Curious Minds: Explore

Discover the world online for free

Explore museums, libraries, archives, articles and more all from your own home. 

Compiled by academics and staff of Oxford Continuing Education, these freely available educational resources will take you around the world, and into history.

Explore...

Figures in the Sky

We all look up to the same sky during dark nights and, though the stars don't change, we see different shapes based on stories from the past. Figures in the Sky is a beautifully detailed website that explains how current and past cultures across the globe have seen their myths and legends in the stars. Compare 28 different 'sky cultures' to see differences and similarities – ranging from the western constellations, to Chinese, Maori and even a few shapes from historical cultures such as the Aztecs.

> Figures in the Sky

Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections 

The Thomas J. Watson Library is the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art’s research library and their Digitization Initiative aims to expand access to the Museum's rare and unique research materials by developing a distinctive digital collection of these items. Explore a wide variety of resources, including auction catalogues from the 17th-20th centuries, Japanese illustrated books, and highlights from the Museum's Costume Institute. 

> Thomas J. Watson Library Digital Collections

Art UK

Art UK is a cultural education charity that aims to 'enable global audiences to learn about the UK’s national art collection'. The website is 'the showcase for art in every UK public collection and is a collaboration between over 3,200 British institutions. The art you see on Art UK is for everyone – for enjoyment, learning and research. These artworks are in museums, universities, town halls, hospitals and other civic buildings across the country. As 80% of this art is not on public view, Art UK allows you to see art that you would not normally be able to visit...Our current major project is documenting and digitising the nation’s sculptures – both in collections and in public spaces. The first of many thousands of sculptures joined the site during February 2019.'

> Art UK

Panorama of the Thames Project

The Panorama of the Thames conservation project is creating a unique and enduring historical record of the banks of the River Thames. The website contains panoramic images and videos, accompanied by an extensive database to cover every feature along the 52 miles of riverbank. Funded mainly by individual contributions and community groups, the project shows the built and the natural environment along the river and includes a fully restored version of a rare publication which depicts the Thames riverside in 1829, at the end of the Georgian period.

> Panorama of the Thames Project

Woolf Online 

Carly Watson, Departmental Lecturer in Literature and Arts, recommends the Woolf Online project - a digital archive of Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse (1927). The site contains images and transcriptions of the holograph drafts along with the typescripts, proofs, and various early editions of the novel. Also included is a myriad of contextual materials, such as letters and diary entries, early reviews of the novel, photographs, and selected essays Woolf wrote during the two- year period during which she worked on To the Lighthouse.

> Woolf Online 

Archaeology and architectural history research

For those interested in archaeology and architectural history, Archaeology Tutor and Research Associate Olaf Bayer recommends the following free research publications by Historic England and its precursor organisations English Heritage and the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments England.

> English Heritage monographs

> Historic England research reports

> Historic England recent research

The William Blake Archive

Ben Grant, Departmental Lecturer in English Literature, recommends The William Blake Archive. Inspired by the Rossetti Archive (a previous Curious Minds resource), the Archive provides a huge wealth of resources related to the poet, engraver and artist. Discover illuminated books, illustrations, prints, manuscripts, paintings and drawings, along with scholarly materials and the Hell's Printing Press blog.

> The William Blake Archive

Archaeology Data Service

David Griffiths, Professor of Archaeology, recommends the Archaeology Data Service (ADS). As stated on their website: 'The ADS is an accredited digital repository for heritage data that supports research, learning and teaching with freely available, high quality and dependable digital resources by preserving and disseminating digital date in the long term'. Explore the archive and library, discover research projects, or dive in to ARCHSEARCH - an online catalogue indexing over 1.3 million metadata records, including ADS collections and metadata harvested from UK historic environment inventories.

> Archaeology Data Service

MAGIC 

Adrienne Rosen, Emerita Fellow of Kellogg College and former Departmental Lecturer in Local and Social History, recommends MAGIC - an online and interactive mapping tool covering Great Britain. As the website states, MAGIC provides: 'geographic information about the natural environment from across government. The information covers rural, urban, coastal and marine environments across Great Britain. It is presented in an interactive map which can be explored using various mapping tools that are included. Users do not require specialist software and can access maps using a standard web browser'. As well as the interactive map, users can also download datasets and static maps.

> MAGIC

Reuters Institute

The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, University of Oxford, is dedicated to exploring the future of journalism worldwide through debate, engagement, and research. They place a high value on independent journalism, the power of news, and the importance of an informed public. Check out the videos and podcasts, explore research and articles, or watch past webinars.

