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.

Vannevar Bush was instrumental in making science a top priority on the national agenda after World War II. Find out more about who he was and what he did to make the National Science Foundation—now embattled under the current administration—a reality. bit.ly/3FhSjTJ

"Science and Progress?" (1955) by Vannevar Bush was fascinating to read, with insights into the experience of scientists during the Red Scare/Cold War. A few quotes that stood out: "The world will remain for a time evenly divided, its halves poised for mutual annihilation..."

Electric Fish and the First Battery Allesandro Volta invented the voltaic pile, the earliest electric battery, in part because of his investigations into the torpedo, an electric ray fish. By: Danny Robb daily.jstor.org/electric-fis... Volta at PG: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/searc... #science

There are 2 previous historical cases of countries destroying their science and universities, crippling them for decades: Lysenkoism in the USSR and Nazi Germany. The Trump administration will be the 3rd. It's not just budgets but research, institutions, expertise, and training the next generation.

The NSF was an effort to unleash the scientific energies of the US harnessed to win WWII. Despite congressional battles, debates over presidential power, Red Scare - the agency's importance was rarely doubted. Vannevar Bush had made sure of that in 1945. daily.jstor.org/science-in-w... #HistSci 🗃️

The electric organ of the torpedo fish inspired the first electric battery: the "voltaic pile." Alessandro Volta used it as a demonstration device as he argued against the "animal electricity" theory made popular by Galvani. daily.jstor.org/electric-fis... #histSTM 🗃️

The NSF was an effort to unleash the scientific energies of the US harnessed to win WWII. Despite congressional battles, debates over presidential power, Red Scare - the agency's importance was rarely doubted. Vannevar Bush had made sure of that in 1945. daily.jstor.org/science-in-w... #HistSci 🗃️

The electric organ of the torpedo fish inspired the first electric battery: the "voltaic pile." Alessandro Volta used it as a demonstration device as he argued against the "animal electricity" theory made popular by Galvani. daily.jstor.org/electric-fis... #histSTM 🗃️

NASA engineers are troubleshooting an issue with the solar electric Hall-effect thrusters on the Psyche spacecraft, which have shut down due to a drop in pressure in the line that feeds xenon gas to the thrusters. A backup fuel line is avail if needed. More @ fosstodon.org/@AkaSci/1144... #PlanetSci

And with a Soviet Venera about to make an unscheduled return to Earth, I thought these 2 Soviet diagrams of Venera 8 I restored might be timely.

Historians have debated if Carl Linnaeus was bad at drawing, and how much he valued illustration. But Linnaeus used illustration and visual thinking at every stage in his career, even if some of his own sketches were a little... rough-and-ready. daily.jstor.org/was-carl-lin... #histsci #biology 🗃️

Historians have debated if Carl Linnaeus was bad at drawing, and how much he valued illustration. But Linnaeus used illustration and visual thinking at every stage in his career, even if some of his own sketches were a little... rough-and-ready. daily.jstor.org/was-carl-lin... #histsci #biology 🗃️

Today, we're launching a dedicated action hub for the crisis threatening NASA science. Find actions, latest news and up-to-date resources at: www.planetary.org/save-nasa-sc... #ProtectNASAScience

PhD Timeline xkcd.com/3081

A massive storm in the Irish Sea led to early attempts at weather forecasting in the 19th century. FitzRoy haphazardly assembled a scientific network involving telegraphed data from coastal stations and fishermen with barometers. #meteorology #histSTM 🗃️ daily.jstor.org/robert-fitzr...

Robert FitzRoy, best known as captain of the HMS Beagle when Charles Darwin was aboard, created one of the first systems of weather forecasting after a devastating storm in the Irish Sea. bit.ly/3Ga30rg

A massive storm in the Irish Sea led to early attempts at weather forecasting in the 19th century. FitzRoy haphazardly assembled a scientific network involving telegraphed data from coastal stations and fishermen with barometers. #meteorology #histSTM 🗃️ daily.jstor.org/robert-fitzr...

As an NEH grant awardee whose entire award was terminated by the U.S. government, I would also be interested to know if there is any legal recourse for grant holders.

#PPOD: NASA's Cassini shows a wave structure in Saturn's rings known as the Janus 2:1 spiral density wave. As a result of the same process that creates spiral galaxies, spiral density waves in Saturn's rings are much more tightly wound. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/CICLOPS 🧪 🔭