LECTURE: From Charles Darwin to Lonesome George: Writing the New Animal History in the Galapagos Islands

Via H-SCI-MED-TECH:

The Institute for the Study of the Americas cordially invites you to attend the following events. I would be most grateful if you could circulate this event information to colleagues or mailing lists members who may wish to attend.

Wednesday 19 June, 17:30 – 19:30

From Charles Darwin to Lonesome George: Writing the New Animal History in the Galapagos Islands

Nicola Foote (Associate Professor, Latin American and Caribbean Histoy, Florida Gulf Coast University)

Chair: Linda Newson (Director, ISA)

The Galapagos Islands are famous for their iconic wildlife. Yet the critical examination of this wildlife has been left overwhelmingly to scientists – to date, there have been no studies by humanities or social science scholars that engage with either the representation or realities of Galapagos fauna. As a result, some of Latin America’s most famous animals have been left out of the emerging field of Latin American animal studies.This paper seeks to begin to fill this gap.

Venue: Room G35 (Senate House, Ground Floor)

Venue addresses:
Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU

For further information, please contact chloe.pieters@sas.ac.uk

Institute for the Study of the Americas
School of Advanced Study
University of London
Senate House
Malet Street
London WC1E 7HU
E: americas@sas.ac.uk
W: www.americas.sas.ac.uk

ARTICLE: Darwin’s Perplexing Paradox: Intelligent Design in Nature

From the latest Perspectives in Biology and Medicine:

Darwin’s Perplexing Paradox: Intelligent Design in Nature

Steinar Thorvaldsen and Peter Øhrstrøm

Abstract Today, many would assume that Charles Darwin absolutely rejected any claim of intelligent design in nature. However, review of his initial writings reveals that Darwin accepted some aspects of this view. His conceptualization of design was founded on both the cosmological and the teleological ideas from classical natural theology. When Darwin discovered the dynamic process of natural selection, he rejected the old teleological argument as formulated by William Paley. However, he was never able to ignore the powerful experience of the beauty and complexity of an intelligently designed universe, as a whole. He corresponded with Asa Gray on religious themes, particularly touching the problem of pain and intelligent design in nature. The term “intelligent design” was probably introduced by William Whewell. Principally for theological and philosophical reasons, Darwin could only accept the concept for the universe as a whole, not with respect to individual elements of the living world.

BOOK: The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: Volume 20, 1872

Then end of June will see the publication of The Correspondence of Charles Darwin: Volume 20, 1872:

This volume is part of the definitive edition of letters written by and to Charles Darwin, the most celebrated naturalist of the nineteenth century. Notes and appendixes put these fascinating and wide-ranging letters in context, making the letters accessible to both scholars and general readers. Darwin depended on correspondence to collect data from all over the world, and to discuss his emerging ideas with scientific colleagues, many of whom he never met in person. The letters are published chronologically: volume 20 includes letters from 1872, the year in which The expression of the emotions in man and animals was published, making ground-breaking use of photography. Also in this year, the sixth and final edition of On the origin of species was published, and Darwin resumed his work on carnivorous plants and plant movement, finding unexpected similarities between the plant and animal kingdoms.

I’d love to add this volume to my shelf, along with volumes 1-19!

Karen James on Charles Darwin and the Beagle Project

The Beagle Project, go support it!

And if you are on Twitter, give @kejames a follow!

Darwin quote-mining in latest book from the Discovery Institute

UPDATE (6/11/13): I was informed by a friend that the Discovery Institute’s Casey Luskin, coauthor of the book I discuss in this post, responded to my critique, in Critics of Discovering Intelligent Design Ignore the Textbook’s Text. I will respond to his claims within the body of my post, in bold.

One would perhaps think that after being shown on multiple occasions that a quote they decided to cherry pick from a historical figure’s work in fact does not convey what they want that figure to have said in the past, said cherry picker would decide to stop using that quote in a vain attempt to discredit that historical figure. The tactic of quote-mining Charles Darwin is something I’ve posted a lot about before, and it continues to astound me that creationists – no, sorry, intelligent design advocates – no, wait, yes, creationists – time and time again slap history in its face. But that’s how creationists work: they say something they think supports their view, and will never reconsider even in the face of evidence against it.

