I am off to @lrfheritage.bsky.social's excellent event, where they are giiving me the chance to promote my new book about the merchant navy women who lost their lives in #WW1 & #WW2. Buy it for yourself or anyone you know with an interest in gender or maritime history. Details in ALT.

Happy International #WomeninMaritime Day 🌊 Across India’s maritime sector, women are shaping the future of shipping—on land and at sea. 🌊 Explore the stories of women working across the Indian maritime industry 🔗 heritage.lrfoundation.org.uk/stories/shes...

@grace-knight.co.uk Haha! We talked about this exact thing!!

Nice, long article on the Clockworks Museum, focused on the history of electrical timekeeping #histSTM 📜 From when time went electric to the emergence of quartz clocks share.google/7XYmkerxgbkq...

Friends! I have started a newsletter about research and history and writing and worldbuilding. First post is up! gracecknight.joyful.to

18th-century, Italian mathematician, Maria Gaetana Agnesi, was born 16 May 1718 #histsci thonyc.wordpress.com/2011/05/16/s...

I just bought this book in Paisley's Abbey Books. Not read it yet but there are really very few first had accounts of how it was for ordinary people experiencing the rise of the Nazis. I expect to find it distressingly like what is happening now in UK/EU/US. We are frogs being boiled.

@everyheron.bsky.social Now that WAS some beakspear!

Anita Conti France’s 1st woman oceanographer. 1930s pioneered mapping seabed, drawing 1st fishing maps. Scientific activity helped to rationalise deep-sea fishing practices, revolutionised aquaculture. 1st to highlight underwater resources = finite b #OTD 17 May 1899 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anita_C...

"Heat pumps just shift gas burning to the power station." Wrong. Even if 100% of electricity came from gas, a heat pump at SCOP 3.8 uses 51% less gas than a boiler. At a terrible SCOP 2.5, still 25% less. David MacKay made this point in 2008. The maths hasn't changed.

Librarians literally saved my life

Let's be real here. This is a list drawn up by english lit teachers. 2 ACTUALLY influential books that people love: Winnie the Pooh: for the scientific method see Pooh Sticks, for how to care for friends in distress see how they all look out for Eeyor Sherlock Holmes: for decisions based on evidence

Today we induct Antonia Novello into the Women In Science Archive. The first woman and first Hispanic individual to become Surgeon General of the United States, her tenure was often controversial, but her tough stance with the alcohol and tobacco industry remains. tinyurl.com/2v7ey4v7 #WomenInSTEM

Nancy Grace Roman, the first Chief of Astronomy at NASA, was born 101 years ago today. For years, she bore the responsibility of directing NASA's scientific mission, including being the guiding force of the Hubble telescope. Here is her story! tinyurl.com/4rhjefb5 #AstroSky #WomenInSTEM 🔭

Hilda Counts US electrical engineer. 1st woman to earn Electrical Engineering degree @ Uni of Colorado. 1919 cofounder of American Society of Women Engineers & Architects. Worked @ Westinghouse Electric Corp & Rural Electrification Administration in Washington DC. d. 17 May 1989 bit.ly/3FEtVqZ

Erna Hamburger #Swiss electrical #engineer working in radio-wave research. In 1957 she became professor of #electrometry at University of #Lausanne @unil 1st female #STEM professor in #Switzerland. Annual Prize is awarded in her name. d. #OTD 15 May 1988 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erna_Ha...

Marilyn Jorgenson Reece #American #civilengineer & 1st woman civil #engineer licensed by state of #California. 1964 design of #LosAngeles I-10 & I-405 Freeway interchange revolutionary in traffic #engineering. 2008 renamed in her honour d. #OTD 15 May 2004 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marilyn...

Jessy Blackburn aviation pioneer 1 of 1st women to fly in British monoplane. Founded Blackburn Aircraft w' husband using her inheritance. Key in sales & marketing, hosted RAF officials politicians media & aviators in Leeds home. Flew in 1922/28 King's Cup Air Races d. #OTD 14 May 1995 bit.ly/3fEqXYq

Alice Everett astronomer engineer, degree @girtoncollege.bsky.social worked in optics & early television. 1890 1st woman paid for astronomical work at Royal Observatory. 1903 1st woman to have paper published by Physical Society of London. b. #OTD 15 May 1865 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_E...

This is what comes of using munitions that cost 10-100x the cost of the thing they are attacking. It's called asymmetric warfare and the little guys can win it.

Marguerite Perey Frech physicist. Marie Curie's personal tech assistant @ Radium Institute. 1939 discovered element francium. 1962 1st woman elected to French Académie des Sciences. d. #OTD 13 May 1975 1/72 #WomeInSTEM whose names proposed to be added to Eiffel Tower en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguer...

