To the female prof & others who ridicule my work: You aren't just ridiculing me, you're ridiculing the countless craftspeople & centuries of work it took to develop the screws now holding together the numerous objects with which you build your life. And—as a historian—you should take THAT seriously.

I just had my work publicly ridiculed by a tenured prof. To all senior scholars who need to hear this: Please don't do this to students (or anyone else for that matter). You have no idea how painful it is. Yes, my topic is unusual & you may not get it, but that doesn't mean it should be made fun of.

📚 I cannot keep up with all the interesting books being published lately. Here's another one: "Cultivating & Communicating Natural & Technical Knowledge around 1800. Devotees of Science." By Nikolaj Bijleveld, Arjen Dijkstra, & Samuel Gessner. tinyurl.com/4kr2tssn #HistSci #HistSTM #HistTech 🗃️

Historians of art/metalworking/craft: How would you call this part of an #EarlyModern goblet shown in the pics? (see the original post for the full object). A German conservator described it as "Kranz," though I'm not sure 'crown'/'wreath' works in English. Any thoughts? #SkyStorians

Upcoming (hybrid) book talk of Tunç Şen's "Forgotten Experts. Astrologers, Science, & Authority in the Ottoman Empire, 1430-1600." 📅 Monday, September 29, 2025 🕕 6:00pm EDT 📍Columbia University More info & registration: sofheyman.org/events/celeb... #HistSci #HistSTM #MedievalSky #EarlyModern 🗃️

Furniture history! Are you a postdoctoral researcher who'd like to explore and showcase an outstanding collection of 17th-20thC furniture history @universityofleeds.bsky.social by spending approx. 6 weeks (or longer part-time) in our Libraries? Find out more lahri.leeds.ac.uk/bedford-fell...

Vacancy: Editor-in-chief💼 JHoK seeks a new co-editor-in-chief affiliated to a Belgian or Dutch institution to join Professor Sven Dupré. Deadline to submit your job application: 26 September, 2025. More information on the application process: journalhistoryknowledge.org/announcement...

📚NEUERSCHEINUNG📚 Heinrich Wölfflin Die Kunst Albrecht Dürers (1905) Herausgegeben von Tristan Weddigen, Oskar Bätschmann, Joris van Gastel Heinrich Wölfflin – Gesammelte Werke, Schriften, Bd. 6 🔗 www.biblhertz.it/de/pub/woelf... 🛒 schwabe.ch/heinrich-woe...

There’s a great series of webinars about the preservation of newspapers currently underway by @britishlibrary.bsky.social Endangered Archives programme. Last week was a lovely succinct intro to the history & manufacture of newspapers, feat. the odd clip like this: youtu.be/wZV11BplbXw?...

“you can’t do anything to a listed building, ever!” okay, counterpoint, you can hoist a 700 year old church tower up 16metres in the air to build a new subterranean basement for an office block

New book (2023) by Rienk Vermij 📚 "A History of Western Science. The Basics," offering "a short introduction to the history of Western science that is accessible to all through avoiding technical language and mathematical intricacies." #HistSci #HistSTM #SkyStorians #EarlyModern 🗃️ shorturl.at/oPHmW

Whenever Mersenne comes up, I always think about his letter to Christiaan Huygens from 1647 in which he apologizes for the length of his letter & "even more for my poor handwriting," recommending Huygens to turn to his father for help with transcribing his chicken scratch 😂 #HistSci 🗃️

An die Deutsch-Muttersprachler: Wie nennt man dieses Werkzeug ('vice' auf Englisch) heutzutage auf Deutsch? Mir wurde kürzlich, ohne weitere Erklärung, gesagt: „Schraubstock“ stimmt nicht, oder ist unüblich. Gibt es ein anderes, gebräuchlicheres Wort für dieses Werkzeug? #HistTech

Academic authors, here's a peek into the black box of journal publishing from an journal editor if you can bear it:

From 1454 the St. Sebaldus was flanked by the magnificent "Alte Schau" where gold & silversmiths had their wares checked—referenced in its facade & visualized by Ritter. My heart aches knowing it was torn down in 1809, replaced w/ a guard house & then a "Bratwursthäusle" #HistSci #EarlyModern 🗃️

#Skystorians, in the category of weird questions: I'm looking for primary & secondary sources on the social/cultural understanding or perception of worms and snails in the #EarlyModern period. (N.B. I'm not looking for how worms were classified "scientifically"). Does anyone have suggestions? 🗃️

This 👇 is such a stinking beautiful research and conference topic! ❤️ More of this please! #EarlyModern #HistSci #ArtHistory #MaterialCulture #SkyStorians

Perhaps of interest to some on the #MedievalSky feed 📚

The more historians criticize the general public for not knowing something that's obvious &/or long-accepted in our field, the more I'm convinced that all historians can benefit from the sociology of science, esp. re the nature, production, communication & acquisition of (expert) knowledge #HistSci

Just when I thought I couldn’t love Berlin more, a message of Berlin’s public transport company is announced to all tram passengers:“Keep your TikTok, Music & phone calls in your ear & not on your loudspeaker.” ❤️ (“Musik, Tiktoks & Telefonate gehören ins Ohr und nicht über Lautsprecher abgespielt”)

Wat een archief lijden kan. Het UGent Archief is gesloten wegens een calamiteit: een ondergrondse boring voor een nieuwe fietsenparking heeft 2 depots doorboord, waarna er water en cement onder hoge druk naar binnen zijn gespoten tot in het derde depot, de bureaus en de leeszaal.

