@monkeynutcoat.bsky.social
…and while #Photo51 (or its twin) alone not enough for #jameswatson to solve DNA structure, names of Astbury, Bell, Beighton & how first attempts to crack DNA structure grew out of Northern textiles research would all be better known today had Watson been shown Beighton’s photo #oupacademic
November 14, 2025 at 3:11 PM
…and while #Photo51 (or its twin) alone not enough for #jameswatson to solve DNA structure, names of Astbury, Bell, Beighton & how first attempts to crack DNA structure grew out of Northern textiles research would all be better known today had Watson been shown Beighton’s photo #oupacademic
Who knew #Photo51 taken in 1952 by #rosalind_franklin & R Gosling has forgotten twin!!?? Identical image taken #universityofleeds in 1951 & might well have come to attention of #jameswatson had scientist #WTAstbury only been as good a comedian as he was at applying physics to biology…#oupacademic
November 14, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Who knew #Photo51 taken in 1952 by #rosalind_franklin & R Gosling has forgotten twin!!?? Identical image taken #universityofleeds in 1951 & might well have come to attention of #jameswatson had scientist #WTAstbury only been as good a comedian as he was at applying physics to biology…#oupacademic
With renewed interest in discovery of #doublehelix following death of #jameswatson, who’d have thought that first attempts to crack structure of #DNA began with research into wool fibres in North of England thanks to scientists WT Astbury & F Bell!!?? #universityofleeds #OUPAcademic
November 13, 2025 at 11:29 AM
With renewed interest in discovery of #doublehelix following death of #jameswatson, who’d have thought that first attempts to crack structure of #DNA began with research into wool fibres in North of England thanks to scientists WT Astbury & F Bell!!?? #universityofleeds #OUPAcademic
How bizarre that I should be teaching myself how to fold origami DNA helices for use as somewhat unconventional Christmas tree decorations when I heard the news this weekend about scientist James Watson
November 8, 2025 at 1:47 PM
How bizarre that I should be teaching myself how to fold origami DNA helices for use as somewhat unconventional Christmas tree decorations when I heard the news this weekend about scientist James Watson
Usually if I write to newspapers, it’s to bang on about long dead scientists who no-one has heard of…but while a bit outside my home turf of history of science, review of new film Tron Ares in recent weekend Financial Times prompted me to write in response to make what (I hope!) is a serious point…
October 27, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Usually if I write to newspapers, it’s to bang on about long dead scientists who no-one has heard of…but while a bit outside my home turf of history of science, review of new film Tron Ares in recent weekend Financial Times prompted me to write in response to make what (I hope!) is a serious point…
Wonderful talk by author @lamornaash.bsky.social on Sat @ilkleylitfest.bsky.social about her new book - courageous, honest & uplifting. Thanks not just for signing copy for my son but also for unpacking what ‘The Grand Inquisitor’ is all about - after reading your book I finally get it! (at last!)
October 13, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Wonderful talk by author @lamornaash.bsky.social on Sat @ilkleylitfest.bsky.social about her new book - courageous, honest & uplifting. Thanks not just for signing copy for my son but also for unpacking what ‘The Grand Inquisitor’ is all about - after reading your book I finally get it! (at last!)
And everyone legged it on arrival of a deer. Best nights TV viewing I’ve seen in years!
August 29, 2025 at 9:03 AM
And everyone legged it on arrival of a deer. Best nights TV viewing I’ve seen in years!
Mind you - fox made itself scarce when the badgers pals showed up…
August 29, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Mind you - fox made itself scarce when the badgers pals showed up…
Have spent the week in remote #Northumberland where #foxandbadger captured on cottage wildlife camera show that nature need not always be so brutally ‘red in tooth and claw’. Surely a pub name in there somewhere, if not an example of harmonious co-existence from which we would do well to learn...
August 29, 2025 at 9:02 AM
Have spent the week in remote #Northumberland where #foxandbadger captured on cottage wildlife camera show that nature need not always be so brutally ‘red in tooth and claw’. Surely a pub name in there somewhere, if not an example of harmonious co-existence from which we would do well to learn...
