Ian Hesketh is Associate Professor of History in the School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry at the University of Queensland. Most broadly, his research considers the relationship between history, science, and religion with a focus on nineteenth-century Britain. More specifically, he has written extensively on the Darwinian Revolution, nineteenth-century physics, and large-scale forms of history from the nineteenth century to the present. His latest books include A History of Big History (Cambridge University Press, 2023) and, the edited collection, Imagining the Darwinian Revolution: Historical Narratives of Evolution from the Nineteenth Century to the Present (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2022). He is currently writing a monograph entitled "The Making of Darwin, Darwinians, and Darwinism."
He teaches courses on historiography (HIST2312; HUMN6600), revolutions in history (HIST2024), American history (HIST2023), and British history (HIST2417).
Book: A History of Big History
Hesketh, Ian (2023). A History of Big History. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009036399
Journal Article: Disciplining the Anthropocene
Hesketh, Ian (2022). Disciplining the Anthropocene. History and Theory, 61 (3), 482-491. doi: 10.1111/hith.12267
Book Chapter: Imagining the Darwinian Revolution in the Nineteenth Century
Hesketh, Ian (2022). Imagining the Darwinian Revolution in the Nineteenth Century. Imagining the Darwinian Revolution: Historical Narratives of Evolution from the Nineteenth Century to the Present. (pp. 21-36) edited by Hesketh, Ian. Pittsburgh, PA United States: University of Pittsburgh Press.
(2023) INSBS Small Research Grant
(2020–2023) University of Birmingham
The place of history in science: reassessing the Darwinian revolution
(2017–2022) ARC Future Fellowships
Reading Morals: Charles Darwin and the Descent of Morality
(2023) Doctor Philosophy
The Unsexed Woman: Female Reproductive Disorders in mid 20th Century Australia
Doctor Philosophy
The Origins of the "Conflict Thesis": Draper, White, and the Protestant Tradition
(2017) Doctor Philosophy
Hesketh, Ian (2023). A History of Big History. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009036399
Hesketh, Ian ed. (2022). Imagining the Darwinian Revolution: Historical Narratives of Evolution from the Nineteenth Century to the Present. Pittsburgh, PA United States: University of Pittsburgh Press.
The correspondence of John Tyndall, vol. 4: the correspondence, January 1853 - December 185
Ian Hesketh and Efram Sera-Shriar eds. (2018). The correspondence of John Tyndall, vol. 4: the correspondence, January 1853 - December 185. Pittsburgh, PA USA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Victorian Jesus: J.R. Seeley, religion, and the cultural significance of anonymity
Hesketh, Ian (2017). Victorian Jesus: J.R. Seeley, religion, and the cultural significance of anonymity. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
The Oxford history of historical writing vol 3 1400 - 1800
José Rabasa, Masayuki Sato, Edoardo Tortarolo, Daniel Woolf and Ian Hesketh eds. (2012). The Oxford history of historical writing vol 3 1400 - 1800. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
The Oxford history of historical writing, vol. 2: 400–1400
Sarah Foot, Chase F. Robinson and Ian Hesketh eds. (2012). The Oxford history of historical writing, vol. 2: 400–1400. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
The science of history in Victorian Britain: making the past speak
Hesketh, Ian (2011). The science of history in Victorian Britain: making the past speak. London United Kingdom: Pickering and Chatto.
Of apes and ancestors : evolution, Christianity, and the Oxford debate
Hesketh, Ian (2009). Of apes and ancestors : evolution, Christianity, and the Oxford debate. Toronoto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
Imagining the Darwinian Revolution in the Nineteenth Century
Hesketh, Ian (2022). Imagining the Darwinian Revolution in the Nineteenth Century. Imagining the Darwinian Revolution: Historical Narratives of Evolution from the Nineteenth Century to the Present. (pp. 21-36) edited by Hesketh, Ian. Pittsburgh, PA United States: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Evolution, ethics, and the Metaphysical Society, 1869-1875
Hesketh, Ian (2019). Evolution, ethics, and the Metaphysical Society, 1869-1875. The Metaphysical Society (1869-1880): intellectual life in mid-Victorian England. (pp. 185-203) edited by Catherine Marshall, Bernard Lightman and Richard England. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
From Copernicus to Darwin to you: history and the meaning(s) of evolution
Hesketh, Ian (2019). From Copernicus to Darwin to you: history and the meaning(s) of evolution. Rethinking history, science, and religion: an exploration of conflict and the complexity principle. (pp. 191-205) edited by Bernard Lightman. Pittsburgh, PA, United States: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Hesketh, Ian (2018). The future evolution of "Man". Historicizing humans: deep time, evolution, and race in nineteenth-century British sciences. (pp. 193-217) edited by Efram Sera-Shriar. Pittsburgh, PA USA: University of Pittsburgh Press.
Hesketh, Ian (2018). The gendering of history. Gender: time. (pp. 103-115) edited by Karin Sellberg. Farmington Hills, MI United States: Macmillan Reference USA/Gale Group Thomson Learning.
