Monthly Archives: November 2011

It’s that time again!

Posted on November 29, 2011 by

  The Giants’ Shoulders History of Science Blog Carnival needs you!   If you have a blog and would like to host the coolest, most bad assed, and totally unbelievable blog carnival in the multiverse then we’ve got just the … Continue reading →

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Visiting Woolsthorpe

Posted on November 28, 2011 by

Recently, on an evocatively misty day, I finally had the chance to visit Woolsthorpe Manor, the National Trust property that was once Isaac Newton’s family home. It was, you might think, high time I did so, given my interest in Newton’s … Continue reading →

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Touching and feeling: Henry Moyes redux

Posted on November 22, 2011 by

I have received several suggestions about what the natural philosopher Henry Moyes was holding in the portrait I showed in my last post. I posted some further thoughts on these, another image of Moyes and a fascinating account of his … Continue reading →

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The Cult of St Alan of Bletchley Park

Posted on November 21, 2011 by

I realise that to rail against anything published in the Daily Fail is about as effective as pissing against the wind in a force 8 gale but this article on Alan Turing got so up my nose that I have decided to … Continue reading →

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Sights and sounds: darkness and silence

Posted on November 18, 2011 by

Over at Teleskopos, I consider two remarkable men and their portraits: John Goodricke, a deaf astronomer, and Henry Moyes, a blind chemist.

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Today’s longitude prize?

Posted on November 17, 2011 by

Today saw the announcement of the Queen Elizabeth Engineering Prize, offering £1 million for exceptional advances in engineering. It will be awarded biannually to individuals or teams of up to two people. Unsurprisingly, David Cameron, announcing the prize at the … Continue reading →

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Creative, historical (non-)fiction

Posted on November 11, 2011 by

A post musing on history and history of science in creative non-fiction and fiction, plus a review of the historical, astronomical, romantic novel Variable Stars. [Read more]

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Just Eight Days Left!

Posted on November 7, 2011 by

You have just eight days left to submit those irresistible history of science blog posts to Giants’ Shoulders #41 the one and only history of science blog carnival hosted on 16th November at Early Modern Experimental Philosophy. Submissions as always by the … Continue reading →

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A small spot in front of the sun, a small step down the road to heliocentricity.

Posted on November 7, 2011 by

On the 7th November 1631 the French astronomer and philosopher Pierre Gassendi became the first person to observe the passage of a planet across the sun and thus delivered a small piece of evidence towards the acceptance of heliocentricity. [read … Continue reading →

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James Gregory did not invent the reflecting telescope.

Posted on November 7, 2011 by

An inventor or the inventor that is the question? In the history of scientific instruments who should be given the credit for the invention of a specific artefact, the originator of the concept or the constructor of the first working … Continue reading →

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