Neil Papworth sent the first ever text message in 1991 when working as a technician. The message red “Merry Christmas”.
Category: UK
Technicians who worked in the UK
Otto Baumbach
Otto Baumbach (1882-1966) was a glass blower whose work in Manchester was vital to Nobel Laureate Ernest Rutherford.
Joanna Chorley
Joanna Chorley (1925-2019) worked at the code cracking centre Bletchley Park during WW2 on the worlds first electronic computer – Colossus.
Gladys Trim
Gladys Trim (1915-?) started work in the Veterinary Department at the Wellcome Laboratories aged 15. Initially she was not doing technical work but helping other
women in the office with the filing. After 42 years she had worked her way up to senior technician with her name included on several publications.
Den Busby
Den Busby (1919-?) worked at the National Institute for Medical Research from the age of 15. He started work there in 1934 so his career spanned a time of great change for science technicians with improving conditions and a breaking down of old social barriers in the laboratory.
Gareth Griffiths – a steely technician
Gareth is a sculpture technician at the University of Leeds in the School of Design. He helps students bring three-dimensional fruition to their treasured ideas; ideas that until then have only ever existed in their heads. This is his #TechnicianJourney.
Caroline Herschel: technician to the stars
Caroline Herschel (1750-1848) was an assistant to her brother William Herschel and a successful comet hunter in her own right. She was the first salaried female in the history of astronomy.
Vicky Wilson
Vicky Wilson rescued DNA fingerprinting from the laboratory dustbin of history. Hers was the first DNA in the world to be fingerprinted when she worked for Professor Sir Alex Jeffreys at the University of Leicester.
Michael Faraday
Michael Faraday (1791-1867) apprenticed to a book binder aged 14 he went on to become an assistant to Humphry Davy and eventually one of the greatest scientific discoverers of all time.
Margaret Flamsteed
Margaret Flamsteed (c. 1670-1730) was wife and assistant to John Flamsteed, the first Astronomer Royal. Without her his greatest achievements would never have been published.
