Katy Duncan 🍉
@katysduncan.bsky.social
Postdoc at the Royal Institution. Interested in all things old and science-y. Probably drinking coffee.
Pinned
Nice little break from transcribing letters: found these doodles of Faraday @rigb.org and Herschel in a letter from novelist Maria Edgeworth (1802-1869) in 1844 @bodleian.ox.ac.uk, writing about Faraday’s Xmas lectures on electricity - pretty solid likenesses to be honest!
Oxford, you’ve been an absolute treat! Thanks for having me @bodleian.ox.ac.uk - I’ll be back 👀 @stannescollege.bsky.social
November 10, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Oxford, you’ve been an absolute treat! Thanks for having me @bodleian.ox.ac.uk - I’ll be back 👀 @stannescollege.bsky.social
📢 JOB ALERT 📢
Come work with me! @rigb.org is hiring an Archivist, full time, 2 year, fixed-term contract, hybrid working possible.
Please share widely!
More details 👇
www.rigb.org/about-us/wor...
Come work with me! @rigb.org is hiring an Archivist, full time, 2 year, fixed-term contract, hybrid working possible.
Please share widely!
More details 👇
www.rigb.org/about-us/wor...
Work with us
Help us to create more opportunities for everyone to enjoy and benefit from science.
www.rigb.org
November 7, 2025 at 4:18 PM
📢 JOB ALERT 📢
Come work with me! @rigb.org is hiring an Archivist, full time, 2 year, fixed-term contract, hybrid working possible.
Please share widely!
More details 👇
www.rigb.org/about-us/wor...
Come work with me! @rigb.org is hiring an Archivist, full time, 2 year, fixed-term contract, hybrid working possible.
Please share widely!
More details 👇
www.rigb.org/about-us/wor...
I definitely recommend *chequing* out the finer details of this note if you have one! Lots of lovely little science details (even if the xmas lectures year turned out to be wrong…)
And rumour has it the men in the front row of the audience are from the Bank of England 🤔
And rumour has it the men in the front row of the audience are from the Bank of England 🤔
Did you ever notice this TINY detail on the old £20 notes? 💸
@katysduncan.bsky.social brings us back behind the scenes in the Ri archives to uncover some *noteworthy* fun facts.
@katysduncan.bsky.social brings us back behind the scenes in the Ri archives to uncover some *noteworthy* fun facts.
October 21, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I definitely recommend *chequing* out the finer details of this note if you have one! Lots of lovely little science details (even if the xmas lectures year turned out to be wrong…)
And rumour has it the men in the front row of the audience are from the Bank of England 🤔
And rumour has it the men in the front row of the audience are from the Bank of England 🤔
Nice little break from transcribing letters: found these doodles of Faraday @rigb.org and Herschel in a letter from novelist Maria Edgeworth (1802-1869) in 1844 @bodleian.ox.ac.uk, writing about Faraday’s Xmas lectures on electricity - pretty solid likenesses to be honest!
October 21, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Nice little break from transcribing letters: found these doodles of Faraday @rigb.org and Herschel in a letter from novelist Maria Edgeworth (1802-1869) in 1844 @bodleian.ox.ac.uk, writing about Faraday’s Xmas lectures on electricity - pretty solid likenesses to be honest!
Not quite sure how I’ve been here nearly a week already?! @bodleian.ox.ac.uk’s Rad Cam looking lovely in the sun ☀️
October 2, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Not quite sure how I’ve been here nearly a week already?! @bodleian.ox.ac.uk’s Rad Cam looking lovely in the sun ☀️
Reposted by Katy Duncan 🍉
To celebrate 200 years of Royal Institution Discourses, our friends at @rigb.org have released a newly-digitised version of a 1970 Discourse given by Kathleen Lonsdale FRS on 'Women in Science'. Listen to this fascinating lecture now:
#WomenInSTEM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzlA...
#WomenInSTEM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzlA...
