Editing British Science Association (section)

===Other===
The Association was parodied by English novelist [[Charles Dickens]] as 'The Mudfog Society for the Advancement of Everything' in ''[[The Mudfog Papers]]'' (1837–38).<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://archive.org/details/mudfogpapersetcn00dickrich|title=The mudfog papers, etc., now first collected|last1=Dickens|first1=Charles|last2=Bentley|first2=George|date=1880|publisher=London : R. Bentley|others=University of California Libraries}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Zerbe|first=Michael J.|date=2016-07-14|title=Satire of Science in Charles Dickens's Mudfog Papers: The Institutionalization of Science and the Importance of Rhetorical Diversity to Scientific Literacy|journal=Configurations|volume=24|issue=2|pages=197–227|doi=10.1353/con.2016.0016|s2cid=151876819 |issn=1080-6520}}</ref>

In 1878 a committee of the Association recommended against constructing [[Charles Babbage]]'s [[analytical engine]], due to concerns about the current state of the machine's lack of complete working drawings, the machine's potential cost to produce, the machine's durability during repeated use, how and what the machine will actually be utilized for, and that more work would need to be done to bring the design up to a standard at which it is guaranteed to work.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/94499|title=Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last1=British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last2=Science|first2=British Association for the Advancement of|date=1879|volume=48th Meeting (1878)|location=London.|access-date=13 January 2018|archive-date=21 September 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170921150522/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/94499|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Association introduced the [[British Association screw threads|British Association (usually termed "BA") screw threads]], a series of screw thread standards in sizes from 0.25&nbsp;mm up to 6&nbsp;mm, in 1882.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/95237|title=Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last1=British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last2=Science|first2=British Association for the Advancement of|date=1883|volume=52nd Meeting (1882)|location=London.|access-date=13 January 2018|archive-date=8 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200408140653/https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/95237|url-status=live}}</ref> The standards were based on the [[metric system]], although they had to be re-defined in imperial terms for use by UK industry.  The standard was modified in 1884 to restrict significant figures for the metric counterpart of diameter and pitch of the screw in the published table, as well as not designating screws by their number of threads per inch, and instead giving an approximation due to considerable actual differences in manufactured screws.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/85498|title=Report of the British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last1=British Association for the Advancement of Science.|last2=Science|first2=British Association for the Advancement of|date=1884|volume=54th Meeting (1884)|location=London.|access-date=13 January 2018|archive-date=1 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701220627/http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/85498|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1889, a member of the [[Rational Dress Society]], [[Charlotte Carmichael Stopes]], stunned the proceedings of a meeting of the Association in [[Newcastle upon Tyne]] by organizing an impromptu session where she introduced rational dress to a wide audience, her speech being noted in newspapers across Britain.<ref>{{cite book|author=Stephanie Green|title=The Public Lives of Charlotte and Marie Stopes|location=London|publisher=Pickering & Chatto|year=2013|isbn=9781848932388|page=64}}</ref>

In 1903, microscopist and astronomer [[Washington Teasdale]] died whilst attending the annual meeting.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ras.ac.uk/obituaries/Washington/Teasdale|title=RAS Obituaries - Washington Teasdale|website=ras.ac.uk|date=8 August 1830|access-date=2019-12-22|archive-date=22 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222182734/https://ras.ac.uk/obituaries/Washington/Teasdale|url-status=live}}</ref>