Taking Darwin’s words out of context was the purview of young earth creationists. The tactic is now practiced increasingly by intelligent design creationists, especially those at the Discovery Institute. They have a new book that just came out, Discovering Intelligent Design: A Journey into the Scientific Evidence, a sort of textbook for intelligent design. On Amazon, you can view some of the contents, and I found myself doing so a few days ago. The index showed several entries for Darwin, and while not all of them were viewable, two that were use quotes from the naturalist.

On page 27, one will find atop the page this quote: “A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question.” This quote comes from On the Origin of Species, and I’ve shown several times why it is erroneous to use it the way they do. The Discovery Institute uses this quote to get people to think that the subjects of evolution and intelligent design should be taken up equally, and that Darwin would have supported that. Darwin is not stating that all sides are equal concerning debate over evolution, but rather that he cannot properly offer all the facts he has in support of evolution in On the Origin of Species, which was much shorter than the book he really wanted to write (he was, as you probably know, pushed to publish sooner when he received a letter from Alfred Russel Wallace outlining the same idea about natural selection). Context matters, and it surely does with this quote.

Luskin writes, “There’s one other accusation of ‘quote-mining’ by ‘The Dispersal of Darwin’ — but it’s so weak and bizarre as to be hardly worth mentioning. He charges that when we quote Darwin’s statement, ‘A fair result can be obtained only by fully stating and balancing the facts and arguments on both sides of each question,’ despite all appearances to the contrary, that’s not what Darwin really meant.” Luskin thinks that Darwin asking his readers in the mid-nineteenth century to understand that he was not able to include all his facts in On the Origin of Species (he did plan on publishing a fuller account later, but that did not happen) equates to Darwin hypothetically advocating for equal treatment of intelligent design “theory” today is erronous. Darwin was not referring to both sides as being evolution versus special creation. As it was pretty clear to Darwin that explaining the diversity and distribution of life on earth through special creation was not viable, his “both sides” was in reference to the how of evolution, the mechanism. And for him, it was natural selection, and he argued for it in Origin. Others agree that the Discovery Institute’s use of this Darwin quote in order to advocate for intelligent design is misguided. See “Misguided Missal” from John Pieret, “Obtaining a fair result” from historian of science John Lynch, and “Nope, Still A Quote Mine” by Jeremy Mohn.

On page 95, when discussing mutation, the authors throw out this quote from Darwin, also from On the Origin of Species: “If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down.” How convenient for them to not include Darwin’s next sentence: “But I can find out no such case.”

Luskin claims that they “quoted Darwin correctly” here, and that I failed to note that they did share Darwin’s next sentence. “Evidently, the critic hasn’t read Discovery Intelligent Design carefully,” Luskin writes. He ignores the fact that immediately after quoting that passage from Origin of Species, Discovering Intelligent Design explicitly notes that Darwin said he could find no such case.” I guess I missed the continuation of the quote when I looked at that page on the Amazon preview. Here is that page:

I wonder why Luskin claims that they immediately noted that Darwin could find no such case. Following the quote, two paragraphs ensue before they state “As committed evolutionists, both Darwin and Coyne claimed they could not envision any organ that could not be built by random mutation and natural selection.” Why do they not include Darwin’s own words “But I can find out no such case” with the rest of the quote? Because, by leaving it out and separating the clarifying statement until further down on the page, creates for the reader, Luskin is surely well aware, doubt in Darwin’s mind. Ending the quote with “my theory would absolutely break down” does more to cast negativity toward evolution than to provide the full quote. Yes, they provide Darwin’s clarification later, but it won’t correct the impact that “my theory would absolutely break down” will have on young minds who are from the beginning encouraged to doubt Darwin. This is misquoting Darwin, Luskin. You intentionally left out Darwin’s own words in order to make it seem that he doubts his own ideas. 

If I were to see a copy of the book in person, I wonder how many more quote-mines I would find. It’s no wonder that some have dubbed the Discovery Institute the Dishonesty Institute. To all who love history and appreciate the accurate portrayal of historical figures, I apologize that there are organizations out there who think they are doing credible science and credible history.

