Kathryn Harkup

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Kathryn Harkup
Kathryn Harkup 2022.jpg
Harkup in 2022
NationalityBritish
Alma mater
Known forScience communication
Scientific career
Fields Chemistry
Website harkup.co.uk

Kathryn Harkup is a British chemist and science communicator. She is known for writing books about science in popular culture and the history of science.

Contents

Early life and education

Harkup completed her PhD and post-doctoral degree at the University of York. [1]

Career

After completing her studies, Harkup became a science communicator at the University of Surrey. [1] She has written several books about the history of science in popular culture. [2] In 2015, Harkup published A Is For Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie , which explores the scientific basis of the poisons used in Agatha Christie's novels. [3] Harkup was inspired to write A Is For Arsenic because of her interest in Christie's mystery novels as a teenager, particularly those involving Hercule Poirot. As a science communicator, she noticed that young students were generally interested in "anything dangerous or disgusting", which further inspired the work. [4] The book was nominated for an Agatha Award, [5] and Mystery Readers International Macavity Awards. [6] She subsequently wrote Making the Monster: The Science Behind Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein in 2018. [7]

In 2020, Harkup published Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings and Broken Hearts. [8] The book dealt with the portrayal of death in William Shakespeare's plays and the scientific understanding that went into his work. It received mostly positive reviews from critics. [9] [10] [11] Publishers Weekly gave the book a starred review. [12]

In 2021, she published the popular science book The Secret Lives of Elements, [13] and the nonfiction Vampirology: The Science of Horror's Most Famous Fiend. [14]

Harkup published Superspy Science: Science, Death and Tech in the World of James Bond in 2022, which dealt with depictions of technology in Ian Fleming's James Bond franchise. [15] [16]

Personal life

Harkup lives in Surrey, England. [17]

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<i>The Mysterious Affair at Styles</i> 1920 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

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<i>The Murder of Roger Ackroyd</i> 1926 detective novel by Agatha Christie

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<i>The Secret Adversary</i> Detective novel by Agatha Christie (1922)

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<i>Five Little Pigs</i> 1942 Poirot novel by Agatha Christie

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<i>The Pale Horse</i> 1961 novel by Agatha Christie

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<i>A Caribbean Mystery</i> 1964 Miss Marple novel by Agatha Christie

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<i>Frankenstein</i> 1818 novel by Mary Shelley

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agatha Christie bibliography</span>

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<i>St. Irvyne</i>

St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian: A Romance is a Gothic horror novel written by Percy Bysshe Shelley in 1810 and published by John Joseph Stockdale in December of that year, dated 1811, in London anonymously as "by a Gentleman of the University of Oxford" while the author was an undergraduate. The main character is Wolfstein, a solitary wanderer, who encounters Ginotti, an alchemist of the Rosicrucian or Rose Cross Order who seeks to impart the secret of immortality. The book was reprinted in 1822 by Stockdale and in 1840 in The Romancist and the Novelist's Library: The Best Works of the Best Authors, Vol. III, edited by William Hazlitt. The novella was a follow-up to Shelley's first prose work, Zastrozzi, published earlier in 1810. St. Irvyne was republished in 1986 by Oxford University Press as part of the World's Classics series along with Zastrozzi and in 2002 by Broadview Press.

References

  1. 1 2 "Meet the Author: Kathryn Harkup". Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. 2020-03-05.
  2. "Interview With an Author: Dr. Kathryn Harkup". lapl.org.
  3. "A Is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie". washingtonindependentreviewofbooks.com.
  4. "Q&A WITH A IS FOR ARSENIC AUTHOR, KATHRYN HARKUP". agathachristie.com.
  5. "The 2016 Agatha Award Nominees Has Been Updated Again: With This Year's Winners!". lislelibrary.org.
  6. "Kathryn Harkup Issue 128". philosophynow.org.
  7. "Making the Monster: The Science Behind Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' by Kathryn Harkup". Publishers Weekly.
  8. Death by Shakespeare.
  9. Kirkus Review.
  10. "Shakespeare's sense of an ending". TLS.
  11. "Kathryn Harkup, Death by Shakespeare". dictionaryofsydney.org.
  12. "Death by Shakespeare". Publishers Weekly.
  13. "The Secret Lives of the Elements". Science Connected.
  14. "Book review Vampirology". TIB.
  15. "Superspy Science: Science, Death and Tech in the World of James Bond by Kathryn Harkup". Publishers Weekly.
  16. Duns, Jeremy (2023-09-25). "Superspy Science by Kathryn Harkup review — the science behind James Bond".
  17. "Kathryn Harkup". FreshFiction.