Whewell’s Gazette
Your weekly digest of all the best of
Internet history of science, technology and medicine
Editor in Chief: The Ghost of William Whewell
Volume #24
Monday 01 December 2014
EDITORIAL:
The 24th edition of your weekly #histSTM links list Whewell’s Gazette is dominated for the second week in a row by the Alan Turing biopic The Imitation Game. This time the film reviews are collected under the film heading. Unfortunately many of the ill informed review writers claim, inaccurately, that Turing invented the computer. This led our chief sub-editor to write a post on his other blog, The Renaissance Mathematicus, “Mega inanity”, that you can find under the technology heading. This of course raises the general question how (historical) accurate #histSTM films should be. Our chief sub-editor, being somewhat of a #histSTM pedant, thinks there should be very accurate, others allow for a fair amount of poetic license in the interest of entertainment. We don’t quite understand why a #histSTM film can’t be both accurate and entertaining. What do the readers think?
Birthday of the week: Darwin’s Origin of Species published 24 November 1859
Celebrate the birthday of Origins by becoming A Friend of Charles Darwin
Yovisto: Charles Darwin and the Natural Selection
The Embryo Project: The Origin of Species: “Chapter Thirteen: Mutual Affinities of Organic Beings: Morphology: Embryology: Rudimentary Organs” (1859), by Charles R. Darwin
The Talk Origins Archive: Chapter 14: Recapitulation and Conclusion
University of Cambridge: The evolution of Darwin’s Origins: Cambridge releases 12, 000 papers online
Open Culture: 16,000 Pages of Charles Darwin’s Writings on Evolution Now Digitized and Available Online
Open Culture: Darwin: A 1993 Film by Peter Greenaway
Quotes of the Week:
Erwin Schrödinger’s daughter, as quoted by Jim Hartle: “I think my father just didn’t like cats.” h/t @seanmcarroll
The ‘great man’ theory of history is in trouble. Will a saviour emerge to preserve it? @historyscientis
Philosophy is a science where the lab bench is a blank page. @DublinSoil
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by.” – Douglas Adams” h/t @AcademicsSay
PHYSICS & ASTRONOMY:
Voices of the Manhattan Project: George Allen’s interview
Physics Central: physics buzz blog: Artifacts From the Archives
The New York Times: On the Trail of an Ancient Mystery
BBC: John Bell: Belfast street to be named after physicist
Yovisto: Peiresc and the Orion Nebula
Peiresc’s notes recording his first observation of the Orion Nebula
Nautilus: Your Brain Can’t Handle the Moon
Space Watchtower: Buhl Planetarium Scale-Model Joins Miniature Railroad and Village
Yovisto: Anders Celsius and the Celsius Scale of Temperature
The Guardian: The medieval bishop who helped to unweave the rainbow
Blink: Fearsome symmetry
EXPLORATION and CARTOGRAPHY:
Smithsonian.com: John Smith Coined the Term New England on This 1616 Map
University of Cambridge: Research: The lady of longitude
MEDICINE:
The Generous Georgian: Dr Richard Mead: Poisonous Experiments
19th Century Disability: Day at the Archives
The Recipes Project: Two ‘Infallible’ Missionary Cures in Seventeenth-century Southeast Asia
Wellcome Collection blog: Henry Wellcome’s Anatomical Venus
The Women’s Blog: The history od feminine hygiene products is far from peachy
Panacea: What a Pain: Early Modern Migraine Treatments
A veritable “How to Trepan” guide from Scultetus (1674)
The Chirurgeon’s Apprentice: Holding a Book Bound in Human Skin
O Say Can You See?: How do you cure a historic hangover?
NCBI: Myths in medicine. Jenner did not discover vaccination
Slate: The Vault: A 17th-Century Argument for the Many Virtues of Coffee, Chocolate, and Tea
CHEMISTRY:
Conciatore: More on Manganese
EARTH & LIFE SCIENCES:
Notches: Believe It: Finding Religion in the History of U.S. Sexuality.
