Christiaan Huygens' & his wave theory of light #histsci thonyc.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/f...

Among his many achievements Edmond Halley, who was born 8 November 1656, was the first to map the magnetic variation in the Atlantic #histsci thonyc.wordpress.com/2024/06/26/m...

My new article is up: thespacereview.com/article/5093/1

One was boosted by military and Cold War interests and the other (on Naomi Oreskes's reading) was delayed by them. #histSTM

Whether you like science or art or history or space travel, I promise this will be the best thing you read all week. 🧪🔭 www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The Erie Canal was completed 200 years ago today. It was a major achievement for the early US, and for New York in particular. But the canal meant different things to different people, and over time, its significance evolved. 🗃️ daily.jstor.org/the-erie-can...

The Erie Canal was completed 200 years ago today. It was a major achievement for the early US, and for New York in particular. But the canal meant different things to different people, and over time, its significance evolved. 🗃️ daily.jstor.org/the-erie-can...

On the left is a diagram from the same book published in 1794 in the quoted post below for its chapter on eclipses. On the right is the current diagram for the Wikipedia entry on eclipses. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it I suppose. 🔭

Darwin's geological training shaped his scientific identity. He took classes from professors on opposite sides of a major geological debate. One was dull, the other exciting-but he learned a lot from both, and from field excursions in Wales. #Histsci 🗃️ #geology daily.jstor.org/mad-about-ge...

Darwin's geological training shaped his scientific identity. He took classes from professors on opposite sides of a major geological debate. One was dull, the other exciting-but he learned a lot from both, and from field excursions in Wales. #Histsci 🗃️ #geology daily.jstor.org/mad-about-ge...

I have two articles in The Space Review this week. Here is one of them. thespacereview.com/article/5085/1

When Charles Darwin joined the crew of the Beagle in 1832, one of their first stops was the island of St. Jago in Cape Verde. There, he confronted one of his first major scientific puzzles. https://bit.ly/3WjDAwl

“Mad About Geology”: Charles Darwin’s Origin Story daily.jstor.org/mad-about-ge...

Today is going to be a good day to watch Kīlauea. Watch the live stream here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bqmp...

“It assumes that each planet rotates in a vortex of fluid matter, & that the Sun occupies the center, around which the other vortices revolve.” A closer view of Descartes’ système de tourbillons. All of these models provided working descriptions of the universe to different degrees of accuracy 🔭

Today my @nytimes.com colleagues and I are launching a new series called Lost Science. We interview US scientists who can no longer discover something new about our world, thanks to this year‘s cuts. Here is my first interview with a scientist who studied bees and fires. Gift link: nyti.ms/3IWXbiE

Painters of the Hudson River School understood what was happening to North American forests in the nineteenth century, and they didn’t like it. https://bit.ly/42tM7Ag

#scuba Today's article pick from Damn History, a free monthly newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to writer @inverting-vision.bsky.social & @jstordaily.bsky.social! Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe daily.jstor.org/arthur-c-cla...

We’re uncovering a remarkable treasure trove of scientific and historical data about the #WowSignal and the early days of #SETI. Your support can help us bring this history to light. #AreciboWow phl.upr.edu/wow/trip

120 years ago, the Wright Brothers created a practical flying machine. Their test on October 5, 1905 may have been more significant, in some ways, than their 1903 Kitty Hawk flights. Today, you can visit the field in Ohio where it happened. #histSTM 🗃️ #aviation daily.jstor.org/a-practical-...

A Practical Machine: The Wright Brothers in Dayton daily.jstor.org/a-practical-...

120 years ago, the Wright Brothers created a practical flying machine. Their test on October 5, 1905 may have been more significant, in some ways, than their 1903 Kitty Hawk flights. Today, you can visit the field in Ohio where it happened. #histSTM 🗃️ #aviation daily.jstor.org/a-practical-...

Aristotle noticed that when bees returned to the hive, they shook or "danced" in front of a group. Millennia later, scientists debated whether it was a form of "language" amid shifts in scientific methods and philosophies in the 20th century. #histsci 🗃️ #bees daily.jstor.org/the-bee-danc...

Aristotle noticed that when bees returned to the hive, they shook or "danced" in front of a group. Millennia later, scientists debated whether it was a form of "language" amid shifts in scientific methods and philosophies in the 20th century. #histsci 🗃️ #bees daily.jstor.org/the-bee-danc...

My former student wrote a history of the SOFIA airborne observatory...check out her work :) www.nasa.gov/history/sofia/

Arthur C. Clarke’s undersea adventures are often overlooked, but his passion for scuba diving influenced his visions of the future. https://bit.ly/3Ko3zQv

#ArthurCClarke was *fascinated* by the mysterious Giant Squid, writing about it often. None had ever been seen, though it was a known enemy of the sperm whale. I thought of him recently when video of a whale & giant squid turned up on Instagram. He would've loved it: bsky.app/profile/rebe...

Arthur C. Clarke was an avid scuba diver for most of his life, which influenced his fiction and vision of the Earth's future. But mid-century interest in oceanic exploration and expansion was mostly lost in the glare of the space race. #HistSTM 🗃️ #scuba daily.jstor.org/arthur-c-cla...

