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Associate Professor Ian Hesketh
Associate Professor

Ian Hesketh

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 56363

Overview

Background

Ian Hesketh is Associate Professor of History in the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Queensland. Most broadly, his research considers the relationship between history, science, and religion with a focus on nineteenth-century Britain. More specifically, he has written extensively on the Darwinian Revolution, nineteenth-century physics, and large-scale forms of history from the nineteenth century to the present. His latest books include A History of Big History (Cambridge University Press, 2023) and, the edited collection, Imagining the Darwinian Revolution: Historical Narratives of Evolution from the Nineteenth Century to the Present (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2022). He is currently writing a monograph entitled "The Making of Darwin, Darwinians, and Darwinism."

He teaches courses on historiography (HIST2312; HUMN6600), revolutions in history (HIST2024), American history (HIST2023), and British history (HIST2417).

Availability

Associate Professor Ian Hesketh is:
Available for supervision

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts, Okanagan University College
  • Masters (Coursework), York University
  • Doctor of Philosophy, York University

Research interests

  • History of Science

    Darwin and Darwinism; John Tyndall and Victorian physics

  • Historiography

    History of large-scale forms of history-writing (e.g. Big History)

  • Victorian Britain

    History of Victorian ideas

  • Science and Religion

Works

Search Professor Ian Hesketh’s works on UQ eSpace

59 works between 2008 and 2025

1 - 20 of 59 works

Featured

2025

Journal Article

Darwin's scientific gardener: John Scott, the 'physiological test' and the importance of character in Victorian science

Hesketh, Ian (2025). Darwin's scientific gardener: John Scott, the 'physiological test' and the importance of character in Victorian science. British Journal for the History of Science, 58 (1), 19-37. doi: 10.1017/s0007087425000226

Darwin's scientific gardener: John Scott, the 'physiological test' and the importance of character in Victorian science

Featured

2023

Book

A History of Big History

Hesketh, Ian (2023). A History of Big History. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009036399

A History of Big History

Featured

2022

Book

Imagining the Darwinian Revolution: Historical Narratives of Evolution from the Nineteenth Century to the Present

Hesketh, Ian ed. (2022). Imagining the Darwinian Revolution: Historical Narratives of Evolution from the Nineteenth Century to the Present. Pittsburgh, PA United States: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Imagining the Darwinian Revolution: Historical Narratives of Evolution from the Nineteenth Century to the Present

Featured

2020

Journal Article

The making of John Tyndall's Darwinian Revolution

Hesketh, Ian (2020). The making of John Tyndall's Darwinian Revolution. Annals of Science, 77 (4), 524-548. doi: 10.1080/00033790.2020.1808243

The making of John Tyndall's Darwinian Revolution

Featured

2019

Journal Article

Technologies of the Scientific Self: John Tyndall and His Journal

Hesketh, Ian (2019). Technologies of the Scientific Self: John Tyndall and His Journal. Isis, 110 (3), 460-482. doi: 10.1086/704672

Technologies of the Scientific Self: John Tyndall and His Journal

Featured

2017

Book

Victorian Jesus: J.R. Seeley, religion, and the cultural significance of anonymity

Hesketh, Ian (2017). Victorian Jesus: J.R. Seeley, religion, and the cultural significance of anonymity. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.

Victorian Jesus: J.R. Seeley, religion, and the cultural significance of anonymity

Featured

2014

Journal Article

The story of Big History

Hesketh, Ian (2014). The story of Big History. History of the Present, 4 (2), 171-202. doi: 10.5406/historypresent.4.2.0171

The story of Big History

Featured

2012

Book

The Oxford history of historical writing vol 3 1400 - 1800

José Rabasa, Masayuki Sato, Edoardo Tortarolo, Daniel Woolf and Ian Hesketh eds. (2012). The Oxford history of historical writing vol 3 1400 - 1800. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.

The Oxford history of historical writing vol 3 1400 - 1800

Featured

2011

Book

The science of history in Victorian Britain: making the past speak

Hesketh, Ian (2011). The science of history in Victorian Britain: making the past speak. London United Kingdom: Pickering and Chatto.

The science of history in Victorian Britain: making the past speak

Featured

2009

Book

Of apes and ancestors : evolution, Christianity, and the Oxford debate

Hesketh, Ian (2009). Of apes and ancestors : evolution, Christianity, and the Oxford debate. Toronoto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.

Of apes and ancestors : evolution, Christianity, and the Oxford debate

2024

Book Chapter

William Crookes and the Imagined History of Thallium

Hesketh, Ian (2024). William Crookes and the Imagined History of Thallium. Reckoning with History: Essays on the Uses of the Past. (pp. 180-202) edited by K. J. Kesselring and Matthew Neufeld. Montreal, Canada: McGill-Queens University Press.