Finally, while I am said to have ignored the text, Luskin apparently could not figure out who I am, as to him I am an “anonymous critic.” My identity is there, clear as day on my “about” page and in the link to my Twitter page. I am not trying to hide who I am. And I allow comments on my blog, unlike at Evolution News & Views. 

NOTE: Larry Moran at Sandwalk has already taken the authors to task for how they define evolution in the book, here. And a little more about the book from The Sensuous Curmudgeon, here.

VIDEO: Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero (Alfred Russel Wallace)

British comedian Bill Bailey did a documentary for the BBC about Alfred Russel Wallace, in two episodes:

Peter Raby, who wrote a biography of Wallace, wrote a review for the Journal of Victorian Culture Online, here.

ARTICLE: Why Charles Darwin really was the naturalist on HMS Beagle

Online first from Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences:

“My appointment received the sanction of the Admiralty”: Why Charles Darwin really was the naturalist on HMS Beagle

John van Wyhe

Abstract For decades historians of science and science writers in general have maintained that Charles Darwin was not the ‘naturalist’ or ‘official naturalist’ during the 1831–1836 surveying voyage of HMS Beagle but instead Captain Robert FitzRoy’s ‘companion’, ‘gentleman companion’ or ‘dining companion’. That is, Darwin was primarily the captain’s social companion and only secondarily and unofficially naturalist. Instead, it is usually maintained, the ship’s surgeon Robert McCormick was the official naturalist because this was the default or official practice at the time. Although these views have been repeated in countless accounts of Darwin’s life, this essay aims to show that they are incorrect.

Some recent Darwin in the news…

On Darwin and evolution:

io9: The inspiration behind Darwin’s evolutionary theory, seen from space

Popperfont: How are we ever going to evolve if you people keep pushing us back into the ocean?

Editorial: Evolution: Education and Outreach goes open access!

Genetics: Charles Darwin’s Mitochondria

SAGE Open: Desmond and Moore’s Darwin’s Sacred Cause: A Misreading of the Historical Record

The Friends of Charles Darwin: Darwin and Wallace: the lost photograph

Millard Fillmore’s Bathtub: Darwin’s death, April 19, 1882

The Friends of Charles Darwin: 19th April, 1882: the death of a hero

Darwin and Gender: The Blog: Reviewing Uncle Charles’s new book

Sandwalk: Darwin Doubters Want to Have their Cake and Eat it too

Why Evolution Is True: The death of Annie Darwin

JournalStar.com: Cliff swallows offer Darwinian lesson in evolution

CultureLab: Timing was everything when Darwin’s bombshell exploded (review of Peter Bowler’s Darwin Deleted)

Publishers Weekly: Darwin Deleted: Imagining a World without Darwin (book review)

Literary Review: The Evolution of a Theory (review of Peter Bowler’s Darwin Deleted)

Until Darwin: Science & the Origins of Race: Note: Louis Agassiz “Against the Transmutation Theory” from Methods of Study in Natural History (1886)

From the Hands of Quacks: “Nothing to be Done:” Letter from Charles Darwin to Syms Covington, 1859

Science Observed: Darwinism Today – (not) a theory of everything

Sedges Have Edges: Darwin’s monsters

On Alfred Russel Wallace:

NPR: He Helped Discover Evolution, And Then Became Extinct

Communicate Science: Alfred Russel Wallace: Back in the picture

Nature Plus (NHM): A Conference about Wallace and his Collections

Library Art and Archives blog (Kew): The self-taught naturalist – Alfred Russel Wallace and Kew

“History” from intelligent design creationists:

Evolution News and Views: What Would a World Without Darwin Look Like? (review of Peter Bowler’s Darwin Deleted)

Evolution News and Views: More on Darwin Deleted: What Is Bowler’s Beef?

Evolution News and Views: Intelligent Design 101: Louis Agassiz, the First Thorn in Darwin’s Side

Evolution News and Views: On Alfred Russel Wallace, NPR Gets It Right, Sort Of…

Evolution News and Views: Did I Too Conveniently Omit Mention of Alfred Russel’s Wallace Interest in Spiritualism?

