Monthly Archives: June 2011

Histories of mathematics

Posted on June 30, 2011 by

Although I am currently writing a chapter on biographical portrayals of Newton “as a mathematician”, I am, by no stretch of the imagination, an historian of mathematics. The reason is, in large part, because I am not a mathematician. Now, … Continue reading →

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

There is a season Turn! Turn! Turn!

Posted on June 30, 2011 by

How does the geocentric model of the world system explain the changing of the seasons? If you want to know then read on here

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BBC Reith Lectures Coming Online

Posted on June 28, 2011 by

The BBC is now doing a tremendous service in making portions of its programming archive available online.  Today I learned that this includes the Reith Lecture archive, which contains all the transcripts and a growing collection of audio (audio may … Continue reading →

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A lover of paradoxes

Posted on June 27, 2011 by

Today is the birthday of my favourite Victorian, Augustus De Morgan

Posted in History, logic, mathematics | Leave a comment

But it doesn’t move!

Posted on June 22, 2011 by

Heliocentrism contra geocentrism in 1610

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An interesting question.

Posted on June 20, 2011 by

Why did the Catholic Church place books on heliocentricity on the Index in 1616 and what were the consequences for the future development of astronomy? Some thoughts on these questions can be read here.

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The F-word

Posted on June 20, 2011 by

Further to Becky’s excellent post about being perceived as a big bunch of spoilsports, I’ve been thinking about the relationship between popular and academic history of technology. There is one particular device which, used badly, causes particular annoyance to scholarly historians … Continue reading →

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