Skip to main content

Search

Items tagged with: history


Born in 1852, Mary Titcomb had a strong desire for an education & career.

Mary became a librarian & making #books accessible to everyone was a priority. She came up with a children’s room & set up “book stations” in shops & post offices in town.

But Mary noticed people from rural areas weren’t visiting the #library. So, she secured funding to build & begin the nation’s first bookmobile. 📚

amazon.com.au/Library-Wheels-T… #history #HistoryRemix


Born in 1883, Elmer Samuel Imes was the 2nd Black American to receive a physics PhD in the U.S.

His pioneering experimental work measured of the rotational–vibrational spectra of diatomic molecules.

Imes faced many obstacles bc of his race & blazed trails in science for many who followed. He was also interested in how science & culture intersect & married Nella Larsen, a great writer of the Harlem Renaissance. He passed away in 1941. physicstoday.scitation.org/doi… #history #science #HistoryRemix


Pauli Murray was a lawyer, scholar, activist, poet & priest. A civil rights leader, their activism set the stage for the desegregation of US schools.

Murray co-founded the National Organization for Women. Ruth Bader Ginsburg credited them for the idea that the 14th amendment could win equality for women.

Murray changed #history & led battles for racial & gender equality. With too many accomplishments to list, we should celebrate their contributions. paulimurraycenter.com/who-is-p… #HistoryRemix


Pioneering geologist & oceanographer Marie Tharp changed our understanding of the ocean.

When Tharp sought a geology job at Columbia in 1948, women couldn’t go on research ships. So, she was hired to assist male grad students.

Back then, many scientists still assumed the bottom of the ocean was featureless. Tharp figured out how to use data to create sketches of the ocean floor. Her hand-drawn maps helped develop plate tectonic theory. theconversation.com/marie-thar… #science #history #HistoryRemix


Synth genius Wendy Carlos studied physics & #music at Brown & Columbia. She helped develop the 1st Moog synthesizer & her 1968 classical album Switched-On Bach went platinum. She brought music & tech together & composed soundtracks for A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Tron & more.

Carlos was assigned male at birth & transitioned to female. Unfortunately, many journalists focus more on her gender than her accomplishments that changed music forever. wendycarlos.com #history #HistoryRemix


For those who want to learn more check out this 2-part Shortwave podcast:

Part 1: npr.org/2022/03/09/1085428338/…

Part 2: npr.org/2022/03/09/1085434443/…

#Science #History #Women #NPR


One more story about botanical artist Marianne North with a modern twist...

A couple of years ago, Tianyi Yu recognized 14 new-to-science species of bright-blue fruited rainforest shrubs.

One specimen was first collected in 1973, but it turns out, North painted it ~100 years earlier in 1876.

Here’s her painting beside “Chassalia northiana T.Y. Yu” - which became the 5th plant species named in Marianne North’s honor. kew.org/read-and-watch/mariann… #art #history #nature #science #HistoryRemix /2


Marianne North traveled to 6 continents & 17 countries, painting exotic plants in remote & hazardous jungles… all while traveling alone in Victorian dress in the 1800s.

North depicted over 1,000 scientifically accurate pitcher plants, orchids, ferns & more. Her oil paintings introduced botanists to multiple previously unidentified species & several are named after her.

Her art has its own gallery at Kew Royal Botanical Gardens. artsandculture.google.com/stor… #HistoryRemix #history #art #science


Maryam Mirzakhani was the first woman & Iranian to earn the Fields Medal in math for her brilliant work in hyperbolic geometry.

Her achievements influenced quantum field theory, engineering & material science & may have applications related to how the universe began.

Mirzakhani was an immigrant & became a Stanford professor. She passed away at just 40 in 2017. In her words:

“The beauty of mathematics only shows itself to more patient followers.”

theconversation.com/maryam-mir… #history #HistoryRemix


In pop culture, computing & programming are often depicted with “tech bros.” But the first computer programmer was a brilliant woman.

Augusta “Ada” Lovelace was born in 1815. Her notes include an algorithm designed to be carried out by a machine & she envisioned that computers could go beyond calculations. Lovelace described “how individuals & society relate to technology as a collaborative tool.”

Lovelace passed away in 1852 at just 36. newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-t… #HistoryRemix #history #science


John Muir is hailed as an environmental hero. He wrote & advocated to protect the “wilderness,” including Yosemite. But the land, Ahwahnee, was already named & loved by the Ahwahneechee people.

Muir wasn’t interested in the original inhabitants. He was a pioneer in the environmental movement, but he was also racist & friends with prominent eugenicists. His complicated legacy is just one of many examples in American #history when environmental protections were at odds with environmental justice.


I think sharing such individual life stories is such an important way of holding the value of each life in mind. Also, from a #history perspective, it shows a connection to historical events through the life of a successful woman facing the adversity of her time as a trailblazer for other women.


"We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say, 'It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.' Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes."

- Mister Rogers vox.com/culture/2017/5/23/1568… #history #television


Over 50,000 years ago, our ancient cousin, Homo floresiensis, lived on the Indonesian island Flores. Popularly referred to as "hobbits,” adults were ~3 ft tall.

Soaring the skies above them, a giant carnivorous bird, Leptoptilos robustus, measured 6 ft tall with a long, sharp beak.

Did they interact? Newspapers around the world have run sensationalized headlines claiming the #birds ate hobbit babies, but scientists just don’t know. Yet. nationalgeographic.com/science… #science #history #SharedPlanet


In 1952, Katherine Johnson heard there were open positions at the all-Black West Area Computing section at the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics’ (later NASA) Langley laboratory.

