History of Physics Group

About the group

As a special interest, member-driven group, our main aims are to research and present accounts of the ways in which the subject of physics has developed, and also of the lives and achievements of the men and women who orchestrated this development.

We also explore ways in which historical developments can be used in the understanding, teaching and general communication of physics.

Our main areas of interest are:

• the history of physics discoveries, theories and concepts
• the history of experimentation and instruments
• the history of interactions between physics and society
• oral history and archives

What the group does

We provide a forum where the different and somewhat fragmented disciplines of physics and related subjects are able to interact fruitfully. We pursue the study of the history of physics from the perspective of the physicist, and so our activities are of particular interest to physics practitioners, but we also encourage dialogue between physicists and professional historians of science.

We organise several lecture meetings each year which last between half a day and two days, many of them in collaboration with other IOP special interest groups, and usually around a specific theme. We also support meetings organised by others when these are likely to be of interest to its members.

Our group also produces regular substantial bulletins (formerly newsletters), which include:

• written accounts of some of the talks from these meetings
• other articles and book reviews on the history of physics
• group news

We have spare printed copies of some, but not all, of our newsletters and bulletins. If you would like to order one of these please email the Editor, Jim Grozier, on [email protected]. State which issue you would like and an address to send it to, together with your email address. We will let you know whether we have spares of that issue.

We have also published an ebook which arose out of one of our meetings, Precise Dimensions: A history of units from 1791-2018.

Joining an IOP special interest group

For non-IOP members: Become a member now

For IOP members: Find out how to join a group

Videos: Watch our physics presentations

Finn Aaserud: Private sources of Niels Bohr’s early creativity

John Heilbron: HGJ Moseley in interaction with Bohr and Rutherford

Neil Todd: Bohr and Moseley in Manchester

• Stephen Blundell: The thermodynamic roots of quantum theory
• Professor Edward Davis: Revisiting de Broglie’s famous paper of 1924
• Alexy Karenowska: To something new, to something strange: classical physics at the end of the 19th century
• Professor Richard Staley: Paradigms and worldviews in the development of quantum mechanics
• Andrew Whitaker: Birth, life and death of the Bohr model

Group events

Find events for the History of Physics Group

Newsletters and bulletins

We have newsletter indexes to help you find articles by issue (PDF, 142KB) or by topic (PDF, 142KB).

• Online bulletin no.2 (PDF, 2.47MB)
• Online bulletin no.1 (PDF, 1.61MB)
• Issue 39 (PDF, 2.01MB)
• Special Issue – The Centenary of Transmutation (PDF, 4MB)
• Issue 38 (PDF, 2.14MB)

Useful links

• British Society for the History of Science
• Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
• Manchester Centre for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine
• St Cross Centre for the History and Philosophy of Physics, University of Oxford

Committee and contact

• Email: [email protected]