Whewell’s Gazette
Your weekly digest of all the best of
Internet history of science, technology and medicine
Editor in Chief: The Ghost of William Whewell
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Volume #40
Monday 23 March 2015
EDITORIAL:
The fortieth edition of your weekly #histSTM links list, Whewell’s Weekly, comes strutting out of the darkness at noon (it was actually a bit earlier but poetic licence and all that) of a solar eclipse. It was only a partial eclipse in Europe but that didn’t stop the masses going out onto the streets in hordes to stare into the heavens, their faces hidden but cardboard spectacles like something out of a third rate horror movie.
Eclipses have of course played an important role in the history of astronomy. The Babylonians developed an algebraic algorithm to successfully predict lunar eclipses. They had a similar algorithm for solar eclipses, which however was not quite as good. It could only predict when solar eclipse might occur according to celestial geometry but could not compute a further factor that prevented the occurrence of some of those potential eclipses. This was not so good given the role that eclipses played in Babylonian omen astrology, the principle motivation for Babylonian astronomical investigations.
According to Greek legend, although probably more mythological than legendary, Thales of Meletius was the first Greek to accurately predict an eclipse of the sun in the sixth century BCE.
Christopher Columbus famously used the prediction of a lunar eclipse, calculated with the help of the ephemerides of Regiomontanus, to impress some bolshie natives in the Caribbean. (see History Matters post below)
As Rebekah “Becky” Higgitt reminded us on Twitter, “Comparing times at which eclipses occurred was the first way that differences of longitude could be established”.
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Also on Twitter A Clerk of Oxford offered us this medieval explanation of solar eclipses
Ælfric explains eclipses: ‘Hit getimað hwiltidum, þonne se mona beyrnþ on ðam ylcan strican þe seo sunne yrnð, þæt his trendel underscyt ðære sunnan to ðan swiðe þæt heo eall aðeostrað, 7 steorran æteowiað swylce on nihte. Ðis gelimpð seldon, 7 næfre buton on niwum monan.’
‘It happens sometimes, when the moon is running in the same course as the sun, that its orb passes under the sun’s in such a way that it is completely darkened, and the stars appear just as at night. This happens rarely, and never except at the new moon.’ (De Temporibus Anni)
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Sacrobosco
Trinity College Library, Cambridge: Eclipses
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A plain description of the Sun’s appearance in the Eclipse on Fryday (in the morning) April, 1715
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Ottoman astronomer İbrahim Tiflisi in 1479
MHS Oxford: Eclipseometer
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Royal Society Publishing: Observations of the Late Total Eclipse of the Sun on the 22nd April Past …
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Lunar and SolarEclipse described by Ottoman philosopher İbrahim Müteferrika about 300 years ago
The Independent: Solar eclipse: humans have been frightened and fascinated by the moon hiding the sun since beginning of time
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This morning we hope to see a partial eclipse of the Sun, just like these Londoners in 1748
History Matters: THE DARKER SIDE OF KNOWLEDGE: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE SOLAR ECLIPSE
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Solar eclipse from a 16th century cosmography of Qazwini
Quotes of the week:
“Dammit there are so many idiots whose asses I have to kick.” Edward Elric, Fullmetal Alchemist h/t @JoshRosenau
I’ve been a freelance writer & I’ve been a sex worker and sex work was not the career that made me feel exploited and disposable. – @avflox
“The sciences don’t try to explain, they hardly even try to interpret, they mainly make models.” J. v. Neumann! h/t @GeorgeShiber
The mind is not a vessel to be filled, but a fire to be kindled – Plutarch
The man who cannot speak both eloquently and wisely should speak wisely without eloquence, rather than eloquently without wisdom. – Augustine
Not believing in force is the same as not believing in gravitation – Thomas Hobbes
That which is now called natural philosophy, embracing the whole circle of science, of which astronomy occupies the chief place, is the study of the works of God, and of the power and wisdom of God in his works, and is true theology – Thomas Paine
Astronomy is not only pleasant but also very useful…this art unfolds the admirable wisdom of God – John Calvin 1554
Does anyone suppose that any woman in all the ages has had a fair chance to show what she could do in science?… The laws of nature are not discovered by accidents; theories do not come by chance, even to the greatest minds; they are not born of the hurry and worry of daily toil; they are diligently sought, they are patiently waited for, they are received with cautious reserve, they are accepted with reverence and awe. And until able women have given their lives to investigation, it is idle to discuss the question of their capacity for original work. – Maria Mitchell
Birthdays of the Week:
Anna Atkins born 16 March 1799
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Anna Atkins 1861
Source: Wikimedia Commons
The H-Word: Anna Atkins: Google’s tribute to a pioneer of botany and photography
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Anna Atkins Google Doodle
The Independent: Anna Atkins: This is why British scientist who produced first photographic book has been given a Google Doodle
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A cyanotype photogram made by Atkins which was part of her 1843 book, Photographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions
Source: Wikimedia Commons
The Washington Post: Anna Atkins: Google Doodle artfully celebrates a true-blue photographic pioneer
Motherboard: The Hauntingly Beautiful Photos of Anna Atkins, Creator of Botanical Photography
Caroline Herschel born 16 March 1750:
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Caroline Lucretia Herschel 1829
Source: Wikimedia Commons
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: Herschel, Caroline Lucretia
Royal Museums Greenwich: Caroline HerschelImage may be NSFW.
