Cover of a book on Toubou culture: a photo of a group with pack animals in a sandy Sahara landscape, with the French title "DAGA TUDAA. Pensées Toubou II" by Mahuma Abaliy Sediké printed beneath.

New #OpenAccess book: "DAGA TUDAA. Pensées #Toubou II" 📕
Mahuma Abaliy Sediké explores how oral traditions such as proverbs, #Riddles, and tales convey broader knowledge on #Astronomy, pharmacopoeia, or clan brands in the Central Sahara.

🔗 buff.ly/iHlZliE

#HistSci #OralHistory #Anthropology

The Huygens Enigma The seventeenth century produced a large number of excellent scientific researches and mathematicians in Europe, several of whom have been elevated to the status of giants of science or even gods o…

Dutch, mathematician, astronomer, physicist, Christiaan Huygens, was born 14 April 1629 #histsci
thonyc.wordpress.com/2016/04/14/t...

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...

Powerpoint Slide of my upcoming talk "The Arts of Screwmaking in the Early Modern German-Speaking Lands," including an early modern clock (left) and a Torquetum (right).

Tomorrow! I'm nervous about the German Q&A portion of the talk, but excited to be able to get feedback from experts in the field! ❤️ 🔩 #HistSci #HistTech #HistSTM #EarlyModern #MaterialCulture 🗃️ 🏛️

The image features a light ochre-colored clay tablet covered in cuneiform script, commonly known as the “Eclipse tablet.” The inscriptions run across several horizontal lines. Although the tablet is broken in places, most of the text is still clearly readable. You can see it today at the British Museum in London.It records the solar eclipses that happened between 518 BCE and 465 BCE, and it also notes the death of the Persian king Xerxes I — the same year, 465 BCE.What makes this tablet especially valuable is that it doesn’t just list astronomical events. It actually connects those eclipses to real historical and political moments. In ancient times, eclipses were often interpreted as omens, frequently seen as bad signs for rulers.The tablet itself is probably written in Akkadian (specifically the late Babylonian dialect of the language).

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Long before they had telescopes, humans kept an eye on the Sun.

1375 BCE: Babylonians used stone tablets to record solar eclipses.

Image: Babylonian Tablet listing eclipses between 518 and 465 BCE, mentioning the death of king Xerxes

Licence: CC0 1.0 Universal

🔭🧪⚛️ #histsci

Very cool line-up! @roto-rub.bsky.social
#HPBio #HistSci #PhilSci 🦠🌱🐋

Cover page of the KVV featuring logos of the MPIWG, Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin and the TU Berlin, with a historical illustration in the background.

The Berlin History of Knowledge Course List (KVV) for summer semester 2026 is now available online! This list conveniently compiles all history of knowledge and sciences courses from @humboldtuni.bsky.social, @tuberlin.bsky.social, and @freieuniversitaet.bsky.social.

🔗 buff.ly/JBZNqe8

#HistSci

The Man Who Only Seemed Dead

He carried a rope in his luggage in case his hotel caught fire. He left a note by his bed every night that read "I only appear to be dead.

https://oddlet.com/p/kp4

#HistSci #history #SciComm

my linocut portraits of Claude Shannon: He is in very dark teal blue, facing the viewer and wearing a suit. In front of him is the maze with electromechanical mouse and copper penny in forest green. Perspective makes it look like it’s coming out toward you. Behind him are binary numbers in silver. The print is signed Ele Willoughby, titled, numbered and dated.

This is my #linocut portrait of Claude Shannon (1916-2001), #mathematician, electrical #engineer, computer scientist & cryptographer credited with laying the foundations for the Information Age. 🧪🐡🧮🎢 #histsci It shows him in front of binary numbers & with his electromechanical mouse Theseus & its 🧵

New semester, new lecture series 🎉Starting next week, we welcome amazing scholars to give online talks in the history and philosophy of life sciences. Find all dates and registration links here: rotorub.wordpress.com/roto-lecture...
We look forward to seeing you there 🤗
#HPBio #HistSci #PhilSci

"On the 12th of April, the Soviet Union orbited a spaceship around the Earth with a man on board. The astronaut is a Soviet citizen: Major Gagarin, Yuri Alekseevich."

More #OnThisDay in space history via the Cosmosphere: cosmo.org/april-12-in-...

#YurisNight #histSTM #histsci

The Violinist Who Couldn't Be Buried

His body sat on his deathbed for two months. Then the cellar. Then an abandoned leper house. Then a cement vat in an olive oil factory. The church wouldn't touch him — he'd spent his career letting audiences believe the devil was guiding his bow.

https://oddlet.com/p/6t6

#HistSci #history #SciComm

Conference 2026 A Global History of diagrams in Astral Sciences Practical aspects Observatoire de Paris, Salle du Conseil, 14 – 16 April, 2026 It will be possible to attend the conference in remotely using this link ...

A four-year-long collaboration with EIDA-Editing and analysing hIstorical astronomical Diagrams with Artificial intelligence reaches a crucial milestone in Paris next week: eida.hypotheses.org/a-global-his... 🤩✨ @obs-paris-psl.bsky.social #histsci #diagrams #manuscripts

Tomorrow!

Zoom registration: seow.scholars.harvard.edu/STinAsia

#histstm #histsci #histmed #envhist #envhum 🧪

ICYMI: I chatted with screenwriter @colehaddon.bsky.social about the links between politics and pop culture, and the entangled history of humans and monsters.

💙📚 🗃 #medieval #earlymodern #histsci #histmed #politics #HAMH #monsters

The year without a summer: The Tambora eruption on April 10, 1815, released 2 million tons of debris and sulphur components into the atmosphere #histsci
The eruption played a key rol in the genesis of #Frankenstein & #TheVampyre 🧪⚒️

paleonerdish.wordpress.com/2019/10/31/h...

