Major Anniversaries in 2025

625 years since the death of Geoffrey Chaucer, the greatest English novelist and poet of the Middle Ages, sometimes known as the 'Father of English Literature', best known for his novel 'Canterbury Tales'

425 years since the discovery of the Earth's magnetic field by English natural philosopher William Gilbert

375 years since the birth of Thomas Savery, an English inventor and engineer, best known for having created the first commercial steam powered device

350 years since the discovery of Microbes by Dutch scientist Anton van Leeuwenhoek

350 years since the foundation of the Royal Observatory at Greenwich, location of the prime meridian, upon which all map references and clock timezones are based

350 years since the death of English doctor Thomas Willis, a founder member of the Royal Society and who made important contributions to the understanding of anatomy, neurology and psychiatry

275 years since the discovery of latent heat by Scottish scientist Joseph Black

275 years since the foundation of the Jockey Club, which governed British horse-racing until 2006

250 years since the birth of Jane Austen, widely admired as one of Britain's greatest authors, best known for her romantic novels 'Pride and Prejudice', 'Sense and Sensibility', 'Mansfield Park' and 'Emma'

250 years since Scottish engineer James Watt introduced a separate condenser unit into the Newcomen steam engine, thereby hugely improving its heat efficiency