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Poetry Foundation: Planetarium by Adrienne Rich: Thinking of Caroline Herschel
History Today: Birth of Caroline Herschel
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Caroline Herschel Letter
Starchild: Caroline Herschel
History Physics Today: Caroline Herschel’s birthday
PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY:
Science: Résumé of Observations Concerning the Solar Eclipse of May 29, 1919, and the Einstein Effect
Ptak Science Books: A Million Violinists Playing Everything at the Same Time
Yovisto: Frederick Reines and the Neutrino
Irish Philosophy: John Stewart Bell: The Nature of Reality
Voices of the Manhattan Project: Richard Yalman’s Interview
A Clerk of Oxford: The Days of Creation
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God creating the world (BL Royal 1 E VII, f. 1v, 11th century, Canterbury)
Space Watchtower: Historic Brashear Telescope Factory Wall Collapses
Pittsburgh Post Gazette.com Historic Pittsburgh factory being levelled after wall collapse
Yovisto: The Life and Work of Philippe de La Hire
tekepart: A Legacy of Discovery Going Strong for More Than 150 Years
St John’s College: The Way to the Stars: Build Your Own Astrolabe
The Renaissance Mathematicus: The continuing saga of io9’s history of science inanities
Science Museum Group Journal: Curating the collider: using place to engage museum visitors with particle physics
AHF: Emilio Segrè
BBC News: Isaac Newton royal medal design discovery
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Queen Anne Medal
Source: BBC News
The Renaissance Mathematicus: Calendrical confusion or just when did Newton die?
The Seattle Times: Vision quest: Curator catalogs the world’s oldest telescopes
Tech Times: Corning Museum Curator Documenting Oldest Telescopes In The World
APS: This Month in Physics History: March 20, 1800: Volta describes the Electric Battery
Gigal Research: The Menkaura Stellar Observatory
AMNH Shelf Life: How to Time travel to a Star
Oxford Journals: An astronomical murder?
EXPLORATION and CARTOGRAPHY:
Letters from Gondwana: The Challenger Expedition and the Beginning of Oceanography
Atlas Obscura: The Most Remarkable Globe in the World is in a Brooklyn Office Building
The Public Domain Review: Elizabeth Bisland’s Race Around the World
The 18th-Century Common: What the Abyssinian Liar Can Tell us about True Stories: Knowledge, Skepticism, and James Bruce’s Travels to Discover the Source of the Nile
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James Bruce by E. Topham. Etching, published 1775.
NPG D13789. National Portrait Gallery, UK. Used under Creative Commons Limited Non-Commercial License.
Ptak Science Books: A Fine and Interesting Map of Air Routes, 1956
homunculus: The Saga of the Sunstones
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The Viking Sunstone Compass made by researchers at the University of Rennes. Note the double bright spots in the cavity.
Source: Phillip Ball
Board of Longitude Project: Harrison Decoded: Towards a perfect pendulum clock
MEDICINE:
The Quack Doctor: The bogus lady doctor
British Library: Science blog: Shell shocked
Dr Alun Withey: Crooked or Straight: Creating the ideal posture in 18th-century Britain
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The neck swing, from Timothy Sheldrake’s ‘Essay on the Various Causes and Effects of the Distorted Spine’, 1783
NYAM: What Things are Good and Holesome for the Braine
academia.edu: “From Practice to Print: Women Crafting Authority at the Margins of Orthodox Medicine”
Slate: Phineas Gage, Neuroscience’s Most Famous Patient
London Evening Standard: Florence Nightingale’s medical books put online for free viewing
Yale News: Creating a malaria test for ancient human remains
Early Modern Medicine: Maternity Wear: To Conceal or Reveal?
