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#histsci — Public Fediverse posts

Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #histsci, aggregated by home.social.

  1. He weighed his food, his sleep, his feces, and, by his own accounting, his sex life. For thirty years he sat in a chair that took his dinner away. Santorio Santorio, founder of quantitative physiology, discovered that we are all quietly evaporating.

    oddlet.com/p/evs

    #Histodons #HistSci #SciComm #History #SmallStories

  2. He weighed strings with birdshot, photographed the sag, and flipped the picture to find his church. He carried hazelnuts and one key when the tram hit him. Taxis refused the rags. Antoni Gaudí, the dandy who ended up trusting what falls.

    oddlet.com/p/e7s

    #Histodons #HistSci #SciComm #History #SmallStories

  3. An excerpt on AI & robots from the “Machines” chapter of HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY, 1st published by @[email protected], now out from @[email protected] in a South Asian edition, is out in Newslaundry!
    🧪💙📚 🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thCentury #politics #HAMH

    If the only value lies in what...

  4. I wrote this blog when QUEER ORIGINS was published in the UK. I'm reposting it now that the book is out in Canada and the US.

    Read about the natural wonder of sexual polymorphism — and why Richard Dawkins' view of Darwin needs amending. 🌈📚🦋

    Darwin's Queer Inheritance: yalebooks.co.uk/blog/darwin-qu

    #book #books #bookstodon #reading #readingcommunity #writing #author #science #nature #animals #darwin #Darwin #evolution #history #histsci #sts #histsex #queerhistory #queer #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbtqia

  5. He ate his meat raw, slept bolt upright by candlelight, and casually mentioned that 18,000 boys were sacrificed to an ox-headed god each year. Oxford gave George Psalmanazar rooms and asked him to teach the language. He was from Marseille.

    oddlet.com/p/lvr

    #Histodons #HistSci #SciComm #History #SmallStories

  6. In 1901, she strapped herself into a padded oak barrel with an anvil at her feet and went over Horseshoe Falls. She was sixty-three. A charm-school teacher. Broke. And she had already sent the cat. Meet Annie Edson Taylor, Queen of the Mist.

    oddlet.com/p/otj

    #Histodons #HistSci #SciComm #History #SmallStories

  7. He shot them with fine shot to spare the feathers, ran wires through the bodies, posed the wings mid-lunge, then often ate the model. Snowy owl, not indelicate. Bald eagle, like veal. John James Audubon, taxidermist of the sublime.

    oddlet.com/p/trr

    #Histodons #HistSci #SciComm #History #SmallStories

  8. Happy birthday to writer, statesman and polymath Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832). Made for the #printersolstice Fauvism prompt: This print is a hand-printed, limited edition, reduction block print portrait. While best known for his contributions to German literature, he pursued natural sciences, studying morphology, doing work which presaged evolution, 🧵1/

    minouette.etsy.com/listing/116

    #linocut #printmaking #sciart #histsci #Goethe #NaturalScience #reductionPrint #printmaker #mastoArt

  9. HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY is out in Korean, from Hyeonamsa! Please considering sharing this with Korean folks in your circles.
    1/

    💙📚 🧪🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #18thC #histsci #histmed #politics

    www.hyeonamsa.com/book/book_de...

  10. Happy birthday to British-born, American #astrophysicist Margaret Burbidge (1919-2020) who was one of the people instrumental in building our understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis, how nuclei are produced in stars & you and I are all stardust! She was the 1st author of a monumental scientific paper Synthesis of the Elements in Stars, which became known as B2FH from the initials of its authors: 🧵1/4

    minouette.etsy.com/listing/185
    #linocut #printmaking #sciart #histsci #womenInSTEM #mastoArt

  11. Happy birthday to #geologist & oceanographic #cartographer Marie Tharp (1920-2006), whose pioneering, thorough & complete ocean floor maps with Bruce Heezen, made using realms of echo sounder data, revealed the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.⁠

    After studying #geology & math, Maurice ‘Doc’ Ewing at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia hired her to draft 1000s of echo sounder profiles. 🧵1/5

    minouette.etsy.com/listing/217

    #sciart #printmaking #womenInSTEM #histsci #linocut

  12. Some later authors find Mendel’s data too good to be true and suspect some amount of confirmation bias or simplification of data and even call the conflict between the alleged “cooking” of the data and his moral character the “Mendelian Paradox.” Other authors dispute the evidence of any “cooking” of the data at all.