Women in Science - Kathleen Lonsdale's 1970 Discourse at the Royal Institution
YouTube video by The Royal Institution
www.youtube.com
September 10, 2025 at 3:43 PM
To celebrate 200 years of Royal Institution Discourses, our friends at @rigb.org have released a newly-digitised version of a 1970 Discourse given by Kathleen Lonsdale FRS on 'Women in Science'. Listen to this fascinating lecture now:
#WomenInSTEM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzlA...
#WomenInSTEM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzlA...
The wonderful @rigb.org Demo Team getting the recognition they deserve ✨ 🧪
The Royal Institution Demonstration Team is awarded the Royal Society Hauksbee Award 2025 for being global leaders in spectacular science demonstrations, which are vital for effective education and communication of scientific concepts. https://royalsociety.org/medals-and-prizes/hauksbee-award/
August 31, 2025 at 7:24 PM
The wonderful @rigb.org Demo Team getting the recognition they deserve ✨ 🧪
Reposted by Katy Duncan 🍉
We are so proud of our amazing Demo Team for being recognised as "global leaders in spectacular science demonstrations" with the 2025 @royalsociety.org Hauksbee Award. 👏
We can't wait to show you what they have in store for the 200th anniversary of the Christmas Lectures!
We can't wait to show you what they have in store for the 200th anniversary of the Christmas Lectures!
Royal Institution Demonstration Team announced as winners of the Royal Society Hauksbee Award
The Demonstration Team at the Royal Institution (Ri) has been honoured with the 2025 Hauksbee Award for being ‘global leaders in spectacular science demonstrations’, it was announced by the Royal…
www.rigb.org
August 29, 2025 at 12:15 PM
We are so proud of our amazing Demo Team for being recognised as "global leaders in spectacular science demonstrations" with the 2025 @royalsociety.org Hauksbee Award. 👏
We can't wait to show you what they have in store for the 200th anniversary of the Christmas Lectures!
We can't wait to show you what they have in store for the 200th anniversary of the Christmas Lectures!
Reposted by Katy Duncan 🍉
This is not only a serious issue for historians and not only a serious issue for academics (although it is that). It's a development that's also deleterious for the GLAM sector, for example, and part of a much larger trend nationally and internationally to restrict and dismantle access to archives.
Historians dismayed by ‘scandal’ of BBC cutting access to...
Critics say new limit to trove of information sounds knell for independent research
observer.co.uk
August 24, 2025 at 8:03 AM
This is not only a serious issue for historians and not only a serious issue for academics (although it is that). It's a development that's also deleterious for the GLAM sector, for example, and part of a much larger trend nationally and internationally to restrict and dismantle access to archives.
@naomioreskes.bsky.social gave this *excellent* interview at @rigb.org back in May. A great primer on a lot of big problems in science - trust, disinformation, freedom - and why the onus is on scientists 🧪
Misinformation and distrust in science - with Naomi Oreskes
YouTube video by The Royal Institution
youtu.be
August 21, 2025 at 6:14 PM
@naomioreskes.bsky.social gave this *excellent* interview at @rigb.org back in May. A great primer on a lot of big problems in science - trust, disinformation, freedom - and why the onus is on scientists 🧪
Congrats to the two incoming Freer Fellows! 🥳
Collaborative explorations of childhood by amateur scientists, and historical insights into climate change, sustainability, and disaster resilience are the focus of the latest research to be undertaken at the Ri. www.rigb.org/explore-scie...
Ri Freer Fellows set to engage audiences with historical insights into modern-day challenges
Find out more about the 2025 Freer Fellows at the Royal Institution.
www.rigb.org
August 14, 2025 at 12:26 PM
Congrats to the two incoming Freer Fellows! 🥳
@naomioreskes.bsky.social's brilliant @rigb.org lecture: how military secrecy delayed plate tectonic theory for 3 decades - a narrative that remains ever relevant to science today...
