Monthly Archives: October 2010

Benoît Mandelbrot (1924-2010)

Posted on October 16, 2010 by

John Brockman is reporting that Benoît Mandelbrot – the father of fractal geometry – has died.  

Posted in Mathematics, Philosophy, Science | 3 Comments

Where the pictures came from.

Posted on October 14, 2010 by

If you look at the science books that were printed in the 16th and 17th centuries you will notice that many of them have lavish and impressive illustrations to find out what had to be invented to make them possible … Continue reading →

Posted in Early Scientific Printing | Leave a comment

Representing astronomers: absent-minded or drunk?

Posted on October 13, 2010 by

Prompted by the call for posts on ‘Visuals and Representation’ for the Giants’ Shoulders Blog Carnival, I fell to thinking about the National Maritime Museum‘s print collection, which includes a nice range of images of astronomy and its practitioners. Astronomers … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy, History | Tagged , , | 58 Comments

Lavoisier and the Chemical Revolution

Posted on October 13, 2010 by

Slides from my history of science course.

Posted in Teaching HPS | 1 Comment

The London Society of Astrologers

Posted on October 10, 2010 by

In my post on Joseph Moxon I mentioned that he had been instrumental in attempts to revive the London Society of Astrologers, this led to a brief discussion in the comments on sources for this esoteric association. In the course of … Continue reading →

Posted in Astrology | Leave a comment

Only Three Giants’ Shoulders till Christmas

Posted on October 10, 2010 by

If you want to get that definitive, mind blowing, paradigm shifting post on the history of science into the hottest HOS blog carnival in town then you have just three chances left in the year 2010 and each of them … Continue reading →

Posted in Giants' Shoulders | 2 Comments

How I got to know Joseph Moxon

Posted on October 9, 2010 by

Darin at PACHS has recently been posting an excellent series of articles on how to motivate students into taking the right approach to research in the history of science with the most recent posts being on the subject of how … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy, History, Teaching HPS | Leave a comment

David Willetts and the history of science

Posted on October 7, 2010 by

There has been an interesting discussion on Mersenne, the history of science listserv, prompted by James Sumner, who has kindly allowed me to post his email to the Mersenne subscribers. Dear Listmembers  Those of us keen, for whatever reason, to gauge … Continue reading →

Posted in Chemistry, History | Tagged , | 8 Comments

Yes, histories of science are worth reading!

Posted on October 6, 2010 by

In a previous post, Alice Bell suggested in a comment that I read the article by Mark Erickson in this month’s issue of History of the Human Sciences. The issue also contains responses from Patricia Fara, Steve Fuller and Joseph … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Science | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

The countdown has begun

Posted on October 6, 2010 by

In just ten days from now the 28th edition of your favourite History of Science Blog Carnival “The Giants’ Shoulders” will take off from this months launching pad at From the Hands of Quacks. This means you have just nine days left … Continue reading →

Posted in Giants' Shoulders, History | Leave a comment