And having written a book that contains both science - thanks to Astbury & Bell’s work on DNA - and cricket thanks to the legendary 1981 Headingley Ashes, I was delighted to have been there myself yesterday - right over the road from Astbury’s former home on Kirkstall Lane! #ENGvsIND
June 25, 2025 at 2:47 PM
And having written a book that contains both science - thanks to Astbury & Bell’s work on DNA - and cricket thanks to the legendary 1981 Headingley Ashes, I was delighted to have been there myself yesterday - right over the road from Astbury’s former home on Kirkstall Lane! #ENGvsIND
And a MASSIVE thanks also to Butlers & Boundary Hotel on Cardigan Road, Headingley Leeds who helped save the day (along with England’s batting!) by kindly providing secure laptop storage for those of us who'd come along hoping to sneak some work in during lunch & tea! www.boundaryhotel.co.uk
The Boundary Hotel | Headingley, Leeds
When you need a place to stay, get in touch with the friendly team at The Boundary Hotel in Headingley, Leeds. We’re close to the stadium complex and the town centre.
www.boundaryhotel.co.uk
June 25, 2025 at 1:12 PM
And a MASSIVE thanks also to Butlers & Boundary Hotel on Cardigan Road, Headingley Leeds who helped save the day (along with England’s batting!) by kindly providing secure laptop storage for those of us who'd come along hoping to sneak some work in during lunch & tea! www.boundaryhotel.co.uk
Had they still been around, am sure that, as keen cricket fans, Leeds based scientists #WilliamAstbury & #FlorenceBell would have taken a break from work on #DNA structure & wool to be at #Headingley yesterday for victory in #ENGvsIND Test Match...
June 25, 2025 at 1:05 PM
Had they still been around, am sure that, as keen cricket fans, Leeds based scientists #WilliamAstbury & #FlorenceBell would have taken a break from work on #DNA structure & wool to be at #Headingley yesterday for victory in #ENGvsIND Test Match...
Apple crumble or pie? 50 years of Jaws. Am loving Test Match Special commentary! Here’s hoping history can be made in Headingley once again! (Although thanks to cricket-loving 1930s DNA scientists William Astbury & Florence Bell commemorated right opposite Len Hutton gates…it already has…)
June 22, 2025 at 11:36 AM
Apple crumble or pie? 50 years of Jaws. Am loving Test Match Special commentary! Here’s hoping history can be made in Headingley once again! (Although thanks to cricket-loving 1930s DNA scientists William Astbury & Florence Bell commemorated right opposite Len Hutton gates…it already has…)
Enjoyed this luxury 5-star accommodation last night in order to be up in time for live stream of summer Solstice sunrise over Stonehenge. Well worth it! A big thanks to #englishheritage for this!
June 21, 2025 at 11:10 AM
Enjoyed this luxury 5-star accommodation last night in order to be up in time for live stream of summer Solstice sunrise over Stonehenge. Well worth it! A big thanks to #englishheritage for this!
And finally let's not forget father & son science team, William & Lawrence Bragg who lived on Grosvenor Rd, Headingley & jointly won 1915 Nobel in Physics. So good luck England in #cricket, but even if things don’t work out - plenty still for #Headingley to be proud of! #EnglandvsIndia #testmatch
June 20, 2025 at 9:05 AM
And finally let's not forget father & son science team, William & Lawrence Bragg who lived on Grosvenor Rd, Headingley & jointly won 1915 Nobel in Physics. So good luck England in #cricket, but even if things don’t work out - plenty still for #Headingley to be proud of! #EnglandvsIndia #testmatch
Don’t know whether scientists Archer Martin & Richard Synge were #cricket fans meanwhile, but their 1952 Nobel Prize awarded for work done in lab only 5 mins walk from #testmatch ground another reason for #Headingley to be on the map today! One for the crowds at #EnglandvsIndia to look out for!
June 20, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Don’t know whether scientists Archer Martin & Richard Synge were #cricket fans meanwhile, but their 1952 Nobel Prize awarded for work done in lab only 5 mins walk from #testmatch ground another reason for #Headingley to be on the map today! One for the crowds at #EnglandvsIndia to look out for!
And as she was reputed to be a bit handy with a #cricket bat (as well as X-ray crystallography), I reckon that physicist #FlorenceBell who made first X-ray studies of DNA structure in Astbury’s lab in 1938 might well have joined him at #EnglandvsIndia #testmatch in #Headingley today
June 20, 2025 at 9:01 AM
And as she was reputed to be a bit handy with a #cricket bat (as well as X-ray crystallography), I reckon that physicist #FlorenceBell who made first X-ray studies of DNA structure in Astbury’s lab in 1938 might well have joined him at #EnglandvsIndia #testmatch in #Headingley today
If he were still around today, am sure that keen #cricket fan & physicist William Astbury would have taken a break from trailblazing science to stroll through Len Hutton gates opposite his home on Kirkstall Lane #Headingley and watch #England vs #India #Testmatch
June 20, 2025 at 8:59 AM
If he were still around today, am sure that keen #cricket fan & physicist William Astbury would have taken a break from trailblazing science to stroll through Len Hutton gates opposite his home on Kirkstall Lane #Headingley and watch #England vs #India #Testmatch
After telling story last week to #ClothworkersCompany of acrimony that erupted over who should get credit for insulin discovery, big thanks to Emilie Lucchesi who interviewed me about this very same subject for her great article in ‘Discover’ magazine www.discovermagazine.com/health/insul...