Scientific American: Observations: The Fossil That Revolutionized the Search for Human Origins: A Q&A with Lucy Discoverer Donald Johanson
Donald Johanson and Tom Gray at Hadar in 1974. Image: Courtesy Institute of Human Origins, Arizona State University
BBC: Earth; The “Lucy” fossil rewrote the story of humanity
The Embryo Project: Nikolai Ivanovic Vavilov (1887-1943)
Science News: Golden Fleece myth was based on real events, geologists contend
History of Geology: Geological Treasures in Ancient Egypt
Yovisto: Georg Forster – Naturalist and Revolutionary
Skeptoid: Griffins
Michael Roberts 4004: Peddling and Scaling God and Darwin
The Appendix: The Emperor’s Turkey
The Atlantic: Why Americans Call Turkey ‘Turkey’
The Embryo Project: Karl Ernst von Baer
Yovisto: John Lloyd Stephens and the Archaeology of Middle America
Palaeoblog: Born This Day: Dunkinfield Henry Scott
The Embryo Project: The Hayfink Limit
TECHNOLOGY:
Conciatore: A Matter of Plagiarism Reprise
The Telegraph: The 10 moments that changed science and engineering: in pictures
Wired: The Surprising Complexity of Old-School Calculators
Instrumenten Teylers Museum: Elektromotor Watkins & Hill 1843
The Renaissance Mathematicus: Mega inanity
Wired: How the World’s First Computer Was Rescued From the Scrap Heap
Antiquarian Horological Society: Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805–1871) From mechanical to electrical horology (PDF)
Science Museum: Online Science: BESM-6 supercomputer, 1968-1987
META – HISTORIOGRAPHY, THEORY, RESOURCES and OTHER:
Harvard Gazette: A lifetime of scholarship recognized
Philly.com: Peter H. Sellers, 84, scientist
The University of Chicago Press: Chicago to Publish New Journal: History of Humanities
Leaping Robot: Of Geese, Gravity, and Subjective Science
THE MOON GOOSE EXPERIMENT Island of the Sacred Scarab, launch pad, in the River Ob, near Novosibirsk, RU, 1st Aug. 2008, photograph @ Agnes Meyer-Brandis, VG-Bildkunst
Advocate.com: Op-ed: How Gay Genius Alan Turing Got Me Through Middle School
Christie’s: Auction: Dr. James D. Watson’s Nobel Medal and Related Papers
BBC: James Watson to auction Nobel Prize for DNA discovery
Open Culture: Download 110 Free Philosophy eBooks: From Aristotle to Nietzche & Wittgenstein
The Alfred Russel Wallace Website: Alfred Russel Wallace and Enthusiasts
Boingboing: The scientist who studies scientists – An interview with Harry Collins
Stanford News: Patrick Suppes, Stanford philosopher, scientist and Silicon Valley entrepreneur, dies at 92
Yovisto: Norbert Wiener and the Science of Cybernetics
BSHS: Great Exhibitions 2014 Winners
The Stroppy Editor: Physician, explain thyself: science English vs lay English
Science Book a Day: Interviews Michael Brooks
Wellcome Trust: Wellcome Library funds a new partnership to digitize 800,000 pages of mental health archives
I Think of Icarus: Who’s Talking?
Ambix.org: Chemical Intelligence No. 12 November 2014
The Grote Club: New history of science and history of philosophy blog (highly recommended)
The Telegraph: How Churchill gave us tanks, radar, DNA…and a velvet green air-raid suit
Churchill giving a broadcast during World War 2, wearing a siren suit
ESOTERIC:
Live Science: Ancient Egyptian Handbook of Spells Deciphered
Timeline Photos: The Easter Holidays: Maskelyne and Cooke’s Dark Séance at the Egyptian Hall
Distillatio: The place of bellows in alchemy
Breughel’s famous drawing of an alchemist and his family
Academic.edu: Casts of mind: the social life of Rammohun Roy’s skull
BOOK REVIEWS:
Rosetta Stones: Dana’s Super-Gargantuan Guide to Science Books Suitable for Gift-Giving
Penguin Classics: Alfred Russel Wallace by Dr. George Beccaloni
FIVE: Jonathan Israel on the Enlightenment
Book Power: Athene Donald on J.E. Gordon
Physics World.com: Top physics books for 2014
NEW BOOKS:
VRIN: La Philosophie Islamique
Swarthmore Phoenix: Science and history merge in alumni children’s book
The Dispersal of Darwin: Darwin’s Orchids: Then and Now
Psychedelic Press UK: Reimprinting Timothy Leary: An Interview with James Penner
Elsevier: Alan Turing: His Work and Impact
Historiens de la santé: Histoire de l’Hôpital Sainte-Anne de Baie-Saint-Paul. Dans Charlevoix, tout se berce – Margaret Porter Lucia Ferretti
Historiens de la santé: La mise en scène du corps sous la direction de E. Chauvet et J. Rouassi