> Reuters Institute

Public Library of Science Journals

'Research should be freely available to everyone for the advancement of knowledge, discovery, reproducibility and usability’, says the Public Library of Science (PLOS). In 2003 they launched their first fully Open Access journal 'in order to empower researchers to make science immediately and publicly available online, without restrictions'. The Library now offers peer-reviewed articles from more than 200 disciplines in the form of seven journals. 

> Public Library of Science Journals

Münzkabinett Berlin

With more than 500,000 coins, the Münzkabinett Berlin has one of the most significant and comprehensive numismatic collections in the world. With so many coins, you can imagine how hard it is for numismatists to order them and make sense of them! The aim of this website is to offer playful ways to explore these coins – aka historical artefacts – which are normally locked away in a vault or behind glass.

> Münzkabinett Berli

JSTOR / Artstor

Tara Stubbs, Professor of Modern and Contemporary Literature, recommends the free, open access material available on JSTOR. Originally created as a platform to share back issues of academic journals, this digital library has grown to include books and millions of primary sources - supporting research and teaching in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences. Explore open access journals, research reports and books, or delve in to the public collections on sister site Artstor - which contains 1.3 million freely accessible images, videos, documents, and audio files from museums, archives, libraries, and faculty collections.

> JSTOR: Open Access

> Artstor: Public Collections

Writers & Artists: Advice

Creative Writing Tutor Frank Egerton recommends Writers & Artists, the insider guide to the media. Frank says: 'This site is the online home of the invaluable Writers & Artists Yearbook (now published by Bloomsbury). The site contains a wealth of excellent advice on writing, getting published, self-publishing and marketing'. Explore articles written by bestselling authors and illustrators, leading literary agents and industry experts.

> Writers & Artists: Advice

Pitt Rivers Museum

Oxford University’s Pitt Rivers Museum houses one of the most fascinating and diverse collections of archaeological and anthropological treasures in Britain. The collection is more than 500,000 items strong and the museum's website reflects this with a myriad of resources and educational materials. Delve into some of the collections highlights; look back at past exhibitions; explore research projects and conservation case studies; or take a virtual tour.

> Pitt Rivers Museum

Rossetti Archive

Carly Watson, Departmental Lecturer in Literature and Arts, recommends the Rossetti Archive. The website contains the complete writings and pictures of Dante Gabriel Rossetti and aims to 'include high-quality digital images of every surviving documentary state of DGR's works: all the manuscripts, proofs, and original editions, as well as the drawings, paintings, and designs of various kinds, including his collaborative photographic and craft works.'

> Rossetti Archive

Bible Odyssey and Bibledex

Tutor Ann Conway-Jones says: 'As Bible Odyssey describes itself: "Explore the fascinating origins of the Bible and its eventful history. On Bible Odyssey, the world’s leading scholars share the latest historical and literary research on key people, places, and passages of the Bible." There is a cornucopia of short articles with accompanying illustrations, along with videos and even an "Ask a Scholar" feature. Another website worth exploring is Bibledex, produced by Nottingham University. It provides a short video on every book of the Bible, each with contributions from a variety of scholars.' Ann teaches biblical studies, early Jewish-Christian relations, and early mystical theology at the Department. 

> Bible Odyssey

> Bibledex

English Heritage

Adrienne Rosen, Emerita Fellow of Kellogg College and former Departmental Lecturer in Local and Social History, recommends taking a look at the 'Learn' section on the English Heritage website. Delve into the history pages to discover more about English Heritage sites and how they have changed over time, learn about some of the different aspects of their gardens conservation work, and take a chronological journey through the key periods in England's past.

> English Heritage

Boundless: Biology and Microbiology

Thomas Hesselberg, Departmental Lecturer in Biological Sciences, recommends the Lumen Learning Boundless catalog and, in particular, the Biology and Microbiology educational resources. The catalog contains 'educational content originally curated by Boundless. In collaboration with the Boundless team, Lumen Learning imported these OER (open educational resources) courses to the Lumen Platform, to ensure they remain freely available to the education community after Boundless ceased operations'. 

> Boundless catalog 

Google Arts & Culture: Royal Academy of Arts

London’s Royal Academy of Arts (RA) has been championing artists and architects for more than 250 years. You can now explore their collection and spaces from home thanks to a new collaborative project with Google Arts and Culture: 'Explore the fascinating architecture of the Royal Academy from home, including hidden delights such as the RA library designed by Jim Cadbury Brown in 1986 and the Life Drawing Room in the RA Schools. Listen to David Chipperfield discuss the major refurbishment that opened in 2018 and see how the building turned out.'

