Monthly Archives: March 2011

Nürnberg: Pencil Capital of the World!

Posted on March 30, 2011 by

The title of this post is something I wrote in a comment on my previous post on Conrad Gesner. Nürnberg which is home-base to two of the world’s largest produces of drawing and writing instruments Faber-Castell and Staedtler Mars, both of whom … Continue reading →

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Putting the lead in your pencil

Posted on March 28, 2011 by

Anyone who has regularly reads this blog (does anybody regularly read this blog?) will perhaps be aware of the fact that I have a soft spot for polymaths. There is an expression in German “Fachidiot”, which translates as “discipline idiot” … Continue reading →

Posted in Biology, Geology, History | Leave a comment

Three in one, and all alone

Posted on March 21, 2011 by

On Saturday I was in Cambridge, with the Cambridge Science Festival in full flow. I was there to be a panelist for an event called Can You Make A Difference? but during the afternoon I also took in the play Let Newton Be!, written … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Reviews | Tagged , , , , | 26 Comments

Giants’ Shoulders #34 update

Posted on March 17, 2011 by

Hi Sascha here again, that’s me relaxing after all the hard work of putting Giants’ Shoulders #33 together for your delectation. The nice Jai at From the Hands of Quacks has taken up my challenge and will be hosting Giants’ Shoulders … Continue reading →

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History of Science through the eyes of a dog: Giants’ Shoulders #33

Posted on March 16, 2011 by

That’s me Sascha the canine philosopher doing some fieldwork hunting down the best history of science posts from the last month for the Giants’ Shoulders carnival. They said I had bitten off more than I could chew that a dog … Continue reading →

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Not exactly Rocket Science

Posted on March 13, 2011 by

Before computers could generate predictions of how various spacecraft designs would fare, say, during a fiery reentry from space, NASA used some more basic methods. In selecting the ultimate design for the Mercury capsule, engineers used now-antiquated techniques. They dropped … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Space Exploration | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Ich bin a Gastblogger III: Drinking from the same well

Posted on March 12, 2011 by

I’m an alien I’m a legal alien I’m an Englishman in Nürnberg1   As an English historian of mathematics living in Germany another question that I have had put to me several times by those with somewhat more knowledge of … Continue reading →

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Ich bin ein Gastbloggerin: A special post for International Women’s Day

Posted on March 8, 2011 by

My fellow guest blogger Penny Richards wrote in her post on Joyce Kaufman: Although Johns Hopkins didn’t welcome women students in those days… To celebrate International Women’s Day I thought I would draw the readers’ attention to another earlier women scientist … Continue reading →

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Ich bin ein Gastblogger II: The wrong question

Posted on March 5, 2011 by

I’m an alien I’m a legal alien I’m an Englishman in Nürnberg Being an English historian of mathematics resident in Germany I have been often asked, over the years, by people who know a little about the history of mathematics, … Continue reading →

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Some Pierre Duhem Online

Posted on March 5, 2011 by

There’s actually quite a bit of Pierre Duhem’s work available online; but it is very scattered. A number are available through Google Books. One limitation of Google Books, of course, is that Google Books entries are not universally available; in … Continue reading →

Posted in Links, Philosophy, Physics | 1 Comment