⚒️ 🧪 #histsci #skystorians #science #academicsky #STS #geoscience @miguelohn.bsky.social
⚒️ 🧪 #histsci #skystorians #science #academicsky #STS #geoscience @miguelohn.bsky.social
Rethinking the origin of plate tectonics - with Naomi Oreskes
YouTube video by The Royal Institution
youtu.be
August 13, 2025 at 10:47 AM
@naomioreskes.bsky.social's brilliant @rigb.org lecture: how military secrecy delayed plate tectonic theory for 3 decades - a narrative that remains ever relevant to science today...
⚒️ 🧪 #histsci #skystorians #science #academicsky #STS #geoscience @miguelohn.bsky.social
⚒️ 🧪 #histsci #skystorians #science #academicsky #STS #geoscience @miguelohn.bsky.social
Toroid is love,
Toroid is life.
🧪
Toroid is life.
🧪
Check out this floating plasma toroid, made with xenon gas within a custom-built globe, sitting on an oscillator that creates a strong magnetic field. 🍩
Find a more extended explanation here: youtube.com/watch?v=iXqbCmTt1Yg
Find a more extended explanation here: youtube.com/watch?v=iXqbCmTt1Yg
August 9, 2025 at 4:11 PM
Toroid is love,
Toroid is life.
🧪
Toroid is life.
🧪
Reposted by Katy Duncan 🍉
Very exciting workshop in Reykjavik in October, organized by @oscarw.bsky.social. Please spread the word and/or consider submitting an abstract. #philsci #philsky #hps
philevents.org/event/show/1...
philevents.org/event/show/1...
Science, values, and society: themes from Helen Longino
On the occasion of Helen Longino’s talk at the University of Iceland on the 8th of October 2025, we are organising a mini-workshop on themes from Longino’s philosophical work on the 10th o...
philevents.org
August 7, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Very exciting workshop in Reykjavik in October, organized by @oscarw.bsky.social. Please spread the word and/or consider submitting an abstract. #philsci #philsky #hps
philevents.org/event/show/1...
philevents.org/event/show/1...
Nothing quite like ordering up a mystery box of “glass slides” from the JJ Thomson collection at @trincolllibcam.bsky.social and finding this 🤩 Slides from Thomson’s 1921 discourse“chemical combination & the structure of the molecule” at @rigb.org in perfect condition 🧪 ⚛️ beats PowerPoint any day…
August 7, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Nothing quite like ordering up a mystery box of “glass slides” from the JJ Thomson collection at @trincolllibcam.bsky.social and finding this 🤩 Slides from Thomson’s 1921 discourse“chemical combination & the structure of the molecule” at @rigb.org in perfect condition 🧪 ⚛️ beats PowerPoint any day…
Reposted by Katy Duncan 🍉
John Tyndall, Irish physicist, mountaineer & science popularizer, was born #OTD c. 1820. We've published 13 vols. of his letters thus far, 14 this fall & 15-21 in the works: bit.ly/4fluhVd
@upittpress.bsky.social @rolandjackson.bsky.social @ri-science.bsky.social @royalsociety.org
#HPS #histsci
@upittpress.bsky.social @rolandjackson.bsky.social @ri-science.bsky.social @royalsociety.org
#HPS #histsci
August 2, 2025 at 4:02 PM
John Tyndall, Irish physicist, mountaineer & science popularizer, was born #OTD c. 1820. We've published 13 vols. of his letters thus far, 14 this fall & 15-21 in the works: bit.ly/4fluhVd
@upittpress.bsky.social @rolandjackson.bsky.social @ri-science.bsky.social @royalsociety.org
#HPS #histsci
@upittpress.bsky.social @rolandjackson.bsky.social @ri-science.bsky.social @royalsociety.org
#HPS #histsci
Reposted by Katy Duncan 🍉
The next Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP) conference will be held at the University of Cambridge, U.K, on 15-18 July 2026.
#philsci
philosophy-science-practice.org
#philsci
philosophy-science-practice.org
About us
philosophy-science-practice.org
August 1, 2025 at 3:28 PM
The next Society for Philosophy of Science in Practice (SPSP) conference will be held at the University of Cambridge, U.K, on 15-18 July 2026.