NYAM: Brain Awareness Week
Niche: Vaccines and the Environmental History of Medicine
The Recipes Project: Spa Culture, Recipes, and Eighteenth-Century Elite Healthcare
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The Comforts of Bath, 1798. Thomas Rowlandson. Image Credit: Wikigallery.org
Joanne Bailey Muses on History: Foetus: From the Sensory to the Scan
Time-Life: How Sword Swallowing Contributed to Modern Medicine
We’re History: Before Ebola, there was Yellow Fever
Explore the incredible Bethlem records
Groovy Historian: What Were Believed to be the Causes of and Treatments for Melancholy & Madness During the Renaissance and Early Modern Period?
TECHNOLOGY:
Conciatore: Sara Vincx
Tycho’s nose: There’s something in the water
Engineering and Technology History Wiki
Sage Journals: Institution of Mechanical Engineers Proceedings June 1847
History Matters: Heritage, History and Community: Engaging with the past in a former industrial village
My medieval foundry: Maybe a sighting of a double action bellows?
Conciatore: Dyed In The Grain
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Dyeing wool cloth, from “Des Proprietez des Choses”
Bartholomaeus Anglicus, 1482
British Library Royal MS 15.E.iii, folio 269
io9: 50 Years Ago, The First Spacewalk Nearly Ended in Tragedy
IEEE Spectrum: Moore’s Curse
Conciatore: Cristallo
Ptak Science Books: Babbage Obituary and Other Babbage Bits
Wired: Prop-Driven ‘Rail Zeppelin’ Is Many Kinds of Awesome
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Schienenzeppelin
Slate Vault: A Telephone Map of the United States Shows Where You Could Call Using Ma Bell in 1910
EARTH & LIFE SCIENCES:
Notches: Sex and the American Quest for a Relatable Past
Embryo Project: Cornelia Clapp
Notches: Organized Labor, Gay Liberation and the Battle Against the Religious Right, 1977–1994
Natural History Apostilles: Matthew (1831) spliced Steuart’s (1828) quote of Loudon (1806)
NYAM: Roget Beyond the Thesaurus
History of Geology: Celebrating the Irish-Geological Heritage
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The first published image of the Giant’s Causeway by local artist Christopher Cole Foley was used to illustrate an account by Samuel Foley, Bishop of Down and Connor, in 1694. However both the drawing and the engraving from it were considered inadequate depictions of this peculiar Irish landscape.
Philosophical Transactions B: The unseen world: reflections on Leeuwenhoek (1677) ‘Concerning little animals’
Science Gossip: Piecing Together the Story of a Female Naturalist through Victorian Journals
The Rest Project: A 19th-century Naturalist’s Daily Schedule: Alfred Russel Wallace in Singapore
Thinking Like a Mountain: Enlightenment Ghosts and Ecological Utopianism in the Scottish Highlands
Londonist: How Would You Describe a Kangaroo?
Husbandry Book Blog: Marches Husbandry: Beware of birds!
Natural History Apostilles: The Naval Timber Controversies: poor Billington
Palaeoblog: Died This Day: Amadeus William Grabau
Embryo Project: The Human Genome Project (1990–2003)
Embryo Project: The inductive capacity of oral mesenchyme and its role in tooth development (1969-1970), by Edward J. Kollar and Grace R. Baird
Earth Touch news: These Beautiful 19th-centuary Illustrations capture Dinosaur ‘Death Poses’
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Image: The Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences
UCMP Berkeley: Adam Sedgwick (1785–1873)
Famous Scientists: Agnes Arber
CHEMISTRY:
Othermalia: Photo essay of female lab workers 1946
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1946 volume of the corporate publication Research Today by Lily Research Laboratories
META – HISTORIOGRAPHY, THEORY, RESOURCES and OTHER:
Against the division of the library of the López Piñero Institute
Clio@King’s: The History Department Blog: Who Should We Write History For?
ChoM News: From the MHL: “Seeing With a Better Eye”
Open Quaternary: Launching Open Quaternary
Open Quaternary: Submitting an Article Online
The Edinburgh Reporter: Writing women of science back into history
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Hedy Lamarr
ChoM News: From the MHL: Why Digital Collections, Why Now?
The Atlantic: The Problem With History Classes
THE: Female science writers celebrated
Historiens de la santé: Medical History Volume 59, Issue 02, April 2015
Quanta Magazine: Science’s Path From Myth to Multiverse
The Conversation: Why do we need the humanities?
Fiction Reboot: Daily Dose: MedHum Mondays: Why Medical Humanities?
