Monthly Archives: May 2012

Crimes against history: literary imagination and scientific method

Posted on May 26, 2012 by

A recent article in The Nation, by Peter Reddaway and Stephen F. Cohen on ‘Orlando Figes and Stalin’s Victims‘, reveals a fascinating story of the darker side of historical scholarship. It also got me thinking about some old, old debates about … Continue reading →

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Mapping the history of triangulation

Posted on May 25, 2012 by

Triangulation was for about 400 years until the invention of GPS the only tool available to cartographers to help them produce highly accurate maps. Maps that had hugh political, economic, scientific and military significance in the modern era. Have you … Continue reading →

Posted in astronomy, Book Reviews, History, mathematics | Leave a comment

Giants’ Shoulders is visiting the Medical Heritage Library

Posted on May 23, 2012 by

The Medical Heritage Library has invited Giants’ Shoulders the history of science blog carnival to visit and has made its visitor feel very much at home. Hanna Clutterbuck has put together a bumper crop of choice history of science bloggage for your … Continue reading →

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Giants’ Shoulders #47 has gone missing!

Posted on May 21, 2012 by

If you have been paying attention you might have noticed that the history of science blog carnival Giants’ Shoulders #47 failed to appear as previously announced on 16th May. Due to organisational problems it has in fact been delayed and will … Continue reading →

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Cutting a dash: men of science as ‘historical hotties’

Posted on May 17, 2012 by

I had a bit of fun this week tweeting links to portraits of some 19th-century men of science, suggesting that they were ’19thC scientific hotties’. Such a phrase is not, I should add, my usual vocabulary, and nor is a … Continue reading →

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A mathematician who became Pope.

Posted on May 12, 2012 by

It might be the £500,000 question on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire”, which mediaeval mathematician became Pope? [To find the answer go here]

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Long-distance longitude

Posted on May 9, 2012 by

Over a year ago I wrote a post ‘Sympathetic vibrations‘ that mentioned a 1688 pamphlet that included (as satire) a means of finding longitude by using a ‘Powder of Sympathy’. The idea was that this could be used to enduce … Continue reading →

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How not to write about Renaissance mathematics.

Posted on May 8, 2012 by

This is a book review. It is a review of Mark A. Peterson’s Galileo’s Muse: Renaissance Mathematics and the Arts that I have to admit I’m writing with some reluctance. Why? I’m writing this review with some reluctance because it is going … Continue reading →

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Is Leonardo a great artist or a great scientist? Neither actually.

Posted on May 4, 2012 by

Is Leonardo da Vinci a great artist or a great scientist, asks Jonathan Jones on his Guardian On Arts blog and as you might have already guessed from the title the answer is neither, actually. Jones’ question is inspired by the two … Continue reading →

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The Swerve is really a full-frontal crash.

Posted on May 1, 2012 by

Today  we have a new guest post from regular commentator and Renaissance Mathematicus fan Baerista. Whereas I am an Englishman living in Germany who blogs in English Baerista is a German living in London who normally blogs in German. Today he has … Continue reading →

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