Today we use the word “scurvy” as a general adjective for something that is corrosively destructive, like “religious bigotry was a scurvy of the Medieval Church.” Of course, these were the attributes of the OG disease, which blighted many people — but notably sailors — until a cure was found in the 1700s.Many of us […]
James Lind and Curing Scurvy in the 1700s Read More »
You are looking at a detail of contemporary artist Peter Booth’s painting, “Apocolyptic Landscape” (1983) — the shapes are jagged and random; the red, black, and brown coloring evokes filth; and the black and white streaks appear flattened next to some penetrating rondels in red and yellow. It is a fitting accompaniment to discuss another
The Apocalypses by Apostle Peter and Peter Booth Read More »
The 19th century had waaaay too many well-intentioned visionaries whose actual concepts led to horrifying conclusions. Among the sickening ideas is the Panopticon, created by the British philosopher Jeremy Benthem. He meant well — but his aims incorporated authoritarian mind-control.From the Greek “all-seeing”, the Panopticon was a special sort of prison, designed for the benevolant
Architectural Design of the 19th-Century Panopticon’s Read More »
Last week on February 18, 2021, NASA’s Rover “Perseverance” landed safely on Mars. If you got a chance to watch the event unfold at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, you no doubt were moved by the atmosphere of tense but hopeful expectation held by all scientists in the room. The hush as the
The Lucky Peanuts of NASA Read More »
Beauty standards across time vary enormously, as does the degree to which they emphasize qualities that never appear in nature. For instance, in recent decades in American culture, having perfectly straight and dazzling white teeth have signified health and high social status. In much of Japan’s history, it was the exact opposite.Here you see an
Beauty Standards in Ancient Japanese History Read More »
Just last week (12 March 2021) a team of scholars that included a mathematician, a physicist, and a clockmaker (among others) unveiled an answer to one of the greatest puzzles in history — how the famed “Antikythera Mechanism” worked.Since 1901, when a diver off the coast of Greece (Antikythera, to be exact) found an unusual
The Inner-Workings of the “Antikythera Mechanism” Read More »
For Women’s History Month and my 800th post, I am featuring Violet Oakley (two of you readers voted for her yesterday). Oakley was a leading American artist of the early 20th-century: her 43 murals at the State Capitol Building in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania are among her most famous works — they were the first public murals
Artist Violet Oakley and Pennsylvania’s Capitol Read More »
So it’s still Women’s History Month, and since I adore history and science, I wanted to do this entry about the American astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, whose contributions to our knowledge about the physical makeup of the universe were relatively unknown for much of the 20th century.Here you see Cecilia Payne’s portrait by artist Patricia Watwood,
Astrophysicist Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin Read More »
Oh, Biblical archaeologists: you had me at the name the “Cave of Horror”.Last week (March, 2021) Israel announced new findings from a series of archaeolologial digs conducted around a series of caves in the Dead Sea area. In a race against the potential looters also excavating the region, a number of fantastic discoveries were made:
Israel’s “Cave of Horror” Read More »
One of the most interesting secret societies are the Rosicrucians, an allegedly ancient sect of initiates endowed with wisdom so advanced that members have had to keep their knowledge and community hidden.But, they have a settlement in Bucks County, Pennsylvania — with actual pyramids! — and if it wasn’t on private property, I’d definitely go
The Ancient Secret Society of Rosicrucian Read More »
Why I had never heard of Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825-1875) before this week seems crazy to me: he is one of the most fascinating people in American history. So that you, dear readers, also cease to abide in similar ignorance, might I introduce this man?.Randolph was descended on his father’s side from the white Virginia
The Life of Paschal Beverly Randolph Read More »
Here you see an image from around 1800 of one Chloe Russell, the purported author of _The Complete Fortune Teller and Dream Book_. Only a handful of copies exist today, but they provide a tantalizing glimpse into the tastes of some Americans for the occult, and an association of black Americans having access to magical
Purported Author Chloe Russell Read More »
This painting by Caspar David Friedrich called _Two Men Contemplating the Moon( (1819-20) was an inspiration for playwrite Samuel Beckett’s _Waiting for Godot_, often cited as a top contender for the most important play from the 20th century. Although it was written in French in 1948/9, Beckett himself translated the play into English, where it
Caspar David Friedrich’s “Two Men Contemplating the Moon” Read More »
Some moments in history seem dramatically more pivotal than others. Take the episode in 1971 in a town meeting in Durham, North Carolina, for example. A “charrette”, or series of community gatherings, had been organized around the issue of the deeply segregated schools. The goal was to find common ground amidst severe racial tensions. The
The Racial Collaboration of Ann Atwater and C.P. Ellis Read More »
You are looking at the most expensive Easter egg ever made: the famed “Winter” Fabergé egg created by Alma Pihl, the only woman designer of the iconic Russian jeweled eggs.Alma (slide two) was brought into the Fabergé workshop because her father had been its leading jeweler. Since 1885, the company of Peter Carl Fabergé had
Alma Pihl’s “Winter” Faberge Egg Design Read More »
Mount Holly Marsh Preserve is made up of 900 acres of bog lands around the base of South Mountain in south-central Pennsylvania. Today it is managed by the Nature Conservancy and the Holly Gap Committee — thanks to these groups, this important wilderness area was purchased in 1992. Today hikers and fishers can enjoy many
South-Central Pennsylvania’s Mount Holly Marsh Preserve Read More »
I don’t want to run any sort of lens filter through this image — it would mar the beauty of one of the most famous works by the surrealist artist Marc Chagall (1887-1985). This is “The Window of Peace and Happiness”, an enormous 15’x12′ stained glass window the artist did for the United Nations headquarters
Marc Chagall’s “The Window of Peace and Happiness” Read More »
In 1985, scientist, Katalin Karikó left her native Hungary for the United States with her husband and two-year old daughter. The University of Szeged, where she had earned her degree and was working as a postdoctorate fellow, had run out of funding. So the family — who had to sew cash into their daughter’s stuffed
Are you on team Brutalism or not? Brutalism is an architectural movement from the post-WWII era that features exposed concrete (from the French “béton brut” which got translated “brutalism”). Made popular worldwide in the 1960s, it has tended to inspire either awed admiration or deep-felt repulsion among viewers. And this building here, the Boston City
Post World War II Brutalism Architecture Read More »
This eastern-facing plateau at the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area in West Virginia is part of the Allegheny Front, a ridge-line of mountains that make up the eastern Continental Divide. To the west, water flows into the Mississippi River. To the east, it flows into Chesapeake Bay — and it almost looks like you can see
Allegheny Front at the Dolly Sods Wilderness Area Read More »