> Google Arts & Culture: Royal Academy of Arts

Talbot Catalogue Raisonné

William Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) conceived of the art of photography in 1833, achieved his first images by 1834, and revealed the art to the public in 1839. By the time he ceased taking photographs in 1846, Talbot and his close associates had created more than 4,500 distinct images. Miraculously, much of this prodigious output still survives. Viewed as physical artifacts, many of Talbot’s photographs are objects of beauty, mystery and promise. Each photograph was made by hand on a sheet of paper, exposed to objects under sunlight or in improvised cameras. The Bodleian Library's Talbot Catalogue Raisonné project seeks to make this corpus of material freely available to scholars and to the general public.

> The Talbot Catalogue Raisonné

Open Domesday

This is the first free online copy of one of the most important historical records ever made, the Domesday Book. Take a tour of the original Domesday folios detailing the number of households, the economic resources, landowners and the valuation for almost every settlement in England in 1086 – along with an interactive map to take you to every place in Domesday that can still be located today.

> Open Domesday

Cornell University's Macaulay Library

Cornell University's Macaulay Library is a scientific archive of natural history audio, video, and photographs. The collection includes birds, amphibians, fishes, and mammals, and preserves recordings of each species’ behavior and natural history. Their mission is to 'facilitate the ability of others to collect and preserve such recordings and to actively promote the use of these recordings for diverse purposes spanning scientific research, education, conservation, and the arts'. Browse the collection using the search tools or upload your own contributions to the site.

> Cornell University's Macaulay Library

Google Earth

Dr Toby Martin, Assistant Director (Award-Bearing and Accredited)​, recommends exploring your local area using Google Earth Pro as it 'allows you to turn back the clock all the way back to the 1940s for the aerial imagery in some areas'. Google Earth Pro on desktop is free for users to download (available on PC, Mac or Linux) and, as well as being able to go back in time with historical imagery, you can also import and export GIS data. If you aren't able to download Earth Pro, the standard version of Google Earth is also an excellent tool. Explore cities in 3D, take a guided tour, or create your own maps and stories. (Currently only available for Chrome users but due to be launched for other browsers soon.) 

> Google Earth

The Scottish Enlightenment

Scotland made a powerful contribution to the Enlightenment through the works of the country’s leading intellectuals. Scots produced original thinking in philosophy, economics and literature, and ground-breaking discoveries in geology, science and medicine. Through printed sources, manuscripts and maps from the National Library of Scotland’s collections, find out more about this remarkable period of Scotland’s history.

> The Scottish Enlightenment

Tate Modern: Andy Warhol

The Tate Modern's Andy Warhol exhibition offers a 'new look at the extraordinary life and work of the pop art superstar'. If you can't make it to the exhibition, the online exhibition guide provides a great overview of Warhol's life and career. 'Popularly radical and radically popular, Warhol was an artist who reimagined what art could be in an age of immense social, political and technological change'. Watch the curator's tour and explore the 12 rooms of works. 

> Tate Modern: Andy Warhol Exhibition Guide

Keeping Score

Director of Studies in Music Jonathan Darnborough says: 'The San Francisco Symphony has a great resource called Keeping Score which explores, in particular, the eight great symphonic works by composers as diverse as Beethoven and Stravinsky. Michael Tilson Thomas discusses the music with insight and you can listen to each piece with a scrolling score – so you never lose your place!'

> Keeping Score

Our Migration Story

Presenting the often untold stories of the generations of migrants who came to and shaped the British Isles, Our Migration Story is a useful resource for anyone interested in Britain’s migration history. The website is organised through stories of individuals and groups, and these stories are told through a diverse range of historical source material - arranged into four time-period categories: AD 43-1500; 1500-1750; 1750-1900; 1900-2000s. Across each period, you will find images, quotations, newspaper clippings, Parliamentary reports, videos, poems, extracts from novels, and many other materials that present the successes, challenges, obstacles and surprises faced by Britain’s migrants over more than a thousand years.

> Our Migration Story 

The Medical Heritage Library

The Medical Heritage Library (MHL) is a digital collaborative project among some of the world’s leading medical libraries, promoting free and open access to quality historical resources in medicine. Their goal is to provide the means by which readers and scholars across a multitude of disciplines can examine the interrelated nature of medicine and society, both to inform contemporary medicine and strengthen understanding of the world in which we live. The MHL’s growing collection of digitised medical rare books, pamphlets, journals, and films number in the tens of thousands, with representative works from each of the past six centuries, all of which are available here through the Internet Archive. 

