Category Archives: Small animals also make manure
Born under a bad sign.
Yesterday’s birthday boy has got to be a serious candidate for the most unfortunate astronomer of all times. Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de la Galaisière (September 12, 1725 – October 22, 1792) was a French astronomer whose life … Continue reading
Filed under History of Astronomy, Small animals also make manure
Pressure, friction and deafness.
Today’s post is for Jai at From the Hands Of Quacks for two reasons. Firstly she is writing a piece on history of science blogging for the History of Science Newsletter and in order to collect material she is conducting … Continue reading
Filed under History of science, Small animals also make manure
A household name
My last post on John Flamsteed provoked a brief exchange in the comments between myself and Jim Harrison on the relationship between science and technology with footnotes on kitchen appliances, which forms a perfect introduction to my latest obscure scientist … Continue reading
Filed under History of science, Small animals also make manure
The scientific potter.
For most people the name Wedgwood evokes visions of dinner services and ornate vases on mantelpieces. Biologists associate the name Josiah Wedgwood, born on 12th July 1730, with the maternal grandfather of Charles Darwin and the paternal grandfather of his … Continue reading
Filed under History of science, Small animals also make manure
John Wilkins Day
Regular readers of my meanderings on the history of science will have noticed that I fairly often refer to John Wilkins author of that excellent fount of biological wisdom Evolving Thoughts. The John Wilkins of my title however, is not … Continue reading
Syphilis and Comets
The 8th August was the 456th anniversary of the death of the Renaissance medicus Girolamo Fracastoro. He is most famous for having given the disease syphilis its name in his poem Syphilis, sive morbi gallici i.e. Syphilis or the French … Continue reading
Twinkle, twinkle little star how I wonder where you went?
On 3rd of August 1596 the amateur Frisian astronomer David Fabricius first observed the variable star Mira. There is some evidence that Mira might have been observed by earlier astronomers but it was Fabricius’ observation that eventual led to Mira … Continue reading
A loser who was really a winner.
Christoph Clavius (1538-1612) Educational Reformer. There is an unfortunate tendency amongst non-specialists when viewing the history of science to divide the scientists of the past into ‘winners’ and ‘losers’, famous examples being Copernicus and Ptolemaeus or Darwin and Lamarck. Regarded … Continue reading
Filed under Local Heroes, Small animals also make manure