BOOK: Darwin’s Armada: Four Voyages and the Battle for the Theory of Evolution

Darwin’s Armada: Four Voyages and the Battle for the Theory of Evolution, by Iain McCalman (New York, NY: W.W. Norton, 2009), 432 pp.

Award-winning cultural historian Iain McCalman tells the stories of Charles Darwin and his most vocal supporters and colleagues: Joseph Hooker, Thomas Huxley, and Alfred Wallace. Beginning with the somber morning of April 26, 1882—the day of Darwin’s funeral—Darwin’s Armada steps back in time and recounts the lives and scientific discoveries of each of these explorers. The four amateur naturalists voyaged separately from Britain to the southern hemisphere in search of adventure and scientific fame. From Darwin’s inaugural trip on the Beagle in 1835 through Wallace’s exploits in the Amazon and, later, Malaysia in the 1840s and 1850s, each man independently made discoveries that led him to embrace Darwin’s groundbreaking theory of evolution. This book reveals the untold story of Darwin’s greatest supporters who, during his life, campaigned passionately in the war of ideas over evolution and who lived on to extend and advance the scope of his work.

The National Center for Science Education has a free preview of Darwin’s Armada: Four Voyages and the Battle for the Theory of Evolution, here.

BOOK: The Darwin Archipelago: The Naturalist’s Career Beyond Origin of Species

The Darwin Archipelago: The Naturalist’s Career Beyond Origin of Species, by Steve Jones (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2011), 248 pp.

Charles Darwin is of course best known for The Voyage of the Beagle and The Origin of Species. But he produced many other books over his long career, exploring specific aspects of the theory of evolution by natural selection in greater depth. The eminent evolutionary biologist Steve Jones uses these lesser-known works as springboards to examine how their essential ideas have generated whole fields of modern biology.

Earthworms helped found modern soil science, Expression of the Emotions helped found comparative psychology, and Self-Fertilization and Forms of Flowers were important early works on the origin of sex. Through this delightful introduction to Darwin’s oeuvre, one begins to see Darwin’s role in biology as resembling Einstein’s in physics: he didn’t have one brilliant idea but many and in fact made some seminal contribution to practically every field of evolutionary study. Though these lesser-known works may seem disconnected, Jones points out that they all share a common theme: the power of small means over time to produce gigantic ends. Called a “world of wonders” by the Times of London, The Darwin Archipelago will expand any reader’s view of Darwin’s genius and will demonstrate how all of biology, like life itself, descends from a common ancestor.

The National Center for Science Education has a free preview of The Darwin Archipelago: The Naturalist’s Career Beyond Origin of Species, here.

BOOK: Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything

Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything, by Philip Ball (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012), 465 pp.

With the recent landing of the Mars rover Curiosity, it seems safe to assume that the idea of being curious is alive and well in modern science—that it’s not merely encouraged but is seen as an essential component of the scientific mission. Yet there was a time when curiosity was condemned. Neither Pandora nor Eve could resist the dangerous allure of unanswered questions, and all knowledge wasn’t equal—for millennia it was believed that there were some things we should not try to know. In the late sixteenth century this attitude began to change dramatically, and in Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything, Philip Ball investigates how curiosity first became sanctioned—when it changed from a vice to a virtue and how it became permissible to ask any and every question about the world.

Looking closely at the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, Ball vividly brings to life the age when modern science began, a time that spans the lives of Galileo and Isaac Newton. In this entertaining and illuminating account of the rise of science as we know it, Ball tells of scientists both legendary and lesser known, from Copernicus and Kepler to Robert Boyle, as well as the inventions and technologies that were inspired by curiosity itself, such as the telescope and the microscope. The so-called Scientific Revolution is often told as a story of great geniuses illuminating the world with flashes of inspiration. But Curiosity reveals a more complex story, in which the liberation—and subsequent taming—of curiosity was linked to magic, religion, literature, travel, trade, and empire. Ball also asks what has become of curiosity today: how it functions in science, how it is spun and packaged for consumption, how well it is being sustained, and how the changing shape of science influences the kinds of questions it may continue to ask.