> The Medical Heritage Library

British Fashion Council

Claire O'Mahony, Associate Professor in the History of Art and Design, recommends the Google Arts & Culture British Fashion Council project. Claire says: 'If fashion is your passion the British Fashion Council project is full of fascinating virtual exhibitions about fabric, fashion and photography, from how Harris Tweed is made to the fabulous vision of Dame Mary Quant.' 

> Google Arts & Culture: British Fashion Council

Planetizen: The 100 Most Influential Urbanists

Dr Patricia Canelas, Departmental Lecturer in Sustainable Urban Development, recommends a Planetizen article listing some of the most influential urbanists of all time - including contemporary thinkers, activists, planners, and designers. Dr Canelas says that the article provides 'an entertaining run through the 100 top influential planners according to Planetizen’s reader votes. It is worth going through some of links to learn about the lives and achievements of these urban planners.' Planetizen is an independent platform aiming to create resources to 'inform planning and people passionate about planning.'

> Planetizen: The 100 Most Influential Urbanists

Ancient History Encyclopedia

The mission of the Ancient History Encyclopedia is to help people across the globe gain a deeper, fundamental knowledge of our interconnected human past in order to create curious, open-minded, and tolerant societies in the future. Explore the impressive media library, timelines, maps and audio articles.

> Ancient History Encyclopedia

Pieter Bruegel the Elder

2019 marked the 450th anniversary of the death of the Dutch and Flemish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The Bruegel exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna (2018-19) displayed around half of all the extant works by Bruegel and the accompanying exhibition website hosts a treasure trove of insight and imagery which can still be explored online. Bruegel was an astute observer, a storyteller, satirist and social critic. His paintings give us a window into the society in which he lived, and many of the central themes in his work remain highly relevant today. 

> The Bruegel exhibition

Merriam-Webster Time Traveler 

When was a word first used in print? You may be surprised! Merriam-Webster has a ‘Time Traveller’ web portal that lets you enter a date to see the words first recorded in that year. Most entries contain a date for 'First Known Use' - this is the date of the earliest recorded use in English, as far as it could be determined, of the oldest sense defined in the entry. Enter your birth year, and find out what words were born the same year you were, or reflect back on recent years and see what new words are now part of your every day vocabulary. 

> Merriam-Webster Time Traveler

Design Museum

The Design Museum is the place where the design industry, education and the public come together to change the way people think about themselves and the future. Take a look at some of the designers who 'shape our lives and create our futures' or examine and explore the creative impulses that produced iconic designs including Concorde, Penguin Books and the London Transport System.

> Design Museum: Design

> Design Museum: Designers

Jane Austen’s Fiction Manuscripts

Carly Watson, Departmental Lecturer in Literature and Arts, recommends Jane Austen’s Fiction Manuscripts. This online research project gathered together some 1,100 pages of fiction written in Jane Austen’s own hand. Through digital reunification, it is now possible to access, read, and compare high quality images of original manuscripts whose material forms are scattered around the world in libraries and private collections.

> Jane Austen’s Fiction Manuscripts

NOTCHES

Yasmin Khan, Departmental Lecturer in British History, highlights NOTCHES - a collaborative peer-reviewed blog about sexuality that aims to 'to get people inside and outside the academy thinking about sexuality in the past and in the present'. Their aim is to create a space for discussion and debate about all aspects of the history of sexuality and to 'create a collaborative and open-access blog that is intellectually rigorous and accessible, historical and timely, political and playful'. Posts include 'Queer History and the Holocaust', ‘Sex, Sin and the Black Death in Medieval England', and 'Coming Out in the Trade Union Movement.'

> NOTCHES

Google Arts & Culture: English Heritage

English Heritage and Google Arts & Culture have collaborated on a project which allows you to ‘step into British history’ and explore behind the scenes of England's historical, architectural and cultural history. The site looks at ‘hidden histories’, with editorial highlights from historian Dan Snow on the five most influential sites in Britain, alongside other intriguing articles - such as the real housewives of English castles, the long history of Graffiti, and the five forgotten Black and Asian figures who made British History. You can also explore some of English Heritage's iconic locations, 'get close' to pieces of art, delve in to the stories behind iconic design and architecture and learn more about conserving and preserving English history.

