Images

The coat of arms of the city of Sheffield, England, granted in 1875. A representation of Thor stands on the left and Vulcan on the right, indicating the city's heritage as a world-famous steel manufacturer. The legend...

A cut-away model of a Bessemer converter, invented by Henry Bessemer in 1856 during the Industrial Revolution in order to mass-produce steel. (Science Museum, London)

A 1917 oil on canvas painting by E.F. Skinner showing steel being made using a Bessemer converter, an invention of the Industrial Revolution. (Science Museum, London)

John Spurling, author of Arcadian Days: Gods, Women, and Men from Greek Myths.

Arcadian Days: Gods, Women, and Men from Greek Myths by John Spurling and published by Pegasus Books.

Hymn to Nungal, a Sumerian poem dated to the Old Babylonian Period (c. 2000-1600 BCE), owing to the number of copies found from that era, but possibly composed during the Ur III Period (2047-1750 BCE). Exhibit in the Oriental...

A Bessemer converter in the Science Museum, Sheffield, England. Henry Bessemer (1813-1898) invented a converter in 1856 during the Industrial Revolution that made steel production much cheaper and more reliable. Steel...

The first telegraph machine, invented in 1837 by William Fothergill Cook (1806-79) and Charles Wheatstone (1802-1875). The machine had only 20 letters, indicated in the message sent by the slight movement of two needles...

The oldest surviving photograph, taken by Joseph Nicéphore Niépce (1765-1833) in 1826 using a camera obscura. The photograph (then known as a heliograph) is titled View from the Window at La Gras. Nièpce's innovation...

A replica of the electromagnet invented by the Canadian engineer William Sturgeon (1783-1850). Sturgeon first devised the electromagnet in 1825; this version was invented around 1832. It was used to create a magnetic...