Regular readers of this blog (if there are any, I should apologise to them for my long silence) will be familiar with the story of King Arthur’s Table. You won’t need me to remind you how I was lucky enough to discover this forgotten object in the stores of the Whipple Museum of the History of Science, and then spent much of 2013 investigating its biography.
You’ll already know, I’m sure, that the story takes in Sir Lawrence Bragg, the Cavendish Laboratory and its workshops. You’ll be aware that the hero of this story, Derek de Solla Price, was a complex character who came to Cambridge more or less on a whim, discovered a manuscript (possibly) by Chaucer in the library at Peterhouse, and thereby launched his career as a superstar historian of science. My research into Price and his work took me from Cambridge to Chicago, visiting many archives and museums in between (and getting lots of help from Price’s lovely family).
Why am I reminding you of all this? Because my article telling this story has just been published by Notes and Records, the Royal Society's journal for the history of science. It will be printed in the journal in June, but before then it is completely free to read and download online. Just click here and read all about it!
And of course don’t forget to come back here and leave a comment to let me know what you think!
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