Carmen Damedoz dancer, artist's model & aviator, last woman to pass French flying test before #WWI (licence 1449). Dec 1913 her engine failed but still won🏅for women's altitude prize. Demanded right to join war effort as aviator, military refused. d. #OTD 14 May 1964 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_...

@grace-knight.co.uk Scottish publishers: www.uncertainstories.com

What astonishing colours. Perfect for a wee #knitting project to use up scrap-ends of yarns. There is even a #Ravelry pattern for one! www.ravelry.com/patterns/lib...

This is more than a bit serious. This could be catastrophic for heritage stained glass & also for lead roofing work. It will effectively exclude women from these crafts. If this might matter to you, you can write to your MP here: www.derekhuntartist.com/letter-to-yo... youtu.be/J48W45rCV6s?...

9th International Congress on Construction History, at the Politecnico di Torino in 2027, June 28th – July 2nd. Call for papers has just opened, deadline 28th June 2026. constructionhistorygroup.polito.it/icch/

Pelageya Polubarinova-Kochina Soviet applied mathematician, worked on fluid mechanics, hydrodynamics, Fuchsian equations & history of maths. Member of Academy of Sciences of Soviet Union d. @ 100 just after publication of last scientific article. b. #OTD 13 May 1899 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pelagey...

Dear UK politicians, take note. A) positive politics is possible B) people live to hear about success C) success requires playing nicely with others Get the finger out and start doing your jobs.

Gaetanina Calvi 1887–1964 #Italian civil engineer. 1913 1st woman to graduate from Polytechnic University of #Milan, 2nd in Italy after Emma Strada. Worked for engineers Gardella & Martini in Milan. 1925 designed new wing for Institute for Blind in Milan. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaetani...

Clotilde Catalán de Ocón #Spanish #entomologist #poet known for study of lepidoptera 🦋 in Sierra de Albarracín. 1st Spanish woman to practice #entomology Wrote poems as La Hija del Cabriel. Sister Blanca Catalán de Ocón 1st Spanish female botanist d. #OTD 12 May 1946 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clotild...

Happy birthday to Margaret Calvert, designer for much of the UK road signage system. 90 today! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margare...

Advanced construction techniques and domestic layouts discovered in Roman-Byzantine villages of Syria phys.org/news/2026-05...

@dreadships.bsky.social A query for you methinks!

GCaptain laying out for us the vast cost of Orange Horror's War-of-Choice against Iran. This sort of conflict is described as asymmetrical, cos the cost imbalance is HUGE between high-end missiles/rounds used by USN & Iran's wee drones & USVs. Could Iran bankrupt the US? gcaptain.com/u-s-navy-fac...

You can read more about her at www.infinite-women.com/women/lilian..., courtesy of @dib.ie

#OnThisDay, 11 May 1978, Margaret Brewer becomes the first woman to reach the rank of General in the US Marines. #WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #AmericanHistory 🗃️

Born today: American aviator, journalist, and film screenwriter Harriet Quimby was born May 11, 1875. She became the first woman in the US to receive a pilot's license in 1911, and the first woman to fly across the English Channel the following year.

@grace-knight.co.uk #EveryDayASchoolDay. I didnt know this!

Mildred Doran Canadian aviation enthusiast. A teacher, got interested in flying at college. Only woman in tragic 1927 Dole 🍍Air Race, the 1st attempt to fly California to Hawai'i. Her plane, named "Miss Doran" & another "Golden Eagle" disappeared. b. #OTD 10 May 1927 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mildred...

Kay Petre early UK motor racing star but racing career ended after bad crash @ Brooklands racetrack in 1937. Took up journalism, was food writer in #WWII & later a motoring journalist. Then designed fabric patterns for interior of the Mini. b. #OTD 10 May 1903 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kay_Petre

Miriam Sebaggala née Muwanga #Uganda's 1st woman engineer. Trained @ Associated Electronics Industries (later Metropolitan Vickers) Studied @ John Dalton College of Technology #Manchester @manmetuni.bsky.social @wes1919.bsky.social member 1960/70s d. #OTD 10 May 1975 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miriam_...

Lilian Bland Anglo-Irish #journalist press #photographer & pioneer #aviator. 1910/11 1 of 1st women in British Isles & possibly world to design, build & fly aircraft – Bland Mayfly, named ironically for doubts about its flight capability. d. #OTD 11 May 1971 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lilian_...

Is it possible, just possible, that these two stories are related?