Tools of Knowledge

  • How we made ‘Craftswomen: Uncovering Hidden Labour in the History of Science’

    We here at TOK are delighted to receive the 2023 BSHS Exhibiting Excellence prize (Small Exhibitions Category) for Craftswomen, a display at the Whipple Museum, Cambridge. Craftswomen reveals the important role played by women in the history of scientific instrument making. One of the main findings of TOK has been the identification of a ‘backbone’…

  • Social networks and/or professional networks?

    Social networks and/or professional networks? by Boris Jardine What kind of network are we looking at in Tools of Knowledge? Which tools are appropriate and what can we find out? Throughout the Tools of Knowledge project we have used network analysis, especially in the app Gephi, as a way of investigating our data. Representing all…

  • Supply Chains: Lifting the Lid on the Scientific Instrument Trade

    Supply chains: lifting the lid on the scientific instrument trade Posted on 16 March 2022 by Boris Jardine On October 21, 1830, the Holborn optician and instrument maker William Harris confided to his assistant William Jonas that he was feeling ‘apprehensive’. The reason: debt. To the outside world, Harris’ business might have looked like it…