Alright, my brainy friends: it won’t take you but a New York minute to look at this diagram and figure out what’s wrong here.That’s right! The earth is in the middle of the entire universe, and of course we know that’s just silly. But such was the model of the cosmos bequeathed by the Ancient […]
Ancient Greek Theory of Geocentrism Read More »
Although other scientists are more famous for getting the astronomical idea of heliocentrism correct, Johannes Kepler (d. 1630) was much more successful than his peers at explaining super important aspects of our solar system (for instance, the planets go round the sun in ellipses). Who would have thought that a driving force behind his significant
Johannes Kepler’s Theory of Heliocentrism Read More »
Here’s Sir Isaac Newton, sporting what looks like some pretty fantastic quarantine hair in his 46th year. Solitary, misanthropic, and quirky (he once experimented on optics by putting a needle deep into his eyesocket to see how his vision would change), Newton’s work on classical mechanics revolutionized how people understood the cosmos. We all can
Isaac Newton’s Blended Scientific and Occult World Views Read More »
In Frank Herbert’s sci-fi _Dune_ series, the Bene Gesserit are amazing space-witches who have developed such mental control over their unconscious physiology that their powers seem superhuman. But Herbert’s ideas weren’t merely fiction: the person you see here is not a space witch, but she did figure out a technique of controlling elements of human
Patricia Cowings and the Autogenic-Feedback Training Exercise Read More »
May I introduce you to Min Chiu Li, a Chinese-American scientist to whom many of us owe our lives or the lives of loved ones? In the 1950s, Li figured out a critical aspect about how the disease cancer works, leading to the successful employment of chemotherapy.Min Chiu Li came to the United States to
Min Chiu Li and Finding Chemotherapy Read More »
This week we are looking at famous cases of poisoning in history. We begin with the murder of Georgi Markov, who was killed by a small pellet of ricin aimed from an assassin’s weaponized umbrella.Georgi Markov was a writer, and had dissented from the authoritarian government of his homeland in Bulgaria. Using his talent as
The Assassination of Georgi Markov Read More »
Here is a member of the Selous Scouts, a group of special military forces active in the former African state of Rhodesia from 1973-1980. During the Rhodesian Bush War of decolonisation, the Selous Scouts represented the minority white government which struggled to keep power as the black majority fought for an independent state. The Selous
Selous Scouts from the African State of Rhodesia Read More »
In our final post in this week’s series on poisonings in history, I am featuring Alan Turing’s death by cyanide. Turing was, of course, the famous father of theoretical computer science, paving the way for Artificial Intelligence in his development of the “Turing machine,” a mathematical model of computation that enabled much of what we
Alan Turing’s Death by Cyanide Read More »
This is Marie-Claire King (born 1946), and just reading about her accomplishments makes me tired. Besides earning her Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, she has six other honorary doctorates in science from the most prestigious universities in the world. From her work in discovering the genetic foundations of breast cancer, schizophrenia, and hearing loss, to her
Marie-Claire King and Genetic Studies Read More »
Charles Darwin’s idea of Natural Selection as the key driver of evolution has been demonstrated many times over. However, in the century and a half since his lifetime, scientists have added onto his theories as various scientific discoveries have been made. Perhaps no one has reframed the picture of Darwinian evolution as much as the
Lynn Margulis and Eukaryotic Cells Read More »
The global situation right now is dominated by discussion of COVID-19, as well as the Herculean attempts to create a vaccine for the disease. And as reports of the Phase III trials start to come in, we can look at this photo — a scientist’s laboratory from the early 20th century, cluttered and filthy. Rotting
Thomas Morgan and Gene Studies Read More »
The two pictures shown here accompanied two of the most important “aha!” moments in history. The first is “Photo 51,” taken under the laboratory research of Rosalind Franklin. It shows an X-ray diffraction pattern of DNA, and Franklin, Watson, and Crick used it to figure out the molecular structure of life itself.The second is a
Famous Images From Science Read More »
The Scientific Revolution that developed in Europe did not always lead to the embracing of rationality. This engraving by William Hogarth from 1751 is a case in point. You see in this image a grand display of the dissection of a corpse at the hands of professional anatomists. Yet even though the endeavour might have
Europe’s Murder Act of 1751 Read More »
Language changes slowly, words accruing and altering their meanings and pronunciations over the course of decades and centuries. But sometimes we find sudden movements of seismic proportion, particularly with the history of written languages. Thus is the case with the invention of Braille, the eponymous system named for its creator, Louis Braille. And just in
Creation of the Braille Written Language Read More »
Osteotome, anyone? You are looking at a reproduction of medical tools used in Ancient Roman surgery during the first century to cut into human bones. Many Ancient Roman medical instruments were made out of copper or copper alloys like brass (copper and zinc) or bronze (copper and tin). Educated physicians in Ancient Rome believed that
Ancient Roman Copper Medical Tools Read More »
In these pandemic times, attention has justly been drawn to the critical role that hospitals and their staff have played in preventing social collapse by providing relief to millions of sufferers — those that manage to return to health, and those whose last days’ solace has been granted by weary health-care workers. We can thank
The Importance of Byzantine Xenon Hospitals 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 »
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 »
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 »
The Ancient Romans loved their baths — this is a circular pool from the baths in the eponymously named town of Bath in England. Although the custom of public bathing had come from Ancient Greece, by the early 400s CE Rome had 856 bathouses throughout the Empire.These were places of beauty and comfort — heating
Ancient Romans and Their Bath-Houses Read More »