Fanatical hatred or brotherly love? Rethinking E. A. Freeman's feud with J. A. Froude
Hesketh, Ian (2015). Fanatical hatred or brotherly love? Rethinking E. A. Freeman's feud with J. A. Froude. Making History: Edward Augustus Freeman and Victorian Cultural Politics. (pp. 255-272) edited by G. A. Bremner and Jonathan Conlin. Oxford, United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. doi: 10.5871/bacad/9780197265871.003.0014
Frederick Temple and the essays and reviews controversy
Hesketh, Ian (2013). Frederick Temple and the essays and reviews controversy. Cultural Olympians: Rugby School's intellectual and spiritual leaders. (pp. 123-136) edited by Patrick Derham. London: University of Buckingham Press.
Hesketh, Ian (2022). Disciplining the Anthropocene. History and Theory, 61 (3), 482-491. doi: 10.1111/hith.12267
The Psychic Force Serialized: William Crookes and The Quarterly Journal of Science, 1870-1874
Hesketh, Ian (2022). The Psychic Force Serialized: William Crookes and The Quarterly Journal of Science, 1870-1874. Aries, 22 (1), 13-41. doi: 10.1163/15700593-02201002
Hesketh, Ian (2021). What Big History misses. Aeon.
Joshua Bennett, God and Progress: Religion and History in British Intellectual Culture, 1845-1914
Hesketh, Ian (2021). Joshua Bennett, God and Progress: Religion and History in British Intellectual Culture, 1845-1914. The American Historical Review, 126 (4), 1685-1686. doi: 10.1093/ahr/rhab626
Narratives of Charles Darwin down under
Hesketh, Ian (2021). Narratives of Charles Darwin down under. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A, 88, 303-311. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsa.2021.06.007
The making of John Tyndall's Darwinian Revolution
Hesketh, Ian (2020). The making of John Tyndall's Darwinian Revolution. Annals of Science, 77 (4), 524-548. doi: 10.1080/00033790.2020.1808243
The first Darwinian: Alfred Russel Wallace and the meaning of Darwinism
Hesketh, Ian (2020). The first Darwinian: Alfred Russel Wallace and the meaning of Darwinism. Journal of Victorian Culture, 25 (2), 171-184. doi: 10.1093/jvcult/vcz042
Technologies of the Scientific Self: John Tyndall and His Journal
Hesketh, Ian (2019). Technologies of the Scientific Self: John Tyndall and His Journal. Isis, 110 (3), 460-482. doi: 10.1086/704672
A big history of the future: Homo Deus: a brief history of tomorrow
Hesketh, Ian (2018). A big history of the future: Homo Deus: a brief history of tomorrow. Sydney Review of Books
John Robert Seeley, natural religion, and the Victorian conflict between science and religion
Hesketh, Ian (2018). John Robert Seeley, natural religion, and the Victorian conflict between science and religion. Journal of the History of Ideas, 79 (2), 309-329. doi: 10.1353/jhi.2018.0018
Prodding, proofreading, and persistence; or, tales from an Isis proofreader
Hesketh, Ian (2018). Prodding, proofreading, and persistence; or, tales from an Isis proofreader. Newsletter of the History of Science Society, 47 (2), 8-10.
Review of: Gillian Beer, Alice in space: the sideways Victorian world of Lewis Carroll
Hesketh, Ian (2018). Review of: Gillian Beer, Alice in space: the sideways Victorian world of Lewis Carroll. Isis, 109 (1), 189-191.
Hesketh, Ian (2017). The evolutionary epic. Victorian Review, 41 (2), 35-39. doi: 10.1353/vcr.2015.0014
Darwinism as Religion: What Literature Tells Us About Evolution
Hesketh, Ian (2017). Darwinism as Religion: What Literature Tells Us About Evolution. Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews
Review of: Sarah C. Alexander, Victorian literature and the physics of the imponderable
Hesketh, Ian (2016). Review of: Sarah C. Alexander, Victorian literature and the physics of the imponderable. Isis, 107 (4), 868-869. doi: 10.1086/689422
Introduction: evolution and historical explanation
Harrison, Peter and Hesketh, Ian (2016). Introduction: evolution and historical explanation. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 58, 1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.12.010
Counterfactuals and history: contingency and convergence in histories of science and life
Hesketh, Ian (2016). Counterfactuals and history: contingency and convergence in histories of science and life. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C :Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 58, 41-48. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.12.015
Review of James Anthony Froude: An Intellectual Biography of a Victorian Prophet
Hesketh, Ian (2015). Review of James Anthony Froude: An Intellectual Biography of a Victorian Prophet. Irish Studies Review, 23 (3), 365-367. doi: 10.1080/09670882.2015.1051763
Review of: On Historical Distance by Mark Salber Phillips
Hesketh, Ian (2015). Review of: On Historical Distance by Mark Salber Phillips. Histoire sociale/Social history, 47 (96), 333-335. doi: 10.1353/his.2015.0009
A good Darwinian? Winwood Reade and the making of a late Victorian evolutionary epic
Hesketh, Ian (2015). A good Darwinian? Winwood Reade and the making of a late Victorian evolutionary epic. Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, 51, 44-52. doi: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2015.01.013
Hesketh, Ian and Peden, Knox (2015). The Aesthetics of Scale. Journal of the Philosophy of History, 9 (2), 169-175. doi: 10.1163/18722636-12341298
The recurrence of the evolutionary epic
Hesketh, Ian (2015). The recurrence of the evolutionary epic. Journal of the Philosophy of History, 9 (2), 196-219. doi: 10.1163/18722636-12341300
Hesketh, Ian (2014). The story of Big History. History of the Present, 4 (2), 171-202. doi: 10.5406/historypresent.4.2.0171
Darwinian we are not: counterfactualism as the natural course of history
Hesketh, Ian (2014). Darwinian we are not: counterfactualism as the natural course of history. History and Theory, 53 (2), 295-303. doi: 10.1111/hith.10712
"History is past politics, and politics present history': who said it?
