Archives from the pioneers of modern genetics to be brought together for the first time

More details have been announced today of the Wellcome Library's groundbreaking digitisation project, 'Modern Genetics and its Foundations'.

Tens of thousands of notes, letters, sketches, lectures, photographs and essays, produced by the key players in the discovery of the structure of DNA and the development of genetics - including Francis Crick, James D Watson, Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins - will be made freely available online.

These vast collections contain iconic documents, everyday exchanges, complex research notes and personal ephemera and highlight the extraordinary networks of insight and inspiration behind pivotal moments of scientific discovery. The material will be released in phases from autumn 2012.

Working in partnership with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA, The Churchill Archives Centre, the University of Glasgow, King's College London and UCL (University College London), the archival papers of James D Watson, Rosalind Franklin, Sydney Brenner, Lionel Penrose, J B S Haldane, Guido Pontecorvo, James Harrison Renwick, Malcolm Ferguson-Smith and Maurice Wilkins will be digitised. They will join material from the Wellcome Library's own holdings, including the papers of Francis Crick, Fred Sanger, Arthur Ernest Mourant, the MRC blood group, Hans Gruenberg and Gerard Wyatt.

The material will offer a comprehensive picture of the complex relationships between the scientists unlocking the secrets of the structure of DNA, in their own words, and give researchers and curious minds access to the personal and professional thoughts, blind alleys and breakthroughs of the circle of brilliant minds whose ideas transformed our understanding of the matter of life.

To tie in with this news, Radio 4's Today programme broadcast yesterday a feature exploring the project. The feature - presented by BBC Health Correspondent Fergus Walsh - is available to listen to online (scroll down to 0846).  Walsh has also written about the project on his BBC blog, asking the question ‘The most important photo ever taken?  The Today programme’s website also displays some of the images from the papers of Francis Crcick held in the Wellcome LIbrary that will be made available online as part of the project.

Image: Sketch of the DNA double helix by Francis Crick (PP/CRI/H/1/16).

'Making History' at the Wellcome Library

This week's edition of BBC Radio 4's series Making History, features an exploration of the Victorian 'fern craze'. 

In a sequence recorded in the Wellcome Library, historian Helen Castor and researcher Pia Ostlund, look at this growth in amateur botany in the context of Henry Bradbury: a businessman, who with the aid of the new technique of 'nature printing', produced intricate images of ferns many of which illustrate the volume The Ferns of Great Britain and Ireland (1857).

This episode of Making History will be available on the BBC website listeners in the UK for the next seven days.

Image: A fern frond, possibly of the male fern (Dryopteris filix-mas). Colour nature print, c. 1860 (Wellcome Library no. 23663i)

Random Edition on BBC Radio 4

In this week's episode of BBC Radio 4's Random Edition, presenter Peter Snow marked the 150th anniversary of the death of Prince Albert.

The programme focused on how the Prince Consort's death was reported in one issue of the London Daily News, but also featured recordings made at a number of relevant locations to Prince Albert's life and legacy, such as Osborne House, Windsor Castle and the Royal Albert Hall.

One segment of the episode was recorded here at the Wellcome Library, in which Peter Snow came face-to-face with the painting shown above, a vast canvas depicting Prince Albert on his deathbed. The programme concludes with a discussion over competing theories over the cause of the Prince Albert's death.

Random Edition: Prince Albert is available on the BBC iPlayer to listeners in the UK until Wedensday 21st December.

Image: The last moments of HRH the Prince Consort. Oil painting by Oakley under the pseudonym Le Port, ca. 1861. (Wellcome Library no. 47371i).
See also W. Schupbach, 'The Last Moments of H.R.H. The Prince Consort', Medical History, 1982, 26, pp321-324 (free to access PDF)

Woman's Hour

Yesterday's edition of Woman's Hour on BBC Radio 4, featured an interview with Dr Lesley Hall talking about her new book - recently highlighted here - The Life and Times of Stella Browne: Feminist and Free Spirit.

The interview discusses Browne's career and relationship with other birth control campaigners, and begins with Dr Hall giving as the starting point for her research, her cataloguing of the papers of the Abortion Law Reform Association, held in the Wellcome Library.

Listeners in the UK can listen again to the interview through the Woman's Hour website.

