“The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental…they are deliberate exercises in doublethink.” Orwell, “1984”

And the first week of the new academic year starts with some excellent news www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

First day of the semester, first day of a new class, a freshman seminar on “Moby-Dick,” the novel and its significance for the history of resource extraction: “wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?”

Franklin didn’t just invent a stove—he invented five. Each one was designed to conserve fuel and control smoke. His final models in Europe? Built to burn coal cleaner. Sound familiar? 📻 Listen to @joycechaplin.bsky.social‬ break it down: benfranklinsworld.com/412 #EnergyHistory #History

The first anti-vaxxers worried that the original vaccine, which used cowpox against smallpox, would turn them into cows, a bizarre fear depicted here by caricaturist James Gillray—today is his day.

E pur si muove…

Thank you so much!!

You may not have noticed, but today is the second shortest day in history—if we get many more days like this, by 2029, atomic clocks may have to register a negative leap second www.space.com/astronomy/ea...

Your annual reminder of science’s foundational role in US history: on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was first publicly read, in Philadelphia, from a platform originally built for astronomers to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus—science was the literal platform for revolution

“More than 98 percent of [Harvard] faculty who responded to the survey supported the University’s decision to sue the White House.” www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Bruce Lee, birthright citizen

Fantastic piece by @doctorvive.bsky.social about the climate crisis, a must-read and a necessary pushback to abundance-narrative delusions www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Dogs and cats, living together… yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/06...

🔥Did you know colonial Americans worried about climate change during the Little Ice Age? Benjamin Franklin had a solution: a stove that used less wood, produced more heat, and filled the room without smoke. 🎧 Episode 412: benfranklinsworld.com/412 #EarlyAmerica #History #ClimatePast #USHistory

“This splendid account offers a rich new perspective on the origins of climate science”—wow, and thank you @publisherswkly.bsky.social for the starred review of my new book on the FRANKLIN STOVE

Since Harvard’s founding, its international students have spoken a great many languages, each of which would have apt and colorful expressions for telling the Trump administration where to get off with this blatantly prejudicial statement www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u...

And today’s award for National Leader Maintaining Extraordinary Grace under Egregious Trump Pressure goes to South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05...

This is bad www.wbur.org/news/2025/05...

Now we’re cooking

The pope has no airplane. The pope flies on chartered commercial aircraft. The plane he uses is, for the duration of the flight, designated as: Shepherd One.

Having blood drawn to see if I have measles antibodies—as one now does

Recalling today the graciousness with which President Abraham Lincoln declined King Mongkut of Siam’s proposed gift to assist US transportation: “a stock from which a supply of elephants might be raised.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/11/u...

This is exactly the thing NOAA would never say unless it needed to signal it was being held hostage

Good news is rare—but here’s some from Maryland, sometimes described as “America in miniature” and in this case, here’s hoping www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/c...

Oldest university in United States sues most outrageous administration in US history www.nytimes.com/2025/04/21/u...

Delighted to find my new book briefly noted @newyorker.com which, in about 100 words, gets the book exactly right

Really happy and really grateful about this extract from my book, THE FRANKLIN STOVE, in the new issue of the Harvard Magazine—this is from the book’s intro, explaining why, in a changing climate, we must “make haste slowly” www.harvardmagazine.com/2025/05/fran...

It was a pleasure to talk about the history of unplugged, wood-burning stoves on History Unplugged www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-unpl...

Fight fiercely, Harvard! www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

Statement from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences: “Our founders were also the founders of the nation…we are a great nation because we have invested in the arts and sciences while protecting the freedom that enables them to flourish.” www.amacad.org/news/board-s...

“UNLESS someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” www.washingtonpost.com/climate-envi...

“America runs on RESISTANCE”—Senator Ed Markey says in Boston, at the Massachusetts #HandsOff demonstration, where gazillions of people are still showing up, despite the rain

Because it would be boring to have just one massive economic threat, right? www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Climate history: more than just hot air… news.harvard.edu/gazette/stor...

For #WomensHistoryMonth: Mary Norris, an early American woman of #science, loaned her telescope to Philadelphia’s observation of the 1769 Transit of Venus (part of an international astronomical effort). Norris was formidable—John Adams said that if she’d been his wife, “I should have shot myself”

There’s a lot going on right now…but I want to take time to thank @harvardbookstore.bsky.social for hosting an event for my FRANKLIN STOVE book and my wonderful colleague @agr.bsky.social for her expert comments and discussion leading into the Q&A—the book is in the wild!

Today, on the anniversary of Harvard being named for John Harvard (#otd 1639), we are rallying at Harvard to defend all places of higher education in the United States

Eric Williams, CAPITALISM AND SLAVERY, on the modern history of profiting financially from exploitation and human suffering, is one of the most important books I read in grad school, and I’m passing on the favor in my grad seminar today

@joycechaplin.bsky.social on how the origins of an iconic American invention began with Benjamin Franklin’s cold feet.

On Boston Common, below the historic State House, today was a beautiful day to #StandUpForScience (but it’s beautiful to do that any day)

So happy to be shared here @parisreview.bsky.social and delighted they picked the paragraph of my FRANKLIN STOVE book that emphasizes the value of a (stove-heated) room of one’s own

Thinking today of Benjamin Franklin, who wore an old suit (and no wig) before the king and court of France, to represent his nation—while it was fighting for its existence

"Chaplin argues that Benjamin Franklin's most ingenious invention--a fireplace designed to conserve wood, and later coal--had lasting ramifications for America's approach to energy and the environment"--thank you, @harpers.bsky.social, for your warm and welcoming review of the FRANKLIN STOVE

“But where says some is the King of America?…in America THE LAW IS THE KING.” Thomas Paine, COMMON SENSE (1776)

It’s a big box of books day

From Providence (RI), with love

"A fresh, authoritative history." I am delighted and grateful that Kirkus Reviews has given my #FranklinStove book a starred review www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

Benjamin Franklin produced the very first chart of the Gulf Stream and then two more charts of it—here’s the final one, of 1786, showing Dr. Franklin in the lower right-hand corner, lecturing poor old Neptune, behind whom is the source of the Gulf Stream: the Gulf of Mexico

“Pardon the pun, but Franklin seems to have seen the forest through the trees…”—I am so thrilled @sciam.bsky.social says my #FranklinStove book is one of its 10 most anticipated microhistories for 2025 (and a pun is pretty much always forgivable)