    #sciart #linocut #printmaking #histsci #biology #botany #genetics #printmaker #washi 🧵3/

  13. Big update to ‘Form & Number: A History of Mathematical Beauty’: the PDFs are now *tagged* (plus various minor improvements).

    A #TaggedPDF contains hidden extra semantic information to assist screen-reading software etc., including alt text for diagrams+images (in the case of ‘F&N’, 552 pieces of alt text were required, some quite lengthy).

    The new version is available (#OpenAccess as always) at: archive.org/details/cain_forma

    Feedback from users of screen readers would be very welcome!

    Creating this version has been possible because of the ongoing LaTeX tagging project [latex3.github.io/tagging-proje] (thank you to the LaTeX team and other contributors!). I have been adapting my own #LuaLaTeX styles [codeberg.org/ajcain/minos] to use the new interfaces.

    1/2

    #accessibility #a11y #MathArt #HistMath #HistSci #MathematicalBeauty #aesthetics #typography #TeXLaTeX

  14. Happy birthday to #astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell! In 1967, as a grad student she discovered the 1st radio pulsar, a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of EM radiation. This radiation can only be observed when the star is pointed towards us; so, like the light from a lighthouse, it appears to pulse at a precise frequency. She had been working with her supervisor Antony Hewish & others to construct a radio telescope to study quasars. 🧵 #linocut #printmaking #histsci

  15. Hey, still need to submit fall book orders? (I KNOW)

    Teaching #envhist #envhum #envstudies #histsci #histtech #histstm #sts #discardstudies ?

    🤩Please consider #TransformingNight 🌌💡🌃 -- out 3 Aug, just in time for the new academic year!

    uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...

    Transforming Night

  16. Hunting for a #FathersDay gift? How about a book that blends history, science, & pop culture? HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY is a history of the category of the human, told through ideas about monsters and monster-making. 💙📚 🧪🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #18thC #histsci #histmed #politics 1/

  17. #JobKlaxon: 3-year postdoc position at Manchester Metropolitan University

    Application deadline: 29th June 2026

    Manchester Metropolitan University is seeking to recruit a postdoctoral Research Associate in History (full-time, 3 years) to join the team for Dr Francesca Mackenney's Leverhulme-funded project, ‘‘The Making of Natural History, 1797 - Present'

    #envhist #histsci #naturalhistory #envhum

    jobs.ac.uk/job/DRU994/research

  18. A short #BookReview of ‘Form & Number: A History of Mathematical Beauty’ in ‘Mathematics Magazine’ has been pointed out to me: doi.org/10.1080/0025570X.2025. (not open-access)

    I am quite pleased by the reviewer's evaluation :-) ‘a very careful and absolutely thorough survey of the “rich heritage of scholarship” about both beauty in mathematics and the study of that topic’.

    There was a more detailed review by Viktor Blåsjö in ‘TUGboat’ last year: doi.org/10.47397/tb/46-2/tb143 (open-access)

    #review #MathematicalBeauty #HistMath #HistSci

  19. Today is #EarthDay. 🌍 But what about Earth at #night? 🌌🌃 And how did scientists come to understand #night as environment, albeit in distinct ways? #envhist #envhum #histsci #histtech #sts @[email protected] uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...

    Transforming Night

  20. The paperback of HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY from @ucpress is now in my hands! There's new jacket copy! There are review quotations on the back: 💙📚 🧪🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #18thC #histsci #histmed #politics 1/

  21. Maxwell's equations seem to be universally and consistently held up as exemplars of mathematical beauty in physical law. Expressed in modern notation as differential equations, they are as shown in the first attached image.

    Even someone unaware of the physical interpretation of the symbols can see clear symmetries in the equations.

    Henri Poincaré (1854–1912) thought James Clerk Maxwell (1831–79) was able to reformulate electromagnetic theory in part due to seeing how the equations would become more symmetrical:

    ‘It was because Maxwell was profoundly steeped in the sense of mathematical symmetry; would he have been so, if others before him had not studied this symmetry for its own beauty?’

    1/3

    #MaxwellsEquations #MathematicalBeauty #symmetry #HistSci

  22. Chinese edition (traditional characters) of HUMANS: A Monstrous History now in my hands! Link to book (all editions and languages in bio), from Gusa Press (Taiwan): 1/ 💙📚 🧪 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH

  23. Can an archive make a monster of a historian? But of course! I wrote about this for @[email protected], and the essay is now both free to read online and available as an audio read by me! The audio version: 💙📚 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH #maps #cartography 1/2

    Can the Archive Make a Monster...

  24. Call open: Visiting Fellowships for early career researchers, Natural History Humanities [N2H] Research Programme, University of Cambridge

    ccc.cam.ac.uk/ini.../natural-h

    #envhist #histsci #envhum

  25. CORRECTION: My lecture in London is on the evening of Thursday 5th March! Sorry, folks. 'Twas my first day doing any work after the break. 😭 💙📚 🧪 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH

    RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:rzug5jxal4snlewudks3efsf/post/3mbtjloooq22p

  26. London book talk on HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY! I'll be speaking on Thursday 5th May, 6pm, at @[email protected] More info and registration below. A free exhibition, "Wonder" is now on and ends the next day. 1/2 💙📚 🧪 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH

    HUMANS: A Monstrous History

  27. Happy #PubDay for the Complex/Traditional Chinese translation of HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY from Gusa Publishing House, Taiwan! Available: World excluding Mainland China. More translations coming! 💙📚 🧪 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH #worldhistory #politics 1/

  28. Would love to see non-astronomers there, too, w insights from relevant disciplines #sts #histsci #envhist #envhum #envjustice ... And "everyone" includes more than human world

    RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:eay5bbvyxip5w543ndsjrard/post/3mbqb6m47f22j

  29. HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY, Complex/Traditional Chinese, Jan 7 from Gusa Publishing House (Taiwan)! Available: World excluding Mainland China. Loving Michelangelo meets Murderbot. Entirely reflects the content and range of the book! 💙📚 🧪 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH

  30. My book talk on HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY is now available on the Linda Hall Library's YouTube channel. Come take a tour through monsters and monster-making, from earth to outer space! 💙📚 🧪 🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH #politics www.youtube.com/watch?v=81KT...

    Humans: A Monstrous History

  31. Day 4 of #artAdventCalendar is my portrait of British-born, American #astrophysicist Margaret Burbidge (1919-2020) who was one of the people instrumental in building our understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis, how nuclei are produced in stars & you and I are all stardust! She was the 1st author of a monumental scientific paper Synthesis of the Elements in Stars, which became known as B2FH from the initials of its authors: 🧵

    #mastoArt #linocut #printmaking #sciart #histsci #womenInSTEM

  32. Free book talk on HUMANS: A MONSTROUS HISTORY, hosted by the Linda Hall Library: Thurs Dec 4th, 7-8pm CST (8-9pm EST) Register at link below. 1/ 💙📚 🧪 🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH events.lindahall.org/humansamonst...

  33. Happy Halloween! Here's a thread of some of my monstery essays, and a link to register for my next book talk, hosted by the Linda Hall Library: Thurs Dec 4th, 7-8pm CST (8-9pm EST) 1/ 💙📚 🧪 🗃 #ancient #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #18thC #HAMH events.lindahall.org/humansamonst...

    events.lindahall.org/humansamonstro...

  34. For #spacetober_challenge prompt telescope: #astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell as a grad student in ‘67 discovered the 1st radio pulsar, a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of EM radiation. This radiation can only be observed when the star is pointed towards us; so, like the light from a lighthouse, it appears to pulse at a precise frequency. She had been working with her supervisor Hewish & others to construct a radio telescope 🧵1/

    #linocut #printmaking #histsci

  35. For the #Spacetober_challenge prompt historic person, day 17, I’m sharing my portrait of British-born, American #astrophysicist Margaret Burbidge (1919-2020) who was one of the people instrumental in building our understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis, how nuclei are produced in stars & that you and I are all stardust! She was the 1st author of a monumental scientific paper Synthesis of the Elements in Stars, 🧵

    #mastoArt #linocut #printmaking #sciart #histsci #womenInSTEM

  36. For day 22 of #sciArtSeptember prompt fellowship, I am sharing my portrait of #astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell, who took her $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics for her discovery of #pulsars & leadership in science and donated money to the Institute of Physics for PhD scholarships for underrepresented people including women, ethnic minorities & refugee students in physics! #linocut #printmaking #histsci

    As a grad student in ‘67 she discovered the 1st radio pulsar, a 🧵

  37. Happy birthday to British-born, American #astrophysicist Margaret Burbidge (1919-2020) who was one of the people instrumental in building our understanding of stellar nucleosynthesis, how nuclei are produced in stars & you and I are all stardust! She was the 1st author of a monumental scientific paper Synthesis of the Elements in Stars, which became known as B2FH from the initials of its authors: Margaret Burbidge, Geoffrey Burbidge (her 🧵

    #linocut #printmaking #sciart #histsci #womenInSTEM

  38. Happy birthday to #geologist & oceanographic #cartographer Marie Tharp (1920-2006), whose pioneering, thorough & complete ocean floor maps with Bruce Heezen, made using realms of echo sounder data, revealed the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.⁠

    After studying #geology & math, Maurice ‘Doc’ Ewing at Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia hired her to draft 1000s of echo sounder profiles. Women were still not allowed to participate in 🧵

    #sciart #printmaking #womenInSTEM #histsci #linocut #mastoArt

  39. Happy birthday to #astrophysicist Jocelyn Bell Burnell! In 1967, as a grad student she discovered the 1st radio pulsar, a highly magnetized, rotating neutron star that emits a beam of EM radiation. This radiation can only be observed when the star is pointed towards us; so, like the light from a lighthouse, it appears to pulse at a precise frequency. She had been working with her supervisor Antony Hewish & others to construct a radio telescope to study quasars. 🧵#linocut #printmaking #histsci

  40. "J'ai retiré ce radium de la pechblende
    Et j'ai brûlé mes doigts à ce feu défendu
    Ô paradis cent fois retrouvé reperdu
    Tes yeux sont mon Pérou ma Golconde mes Indes"
    Louis Aragon, Les Yeux d'Elsa, 1942
    fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Les_Yeux
    #artsci #histsci #curie

  41. Save the date! I am thrilled to announce our first Neuburger Lecture in 2025, at the Josephinum @meduniwien.ac.at on June 2nd in Vienna. Andreas Heinz (Charité Berlin) will give a talk on "The Colonised Brain" [in German]. www.josephinum.ac.at/.../max-neub... #histmed #histpsy #histsci #vienna

  42. Save the date! I am thrilled to announce our first Neuburger Lecture in 2025, at the Josephinum @meduniwien.ac.at on June 2nd in Vienna. Andreas Heinz (Charité Berlin) will give a talk on "The Colonised Brain" [in German]. www.josephinum.ac.at/.../max-neub... #histmed #histpsy #histsci #vienna