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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Christie’s Law

Posted on June 19, 2011 by

I think we need a new rule for Internet discussions on the history of science. I present Christie’s Law: In any Internet history of science discussion on the relationship between religion and science the first person to invoke the Galileo … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion | 5 Comments

A history of science alphabet

Posted on June 18, 2011 by

Darwin’s Bulldoggie has posted Giants’ Shoulders #36 at The Dispersal of Darwin and it’s a monster history of science alphabet. Go read your way through from A to Z.  By the time you finished Giants’ Shoulders #37 hosted by Romeo Vitelli will be up at Providentia. As always if … Continue reading →

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History of science: spoiling everybody’s party

Posted on June 17, 2011 by

As regular readers will know, one of my abiding interests is the relationship between academic history of science and popular history of science or, more specifically, how to make historiographically-informed books into readable texts. It’s an issue that has been around … Continue reading →

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