Feeling incredibly privileged to have spent a full day with this beauty of an object! 🏆 I love my job and my dissertation topic ❤️ #Screws 🔩 #ArtHistory #HistSci #HisTech #HistSTM #MaterialCulture #EarlyModern 🗃️

To the French speakers/readers familiar with #MedievalSky and #EarlyModern history: This is incredibly niche 🤓 but have you ever seen the word “clou” (which early modern dictionaries translate as nail or pin) used to mean screw? #HistSci #HistTech 🗃️

Kurze Frage an die #Archäologie 🏺 Crowd: War vielleicht jemand unlängst einmal in der #Keltenwelt am #Glauberg und hat dort die Vitrine mit Funden aus "Grab 1" fotografiert? Für einen Blogbeitrag suche ich nach Abbildungen insbesondere von Schwert, Schild und den Drähten der Krone.

Oh my god! Several months ago I found a depiction of peculiar screw for astrolabes in a 16thc source. I was skeptical whether theory reflected practice…but today I found an exact example of it inserted in an extant 16th century astrolabe 🤯😱 #MaterialCulture #EarlyModern #HistSci #HistTech #HistSTM 🗃️

Good morning from paradise ❤️ The place where my love for #EarlyModern artisans, #HistSci, #ArtHistory #HistTech began. 🗃️

#Skystorians I’d like to workshop some of my research (preferably some time next year) and am looking for fitting conferences or seminars that welcome interdisciplinary work and material culture studies. Does anyone have suggestions? #EarlyModern #HistSci #ArtHistory #HistTech 🗃️

Amis/amies francophones, mon livre sur la Réforme aux Pays-Bas paraîtra en traduction française en septembre chez Brepols. #lareformeauxpaysbas

My new book 📕 The Story of Tudor Art 🌹 comes out on 25th September. It’s the first book ever (!!) to look at art from across the whole sixteenth century in England and I can’t wait to share it with you.

My work companions till the end of August ❤️

At a time when we are losing hand skills, I can’t figure out why the uptake for this course is so poor. Robbie is a world class class cutter, great teacher and lovely man and of course Cromarty is the best place in Scotland. Contact the Cromarty Arts Trust and book your place 👌👍

Puisqu'il faut parfois faire son auto-promotion 🙈 Sortie du livre à la fin du mois. L'angoisse. Il y est question de planches de dessins, d'inventions, de dessinateurs, de logiques de production, mais aussi de philosophie et de politique. 4e de couv reproduite en Alt. 🗃️ #Academicsky

Back home for two weeks ❤️

One-month fellowships for mid-career (6+ years post PhD) or senior scholars "working on any aspect of history of science, medicine, and technology across the Mediterranean" to be based at the Science and Research Centre (ZRS) in Koper, on the coast of Slovenia: #HistSTM

Proofs!

New archive 🔩🗃️

I just noticed that Metropolitan Science will be out in paperback - exciting news! Not available until next year, but can be pre-ordered for a relatively affordable £26.09 @jasminekt.bsky.social www.bloomsbury.com/uk/metropoli... #earlymodern #histSTM 🗃️

ACADEMIC BOOK SALE I am moving and want to move less books if at all possible... Please get in touch if you are interested in the following titles (all prices include postage and I am open to offers)

I actually think it’s a good thing that there are people who devote their working lives to studying something that may only be of interest to a small number of people, who get on here with great excitement and say “I nerded the heck out of this for three years, I’m proud of me, read my article!”

Seeing one of Dürer's best known works, Melencolia I, in person for the first time, in his *own* house, during the "500 Years Dürer and Geometry" makes my historian heart sing and weep at the same time ❤️ #HistSci #ArtHistory #HistSTM #EarlyModern 🗃️

The “fake it till you make it” mentality.

Forget old school. It's team "Artisanal citation management" from now on—perfectly coined by @christinekooi.bsky.social! Historians of craft and artisanal practice should practice what they preach!

Team old-school! 🙋‍♀️

Director at Max Planck - a unique position! The Open Call for Expressions of Interest in Max Planck Directorships is open now and can be submitted by the 31st of October 2025. ➡️ mpg.de/directors - Please share the Open Call among potential candidates.

Ingenious use of woodcuts that overlap typeset text in this 1588 edition, visually reproducing old inscriptions found on funerary stones, altars & Capitoline Tables, carefully rendering letters but also the erosion, fractures & surface damage of their material supports. #rarebooks #bookhistory

For the #SkyStorians working on #BookHistory 📚, there's a new list aiming to "disseminate announcements in book history, considering the book in a broad sense and for all historical periods and geographical areas." 🗃️ To subscribe & for more info, see here: groupes.renater.fr/sympa/info/h...

🚨 📚 New book coming this August. Available for pre-order now! This just went straight to the top of my to-read list: "Bernard Palissy and the Arts of the Earth" — François Quiviger #EarlyModern #HistSci #ArtHistory 🗃️ shorturl.at/SkTK8

🚨CfP "Doesn’t It Matter? Recovering Marginalized & Ephemeral Materials in Histories of #EarlyModern Art, Science, & Technology" 📍RSA, San Francisco 📅 Deadline 04.08 🔗 shorturl.at/Ox1QB I can't wait to see the line up (even if I cannot attend)! #HistSci #HistTech #ArtHistory #MaterialCulture 🗃️

Come work with us! A 2,5 years postdoc on critical university heritage: you'll contribute to two curated heritage interventions, based on (1) physical anthropology collections and (2) botanical history. You'll join an international, interdisciplinary team. #skystorians #heritage #histofscience