#philsci
philosophy-science-practice.org
#philsci
philosophy-science-practice.org
Reposted by Katy Duncan 🍉
Our autumn programme of science talks is available for booking! 🍂
We'll reopen the newly refurbished Ri building with a spectacular calendar of talks, packed with popular speakers and fascinating topics. www.rigb.org/whats-on?typ...
We'll reopen the newly refurbished Ri building with a spectacular calendar of talks, packed with popular speakers and fascinating topics. www.rigb.org/whats-on?typ...
What's on
Discover science directly from the minds of the world’s leading scientists and thinkers with our talks, discussions and famil
www.rigb.org
July 25, 2025 at 2:17 PM
Our autumn programme of science talks is available for booking! 🍂
We'll reopen the newly refurbished Ri building with a spectacular calendar of talks, packed with popular speakers and fascinating topics. www.rigb.org/whats-on?typ...
We'll reopen the newly refurbished Ri building with a spectacular calendar of talks, packed with popular speakers and fascinating topics. www.rigb.org/whats-on?typ...
Reposted by Katy Duncan 🍉
We know we're not supposed to have favourites, but COME ON youtube.com/shorts/-l9nB...
July 22, 2025 at 8:46 AM
We know we're not supposed to have favourites, but COME ON youtube.com/shorts/-l9nB...
Taylor also gets the award for best Xmas lecture intro song… 🧪 🎵
Sound needs a medium to travel — in this case, air. 🔊
Physicist Charles Taylor beautifully demonstrated this during his 1989 Christmas Lectures on the science of music.
Watch the full series here: rigb.org/explore-science/explore/video/exploring-music-what-music-1989
Physicist Charles Taylor beautifully demonstrated this during his 1989 Christmas Lectures on the science of music.
Watch the full series here: rigb.org/explore-science/explore/video/exploring-music-what-music-1989
July 21, 2025 at 6:03 PM
Taylor also gets the award for best Xmas lecture intro song… 🧪 🎵
Reposted by Katy Duncan 🍉
Shaimaa has a scholarship to do a PhD on Palestinian literature with me at @uoe-llc.bsky.social, but she's stuck in Gaza because the foreign office won't help. Please share. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
I should be at Cambridge, but I’m trapped in Gaza
Home Office red tape strands dozens of Palestinian scholarship winners in war zone
www.telegraph.co.uk
July 19, 2025 at 10:03 AM
Shaimaa has a scholarship to do a PhD on Palestinian literature with me at @uoe-llc.bsky.social, but she's stuck in Gaza because the foreign office won't help. Please share. www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2...
I had so much fun at The Royal Society’s Summer Exhibition a few weeks ago! The quantum tech room was especially cool. Is the historian-equivalent of touching grass *actually talking* to living scientists? Maybe. Obviously stopped by Faraday’s colloids that @ri-science.bsky.social loaned too… 🧪
July 17, 2025 at 2:01 PM
I had so much fun at The Royal Society’s Summer Exhibition a few weeks ago! The quantum tech room was especially cool. Is the historian-equivalent of touching grass *actually talking* to living scientists? Maybe. Obviously stopped by Faraday’s colloids that @ri-science.bsky.social loaned too… 🧪
Reposted by Katy Duncan 🍉
Weighing in at 827 pages and 2 1/4 inches, our Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the 19th Century is HERE! Huge thanks to @oupphilosophy.bsky.social and our 50+ authors. Restoring women to the philosophical canon is a matter of justice, but it is also better scholarship!
July 15, 2025 at 8:59 PM
Weighing in at 827 pages and 2 1/4 inches, our Oxford Handbook of American and British Women Philosophers in the 19th Century is HERE! Huge thanks to @oupphilosophy.bsky.social and our 50+ authors. Restoring women to the philosophical canon is a matter of justice, but it is also better scholarship!
July 12, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Always fun to get the chance to talk about weird physics! Now to relax and enjoy the rest of #BSHS2025 from the audience… #HPS #histsci 🧪
And another (Katy Duncan's conclusions on William Thompson, elecrometers and the fair weather problem in atmospheric electricity) #BSHS2025
July 9, 2025 at 9:35 AM