Oppenheimer and the poisoned apple
This summer’s blockbuster, Oppenheimer, begins the chronological recounting of the physicist’s life in Cambridge. The recent Harvard graduate, later dubbed the ‘father of the atomic […]
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Becoming Vice-Chancellor …
Professor Deborah Prentice, the new Vice-Chancellor, assumes the duties of office on 1st July and will be formally admitted at a Congregation of the Regent […]
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A game of stones – how Cambridge acquired a cast of the Rosetta Stone
Exactly two hundred years ago, in 1822, the French scholar Jean-Francois Champollion (1790–1832) succeeded in his attempts to decipher the hieroglyphic text of the famous Rosetta […]
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Statutory safety: rebinding the Proctors’ Books
Historic volumes from outside the the University Library, intrinsic to University ceremonial, have been recent visitors to the Conservation Studio. These two books contain the […]
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Archives in the round: joining up the records of Biochemistry
Puzzling over an unidentified collection of 1920s printer’s blocks, intriguing artwork for something, has emphasised again the connections between the official records of the University and personal papers of its scientists. For the fullest picture of an institution or an individual, look both ways. The blocks, part of transfer […]
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Grounds for enthusiasm: the University Library outside
The appearance mid-April of foodPark. in front of the UL is only the most recent innovative use of the grounds in a crisis. During World War II, the need to keep people fed and the […]
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‘The finest place in the University’: George Herbert (1593-1633), Public Orator
By Jacqueline Cox (Keeper of University Archives) 2020 marks the 400th anniversary of the election of the poet George Herbert as Public Orator, a post he held until 1627. First created by university statute […]
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Discovery: 200 Years of the Cambridge Philosophical Society
Coming into the Cambridge University Library entrance hall visitors encounter three objects: a wall-mounted cast of 565 million-year-old sea-creature fossils, a plastinated pitcher plant, using […]
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‘A degree of a different character’: 100 years of the Cambridge PhD
On 16 May 1919, a specially established syndicate presented a series of revised regulations governing the admission and courses of study of research students and […]
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LGBT History Month at the UL
During February the University Library joined with a number of colleges and other institutions across town and University to mark LGBT History Month, an annual […]
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