Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin | Astronomer | blue plaques Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin was widely considered the most eminent woman astronomer of the mid-20th century. She is recognised by a plaque at the home where she grew up, 70 Lansdowne Road.

Hooray for Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin who now has her own blue plaque in London. 🔭 www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-p... (Thanks to @helenarney.bsky.social for reminding me)

“It’s really happening… it’s kind of overwhelming… it’s all the knowledge we have dreamt of holding in our hands”🧯🚒👩‍🚒

Announcing TWO performances of “The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade” at Lincoln Uni, with their amazing students!

3+8pm on Sun 10 May

Tix: firebrigademusical.com/about

Dmitri Mendeleev, who created a version of the periodic table of elements, was born #OnThisDay in 1834. 🧪

Of the 10 elements discovered or first isolated here at the Ri, one has a bit of an image problem. @helenarney.bsky.social wrote a great song to remind us that boron isn't boring at all!

@rhodri.biz Here with friends who want guidance on where best to go for Christmas Sleeping Quarters Updates…?

Buy Tickets | Festival of the Spoken Nerd Join stand-up mathematician Matt Parker, experiments maestro Steve Mould and geek songstress Helen Arney at a night full of electrifying live experiments, spectacular songs and mind-bending maths. Can...

Don't tell anyone, but if you take a look at our website, something new has been added.

Shh, keep it a secret for now. 👀

festivalofthespokennerd.com/tickets/

Of course! You have my email!

A copy of "The Unstoppable Letty Pegg" and sheet music for one of the songs I've written for the show with James Hughes

Prepping for a week in Canterbury, workshopping "The Unstoppable Letty Pegg - the musical" with @nymt.org.uk... the dream is coming true! We have an amazing young company, director, choreographer, MD and more in the room - plus a Q&A with Letty's book-mum @iszi.com.

Get ready for LONDON CHAOS!

ncredible scenes!

I applied a second (final) time for a DYCP grant from @artscouncilengland.bsky.social and... I got it!

From September, I'm developing my bookwriting skills for youth companies & coming up with new ideas for British Musicals to nurture towards production over the coming years 🙌

So so glad my one woman PR campaign for Ride is working out 😝😝😝

Digging into the Science Museum archive today, and found this: an original notebook of Hertha Ayrton’s research into fans 🪭

Also found a Suffragette Society letterhead being used as a bookmark in a science journal 😝💪🔥

Hertha Ayrton Fan Club assemble! We have some big things coming soon…

Oh dear! I managed to tag @iszio.bsky.social instead of @iszi.com... apologies to both!

Throw back to June 2023 when we sent "Unstoppable" from The Unstoppable Letty Pegg into the Stiles+Drewe Best New Song Prize... and Sienna Aurora Clarke sang it in the final concert! 💁‍♀️ 🥋 💪

Now we're about to workshop the rest of the show based on @iszio.bsky.social's book with @nymt.org.uk 🤯 🤩 😲

Dr Neil Gostling FLS

Audience members at Pint of Science

Helen Arney performing with ukelele

Neil and Helen after the event

What a night #PintOfScience was on 20 May! @neilgostling.bsky.social shattered dodo myths with science & wit, then @helenarney.bsky.social stole the show with songs, smarts & a ukulele.

Extinct birds + geek comedy = a Tuesday treat. Thanks for the laughs, facts & full house! @pintofscience.uk

You are the kindest. It is a story that NEEDS to be told!

Screengrab of first page of a picture book text called "HELP! I'm trapped inside a squid!" with a cartoon squid creeping across the top of the page.

Kid's publishing people, and adjacents!

I've written a draft of a kids picture book text in a genre I'm calling GIANT SQUID MAGICAL REALISM.

My 4 year old and 8 year old like it, but does anyone want to have a look at it?

🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑 🦑

More or Less - Defence Spending, Rare Earths and Trunk Truths - BBC Sounds The numbers behind Ukraine’s rare earth worth and the UK’s defence spending ambitions.

Not yet! Though several BBC producers have had the same idea it seems… 2 months I made a (shorter, more selective) rare earth version of the same song for More Or Less with Tim Harford :) www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/...

IT’S FUN TO STAY AT THE

A poster showing a woman singing. It's for an event called 'Showtime', on the 24th of May at the Stage Door in Southampton.

If you're in Southampton at the end of the month, you should go to The Stage Door and hear them sing some of the songs from @firebrigademusical.bsky.social (the musical I'm writing with @jennipinnock.com and @helenarney.bsky.social !)

thestagedoor.org.uk/product.php/...

The Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade - Birmingham Hippodrome New Musicals Showcase YouTube video by Birmingham Hippodrome

Happy Birthday Hertha Ayrton! Physicist, inventor, science communicator, social activist and founder of the Cambridge First All-Ladies Fire Brigade:

youtube.com/watch?v=lkiU...

A rare solo show from me, doubling up with an even rare dodo expert… what a team!

🧪 Science... 🦤 Dodos.... 🎶 Ukuleles!

We're back at Pint of Science again on Tues 20 May, 6 - 8pm: @neilgostling.bsky.social reveals the dodo’s wild side, then @helenarney.bsky.social hits you with sharp wit & science songs.

Expect surprises, LOLs & maybe singalongs. 🍻

Book here: bit.ly/3G3hGIH

Was a pleasure to bring it to the party!

Check out the updated version we helped produce in 2019 with @helenarney.bsky.social, the Waterbeach Brass Band and chemists from around the world!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=viDY...
#ChemSky #ScienceSky #MusicSky

Tom Lehrer's Elements, Live! - from You Can't Polish A Nerd, out now on DVD and download YouTube video by Helen Arney

Happy Tom Lehrer Day to everyone!

Especially to Tom Lehrer ⚗️🧪🎹

youtu.be/hzvVLK9Y048

That should say Jenni, Brian and myself... but hey, I'm the only one without an ear cut off in the graphic so I think it's obvious that I'm the third in the trio :)

Sharing brilliant news that @jennipinnock.com and @mackenwells.bsky.social are part of Lincoln Arts Centre's 2025 Innovate Artist intake!

Can't wait to work with local talent to bring @firebrigademusical.bsky.social to life here - one of our Fire Fighters is Lincoln-born Charlotte Scott! 🔥🔥🔥

Head over here to find out what I’ve been wanging on about for a year and a half so far…

Ready for some sparks to fly? Head over to our website to watch our showcase filmed at Birmingham Hippodrome earlier this month! firebrigademusical.com/about/

The showcase recording of our fire brigade musical is here! Head to the link to see what the fabulous @helenarney.bsky.social , @mackenwells.bsky.social and I have been up to this year (aside from spending 30 minutes on single bars of music of course..)

It was a single 7 4 bar in my head... or some other madness... this may have been part of the problem...