Charlotte Bigg: Images of the Universe. A scientific, technical and cultural history

Charlotte Bigg, historian of science and research director at the Centre Alexandre Koyré (CNRS, Paris), will offer the inaugural lecture of the 2026/27 academic year for the bachelor’s degree in Science, Technology and Humanities.

In her inaugural lecture, Bigg will outline the interconnected history of techniques for the visual representation of the universe and for the popularisation of astronomy in the modern era, as well as how these advances have contributed to shaping our perception of the universe and humanity's place within it.

After earning her degree in history at the University of Oxford and in the history and philosophy of science at the University of Cambridge, Bigg worked at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and at ETH Zurich. She is an expert in the social and cultural history of science—particularly 19th- and 20th-century chemistry, physics, and astronomy—and has published numerous works exploring the visual and material cultures of science and technology.