This is tough news. Rai touched so many lives and cultivated a new way of knowing the universe! As I was working on my PhD, he answered every email--literally, was incredibly generous with his time, a huge supporter of the history of science, and so much more.

Great read for anyone interested in relationships between big science projects, science policy, and land/landscapes.

Huge thank you to AIP (@aip.bsky.social) History and Rebecca Charbonneau (@rebeccacharbon.bsky.social) for spotlighting my latest article! 🤩 #ligo #physics #history #histstem

Finding sites for precision instruments, especially in LIGO's case, is no easy task. My article on LIGO's consideration of placing part of their broadband gravitational wave detector in the Blueberry Barrens of Maine is now available in @isisjournal.bsky.social! #histstem #hps #gravitationalwaves

Thanks to Donald Salisbury for the invitation to write a piece on the crisis in American science for the APS FHPP Newsletter. This time I interviewed four colleagues on their areas of expertise. My heartfelt thanks to all. higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/APS/fc77d112...

Check out Kathy's post raising issues around science in the USA and current policy climate. She reached out for comment on my thoughts on the LIGO array, which is spread across two sites that work together as a single broadband gravitational wave detector. #physics #sciencepolicy

I ask my new + old followers to circulate this open access roundtable onAmerican science. Please repost! We in the USA are losing our lead in scientific research due to totalitarian tendencies in the current administration. This loss will affect all of us. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...

Check out the Humans of LIGO blog! Provides an inside look at the amazing LIGO community! It has been a dream to study the history of the amazing endeavor that is LIGO and those who founded, foster, and research in the LIGO Scientific Community! Thanks so much for featuring me! #gravitationalwaves

LIGO and Virgo will resume observing on 11 June joined by KAGRA! All four kilometre-scale gravitational-wave detectors will observe at the same time! Our observing run (O4) has been extended to run until 18 November 2025 and we look forward to many discoveries ligo.org/ligo-virgo-k... ☄️🔭🧪

I have a new article out in Science & Education (journal of the Int'l History, Philosophy & Science Teaching Group) that should eventually be part of a special issue surveying common ground in the recent-ish history of science and science education literatures: link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Curious about the process that Dr. Walter Massey (then-Director of the National Science Foundation) used to select LIGO'S Hanford, WA, and Livingston, LA, sites? This talk stems from my extensive research of first impression used to reconstruct this history.

Thank you so much for having me! Really enjoyed my visit to the American Institute of Physics!

Nominations for the American Physical Society's Pais Prize for History of Physics are due June 2. The nomination package is a fairly heavy lift, so get cracking! #histsci www.aps.org/funding-reco...

Happening tomorrow!

The AIP history, library, and archives teams are excited to launch two new #histsci email newsletters. Our Weekly Edition will offer a short article on the history of the physical sciences and the history community's work. The Monthly is an update on what we're doing at AIP. ww2.aip.org/newsletters

Really looking forward to this!!! #physics #historyofphysics #histstm

We are delighted to welcome to the AAAS, Section-L ( #HPS ) Steering Committee #histsci @tiffanynichols.bsky.social (as Early Career Representative) & #philsci Wendy Parker (Member-at-Large). Congrats to them both on their election! 🎉 www.aaas.org/sections/his...

Nice seeing colleagues @ the APS Global Summit! Enjoyed presenting my research on the nat'l phase of LIGO's site selection & the important role that experts across physics, engineering, grants, law, & science policy played in determining LIGO's two locations. Abstract: summit.aps.org/events/APR-B...

What happens when dams no longer in use are removed? Nature springs back! Great piece for environmental history & history of technology courses--especially thinking about long-term implications of abandoned tech/what remains from tech & industries that have moved on. e360.yale.edu/features/nor...

The total lunar eclipse of March 13–14 — the first anywhere since 2022 — will be visible across all of North and South America. skyandtelescope.org/press-releas... @skyandtelescope.bsky.social

In this episode of @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social's New Books in Animal Studies, author Dawn Day Biehler discusses her book ANIMATING CENTRAL PARK with Miranda Melcher newbooksnetwork.com/animating-ce...

Once again boosting the signal for any #histSTM (or #histsci, #histttech & #histmed) friends in the audience! @contingent-mag.bsky.social is one the few publications that prioritizes the work of historians outside of tenure-track academia. Now you can join their editorial team! #ScholarSaturday 🗃️📜

What was your favorite history book in 2024? For me it was Catherine Dunlop's The Mistral about how the materiality of this regional wind system resisted the establishment of modern French infrastructures (technological, economical, and climate) in Provence.

Really enjoyed the lively conversation tonight at the Yale Hist & Phil of Physics Working Group about my latest article in @hsnatsci.bsky.social on the blurring of field and laboratory with precision instruments like LIGO's interferometers! Article available here: online.ucpress.edu/hsns/article...

