Cambridge Department of History and Philosophy of Science are now on Bluesky! 🔭📚 @hpscambridge.bsky.social

Video still showing David DeVorkin, holding a microphone behind a laptop, dressed in a salmon polo shirt with a bowtie. An overlay states 'David DeVorkin, Senior Curator Emeritus, National Air and Space Museum"

Now available: David DeVorkin's April 17 Trimble lecture, "The Quiet Genius of George Carruthers."

David's among the most skilled and prolific historians of astronomy we have. He's been through some ill health, so it was extra wonderful to have him with us.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CEh...

Put science back in the driver’s seat Put science back in the driver’s seat

Don't miss my new op-ed on how space science is getting demoted to hitchhiker status at NASA:

spacenews.com/put-science-...

When public debate feels loud and shallow, we need disciplines that reward depth, evidence, and context. The humanities and social sciences train people to slow down, analyze, and think clearly.

#TalkAboutHumanities #TalkAboutSocialSciences

The Bees of Ingolstadt The tittle of this blog post is a play on the names of a father and son duo of influential sixteenth century Renaissance mathematici. The father was Peter Bienewitz born 16 April 1495 in Leisnig in…

Renaissance mathematicus, Peter Apian was born 16 April 1552 #histsci
thonyc.wordpress.com/2018/08/15/t...

I wish I could be there! I hope it will be recorded.

Seconded! McNeill's focus on technologies that had effects beyond local and regional environments to global is worth reconsideration. He broadens the discussion beyond climate change to other global issues to make it clear that global environmental concerns are wider than that, important as it is

Happy World Quantum Day, from Physics Today

Conferences These are some of the conferences that the IUCHPP has supported.

IUCHPP The Inter-Union Commission for the History and Philosophy of Physics brings historians & philosophers of science together w/ physicists. It's an open group I worked w/ during my time as director of the Center for History of Physics at #AIP. Here are the people www.iuchpp.org/past-activit...

Abraham Ortelius and the 16th century information age. The sixteenth century saw the evolution of modern cartography emerge out of a renaissance in Ptolemaic cartography. In the second half of the century the Netherlands played a leading role in this p…

Renaissance, Dutch cartographer, Abraham Ortelius was born 14 April 1527 #histsci
thonyc.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/a...

Which academic presses still allow footnotes? Idle curiosity

@miguelohn.bsky.social

Yes, time for me to switch

Paywall. I need more sleep

I published an article on the History of the Geosciences, on a long chronological view and a broad range of sciences. Both of these are dangerous to attempt, and I welcome feedback. If your institution subscribes to Oxford Research Encyclopedias you may get past a firewall doi.org/10.1093/acre...

Last October, we organised the second History of Knowledge Conference in Lund. It has now been confirmed that the third conference in this series will be held in Utrecht on 25–27 August 2027.

Read more here: newhistoryofknowledge.com/2026/04/09/t...

Burma Shave

I used to do a lot of pedestrian advocacy and this was something few drivers had considered. Everyone is a pedestrian as soon as they park the car.

NSF's SBE grants were defining for me, too.

Disappearing data is a problem for historians, for time-domain sciences, and for policy. It's clearly a big problem in the US, but this could be anywhere.

Reading climate data from earlier ages requires the insights of historians, too.

It has happened to me, but it turned out that the differences between us drove our conversation

this comic is a very cool example of the new types of things we're trying out at @physicstoday.aip.org. check it out!

📣 Q&A via the American Institute of Physics @aip.bsky.social
IHPST PhD Julia Menzel on Kenneth Wilson, the renormalization group & supercomputing.
A sharp look at how physics, policy & institutions reshaped each other. 🔗https://www.aip.org/history/q-a-julia-menzel
#histsci #physics

My linocut print of Laplace’s Demon. The demon, who looks like Laplace with giant long-horn cattle horns seated in the lotus position with his palms together as in prayer, is printed in black. Between his horns is space in black with comets, galaxies, stars and planets carved away showing in white. Around him are deep yellow radiating triangles and the words “Laplace’s Demon” following the shape of the horns.

Happy birthday Pierre-Simon, marquis de Laplace (23 March 1749 – 5 March 1827), French mathematical physicist (who incidentally, did invaluable work in geophysics). 🧪🐡🧮🎢 #histsci He was pretty hard-headed and probably didn’t really have any imaginary friends, but nonetheless Laplace’s Demon is my

Ruth Schwartz Cohen had a similar perception regarding machines in the home. Her book More Work for Mother argues that each machine that promised time saving failed to do so.

Une histoire des sciences de la Terre
sous la direction de Pierre Savaton
▶️ désormais disponible à l’achat sur le site de l’éditeur Iste, en version imprimée et en version numérique
▶️ sommaire et introduction = en accès libre sur le site de l’éditeur
www.istegroup.com/fr/produit/h...

Thanks for keeping this visible, @solarshea.bsky.social ! Dismantling NCAR would be yet another terrible blow to the science infrastructure that made this nation great. 🧪☀️

Peak Pursuits Jason König and Jonathan Westaway interview Caroline Schaumann about her work on mountaineering history.

New podcast! Talking with Caroline Schaumann about Humboldtian science in the mountains - feeling, failure, and queer sensibilities + 19th C. mountaineering in print, archive and film #EnvHist #Mountaineering #Alps #Andes
shorturl.at/tVj9T
@calmandfearless.bsky.social
@sarahmpicks.bsky.social

My muse, dragging another paragraph out of me