Vital Mental Medicine

A BBC Radio 4 documentary which aired today, Vital Mental Medicine: Shackleton's Banjo, offers an indirect insight into an aspect of Henry Wellcome's life.

The documentary tells the story of the instrument shown above: a banjo belonging to Leonard Hussey, a meteorologist who was part of Ernest Shackleton's Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition expedition party which set out on board the Endurance in 1914. Famously, the Endurance became stuck in pack ice forcing Shackleton and five crew members to sail the 1,300 km to South Georgia in a small boat in an attempt to get help. He left behind twenty-two men: one of whom was Hussey.

As the Endurance was sinking, Shackleton allowed each crew member to take 2 lbs of possessions with them. The only exception to this was Hussey's banjo - which Shackleton himself retrieved. "We must have that banjo", Shackleton was reported to have said, "It's vital mental medicine".

Miraculously, Shackleton made it to South Georgia and all the stranded men were eventually rescued. Their signatures adorn Hussey's banjo (now owned by the National Maritime Museum and currently on display in the National Maritime Museum Cornwall) which he played to the other twenty-one men he was stranded with.

As for the Wellcome connection... we move from the ice of Antarctica to the sun of the Sudan, as it was there that Hussey first saw the newspaper advertisement calling for volunteers for Shackleton's expedition. And the reason Hussey was in the Sudan? He was working on Henry Wellcome's archaeological excavations at Gebel Moya in the north of that country, during the winter of 1913-1914.

Between 1911 and 1914, Henry Wellcome funded excavations at Gebel Moya, south of Khartoum. Both a continuation of Henry Wellcome's charitable work in the Sudan and a practical example of his interest in archaeology, the excavations were a major contribution to the knowledge of the early history of Eastern Africa. They also featured an ingenious use of aerial photography - a development which these excavations have seldom been credited with. (Life at Gebel Moya during the 1912-1913 season was captured on a film now digitised as part of our Wellcome Film project).

It appears that Hussey's time with Wellcome at Gebel Moya was a major formative influence. Amongst the personal papers we hold of Wellcome's, we have correspondence between him and Hussey. Hussey, in a letter dated 21st August 1918, writes that:

"I don't think that we all quite realised the immense value of the training in discipline and especially in loyalty, which we had at Gebel Moya. Sir Ernest Shackleton - and I say this with all diffidence - always refers to me as "one of the most cheerful and loyal ones", and I wish for no finer epigraph". [1]

For more on Hussey's cheerfulness - and how his banjo kept spirits up amongst his fellow strandees - have a listen to the documentary, which is available through the BBC iPlayer to listeners in the UK until next Saturday (18th December).

Image credit: National Maritime Museum

[1] From file WA/HMM/CO/Ear/316. The letter also makes brief mention of Hussey and Shackleton about to embark on a "wartime mission in Northern Russia".

The Test of Time

Last year we brought you news of The Test of Time, a BBC Radio 4 series in which present day scientists reflected on the work of their ancient forebears.

The repeat of the series begins this evening on Radio 4 at 9.45pm. The first episode features consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Iain Hutchison, visiting the Wellcome Library to discover the connections between today's reconstructive surgery and techniques developed in South Asia in the third century BC - and their later dissemination from east to west - in the company of Sanskrit specialist, Dominik Wujaystik.

The series will air on consecutive Tuesday evenings on BBC Radio 4 at 9.45pm local time (and so will be available to listen to at that time around the world through the Radio 4 website).

Image shown: an illustration from one of the works discussed in tonight's episode, J C Carpue's 'An account of two successful operations for restoring a lost nose from the integuments of the forehead in the cases of two officers of His Majesty's Army...' (1816). Our copy of this work is currently part of Wellcome Collection's 'Skin' exhibition

The Museum of Curiosity

A guest on the most recent edition of the BBC Radio 4 series The Museum of Curiosity, was writer Sarah Bakewell, author of a new biography of Montaigne, How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer.

Prior to embarking on a career as a writer, Sarah was a Rare Books cataloguer in the Wellcome Library, and on the The Museum of Curiosity, Sarah explained how her work at the Wellcome, inspired her to write on the medical uses of human flesh and the real-life experimenters who inspired Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. (Published in Fortean Times, these articles are available through Sarah's own website).

