New Library Film Explores Two Revolutionary Science Books
Date Published: 06.08.2026
Humans have a tendency to put themselves on a pedastal, but Wadham Fellow Joe Bull explains how modern science keeps humbling us.
Prof Joseph Bull, Tutorial Fellow in Biology at Wadham, discusses the impact of two scientific works, both of which have rare copies housed at Wadham. These works challenged the idea that humans occupy a privileged place in nature.
One is Copernicus's De Revolutionibus orbium coelestium, which challenged the idea that the earth was the centre of the solar system. Wadham has a rare, first edition copy of this work that was given to the College by Samuel Lee in 1653.
The other book is Carl Linnaeus's Systema naturae, which was the first scientific work to categorise humans as just one kind of primate. Our 10th edition copy was provided to Wadham by Richard Warner in 1775.
The video, lovingly edited by Wadham's librarian, Tim Kirtley, is now available to watch on YouTube.