Society for the History of Astronomy
The Incluseum: Museums and the Reproduction of Disadvantage
The National Archives: England’s immigration records 1330–1550 now online
Love Imperial War Museum Library: Outraged about research room charges
Gaudy Night: Women’s History Month 2015: Science and Medicine
Concocting History: Pythagoreans, lore, science… and sadness
Ether Wave Propaganda: “I am a sadist; you are a masochist; so let us have some fun together”: Agassi on Feyerabend, Feyerabend on Agassi
Cross-Check: Everyone, Even Jenny McCarthy, Has the Right to Challenge “Scientific Experts”
Historians.org: AHR Exchange On The History Manifesto
JHI Blog: The Republic of Intellectual History
Darin Hayton: HistorySTM March Madness Round 1
Making Science Public: The Co-production Confusion
Chemical Connections: A quantitative analysis of how often Nature gives a fuck
ESOTERIC:
Philly.com: Delving into a 400-year-old puzzle book, through song
JHL: Science, Mysticism, and Dreams in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
distillatio: There is a lot more to research in medieval alchemical manuscripts than people know of
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Illustation similar in intent to those in the Ripley Scrolls, which are a late 15th/ early 16th invention. (Stolen from the British Library website, they seem to be copyright free)
BOOK REVIEWS:
Science Book a Day: The Anatomist: A True Story of Gray’s Anatomy
THE: How to Write a Thesis, by Umberto Eco
Science Book a Day: Travelling to Infinity: My Life with Stephen
Wellcome Library: Women, plumbers and doctors: sanitation in the home
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Contaminated drinking water. Wellcome Library reference: b20424863.
Brain Pickings: The Illustrated Story of Persian Polymath Ibn Sina and How He Shaped the Course of Medicine
NEW BOOKS:
Historiens de la santé: Empty Sleeves: Amputation in the Civil War South
Basic Books: Einstein’s Dice and Schrödinger’s Cats
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Profile Books: Scientific Babel: The language of science from the fall of Latin to the rise of English
Vanderbilt University Press: Medicine and Nation Building in the Americas, 1890–1940
THEATRE:
FILM:
TELEVISION:
SLIDE SHARE:
VIDEOS:
Science Dump: There’s a reason for all the madness in Alice in Wonderland, it’s maths!
Youtube: Nick Lane discusses Leeuwenhoek’s observations of “little animals” under a microscope
New York Times: Animated Life: Pangea
Youtube: Under The Knife, Episode 7 – Medieval Urine Wheels
Irish Philosophy: Why Study…James Ussher
Youtube: Using Maxwell’s Equations Before the Electron
RADIO:
BBC Radio Ulster: The Lady Computer of Strabane: Annie Maunder
PODCASTS:
Nature Podcast: Why is English the language of science?
AHF: Podcast: Manhattan Project National Historical Park
The Leonard Lopate Show: The Painter and the Philosopher Who Taught Us How to See
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Call for Publications: Tales from the Crypt: Museum Storage and Meaning
Yale University: Joint Atlantic Seminar for the History of Biology 27-28 March 2015
NYAM: Lecture: Dr Vivian Nutton Vesalius Correcting Vesalius 31 March 2015
Maritime @ Greenwich: New Researchers in Maritime History Conference 10 April 2015
University of Durham: CfP: Hume and Naturalism 16-17 July 2015
University of Sydney: Rethinking Intellectual History 2015 7-9 April
King’s College London: CfP: Working Across Species: Comparative Practices in Modern Medical, Biological and Behavioural Sciences 7-8 January 2016
Durham University: The 10th UK Integrated History and Philosophy of Science Workshop 16-17 April 2015
Philos-L: Call for Papers The Journal of Philosophy and Medicine
CHF: Make Your Own Books of Secrets: A Workshop 13 June 2015
The Ninth Conference on The Inspiration of Astronomical Phenomena 23-28 August 2015
LOOKING FOR WORK:
University of Oxford: AHRC Doctoral Studentship in collaboration with the Imperial War Museum: Contemporary Art and Conflict at IWM
Museums and the Web: Visiting Assistant/Associate Professor, Museum & Digital Culture
Society and the History of Chemistry and Alchemy: The SHAC Award Scheme
University of Kent: 50th Anniversary Research Scholarship in the History of Science
Science Museum Group: Associate Curator, Infrastructure and Built Environment
H-Net: The History Makers seek a full time Oral History Researcher
University of Warwick: Assistant Professor in the History of Medicine
Simmons: School of Library and Information Science: The James A. Lindner Digital Archive Summer Fellowship
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