Arthur C. Clarke was an avid scuba diver for most of his life, which influenced his fiction and vision of the Earth's future. But mid-century interest in oceanic exploration and expansion was mostly lost in the glare of the space race. #HistSTM 🗃️ #scuba daily.jstor.org/arthur-c-cla...

How can teachers use the work of Octavia Butler, Ursula Le Guin, and other writers of speculative fiction to teach students about political and social theories? https://bit.ly/487g4JV

There was a growing pantheon of heroes in the early twentieth century, as the new science of caves, speleology, emerged. But right-wing nationalism was also growing in Austria, and it changed the nature and purpose of speleology in central Europe. https://bit.ly/464hlQN

When cave science emerged in the early 20th century, early speleological communities became entangled in right-wing nationalism. Cave explorers became nationalist symbols, as "conquerors" of an underground world. #histsci 🗃️ daily.jstor.org/underground-...

When cave science emerged in the early 20th century, early speleological communities became entangled in right-wing nationalism. Cave explorers became nationalist symbols, as "conquerors" of an underground world. #histsci 🗃️ daily.jstor.org/underground-...

Benoit Mandelbrot believed the rise of computer graphics in the 1970s was essential for the creation of fractal geometry. He described it as "a new geometric language," and was fascinated by the art and applications that emerged from his work. #HistSTM 🗃️ #math daily.jstor.org/fifty-years-...

Fifty Years of Fractals daily.jstor.org/fifty-years-...

Benoit Mandelbrot believed the rise of computer graphics in the 1970s was essential for the creation of fractal geometry. He described it as "a new geometric language," and was fascinated by the art and applications that emerged from his work. #HistSTM 🗃️ #math daily.jstor.org/fifty-years-...

The airplane was an ideal tool for Soviet propaganda. They targeted peasants with stories and films, and Red Army vets took them into the air on demonstration flights. In these narratives and "air-baptisms," we see Soviet visions of the future. daily.jstor.org/convincing-p... #HistSTM 🗃️ #aviation

The airplane was an ideal tool for Soviet propaganda. They targeted peasants with stories and films, and Red Army vets took them into the air on demonstration flights. In these narratives and "air-baptisms," we see Soviet visions of the future. daily.jstor.org/convincing-p... #HistSTM 🗃️ #aviation

Huygens hid the discovery of Saturn's rings with an anagram in his 1656 pamphlet on Titan: "aaaaaaacccccdeeeeehiiiiiiillllmmnnnnnnnnnooooppqrrstttttuuuuu" He had done the same with Titan itself, and first revealed the solutions to a select few. daily.jstor.org/christiaan-h... #Histsci 🗃️🔭 #space

Huygens hid the discovery of Saturn's rings with an anagram in his 1656 pamphlet on Titan: "aaaaaaacccccdeeeeehiiiiiiillllmmnnnnnnnnnooooppqrrstttttuuuuu" He had done the same with Titan itself, and first revealed the solutions to a select few. daily.jstor.org/christiaan-h... #Histsci 🗃️🔭 #space

In 1925, Science magazine announced a spectacular new invention they called “Radio Movies.” Can you imagine watching a movie “by radio”? bit.ly/45Nv0fn

PS. Also happens to be the 100th anniversary of another key media technology, as @inverting-vision.bsky.social highlights for today's JSTOR Daily: daily.jstor.org/phantoscopes...

TV pioneer C. Francis Jenkins invented a way to transmit images by radio in the 1920s, calling it "radiovision." He published instructions on how to create your own receiver, and described a prescient vision of TV's future. daily.jstor.org/phantoscopes... #HistSTM 🗃️ #television

Holy shit. One of the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's first-look images. This image is 3,840×2,160 but the original image is 40,000×21,047 px. Virtually every pixel is a star or a galaxy. VIRTUALLY EVERY PIXEL

TV pioneer C. Francis Jenkins invented a way to transmit images by radio in the 1920s, calling it "radiovision." He published instructions on how to create your own receiver, and described a prescient vision of TV's future. daily.jstor.org/phantoscopes... #HistSTM 🗃️ #television

Talking with Machines: Computer Programming as Language The proliferation of different types of computing machines in the 1950s enabled—or perhaps forced—the creation of programming languages. By: Danny Robb daily.jstor.org/talking-with... #science #technology #computer_programming

For those of us who made the poor choice to have our life’s work governed by orbital mechanics, 4 years can change a project from “some really interesting science to do towards the end of my career”into “won’t happen in my lifetime” (Looking at you Uranus orbiter)

"The Government should accept new responsibilities for promoting the flow of new scientific knowledge & the development of scientific talent in our youth." -Vannevar Bush Today's #histSTM lunchtime read: @inverting-vision.bsky.social's @jstordaily.bsky.social essay on the origins of the #NSF. 🗃️📜🧪

Here's another shocking infographic made by @planetarysociety.bsky.social that shows the impact of the 2025 presidential budget cuts on almost 20 successful space missions. The scale of US tax-payer-funded investment waste is really unprecedented.