Insulin Was a Life-Saving Discovery That Came with a Bit of Controversy
Learn more about the discovery of insulin and the controversy this life-saving medicine sparked.
www.discovermagazine.com
May 9, 2025 at 12:47 PM
After telling story last week to #ClothworkersCompany of acrimony that erupted over who should get credit for insulin discovery, big thanks to Emilie Lucchesi who interviewed me about this very same subject for her great article in ‘Discover’ magazine www.discovermagazine.com/health/insul...
Great article by @bmclain.bsky.social has given me new found respect for trusty workhorse of every molecular biology lab, the centrifuge. Endless DNA preps might have seemed a little less tedious had I known all this stuff back when I was grafting at lab bench…https://www.asimov.press/p/centrifuge
May 7, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Great article by @bmclain.bsky.social has given me new found respect for trusty workhorse of every molecular biology lab, the centrifuge. Endless DNA preps might have seemed a little less tedious had I known all this stuff back when I was grafting at lab bench…https://www.asimov.press/p/centrifuge
Bank holiday stroll led me to this historic curiosity in woods near #Garforth east of Leeds - triumphal arch put up by Gascoigne family in 1783 to celebrate victory of American colonists over George III!!! As historian, why they would have done this leaves me most intrigued…
May 7, 2025 at 7:41 PM
Bank holiday stroll led me to this historic curiosity in woods near #Garforth east of Leeds - triumphal arch put up by Gascoigne family in 1783 to celebrate victory of American colonists over George III!!! As historian, why they would have done this leaves me most intrigued…
So how did 2 scientists doing wool research in 1940s, in a former stable filled with chloroform fumes help transform insulin from 'thick brown muck' into Wall St gold...??? Delighted to explain all to the #ClothworkersCompany next Wed (30th)...
www.clothworkers.co.uk/history/hist...
www.clothworkers.co.uk/history/hist...
April 25, 2025 at 8:11 AM
So how did 2 scientists doing wool research in 1940s, in a former stable filled with chloroform fumes help transform insulin from 'thick brown muck' into Wall St gold...??? Delighted to explain all to the #ClothworkersCompany next Wed (30th)...
www.clothworkers.co.uk/history/hist...
www.clothworkers.co.uk/history/hist...
From taking X-ray pics of haemoglobin for Nobel laureate Max Perutz, to pioneering computing in biological structures - all with a little help from a Meccano set on the way - a real honour to interview Prof. Tony North for @LeedsPhilandLit earlier this year www.kerstenhall.com/2025/04/04/r...
Rubbing Shoulders With Giants – the Scientific Odyssey of Prof. Tony North – Kersten Hall
www.kerstenhall.com
April 11, 2025 at 10:00 AM
From taking X-ray pics of haemoglobin for Nobel laureate Max Perutz, to pioneering computing in biological structures - all with a little help from a Meccano set on the way - a real honour to interview Prof. Tony North for @LeedsPhilandLit earlier this year www.kerstenhall.com/2025/04/04/r...
Congrats to my colleague @JonTophamHPS for great interview in latest issue of ‘Viewpoint’ @BSHS v much looking forward to his inaugural lecture ‘Science & Religion from the Ground Up’ in which he reveals how this isn't quite the historical punch-up often believed…
www.eventbrite.com/e/science-an...
www.eventbrite.com/e/science-an...
Science and Religion from the Ground Up
A Professorial Inaugural and Keynote Lecture by Professor Jon Topham
www.eventbrite.com
April 11, 2025 at 9:59 AM
Congrats to my colleague @JonTophamHPS for great interview in latest issue of ‘Viewpoint’ @BSHS v much looking forward to his inaugural lecture ‘Science & Religion from the Ground Up’ in which he reveals how this isn't quite the historical punch-up often believed…
www.eventbrite.com/e/science-an...
www.eventbrite.com/e/science-an...