Hesketh, Ian (2014). "History is past politics, and politics present history': who said it?. Notes and Queries, 61 (1), 105-108. doi: 10.1093/notesj/gjt244
Review of: Edward Adams, liberal epic: the Victorian practice of history from Gibbon to Churchill
Hesketh, Ian (2012). Review of: Edward Adams, liberal epic: the Victorian practice of history from Gibbon to Churchill. Journal of British Studies, 51 (3), 750-752. doi: 10.1086/665393
Behold the (Anonymous) man: J. R. Seeley and Ecce Homo
Hesketh, Ian (2012). Behold the (Anonymous) man: J. R. Seeley and Ecce Homo. Victorian Review, 38 (1), 93-112. doi: 10.1353/vcr.2012.0044
Hesketh, Ian (2012). Review of: Theodore Koditschek, Liberalism, imperialism, and the historical imagination: nineteenth-century visions of a greater Britain. Victorian Review, 38 (2)
Weapons of another kind: Henry Thomas Buckle and the case of Thomas Pooley
Hesketh, Ian (2011). Weapons of another kind: Henry Thomas Buckle and the case of Thomas Pooley. Left History, 15 (1), 87-110.
The remains of the Freeman–Froude controversy: the religious dimension
Hesketh, Ian (2011). The remains of the Freeman–Froude controversy: the religious dimension. Canadian Society of Church History, 211-223.
Hesketh, Ian (2011). Writing history in Macaulay’s Shadow: J.R. Seeley, E.A. Freeman, and the audience for scientific history in late Victorian Britain. Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, 22 (2), 30-56. doi: 10.7202/1008977ar
Reflections on the Origin’s anniversary and the perpetuation of an eternal myth
Hesketh, Ian (2010). Reflections on the Origin’s anniversary and the perpetuation of an eternal myth. University of Toronto Press Blog
Review of: Cosmopolitan Islanders: British Historians and the European Continent
Hesketh, Ian (2010). Review of: Cosmopolitan Islanders: British Historians and the European Continent. Canadian Journal of History, 45 (3), 621-622.
Diagnosing Froude's disease: boundary work and the discipline of history in late-Victorian Britain
Hesketh, Ian (2008). Diagnosing Froude's disease: boundary work and the discipline of history in late-Victorian Britain. History and Theory, 47 (3), 373-395. doi: 10.1111/j.1468-2303.2008.00460.x
Review of: Frontiers of history: historical inquiry in the twentieth century
Hesketh, Ian (2008). Review of: Frontiers of history: historical inquiry in the twentieth century. Canadian Journal of History, 43 (1), 209-211.
Hesketh, Ian and Meiring, Henry-James (2021, 02 25). Guide to the classics: Darwin’s The Descent of Man 150 years on — sex, race and our ‘lowly’ ape ancestry The Conversation
Hesketh, Ian (2020, 04 20). How a 150-year-old experiment with a beam of light showed germs exist – and that a face mask can help filter them out The Conversation
How Darwin’s sexual selection theory co-stars in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Hesketh, Ian (2020, 01 29). How Darwin’s sexual selection theory co-stars in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ The Conversation 1-1.
(2023) INSBS Small Research Grant
(2020–2023) University of Birmingham
The place of history in science: reassessing the Darwinian revolution
(2017–2022) ARC Future Fellowships
Writing History in the Age of the Anthropocene: The Past and Future of Big History
(2016–2017) UQ Foundation
(2013) UQ Early Career Researcher
The Unsexed Woman: Female Reproductive Disorders in mid 20th Century Australia
Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors:
Reading Morals: Charles Darwin and the Descent of Morality
(2023) Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor
Other advisors:
The Origins of the "Conflict Thesis": Draper, White, and the Protestant Tradition
(2017) Doctor Philosophy — Associate Advisor
Other advisors: