me, @lottaleiwo.bsky.social and Tamara Culkins. Please share! #histSTM #envhist 🗃️📜
Full details linked and here teleskopos.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
It will be edited by me, @lottaleiwo.bsky.social and Tamara Culkins. Please share! #histSTM #envhist 🗃️📜
Reposted by Rebekah Higgitt
"Eighty-two years after his execution by the Gestapo on June 16, 1944, the Jewish historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch will be inducted into the Pantheon on June 23... His family requested that 'the far right, in all its forms, be excluded from any participation in the ceremony.'"
Marc Bloch, historien et résistant juif, entrera au Panthéon le 23 juin
Marc Bloch, historien et résistant juif, entrera au Panthéon le 23 juin
La date du 16 juin avait été dans un premier temps pressentie pour son entrée au Panthéon, mais la cérémonie a dû être décalée de quelques jours en raison du G7 à Evian-les-Bains.
www.lemonde.fr
February 8, 2026 at 7:02 PM
"Eighty-two years after his execution by the Gestapo on June 16, 1944, the Jewish historian and resistance fighter Marc Bloch will be inducted into the Pantheon on June 23... His family requested that 'the far right, in all its forms, be excluded from any participation in the ceremony.'"
Great story of the constant maintenance work required to keep the Clyde navigable #histSTM
This section of McCulloch's View of Glasgow in 1853 looks almost empty, but it gives us a glimpse of some of the least glamorous yet most essential vessels ever to use the river: the mud punts of the Clyde Navigation Trust.
🧵
🧵
February 8, 2026 at 9:03 AM
Great story of the constant maintenance work required to keep the Clyde navigable #histSTM
I missed that this had been announced, but am delighted we could celebrate such a distinguished scholar and supporter of the field. #histsci #histSTM
The Agnes Mary Clerke Medal, awarded every three years to an individual who has achieved outstanding personal research into the history of astronomy or geophysics, goes to Prof Clemency Montelle, of the University of Canterbury, NZ.
She said she was "delighted and honoured" to receive the prize.
⤵️
She said she was "delighted and honoured" to receive the prize.
⤵️
February 8, 2026 at 8:34 AM
Yes, I've dusted off the old blog to post this. Slightly shocked to discover I hadn't posted anything since 2020. Just maybe I will start to add the odd thing again. Maybe.
Call for Contributions to a Sourcebook for Histories of Weather & Weathering teleskopos.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/c...
Full details linked and here teleskopos.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
It will be edited by me, @lottaleiwo.bsky.social and Tamara Culkins. Please share! #histSTM #envhist 🗃️📜
Full details linked and here teleskopos.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
It will be edited by me, @lottaleiwo.bsky.social and Tamara Culkins. Please share! #histSTM #envhist 🗃️📜
Call for Contributions: Histories of Weather & Weathering
Call for Contributions: A Sourcebook for Histories of Weather and Weathering (working title) Editors: Rebekah Higgitt, Tamara Caulkins and Lotta Leiwo We invite contributions to this planned open a…
teleskopos.wordpress.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:03 AM
Yes, I've dusted off the old blog to post this. Slightly shocked to discover I hadn't posted anything since 2020. Just maybe I will start to add the odd thing again. Maybe.
Call for Contributions to a Sourcebook for Histories of Weather & Weathering teleskopos.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/c...
Full details linked and here teleskopos.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
It will be edited by me, @lottaleiwo.bsky.social and Tamara Culkins. Please share! #histSTM #envhist 🗃️📜
Full details linked and here teleskopos.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
It will be edited by me, @lottaleiwo.bsky.social and Tamara Culkins. Please share! #histSTM #envhist 🗃️📜
Call for Contributions: Histories of Weather & Weathering
Call for Contributions: A Sourcebook for Histories of Weather and Weathering (working title) Editors: Rebekah Higgitt, Tamara Caulkins and Lotta Leiwo We invite contributions to this planned open a…
teleskopos.wordpress.com
February 6, 2026 at 10:01 AM
Call for Contributions to a Sourcebook for Histories of Weather & Weathering teleskopos.wordpress.com/2026/02/05/c...
Full details linked and here teleskopos.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
It will be edited by me, @lottaleiwo.bsky.social and Tamara Culkins. Please share! #histSTM #envhist 🗃️📜
Full details linked and here teleskopos.wordpress.com/wp-content/u...
It will be edited by me, @lottaleiwo.bsky.social and Tamara Culkins. Please share! #histSTM #envhist 🗃️📜
It's obvious that Mark Kermode wouldn't enjoy the Melania film, but he is eloquent on just why not www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTyU...
Mark Kermode reviews Melania
YouTube video by Kermode and Mayo's Take
www.youtube.com
February 6, 2026 at 8:29 AM
It's obvious that Mark Kermode wouldn't enjoy the Melania film, but he is eloquent on just why not www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTyU...
Fixed term #museumjob @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social Assistant Curator in Renaissance and Early Modern History, based in the Scottish History & Archaeology Department 📜🗃️
careers.nms.ac.uk/job/829206
careers.nms.ac.uk/job/829206
Asst Curator Renaissance and Early Modern History
careers.nms.ac.uk
February 5, 2026 at 9:36 PM
Fixed term #museumjob @ntlmuseumsscot.bsky.social Assistant Curator in Renaissance and Early Modern History, based in the Scottish History & Archaeology Department 📜🗃️
careers.nms.ac.uk/job/829206
careers.nms.ac.uk/job/829206
Prince Philip, apparently!
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co88...
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co88...
A photographic print of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Entertainment, Miscellaneous, 1955 | Science Museum Group Collection
A photographic print from the Daily Herald Archive folder: Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip » Entertainment » Miscellaneous » 1955.
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk
February 5, 2026 at 4:20 PM
Prince Philip, apparently!
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co88...
collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/objects/co88...