This edition of The Museum of Curiosity is available for the next seven days for listeners in the UK, through the BBC iPlayer.

Re-'Revealing the Mind Bender General'

When first broadcast last year, we posted on the BBC Radio 4 documentary, 'Revealing the Mind Bender General', which discussed the controversial career of Dr William Sargant, whose papers are held by the Wellcome Library.

Radio 4 is repeating the documentary tonight (17th March) at 9pm. For those unable to tune in, the documentary is available for listeners in the UK through BBC iPlayer and
can also be listened to through the blog Speechification.

"I didn't know this place was here"

Fans of Radio 4's Charles Paris mysteries may have caught the last episode of this series, Cast in Order of Disappearance on Friday. In the episode, Charles, played by actor Bill Nighy, and his friend Elspeth rather fabulously pay a visit to the Wellcome Library. And then have a chat about the social and cultural history of funeral rites over brownies.

The programme is available to Listen Again on the iPlayer for listeners in the UK until Friday morning.

Images That Changed the World

Over the last week, BBC Radio 4 have broadcast Images That Changed the World, a series in which Dr Mark Lythgoe explored the development of medical imaging techniques and their wider cultural influences.

The five episodes explored X-Rays, Brain Scanning, Ultrasound, Microscopy and the Double Helix, and featured contributions from scientists, authors and historians.

Friday's episode included commentary from Helen Wakely, Archivist, Wellcome Library on the images shown here: two early sketches of the DNA Double Helix, from the papers of Francis Crick held by the Wellcome.

All the episodes are still available to listen to in the UK through the BBC's iPlayer, and Dr Lythgoe can also be heard discussing the discovery and impact of X-Rays in this BBC audio slideshow.

Case Notes: Aspirin

This week's edition of Case Notes on Radio 4, is devoted to Aspirin: offering the story of its rise as a pharmaceutical product at the end of the nineteenth century and issues regarding its present day use.

It features an interview with Tilli Tansey, Professor of History of Modern Medical Sciences at University College London (UCL), recorded in the Wellcome Library. Prof Tansey and the show's presenter, Dr Mark Porter, discuss the history of the drug and its manufacture by pharmaceutical companies, including Burroughs Wellcome & Co - the business co-founded by Sir Henry Wellcome.

For UK listeners, the episode is available through the BBC's iPlayer for the rest of the week.

From Brandreth's Pills to the Black Death

Over the festive season, two documentaries were broadcast which drew upon the resources of the Wellcome Library.

On BBC Radio 4, Brandreth's Pills told the story of Benjamin Brandreth, a pioneering patent remedy salesman of the nineteenth century.

Brandreth's Vegetable Pills earned their creator a fortune, and the documentary investigated Brandreth's ground-breaking marketing techniques. It also featured William Schupbach, Curator, Paintings, Prints and Drawings, Wellcome Library, discussing the testimonials included in Brandreth's publication The Doctrine of Purgation.

The concluding part of Man on Earth, Channel 4's series on how changes in climate have affected humans throughout history, aired on 28th December. To illustrate the effects of the Black Death on the population of Europe, presenter Tony Robinson was filmed in the Library's Reading Room, quoting from relevant works in our collection. The episode is available from the Channel 4 website.

The Carbolic Smoke Ball

Pictured left is an advertisement for the Carbolic Smoke Ball, which on first impression appears a standard piece of late-Victorian medical ephemera, with little relevance to how we live our lives today.

However, this week’s episode of The Cases that Changed the World on BBC Radio 4 describes the groundbreaking legal case which resulted when the Carbolic Smoke Ball Company’s claims for the efficacy of their product were challenged in court; a case which established important principles about truth in advertising and – arguably – led to the birth of modern consumer protection.

The episode is available for listeners in the UK through the BBC’s iPlayer. A detailed description of the case is available on the BBC News website, where the Carbolic Smoke Ball story is described as: “...an odd tale set against the backdrop of the swirling mists and fog of Victorian London, a terrifying Russian flu pandemic, and a forest of unregulated quack medicines offering cures for just about everything”.

The Test of Time

This week, BBC Radio 4 airs The Test of Time, a new series in which Scientists look back at their ancient forebears and examine how much of that early knowledge still stands up to scrutiny.