William Crookes and the Imagined History of Thallium

2024

Journal Article

Review of Scientific History: Experiments in History and Politics from the Bolshevik Revolution to the End of the Cold War. By Elena Aronova. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021. 

Hesketh, Ian (2024). Review of Scientific History: Experiments in History and Politics from the Bolshevik Revolution to the End of the Cold War. By Elena Aronova. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021. . Journal of Modern History, 96 (3), 695-697. doi: 10.1086/730039

Review of Scientific History: Experiments in History and Politics from the Bolshevik Revolution to the End of the Cold War. By Elena Aronova. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2021. 

2024

Book Chapter

Without a Darwinian clue? Henry Thomas Buckle and the naturalization of history

Hesketh, Ian (2024). Without a Darwinian clue? Henry Thomas Buckle and the naturalization of history. Victorian interdisciplinarity and the sciences: rethinking the specialization thesis. (pp. 81-96) edited by Bernard Lightman and Efram Sera-Shriar. Pittsburgh, PA, United States: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Without a Darwinian clue? Henry Thomas Buckle and the naturalization of history

2024

Other Outputs

Commemorating Darwin: global perspectives on evolutionary science, religion and politics

Barnes, Joel and Hesketh, Ian (2024, 04 16). Commemorating Darwin: global perspectives on evolutionary science, religion and politics International Research Network for the Study of Science and Belief in Society

Commemorating Darwin: global perspectives on evolutionary science, religion and politics

2024

Journal Article

Down under Darwin: Australasian perspectives on Darwin studies

Hesketh, Ian, Barton, Ruth and Richards, Evelleen (2024). Down under Darwin: Australasian perspectives on Darwin studies. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science, 103, 69-76. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2023.11.004

Down under Darwin: Australasian perspectives on Darwin studies

2022

Journal Article

Disciplining the Anthropocene

Hesketh, Ian (2022). Disciplining the Anthropocene. History and Theory, 61 (3), 482-491. doi: 10.1111/hith.12267

Disciplining the Anthropocene

2022

Book Chapter

Imagining the Darwinian Revolution in the Nineteenth Century

Hesketh, Ian (2022). Imagining the Darwinian Revolution in the Nineteenth Century. Imagining the Darwinian Revolution: Historical Narratives of Evolution from the Nineteenth Century to the Present. (pp. 21-36) edited by Hesketh, Ian. Pittsburgh, PA United States: University of Pittsburgh Press.

Imagining the Darwinian Revolution in the Nineteenth Century

2022

Journal Article

The Psychic Force Serialized: William Crookes and The Quarterly Journal of Science, 1870-1874

Hesketh, Ian (2022). The Psychic Force Serialized: William Crookes and The Quarterly Journal of Science, 1870-1874. Aries, 22 (1), 13-41. doi: 10.1163/15700593-02201002

The Psychic Force Serialized: William Crookes and The Quarterly Journal of Science, 1870-1874

2021

Journal Article

What Big History misses

Hesketh, Ian (2021). What Big History misses. Aeon.

What Big History misses

2021

Journal Article

Joshua Bennett, God and Progress: Religion and History in British Intellectual Culture, 1845-1914

Hesketh, Ian (2021). Joshua Bennett, God and Progress: Religion and History in British Intellectual Culture, 1845-1914. The American Historical Review, 126 (4), 1685-1686. doi: 10.1093/ahr/rhab626

Joshua Bennett, God and Progress: Religion and History in British Intellectual Culture, 1845-1914

Funding

Past funding

  • 2023 - 2024
    The centenary of Darwin's Origin of Species in global perspective: public narratives of science and belief
    INSBS Small Research Grant
    Open grant
  • 2020 - 2023
    Science and Religion Exploring the Spectrum: A Global Perspective (Templeton Religious Trust Grant led by the University of Birmingham)
    University of Birmingham
    Open grant
  • 2017 - 2022
    The place of history in science: reassessing the Darwinian revolution
    ARC Future Fellowships
    Open grant
  • 2016 - 2017
    Writing History in the Age of the Anthropocene: The Past and Future of Big History
    UQ Foundation
    Open grant
  • 2013
    The Manufacturing of a Reluctant Literary Sensation in Victorian Britain: J.R. Seeley, Ecce Homo, and the Historical Jesus
    UQ Early Career Researcher
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Associate Professor Ian Hesketh is:
Available for supervision

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Supervision history

Current supervision

Completed supervision

Media

Enquiries

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