Oral History of British Science

An Oral History of British Science is an oral history project conducted by National Life Stories at the British Library. The project began in 2009 with funding from the Arcadia Fund, the Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 and a number of other private donors and has grown into a major archive of in-depth, life story audio interviews with figures from the history of science and engineering in Britain.

An Oral History of British Science is collecting 200 audio interviews, each 8 to 15 hours in length, with scientists, engineers and others linked with science and technology in Britain, as well as shorter on-location video recordings. The project is split into four themed strands: Made in Britain, A Changing Planet, Cosmologies and Biomedicine. Importantly, the project seeks to identify lesser-heard voices, for example women scientists, laboratory technicians, and engineers. The project Advisory Committee, which meets at least three times a year to discuss progress and to advise on future direction, comprises Dr Jon Agar, Lord Alec Broers, Dr Tilly Blyth, Georgina Ferry, Professor Dame Julia Higgins, Dr Maja Kominko, Sir Harry Kroto, John Lynch, Professor Chris Rapley and Dr Simone Turchetti.

An Oral History of British Science is conducted by National Life Stories at the British Library, and forms part of a wider institutional initiative to better document contemporary history of science and technology through the addition of audio visual sources as well as written sources. National Life Stories, a charitable trust and limited company within the British Library, was established by Paul Thompson (oral historian) and Jennifer Wingate in 1987 to capture the life stories of British people whose experiences would not otherwise be recorded. Since then NLS has recorded over 2,200 interviews totalling some 22,000 hours, all of them accessible at the British Library. Other NLS projects focus on the lives of visual artists, authors, craftspeople, architects, those involved in the UK water industry, and key individuals connected to social welfare, social policy and charity work. Previous NLS projects focused on the British fashion industry, the post office, the steel and oil industries, Jewish experiences in Britain, the British press, and those involved in the UK food industry, from production to consumption.

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