On 20 July 1969, two American astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, landed on the moon, thus becoming the first two humans ever to walk on the lunar surface. These first steps were watched by an estimated audience of 650 million viewers worldwide, as the Apollo 11 mission became a veritable global media sensation. But how was the moon landing reported on by the British media? As part of space and the stars month here at The Archive, we have collated …
science history
In this very special blog, Jessie O’Hara, from our sister site Findmypast, takes a fascinating look at astrology through the pages of our newspapers. Featuring articles all the way from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century, she traces the development of attitudes towards astrology across three centuries, from scepticism to horoscopes being a mainstay of mainstream media. Register with us today and see what stories you can discover Believer or non-believer, agnostic or sceptic, there is no denying that …
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This July at The Archive we are exploring all things space and the stars, and what better way to begin this exploration than with a look at six trailblazing women astronomers from history. From the first woman to discover a comet (Caroline Herschel), to the first woman to be appointed Director of the Royal Greenwich Observatory (Margaret Burbidge), we will explore the stories of six women astronomers from history, from the 1700s through to the 2000s, using newspapers taken from our Archive. …
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‘The foulest nuisance that ever disgraced the annals of a nation,’ the condition of the Thames in the summer of 1858 had reached a crisis point. Bloated with sewage and other effluence from the world’s second largest city, the Thames had become a ‘pestilential stream,’ emitting a putrid odour that was dubbed the ‘Great Stink.’ Westminster Bridge | Illustrated London News | 21 October 1843 In this special blog, we shall uncover the true state of the Thames, as it was in the …
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‘Plastic surgery, born in one war and perfected in another,’ had been practiced before the First World War, but it took this global conflict, and a second one, to develop plastic surgery as we know it today. The Sphere | 20 May 1933 In this special blog, using newspapers taken from The Archive, we will trace the development of plastic surgery, from the work of Harold Gillies in the First World War, to its move into the cosmetic mainstream in the …