> Google Arts & Culture: English Heritage

Wellcome Collection

Find thousands of freely licensed digital books, artworks, photos and images of historical library materials and museum objects at the Wellcome Collection website. The images reflect founder Sir Henry Wellcome’s interests and are a documentary resource reflecting the cultural and historical contexts of health and medicine.

> Wellcome Collection

IMSLP Petrucci Music Library

Director of Studies in Music Jonathan Darnborough says: 'A site I turn to constantly is the IMSLP Petrucci Music Library. Here you can find the scores of over 160,000 works freely downloadable in pdf format. As a bonus the site now hosts over 60,000 free recordings as well.' The main goal of the library is to 'gather all public domain music scores, in addition to the music scores of all contemporary composers (or their estates) who wish to release them to the public free of charge'. Another goal is to 'facilitate the exchange of musical ideas outside of compositions' so users can create/edit a page with their own analysis of a particular piece.

> IMSLP Petrucci Music Library

Animate It

Oxford’s History of Science Museum has an online series of short films that bring to life unusual working instruments from the Museum’s collection - all of which are on permanent display but would not normally be handled or operated in public. The films include demonstrations, explanations and some historical background from experts at the Museum. In these unique videos, find out how scientists and mathematicians have made sense of the solar system and our understanding of time over the centuries. 

> Animate It 

James Lind Library

Professor Carl Heneghan, Director of Oxford’s Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine, recommends the James Lind Library, an online resource which was established to improve public and professional general knowledge about fair tests of treatments in health care and their history. James Lind was a Scottish naval surgeon who conducted a controlled trial for treatment of scurvy, and published ‘A Treatise of the Scurvy’ in 1753. The Library contains material illustrating the development of fair tests of treatments throughout history.

> James Lind Library

Geograph  

Adrienne Rosen, Emerita Fellow of Kellogg College and former Departmental Lecturer in Local and Social History, recommends the Geograph Britain and Ireland project. This public project, says Adrienne, 'aims to collect geographically representative photographs for every square kilometre of the UK and Republic of Ireland, with over 2 million images contributed so far. A wonderful resource for images of the British landscape'. Since 2005, 13,194 contributors have submitted 6,481,704 images. 

> Geograph

GOV | DNA

GOV | DNA is an interactive visualisation allowing you to explore the DNA of government. Work your way through the countries listed and investigate governmental influence, based on metrics such as judicial effectiveness, employment, political stability and government spending.

> GOV | DNA

The Night Watch

The Rijksmuseum has published the largest and most detailed ever photograph of Rembrandt's The Night Watch. Made from a composite of 528 individual digital photographs, this incredibly detailed image allows you to zoom in on individual brushstrokes and particles of pigment. Led by data scientist Robert Erdmann, 24 rows of 22 pictures have been seamlessly stitched together digitally and the final image is a jaw dropping 44.8 gigapixels (44,804,687,500 pixels).

> The Night Watch

NASA

NASA offers educational resources and information about the missions and technological and scientific advances of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States. Explore galleries, videos, podcasts, learn about the solar system and watch ‘NASA TV’. You can also pilot the SpaceX Dragon using a simulator, check when the International Space Station (ISS) will be passing overhead using the live tracking map, and have a go at some astronaut training exercises. 

> NASA

BBC Modern Writers Archive

Delve into this rich resource containing a great number of interviews with noteworthy authors, from Margaret Atwood and PG Wodehouse, to Martin Amis and Monica Ali. Discover how they 'created the characters we love or hate, the evocative settings, and the plots that have us reading late into the night, desperate to know what happens.' 

> BBC Modern Writers Archive 

The National Archives

Christine Jackson, former Associate Professor of History, recommends The National Archives online platform - particularly the 'reading old documents' tutorials. The National Archives is also running a series of online talks and webinars and so far they have covered angles of WWII, 1970s music and culture, and drinks tasting alongside a showcase of relevant records in their archive. Upcoming events include Caribbean Connections and Discovering your Local History. 

> The National Archives

Writers Make Worlds

Ben Grant, Departmental Lecturer in English Literature, recommends the Writers Make Worlds website. This Oxford-based project showcases and provides resources on important contemporary Black and Asian British writing. The website states: 'Writers such as Aminatta Forna and Andrea Levy, Daljit Nagra and Kamila Shamsie, Linton Kwesi Johnson and Bernardine Evaristo, have created work that fundamentally challenges prevailing ideas of British literature. They show us that British writing is not something produced only by white English authors, but has a diverse range of backgrounds and many different histories. This website offers ways into exploring this exciting work.'

