Ever since the 18th century Edinburgh has been nicknamed “Athens Of the North“
As you walk through the city centre, you will see that the likening is hardly surprising. Edinburgh has its own Acropolis – The Edinburgh Castle Rock – and the designs of the National Monument on Calton Hill, designed in the early 19th century, were directly copied from the Pantheon.
The original reason for the Athens of the North nick name comes stems from the fact that Edinburgh was the centre of the Scottish Enlightenment – a period of history that witnessed immense breakthroughs in science and engineering – heavily influenced by the ancient Greek philosophy
Throughout history Edinburgh has been home to many famous like David Hume (the father of empiricism – the foundation of scientific experimentation), James Clerk Maxwell (with his classical theory of electromagnetic radiation – light) John Napier (who developed the logarithm) and of course Dolly the Sheep.
The rich history of Edinburgh also spans fields outside of science and medicine and the city and the surrounding towns were the birth places of many great thinkers in engineering (Alexander Graham Bell) economics (Adam Smith) and industrialism (Andrew Carnegie).
Join us at Scientific Wanders for a wander around the streets of Edinburgh and wonder at the historical architecture as well as the rich science history of the Athens of the North has to offer
Scientific Wanders 