Bücherregal, Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln

In guter Nachbarschaft!
(gesehen bei der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln)

#digipay #geschichte #medientheorie #booksky #koeln #histsci

Bücherregal, Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln

In guter Nachbarschaft!
(gesehen bei der Buchhandlung Walther König, Köln)

#digipay #geschichte #medientheorie #booksky #koeln #histsci

The Woman Who Built a Hospital Out of Driftwood

She built a functioning hospital out of driftwood, packing cases, and scavenged window frames — then rode to the battlefield on horseback with a mule carrying medicine and another carrying wine. Every office in London had turned her down.

https://oddlet.com/p/xqf

#HistSci #history #SciComm

Some images of the geology/natural history/scientific instrument inspired installation - in place for the rest of the Edinburgh Science Festival, along with a range of activities linked to scientific instruments and #histsci

494. Unorthodox Women, Unorthodox Ideas in Modern Biological Research Organized Session Thursday 2:30 to 4:00 pm Edinburgh International Conference Centre: Floor Level 1 - Platform 5 Participants: Gertrud Tobler-Wolff (1877-1948) and colonial botany in the Third Reich Dorit Maria Nicola Brixius, Dresden University of Technology Making a scientific rebel: Lynn Margulis (1938-2011) and the popularization of the endosymbiotic theory Matthis Krischel, Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf, Germany Barbara McClintock (1902–1992): Listening to the genome beyond the outsider myth Felicitas Petra Söhner, Department of the History, Philosophy and Ethics of Medicine Agnes Arber (1879–1960): Between romantic morphology and modern biology Vera Maximilia Straetmanns, Ruhr-University Bochum Session Organizers: Vera Maximilia Straetmanns, Ruhr-University Bochum Matthis Krischel, Heinrich Heine University Duesseldorf, Germany Chair: Stephen P Weldon, University of Oklahoma

The preliminary program for the 2026 @historyscience.bsky.social @eshhs.bsky.social meeting in Edinburgh is out. Join us on Thursday, July 16, 2.30-4.00 pm for our session "Unorthodox Women, Unorthodox Ideas in Modern Biological Research" #histsci #histmed #hss2026 #eshs2026

“History of science?! Only one regional conference in Texas would dare to discuss the history of science…”

Made it to Huntsville for my 1st meeting of the Lone Star History of Science Group, featuring a talk by @pratik-hstm.bsky.social!

lonestarhistoryofsciencegroup.blogspot.com

#histSTM #histsci

#AmWriting #STS #HistSci

Was looking through my wordpress stats and this article seems to be quite popular! I ought to revisit it, as there’s been a lot more research and public history done on the role of the technician:

osnatkatz.com/2022/08/13/t...

#AcademicSky
#PhDSky
#HigherEd
#EDUSky
#SexualHealth
🍏🧠 🛟 🩺 🧪😷 🌈🎓 ‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ 🩺📊
#MedSky
#FeministSky
#LGBTQIA+
#LGBTQPoliSky
#LGBTQSTEM
#ReproductiveJustice
#Reprosky
#STS
#PhilSci
#HistSci
#Metascience
#Bioethics

The Man Nobody Could Find

He bought a one-way ticket for $18.52, ordered a bourbon, paid his tab, and hijacked the plane. He specified non-sequential twenties, stepped off the back of a moving 727 into a freezing rainstorm, and was never found. D.B.

https://oddlet.com/p/zt7

#HistSci #history #SciComm

It just occurred to me that I am reading chapters from one second book, one first book, and one book-to-be—all very exciting, all from my own current and former students!

(no names but looking, @ederummadum.bsky.social @ayahnerd.bsky.social)

#histsci
#histmed

I don’t know his birthday but the Anglican Church has a Commemoration of Ochkam day April 10 so it seems a good day to reshare.⁠
⁠
#linocut #printmaking #OccamsRazor #sciArt #histsci

My linocut print of Occam’s Razor shows Ockham himself, inspired by an image of him from a stained glass window in Surrey, the proverbial and labelled razor and many unlikely things (aliens, ghosts, cryptozoological creatures) it would cut away. It is printed by hand, from two carved relief lino blocks in lavender, silver, pale yellow and phthalo blue on delicate Japanese kozo (or mulberry) paper. Each print is 8" by 9" or 20.3 cm by 22.9 cm.

This print “Occam’s Razor” is about the Law of Economy or Parsimony postulated by Scholastic philosopher William of Ockham (1287–1347), “pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate” or entities should not be needlessly multiplied. 🧪🐡 #histsci More simply this law, or really, rule of thumb is 🧵

Book cover of "Anti-Asian Racism and the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada," edited by Chandrima Chakraborty, Sibo Chen, Muyang Li, Guida Man, and X. Alvin Yang. Teal background with stylized coronavirus particles. Title and editors' names in white text.

New edited volume by Postdoc Xiao Alvin Yang,
@chandrima-c.bsky.social, Sibo Chen, Muyang Li, Guida Man. 📘

"Anti-Asian #Racism and the #COVID19 Pandemic in Canada" examines a recent rise in anti-Asian racism and community strategies of defence and solidarity.

🔗 buff.ly/ECMmxH2

#HistSci #PolSci

📣Join us at the next Minescapes working group meeting!⛏️📚 SCARCE shares work-in-progress from their case studies in the Saxon Ore Mountains, Idrija/Venice and Habsburg Hungary - centering on methodological challenges🔧🔬
🗓️ April 13, 7 pm CEST
👉 more info: bit.ly/Minescapes
#Scarce #HistSci