> Writers Make Worlds

History of Philosophy

Peter Adamson, Professor of Philosophy at the LMU in Munich and at King's College London, takes listeners through a dazzlingly comprehensive history of philosophy, 'without any gaps.' The series looks at the ideas, lives and historical context of the major philosophers as well as the lesser-known figures of the tradition - and draws from all over the globe.

> History of Philosophy 

All About Birds

The Cornell Lab of Ornithology is a world leader in the study, appreciation, and conservation of birds and their All About Birds website provides free learning resources and guides for everyone to enjoy. Start with their Live Cams, which lets you observe fruit feeders in Panama, hawks in New York, kestrels in Wisconsin, albatross in New Zealand, and more. There are also resources for brushing up on your bird ID skills, learning games, an extensive collection of free articles from Living Bird Magazine, and more.

> All About Bird

Aubrey Beardsley and The Courtauld Gallery

Tutor Gordon Reavley recommends the Aubrey Beardsley Exhibition Guide from Tate Britain. Watch Curators Caroline Corbeau-Parsons and Alice Insley discuss the illustrator's ‘short and scandalous career’ and learn more about the artist. Gordon is a big fan of virtual art tours as they ‘offer unprecedented access to some remarkable examples and get closer to the art than would be possible live.’ He also recommends taking an online tour of The Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery which includes Vincent van Gogh’s Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear and Édouard Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère.

> Aubrey Beardsley Exhibition Guide, Tate Britain

> The Courtauld Institute of Art Gallery

Viking Ship Museum

David Griffiths, Professor of Archaeology, recommends the Viking Ship Museum’s website. David says: ‘The museum in Bygdøy, Norway, is one of the great museums of the world. Its centrepieces are the Oseberg and Gokstad ships, excavated in south-eastern Norway over 100 years ago. They are perhaps the most beautiful ships ever built, and are symbolic of the Viking Age. The website also has information on more recent discoveries.’ Explore the ships and take a tour of the fourth wing - where you can view all of the stunningly detailed grave gifts found with the ships.

> Viking Ship Museum

The Tate

The Tate 'holds the national collection of British art from 1500 to the present day' as well as international modern and contemporary art. Even though their doors are closed you can still delve into their vast collection by exploring artworks and artists online. Other resources include podcasts and playlists, an 'art terms' glossary, and 'how to' guides including how to paint like Kandinsky.

> The Tate

Cabinet

The University of Oxford possesses extraordinary library and museum collections that document the history of the world. The Cabinet project aims to make these resources more accessible, bringing them into a single intuitive and interactive interface where new connections can be made. Explore 2D and 3D images, and full-colour 3D models of objects ranging from minute artefacts a few centimetres across to entire monuments from the Oxford landscape.

> Cabinet

David Attenborough's Great Barrier Reef

Join Sir David Attenborough on an interactive journey around Australia's Great Barrier Reef and discover the marine life that call it home. Comprised of an interactive map, video footage and fascinating information, this website will bring you up to speed with one of the most biodiverse and complex ecosystems on the planet.

> David Attenborough's Great Barrier Reef

The History of English

Sandie Byrne, Professor of English Literature, recommends The History of English, a fascinating resource to find out how the English language went from an obscure Germanic dialect to a global language. The website features sections on language issues (how new words are created, language and geography), a timeline showing it's chronological development, and comprehensive sources and links.

> The History of English

School of Mathematics and Statistics

Marcus du Sautoy recommends the School of Mathematics and Statistics at St Andrew's University as it 'has one of the best online resources to learn about the history of mathematics.' The website includes biographies of more than 2,600 different mathematicians, time lines from the Greeks to the 20th century, and a 'Mathematicians of the Day'. Marcus du Sautoy is the Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.

> School of Mathematics and Statistics

History Workshop

Yasmin Khan, Departmental Lecturer in British History, recommends History Workshop. This digital platform publishes 'accessible and engaging articles that deepen understanding of the past for historians and the public, and which reflect upon present day issues and agitate for change in the world we live in now.'

> History Workshop

Historic England

Historic England is the 'public body that helps people care for, enjoy and celebrate England's spectacular historic environment'. Discover your town's history, take a virtual walking tour,  research your home's past, or explore some of England's historic places including shipwrecks, monuments, battlefields, gardens and more. Recommended by Elizabeth Gemmill, Associate Professor in History.

> Historic England