The Journal of the History of Ideas Blog

Tag History of Science

Karl Philipp Moritz and Oralism

By guest contributor Paul Babinski In 1783 Karl Philipp Moritz went to Berlin’s Charité hospital looking for a human guinea pig. What we know of the deaf teenager he brought home, Karl Friedrich Mertens, comes from two accounts Moritz published… Continue Reading →

Chronology’s Forgotten Medieval Pioneers

by guest contributor Philipp Nothaft According to a metaphor once popular among early modern scholars, chronology is one of the “two eyes of history” (the other being geography), which is an apt shorthand for expressing its tremendous utility in imposing… Continue Reading →

Aldo Leopold and the History of Environmental Ideas

By guest contributor Daniel Rinn There seems to be a dualism at work in the way intellectual historians think about the history of environmental thought. The history of environmental ethics is presented as a continuous conflict between two competing systems,… Continue Reading →

‘Slimy rimes’: Donne’s Contagious London

By guest contributor Alison Bumke While John Donne (1572-1631) was writing verse letters and elegies in the early 1590s, London was experiencing a major plague epidemic. His lyrics trace everyday life in a plague-stricken city, describing efforts to identify sources… Continue Reading →

Thinking About Knowledge in Motion and Social Engagement at HSS

by guest contributor Patrick Anthony Amidst the great diversity of ideas and perspectives circulating at this year’s History of Science Society (HSS) meeting in San Francisco, two themes continue to resonate in my mind: knowledge in motion and social engagement…. Continue Reading →

The “Conquest of the Sun” and Ideas about Energy

by contributing editor Carolyn Taratko In late summer of 1878, a visitor strolling the park at Trocadéro on a sunny day during the 1878 Exposition Universelle in Paris would have encountered an enormous silver-plated cone. Twenty-four square meters of reflective… Continue Reading →

Goodnight Moon: Kepler’s ‘Somnium’

by guest contributor Nicholas Bellinson One Bohemian night in 1608, the Imperial Mathematician gazed up at the moon and the stars. In the seven years since he had received that title, Johannes Kepler had discovered many things about these celestial… Continue Reading →

The Archival Agenda: Thinking Through Scientific Archives at the Royal Society

by guest contributor Brooke Palmieri Imagine that an archivist’s child is raised from birth as a professional archivist to see how they documented their life. Imagine that toddler making a finger painting, taking a digital image, filing away the physical… Continue Reading →

Out of chaos, some sort of order: The International Congress on Medieval Studies at 50, May 14-17, 2015

by guest contributor Elizabeth Biggs The International Congress on Medieval Studies held in Kalamazoo last week was immensely diverse, given its 3,000 attendees, but a good reflection of medievalists generally. It didn’t take itself particularly seriously, the alcohol flowed generously,… Continue Reading →

Book Review: Meredith Ray, Daughters of Alchemy

by guest contributor Elisabeth Brander Alchemy, and its association with the quest for the always-elusive philosopher’s stone, is one of the most fascinating aspects of early modern science. It was not only a tool to effect the transmutation of metals… Continue Reading →

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