Science History
In popular legend, Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara (1480- 1519), stands falsely accused of poisoning her second husband. Victor Hugo portrayed her in thinly veiled fiction as a tragic femme fatale. Buffalo Bill named his gun after her.
But new research by USC historian Diane Yvonne Ghirardo claims that the only sister of Machiavelli's Prince was less interested in political intrigue than in running a business, undertaking massive land development projects that "stand alone in the panorama of early sixteenth-century projects, not only those initiated by women," Ghirardo says.
Forced…
ashley |
Most scientists have a rational basis for experimentation but then there were (and are) others who ran with their own rules. These are the people I am referring to as 'Mad Scientists' rather than using the more colloquial 'crazy' meaning of the term.
These scientists used their knowledge to contribute to the field of science in one way or another and it's their findings and/or means of experimenting that has landed them on my list... enjoy! (again)
In continuation of Part One: Who Were (Or Are) The World's Maddest Scientists...
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Harry Harlow (October 31st, 1905- 1981)A…
Oppenheimer: The Tragic Intellect
Charles Thorpe, University of Chicago 2006
For decades, there was a dearth of comprehensive Oppenheimer biographies. As Thomas Powers noted in the New York Review of Books, biographies of other major Manhattan Project figures came out long before adequate Oppenheimer biographies: "Oppenheimer, the truly central figure, seemed to resist the attempt to write his life on the grand scale." That is no longer the case, and a shelf of very good biographies makes it difficult to know where to start reading.
So why do we need another one? If you have read any of the…
I gets weary, and sick of trying … the words almost taken from Ol' Man River. But weary of what? Trying to persuade the physics world from harping too much on about celebrity physicists. This they do (at least in my reading) to an extent grossly exceeding that of mathematicians and chemists. “How will we discover the African Einstein?” they ask, to which I reply that a wilderness of Einsteins would do Africa no good at all, whereas a widespread knowledge of basic physics might help the continent somewhat. Even if Mariah Carey’s new album E=MC² inspires some to…
Scientific happenings on this day in history…
But first: today’s quiz. Not all inventions are cold and scientific… some are more on the “delicious” side of the scale. And some inventors don’t even have to create a particular invention, yet can still be the reason behind its fame. Such is the case with the answer to today’s quiz.
John Montagu, born on this day in 1718, was a well-known British politician, inventor, and explorer. What tasty, well-known invention (which he is the namesake of) -- did he make famous?
On to other historic happenings:
EVENTS
1664Robert Hooke…
Ray Bradbury, author of The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451 and too many great novels to list here, as Hollywood screenwriter? Indeed he was. And John Huston, architect of legendary John Wayne westerns (and father of Angelica, who you should be watching in "The Addams Family" movies this week) directed the movie.
Who knows what Moby Dick would have looked like with these two legends collaborating? Huston died in 1987, and was listed as a co-author of the screenplay, a decision Bradbury protested, but Bradbury, now 88 years old, was determined to have it published…
When I was an undergraduate, I had to read Bram Stoker's Dracula for a class called, "Myths of the World." The novel is composed of first hand accounts, diary entries, letters and newspaper clippings to add validity to the story, so as you're reading it, you begin to think--it's real. There I was one night, in my San Francisco apartment, huddled in my bedroom with all the lights on reading:
When the Count saw my face, his eyes blazed with a sort of demonic fury, and he suddenly made a grab at my throat. I drew away, and his hand touched the string of beads which held the crucifix. It made an…
''Henry Grays Anatomy of the Human Body" - Gray's Anatomy, as it is commonly called, is among the most iconic scientific books ever published: an illustrated textbook of anatomy that is still a household name 150 years since its first edition, known for its rigorously scientific text and masterful illustrations as beautiful as they are detailed.
First published under the title "Grays Anatomy: Descriptive and Surgical" in 1858, Gray would not live to see its full impact. He contracted smallpox from his nephew and died in 1861 at the age of 34.
The Making of Mr Gray's Anatomy tells…
ashley |
Robert J Oppenheimer (1904-1967)
Known as "the father of the atomic bomb" due to his role in as the scientific director of the Manhattan Project whose purpose was to develop the first nuclear weapon. Graduate from Princton, Oppenheimer became expert on atomic weaponry. Although the "Manhattan Project" (1941) was initiated by the United States government in response to Nazi Germany's experimentation with Uranium-235, the detrimental impact it caused in Japan lands this scientist on the list of the most evil.
"We knew the world would not be the same."
Oppenheimer thoughts flew…
Ethnomathematics! Doesn’t the very term conjure up visions of politically correct wallahs (and walis) trying to prove, in a postmodern way, that “all cultures are equal”?
True, previous generations of math historians had tended to be unjustifiably Eurocentric, though the really great ones, like the Swiss-American Florian Cajori (1859 - 1930) were certainly not so. But to me there are two great benefits to be gained from the study of the maths of the East.
Firstly, the achievements of China, India and the Middle East give the lie to any postmodern assertion (if that’s not an oxymoron) that…