Charlotte Bigg: The Palais de la découverte 1937-2027. A participant-observer's perspective

Charlotte Bigg, historian of science and research director at the Centre Alexandre Koyré (CNRS) in Paris, will deliver the inaugural lecture for the 2026/27 academic year of the new inter-university master's degree in the History of Science: History, Heritage and Scientific Communication, which is embarking on a new phase with a greater emphasis on museology and science popularisation.

The researcher will give a lecture titled "The Palais de la Découverte 1937–2027: A Participant-Observer’s Perspective", focusing on her involvement in the major renovation project of this iconic Parisian museum—set to reopen in March 2027—where she has been responsible for incorporating perspectives from the history of science and science, technology, and society (STS) studies.

Charlotte Big earned her degree in history at the University of Oxford and in the history and philosophy of science at the University of Cambridge. She subsequently worked at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin and at ETH Zurich. Bigg is an expert in the social and cultural history of science (especially 19th and 20th-century chemistry, physics and astronomy) and has published numerous works exploring the visual and material cultures of science and technology from the late 18th century to the present day.