THEATRE:
FILM:
The Guardian: Alan Turing was one of many heroes at Bletchley Park
Flavourwire: ‘The Imitation Game’ and the Intellectual Charisma of Benedict Cumberbatch
According to Benedict: The Imitation Game Exhibition at Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park Research: Dr Sue Black on ‘The Imitation Game Art Imitating Real Life’
Reuters: Benedict Cumberbatch hails unsung hero in “The Imitation Game”
New York Post: The shocking true story behind ‘The Imitation Game”
Panarmenian.net: Benedict Cumberbatch’s “Imitation Game” to open Italy’s Capri Fest
Washington Square News: ‘The Imitation Game’ boasts rich emotions
Engineering & Technology Magazine: The Imitation Game: the author of the book of the film
Greg in Hollywood: Dave Karger interviews Benedict Cumbebatch about “The Imitation Game” for Fandango
Roger Ebert.com: The Imitation Game
The Guardian: The Imitation Game: how Alan Turing played dumb to fool US intelligence
Slate: How Great Is The Imitation Game
Deadline: ‘The Imitation Game’ Review: Pete Hammond on Cumberbatch’s Enigma
Bing: The Imitation Game: Matthew Goode Exclusive TIFF Premiere Interview
Youtube: “The Imitation Game” Review
Deadline: ‘The Imitation Game’ For Real: Year’s 2nd-Best Debut Per Theatre
USA Today: ‘Imitation Day’ breaks into box office in a big way
TELEVISION:
SLIDE SHARE:
The Celestial Cinema: a talk by Compasswallah
The History of Symmetry: a talk by Compasswallah
VIDEOS:
Youtube: The surprisingly old story of London’s first ever electric taxi on display at the Science Museum
Twisted Sifter: Tesla Portrait Made from Sparks of Electricity
Youtube: Albert Einstein – How I See the World
Ri Channel: Lawrence Bragg: The Nature of Things
RADIO:
PODCASTS:
Warwick Podcast Browser: Medieval Islamic Medicine (7 podcasts)
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Environmental Studies Association of Canada: call for proposals: ESAC Conference 2015
University of Birmingham: Conferences
Museum: Portfolio: CfP: Museum Ideas: Innovations in Theory and Practice
BSHS: CfP: British Society for the History of Science Annual Conference 2015
2 – 5 July 2015, Swansea University
Chemical Heritage Foundation: Brown Bag Lecture: “The Optel Affair: The Curious Story of the First LCD Spin-off” 2 December 2014 12:00-1:00 pm
University of Groningen: CfP: Early Modern Women on Metaphysics, Religion, and Science 21-31 March 2016
BSHS: The British Society for the History of Science invites book nominations for the 2015 Dingle Prize.
University of Exeter: Call for papers: PJMH: The Postgraduate Journal of Medical Humanities
Social History Society: CfP: SHS Conference 2015 31 March-2 April 2015
Durham University Centre for Medical Humanities: Seminar: Men, masculinity and infertility – Alan Dolan 10 Dec 2014
University of Paris: Healthism & Self-Care Conference 12 December 2014
Historiens de la santé: Repenser l’histoire de l’hôpital: le centre et les marges (XIXe-XXIe siècles) IUHMSP 5 Décembre 2014
A Philosopher’s Take: CFP: University of Calgary’s 4th Annual Philosophy Graduate Student Conference “Philosophy of Science” 13-14 March 2015
The Huntington: Exhibition: Vesalius and His Worlds: Medical Illustration During the Renaissance 12-13 December 2014
University of Neuchâtel: Entre l’œil et le monde: dispositifs et expédients d’une nouvelle épistémologie visuelle dans les sciences de la nature (1740-1840) Appel à communications 4-7 Novembre 2015
LOOKING FOR WORK:
THE: Gresham Professor of Astronomy – a position with much history
Sir Christopher Wren The 9th Gresham Professor of Astronomy
Godfrey Kneller’s 1711 portrait
York University of Toronto: Science Faculty: Science and Technology Studies Tenure Track appointment
Midlands3Cities Doctoral Training Partnership
University of Oslo: Associate Professor of Philosophy – Two Positions
University of Leeds: 3-6 month postdoctoral fellowships in the history of medicine and other areas of the medical humanities, to be held at the Leeds Humanities Research Institute (LHRI)
MHS Oxford: Modern Collections Curator
University of St Andrews: ISHR Visiting Research Fellowship 2015-16
European University Institute: 160 fully-funded Ph.D. grants available
Operation Wallacea: Alfred Russel Wallace Grants for Outstanding Field Ecologists
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