The first episode, broadcast today, features consultant oral and maxillofacial surgeon, Iain Hutchison, discovering the connections between today's reconstructive surgery and techniques developed in South Asia in the third century BC.

The techniques of the School of Sushruta - and their dissemination from east to west - are illustrated in the episode through items held in the Wellcome Library, described by Sanskrit specialist, Dominik Wujaystik. (Pictured above is an illustration from one of the works discussed: J C Carpue, An account of two successful operations for restoring a lost nose from the integuments of the forehead in the cases of two officers of His Majesty's Army... (London, 1810).

All of the series will be available to listeners in the UK through the BBC's iPlayer.

The Politics of Celibacy

Radio 4's Woman's Hour discussed the topic "Why do people choose to become celibate?" this week. The Wellcome Library's Senior Archivist Dr Lesley Hall offered historical context to the question, discussing both self-determined celibacy in the tradition of Aristophanes' Lysistrata as well as enforced celibacy throughout the ages.

The programme is available to UK audiences via iPlayer for a week after the broadcast date (21 August)

William Sargant documentary

BBC Radio 4 today aired a documentary called Revealing the Mind Bender General.

Details:

James Maw on the controversial psychiatrist Dr William Sargant, who tested drugs on his patients with, some say, catastrophic results.

In the 1960s and 1970s he developed his controversial Deep Sleep Treatment in the Sleep Room of St Thomas's Hospital in London. James talks to some of those who worked under Sargant in the late-1960s and to some of his former patients, who all say that they are still suffering from his treatment to this day.

The documentary also investigates allegations that Sargant was involved in secret military experiments with hallucinogenic drugs.

Sargant's papers are held by the Wellcome Library, and the documentary quotes from Sargant's notes on patients undergoing Deep Sleep Treatment and also his correspondence with the writer Robert Graves (in particular, on Graves taking the drug psilocybin - "magic mushrooms").

The documentary is available through the BBC’s iPlayer for the next 7 days.

Melanie Klein Play on Radio 4

This Saturday (20th December) Radio 4 will be broadcasting a play based on the life of the influential child psychoanalyst Melanie Klein (1882-1960).

Mrs Klein by Nicholas Wright dramatises Klein's relationship with her own children.

Melanie Klein, a disciple of the teachings of Sigmund Freud, came to London in 1926 and was a key figure in the 'British School' of psychoanalysis. The therapeutic techniques she devised for children also had a lasting impact on methods of child care and rearing.

The Wellcome Library holds Klein's papers – a rich collection of material and part of our significant archival holdings on psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

Medical London is Book of the Week on Radio 4

Richard Barnett's new book, Medical London: City of Diseases, City of Cures has been selected as Book of the Week on Radio 4.

You can tune in each morning at 9.45, or at 00.30 for the nightbirds. And of course, anytime for the next week through BBC iPlayer.

Richard,will be discussing the book with editor Mike Jay at Daunts Books, on Marylebone High Street on Wednesday evening, 3rd December. More details can be found here

Full details of the book, including videos by the guides who conducted the themed walks from the book can be found on the Medical London website.

Medical history on the Radio This Week

History of medicine features quite a lot on the airwaves this week.

Mark Bostridge’s new biography of Florence Nightingale is Book of the Week on BBC Radio 4. You can hear Florence Nightingale: the Woman and her Legend, 9.45-10.00am, repeated 12.30-12.45am, daily.

On Thursday’s In Our Time, Melvyn Bragg and guests Martin Conway, Gemma Calvert and David Papineau discuss recent developments in neuroscience and examine the relationship between the mind and the brain. This new knowledge of how the brain works has challenged concepts of free will and opened up new ways of understanding the mind. Yet these new ideas also seem to conform to some old psychological ideas, such as Freudian psychoanalysis. It airs live 9.00-9.45am, repeated 9.00-9.30pm .

Bob Dylan’s wonderful Theme Time Radio Hour on Thursday evening features a doctor’s themed playlist of popular and obscure tracks including Dear Doctor by the Rolling Stones, as well as Tom Waits discussing alchemy.

The programmes can also be listened to on the BBC iPlayer site.