Science History

The synthesis of non-equilibrium thermodynamics and biology, pursued in fits and starts over the years by an eccentric cast of thinkers, has produced a few scientific red herrings, but the overall…

As I wrote in Like Freedom? Thank A Scientist - How Science Made America Possible, during the meetings of the the Continental Congress during independence discussions, Thomas Jefferson noted the…

Ignaz Venetz - Climate Change Pioneer - #2 Ignaz Venetz was, in 1821, awarded a prize of 300 francs for his memoire by the Schweizerische Naturforschende Gesellschaft - the Swiss Natural Science…

Ignaz Venetz - Climate Change Pioneer Climate has always changed - but we have not always known it. Events following 1816 - the year without a summer - led to a major controversy in which the…

Thought experiments are mental exercises, or imaginative experiments, which are often not possible to perform with current technology. They appear to be particularly popular in physics and philosophy…

History Mystery #3 - Land, Law and Science "Words are to the Anthropologist what rolled pebbles are to the Geologist — battered relics of past ages often containing within them indelible records…

History Mysteries #2 - The Sawdust Coast According to Peter Freuchen, writing of his travels in Siberia, circa 1936,  the tundra coast near Tiksi in the Lena Delta was fringed with logs and the…

History Mysteries #1 - Who Shot The Tomatoes?orThe Astonishment of a Sailor on Finding Buckshot in His Portion of Tomatoes. Hidden in the details of the Jeannette Expedition one finds a factor in…

Now we come to the second part of the series Botany: A Blooming History entitled 2. Photosynthesis Why have I skipped part 1B?  There is madness in this method, or vice-versa, because parts 1B…

History, Science and the TMT Boundary To the extent that written records show political, religious or other personal bias, it may be truly said that history is bunk.  Or we may say with Henry…