With far too many accomplishments to list, her work was fundamental to marking a turning point in the space race with the Soviet Union. nasa.gov/content/katherine-joh…

In 2015, President Obama awarded Johnson the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She passed away in 2020 at 101. #history #space #HistoryRemix


About 250M years ago, 90% of species on Earth died during the Permian extinction. All of that loss created a lot of vacant niches to fill.

And not long after, the first mammals, our ancestors, appeared.

I find it comforting to remember that life on this pale blue dot will be resilient - whether we’re part of it or not. #science #nature #history #SharedPlanet


Alan Turing was a mathematician & cryptographer who was a leading code-breaker in the team that decrypted Nazi Germany’s Enigma machine during WWII. He inspired modern computing & what became AI.

Instead of being hailed as a genius & hero, Turing was convicted as a homosexual & forced to endure chemical castration. He died by suicide at 41 in 1954.

The British government didn’t apologize until 2009 & Queen Elizabeth II finally pardoned him in 2013. #history #science #HistoryRemix


Looking for people who know something about early computing, especially in the Netherlands. Please boost and help me solve the mystery of this custom made plate that used to belong to my grandfather Bram Jan Loopstra, one of the pioneers of Dutch computing. What do the pictures mean? #computing #history


Did you know Monopoly was invented by a woman named Elizabeth Magie in 1903?

Originally ‘The Landlord’s Game,’ it was designed as a protest against the big monopolists like Carnegie & Rockefeller.

But it was Charles Darrow, an unemployed salesman, who eventually sold it to Parker Brothers after playing a version.

Parker Brothers credited Monopoly with saving their company. Magie died in 1948 without recognition. Darrow became very wealthy & his legend lives on. #history #women #HistoryRemix


Satyendranath Bose was a brilliant theoretical physicist born this week in 1894 in West Bengal (now India).

In 1924, while on faculty at the University of Dacca, he wrote a short paper to Albert Einstein about indistinguishable particles related to quantum theory.

Einstein immediately recognized Bose’ genius, translated the work into German & made sure it was published. Bose ideas led to Bose-Einstein statistics which continue to be studied in quantum mechanics. #science #history #HistoryRemix


I've posted several times here but didn't do official #introductons post

I'm an unpublished #writer living in #Seattle #PNW who enjoys posting about #books (fiction, nonfiction, YA, adult, just about anything especially from diverse authors)

I make silly posts about live #sports of all kinds, unusual #history stories, jokes, animation, kdramas, gbbo, Top Chef, all sorts of things. I keep it relatively wholesome & try hard to avoid spoilers


#Reintroduction post, let's go!

🌳 I'm Sarah, I live on the edge of Epping Forest in London, UK with my partner & our cat Ditto.

📖 I'm interested in #writing & have had a few #scifi #fantasy & #horror short stories published recently.

📚 I love #comics (mostly #DC & indie) & occasionally do some colouring.

🎨 I like #painting #abstract #art & love seeing all your #mastoart!

🖖 I'm also interested in & sometimes toot / boost about #history #space #moss #trees #cptsd #trauma & #StarTrek


Die Meteoriten in Sammlungen, ihre Geschichte, Mineralogische und Chemische Beschaffenheit.

Meteorites in Collections, their History, Mineralogical and Chemical Composition.

By Dr. Otto Buchner. 1863.

German edition, Github: github.com/solaranamnesis/otto…

Archive: archive.org/details/buchner_me…

#meteorite #history


Über Meteor-Cultus der Alten,
vorzüglich in Bezug auf Steine, die vom Himmel gefallen.

About the Meteor Cults of the Ancients, especially in relation to Stones that Fell from the Sky.

German edition:
archive.org/details/dalberg_me…

#meteorite #history


A 1606 print of Pliny the Elder. Carefully boxed up of course.

#book #history #library


Carefully boxed up, a Survey of the cities of London and Wedtminster, Borough of Southwark. 1733-35

#maps #book #library #history


A 5d (5 pence) romance from the 1890’s. Very Victorian.

#book #library #history


Blatantly original binding on this collection of The Bulletin from the first half of 1931. Very Art Deco.

#newspapers #library #history


Here are some saucy tomes!

The Universal Magazine of Knowledge & Pleasure. 1766/7

#book #library #history


Inside this much more modern box is a book in Latin, published in 1553!

#book #history #library


A massive 10 volume set entitled The Birds of Australia, dated 1910.
#book #library #history


Ha! They’ll let anything get in here. Aleister Crowley: Confessions. 1929

#book #library #history


"The Toronto Circus Riot of 1855 — the day the clowns picked the wrong Toronto brothel" spacing.ca/toronto/2012/10/02/…

from 2012, but the great thing about history is that it never gets old

#toronto #history #clowns 🐘


Interesting.

"This article aims to summarize the background of well-known and not so well-known Soviet rocket engines, the history of their development, their main characteristics, and the rockets they flew on."

everydayastronaut.com/soviet-r…

#History #SovietUnion #Rockets #Engineering #Technology

@tsturm
@readsteven


This is a picture of the first moments of a nuclear explosion taken in 1952. The blast radius at this moment is less than 20 meters wide.

There are so many extraordinary things about this photo. First off the fact that they had a camera in the 1950's capable of such insanely high speed frame rates (they created a movie from this) that it was capable of 1,000,000 frames per second. In many ways that is more impressive than the nuclear bomb itself.

Second the fact that you can see, in real time, a nuclear explosion as it happens. Those spikes at the bottom are called the "rope trick effect" which is caused by the support cables inside or holding up the bomb. The light radiation is so intense it vaporizes anything nearby causing things to explode just from the intensity of the light itself (before radiation has any effect at all). So those spikes are literally just the support cables exploding in the extraordinarily bright light from the bomb.

#Science #STEM #Physics #History @Science

Lo, thar be cookies on this site to keep track of your login. By clicking 'okay', you are CONSENTING to this.