Patricia Fara

Patricia Fara is a historian of science at the University of Cambridge. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford and did her PhD at the University of London. She is a former Fellow of Darwin College and is currently a Fellow of Clare College where she is Director of Studies in the History of Philosophy and Science.^[1] Fara is also a College Teaching Officer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science.^[2] In 2016, Fara became President of the British Society for the History of Science, as well as President of the Antiquarian Horological Society. Fara is author of numerous popular books on the history of science and has been a guest on BBC Radio 4's science and history discussion series, In Our Time. She began her academic career as a physicist but returned to graduate studies as a mature student to specialise in History and Philosophy of Science, completing her PhD thesis at Imperial College, London in 1993.

Her areas of particular academic interest include the role of portraiture and art in the history of science, science in the 18th century England during the Enlightenment and the role of women in science. She has written and co-authored a number of books for children on science. Fara is also a reviewer of books on history of science. She has recently written Science: A Four Thousand Year History (2009) ^[3][4] which won the 2011 Dingle Prize awarded by the British Society for the History of Science, and Erasmus Darwin: Sex, Science, and Serendipity (2012).^[5]

Bibliography

• Fara, P. (2002) An Entertainment for Angels: Electricity in the Enlightenment Icon Books
• Fara, P. (2002) Newton: The Making of Genius Pan-MacMillan
• Fara, Patricia (2003). Sex, Botany and Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks. Cambridge: Icon Books. ISBN 9781840464443. Retrieved 22 February 2015. 
• Fara, P. (2004) Pandora's Breeches: Women, Science and Power in the Enlightenment Pimlico Books
• Fara, P. (2005) Fatal Attraction: Magnetic Mysteries of the Enlightenment Icon Books
• Fara, P. (2009) Science: A four thousand year history Oxford University Press
• Fara, Patricia (2012). Erasmus Darwin : sex, science, and serendipity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780199582662. Retrieved 12 March 2015. 

Broadcasts

• BBC Radio 4 In Our Time 'Vitalism' 28 October 2008.
• BBC Radio 4 In Our Time 'Baconian Science' 2 April 2009.
• BBC Radio 4 In Our Time 'Women and Enlightenment Science' 4 November 2010.
• BBC Radio 4 In Our Time 'Robert Hooke' 18 February 2016.

References