6-16 March 2026 is British Science Week (actually ten days) – an annual celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths run by the British Science Association.

The story of humankind trying to rationalise, control and develop the world around them is as long as history itself and a strong element of that has been the understanding and dvelopment of scientific endeavor. 

To explore how the world of the scientist works today requires an understanding of the journeys that science and scientists have taken to reach their conclusions and to further their questioning in order to progress.

This British Science week explore how science and STEM have shaped our world but also how the world of science and STEM have been created by the past and the people along the way.

General resources

• Podcast series: The history of science 
• Social Darwinism: the myth and its reinvention
• Disparate measures: reconstructing the life of physician, psychiatrist and anthropologist James Cowles Prichard
• Real Lives: Anna Wessels Williams (1863–1954): forgotten pioneer of microbiology 
• Mary Brancker, former president of the British Veterinary Association (open access)
• Patrick Steptoe, co-creator of IVF (open access)
• The London School of Medicine for Women (open access)
• Helen Sharman, astronaut (open access)

Secondary resources

• Podcast series: The history of science 
• Copernicus and the reformation of astronomy
• What Have Historians Been Arguing About... medieval science and medicine?  
• Polychronicon: Stonehenge

Primary resources

• Podcast series: The history of science 
• Linking history and science: how climate affected settlement
• Women and space: reaching for the stars 

Podcasts

(accessible to all HA members)

• Early British Women engineers 
• Podcast: the life and significance of Alan Turing