Science & Medicine

  • 1859: The Great Clock at Westminster begins ticking

    On 31 May 1859, the Great Clock at Westminster began ticking. The Great Bell, commonly called Big Ben, was not heard until July. The clock belonged to the new Palace of Westminster, built after the 1834 fire. It was part of the rebuilding of Parliament, but it also had a public use. It gave time…

  • 1919: Eddington’s eclipse observations support Einstein’s theory

    On 29 May 1919, British-led teams observed a total solar eclipse from Príncipe, off the west coast of Africa, and Sobral in Brazil. The eclipse gave astronomers a rare chance to photograph stars close to the Sun. The test came from Einstein’s general theory of relativity. His theory predicted that the Sun’s gravity would bend…

  • 1929: Peter Higgs is born in Newcastle upon Tyne

    Peter Higgs was born in Newcastle upon Tyne on 29 May 1929. His name later became attached to one of the best-known ideas in modern physics. Still, the story began with theoretical work that was not public in any ordinary sense. Higgs studied physics and became closely linked with the University of Edinburgh. In 1964,…