Isaac Newton investigating light

Science and technology

Dr Edward Jenner, a British physician, performing his first vaccination on James Phipps, a boy of eight, in 1796. (Photo by Getty Images)

The history of vaccination: from Edward Jenner to anti-vaxxers.

A near-contemporary depiction of the 14th-century English monk, mathematician and astronomer Richard of Wallingford. Monks were among the leading scientific practitioners during the medieval period. (Photo by Bridgeman)

The genius of medieval science: from medicine to mechanical clocks.

Staff hard at work at Bletchley Park. The people who worked here did so under conditions of utmost secrecy, and with little idea of how their work slotted into the grand scheme of things. (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

Bletchley Park: Britain's wartime intelligence factory.

Viking genes unravelled.

Huge sun setting over power lines and palm trees in California. (Photo by Getty Images)

California’s century of change.

The bikini was showcased to the world for the first time in July 1946. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

8 historical events that happened in July

Portrait of Sir Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton: life, discoveries, rivalries and the truth about the apple

Industrial revolution

Explore the Industrial Revolution – “the world’s greatest makeover” – with Monkman & Seagull

Peter Mayhew, Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness and Mark Hamill, on-set of the film Star Wars

Star Wars: why did the film make history?.

Astronauts being lifted from the Apollo 13 spacecraft after splashdown in the South Pacific,1970. (Photo by Alamy)

Apollo 13.

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. (Photo by Getty Images)

Yuri Gagarin: 8 things you (probably) didn’t know about the first man in space

Miniature from an Apocalypse of Cambrai depicting the opening of the sixth seal: an earthquake occurs and the sun becomes black. Municipal library, Cambrai, France. (Photo by Leemage/Corbis via Getty Images)

Written in the stars: 7 celestial events that may have changed history.

Photo of sand dunes

Why the American Wild West was a "hotbed of scientific discovery".

The race to save Apollo 13.

Hidden Figures: the incredible real history behind the film.

British nurse Florence Nightingale (1820–1910), aka the 'Lady with the lamp', makes her rounds during the Crimean War. (Photo by Illustrated London News/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The lady with the stats: how Florence Nightingale’s nursing by numbers is still influencing today’s healthcare.

Einstein on the run

Einstein on the run: when the brilliant scientist fled to England.

A contemporary portrait of scientist Ada Lovelace

History heroKonnie Huq chooses Ada Lovelace (1815–52)

Photo of a gramophone

Q&AWho do we say 'put a sock in it'?

In pictures: Soviet cosmonauts and the birth of the space age

On 20 July 1969, Lunar Module 'Eagle' touched down gently on the Sea of Tranquility on the moon. (Photo by NASA/Newsmakers via Getty Images)

From ‘moon-germs’ to motion sickness: health and safety on NASA’s 1969 lunar landing mission.

A photo which was believed to be of the Loch Ness Monster

The quest for the Loch Ness Monster.

A 15th-century map of the world illustrating a Latin edition of Ptolemy's the 'Geography'. (Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images)

12 alternative giant leaps for mankind – from carnivorism to Magna Carta.

NASA’s unknown Welsh hero: the story of Tecwyn Roberts

Kendrick Oliver explores the space race that led to the 1969 moon landing and considers the legacy of the momentous events of July 1969. (Photo by NASA/Newsmakers/Getty Images)

The race to the moon.

A cartoon showing a man in a suit of armour on the moon

Q&ADid NASA really pick the brains of the Tower of London armoury when designing the first space suits?.

BBC Sky at Night MagazineWhere did the Apollo astronauts land on the Moon?

Launch of the Apollo 16 mission, 1972. ((Photo by SSPL/Getty Images)

The Space Race: The Cold War rivalry that put humans on the Moon.

A portrait of 17th-century scholar John Wilkins

Ye final frontier: the 17th-century space race.

Back down to Earth: the legacy of the 1969 moon landing.