Hubble just celebrated a decade of tracking our solar system’s outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus and Neptune—as seen in this montage of observations taken since 2014. (1/8) 🔭 🧪 🧵

Please circulate: CFP for Western History Dissertation Workshop. This is an exceptional chance for advanced grad students working on a western history topic to get feedback from leading scholars in the field and to do it in the Arcadian paradise that is the Huntington Library.

Are you a graduate student, postdoc, or undergrad in #philsci #histsci #HPS or related field? Are you interested in trying out a membership to AAAS to see what it's all about? @hps-aaas.bsky.social is excited to offer FREE memberships to students & postdocs. Just fill out application by 12/22/24 ⤵️

Here's the second starter pack of Environmental Historians

We just maxed out the Environmental History Starter Pack! This means you can follow 150 environmental historians and #envhist institutions by clicking a button. We would happily create a second pack. Let us know if you want to be in it!

Finally starting to put together a starter pack of awesome people working in black holes and relativistic astrophysics, gravitational-wave science, and related areas of gravitation. Suggestions for additions welcome! go.bsky.app/7AYfSd1 [🧪🔭⚛️]

You can read our latest news and catch up on the latest @vrubinobs.bsky.social milestones (such as the installation of the M1M3 mirror, pictured) in our recently published newsletter: lsst-uk.atlassian.net/wiki/x/AQA04 (image: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA #astronomy

Happening tonight!

Very excited to announce that I will be the Vice Chair of the History of Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society (@aasoffice.bsky.social) starting in 2025! #histofastro #astronomy #histsci #histstm

New podcast by the '13 Minutes to the Moon' team telling the story of the history of the space shuttle. Intro episode of '16 Sunsets' released this week: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/1...

Huge thank you to the Miller Center at University of Maryland for work shopping my book chapter!! The history department provided great questions, insights, and directions I can take. It was especially amazing given the connections UMD has in the rise of general relativity and experimental physics!

I will have a brief appearance on the upcoming PBS Nova episode, "Decoding the Universe: Quantum"! It is scheduled to air at 9:00 pm ET, Nov. 6, 2024, on PBS and live on YouTube!

Photons, meet the Commissioning Camera 🤝 On October 24, Rubin staff successfully completed the first end-to-end on-sky test of the full telescope system using the testing camera — from capturing the sky to transferring data to SLAC! 🔭🧪 🔗: https://rubinobservatory.org/news/test-camera-sees-sky

Awesome week at the LSST-DA Catalyst Symposium and Data Science Fellowship Program! As a historian, I got to lead a day long ethics workshop applying astrophysical approaches to social data to explore what happens and think through how historical methods can lead to more ethical data analysis.

Hi to my new followers! I'm a historian of physics and environmental history. I write about how precision instruments are sited and the social implications of those placements.

Article of mine, couple of years old, on history/genealogy of Russian 'secret cities' (ZATOs), where I describe "atomized urbanism," i.e., "the tension between the obdurate reality of the city and the goal of the state to obliterate that reality through secrecy." www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

We're still buzzing about our beautiful telescope! 🤩 #ICYMI Rubin Observatory staff installed the primary/tertiary mirror onto the Simonyi Survey Telescope. We officially have a complete telescope using the commissioning camera! 🔭🧪 More: rubinobservatory.org/news/primary-mirror-install

Many thanks to the Open Lunar Foundation for issuing a statement in support of our call for cislunar/deep space transparency www.openlunar.org/blog/aas-sta...

Hello, Bluesky! We are the APS Division of Gravitational Physics (DGRAV). Hope to take part in the gravity conversations here!

Loving the latest issue of Isis, the journal of the History of Science Society (HSS). Timed with HSS's Centennial, it explores the role of a society's journal in stewarding a field of scholarship and the forms of labor involved.

Hey, #histSTM & #histtech friends! CHSTM's Technology working group is kicking off the fall semester w/a recap of this year's @shothisttech.bsky.social conference. Join us tomorrow (Sep. 24) @ 1 PM, EDT as we discuss SHOT's 1st meeting in South America! www.chstm.org/content/hist... #SHOT2024⚙️

Did you know that the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has a Section L devoted to History & Philosophy of Science? www.aaas.org/sections/his... Exec Cmttee includes Hanne Andersen, Conevery Valencius & @alisabokulich.bsky.social Follow us for more info about what we do!

Curious about how @LIGO's sites were selected? My dissertation provides the fascinating history! Many years of work that is result of my unique combination of history of science and physics, law, and environmental history expertise. dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/373... #siteselection #histstm

Today is a great day to read "The Black Androids: A Chrestomathy" in the latest issue of HSNS. A Chrestomathy is a group of readings compiled to help a student learn a language. The authors of this essay use this framework to work through their study of black androids.

What can modern data analysis tell us about ancient astronomy? Some of my colleagues have been uncovering the mysterious of the Antikythera mechanism www.gla.ac.uk/news/headlin... 🔭

The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act expired this month. There are proposals to renew it, but they are bogged amid disagreements about their reach. Meanwhile, it is no longer possible to apply for compensation for harms related to nuclear testing and uranium mining ww2.aip.org/fyi/radiatio...