Though proverbial wisdom tell us that it was through curiosity that our innocence was lost, that has not deterred us. Instead, it has been completely the contrary: today we spend vast sums trying to reconstruct the first instants of creation in particle accelerators, out of a pure desire to know. Ball refuses to let us take this desire for granted, and this book is a perfect homage to such an inquisitive attitude.

The author gave a talk based on his book for Big Ideas:

BOOK: Nature Revealed: Selected Writings, 1949-2006

Nature Revealed: Selected Writings, 1949-2006, by Edward O. Wilson (Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006), 719 pp.

Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson is one of the leading biologists and philosophical thinkers of our time. In this compelling collection, Wilson’s observations range from the tiny glands of ants to the nature of the living universe. Many of the pieces are considered landmarks in evolutionary biology, ecology, and behavioral biology. Wilson explores topics as diverse as slavery in ants, the genetic basis of societal structure, the discovery of the taxon cycle, the original formulation of the theory of island biogeography, a critique of subspecies as a unit of classification, and the conservation of life’s diversity. Each article is presented in its original form, dating from Wilson’s first published article in 1949 to his most recent exploration of the natural world. Preceding each piece is a brief essay by Wilson that explains the context in which the article was written and provides insights into the scientist himself and the debates of the time.

This collection enables us to share Wilson’s various vantage points and to view the complexities of nature through his eyes. Wilson aficionados, along with readers discovering his work for the first time, will find in this collection a world of beauty, complexity, and challenge.

E.O. Wilson was scheduled to give a book talk in Portland in May 2013 (for his new book Letters to a Young Scientist), but the event had to be canceled due to an illness with Wilson. As I have had the opportunity to meet him twice before, I wish him the best!

BOOK: The Pseudoscience Wars: Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern Fringe

The Pseudoscience Wars: Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern Fringe, by Michael D. Gordin (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012), 304 pp.

Properly analyzed, the collective mythological and religious writings of humanity reveal that around 1500 BC, a comet swept perilously close to Earth, triggering widespread natural disasters and threatening the destruction of all life before settling into solar orbit as Venus, our nearest planetary neighbor.

Sound implausible? Well, from 1950 until the late 1970s, a huge number of people begged to differ, as they devoured Immanuel Velikovsky’s major best-seller, Worlds in Collision, insisting that perhaps this polymathic thinker held the key to a new science and a new history. Scientists, on the other hand, assaulted Velikovsky’s book, his followers, and his press mercilessly from the get-go. In The Pseudoscience Wars, Michael D. Gordin resurrects the largely forgotten figure of Velikovsky and uses his strange career and surprisingly influential writings to explore the changing definitions of the line that separates legitimate scientific inquiry from what is deemed bunk, and to show how vital this question remains to us today. Drawing on a wealth of previously unpublished material from Velikovsky’s personal archives, Gordin presents a behind-the-scenes history of the writer’s career, from his initial burst of success through his growing influence on the counterculture, heated public battles with such luminaries as Carl Sagan, and eventual eclipse. Along the way, he offers fascinating glimpses into the histories and effects of other fringe doctrines, including creationism, Lysenkoism, parapsychology, and more—all of which have surprising connections to Velikovsky’s theories.

Science today is hardly universally secure, and scientists seem themselves beset by critics, denialists, and those they label “pseudoscientists”—as seen all too clearly in battles over evolution and climate change. The Pseudoscience Wars simultaneously reveals the surprising Cold War roots of our contemporary dilemma and points readers to a different approach to drawing the line between knowledge and nonsense.

There is a great interview with the author at New Books in Science, Technology, and Society.

BOOK: Science in the 20th Century and Beyond

Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond, by Jon Agar (Malden, MA: Polity Press, 2012), 614 pp.

A compelling history of science from 1900 to the present day, this is the first book to survey modern developments in science during a century of unprecedented change, conflict and uncertainty. The scope is global.

Science’s claim to access universal truths about the natural world made it an irresistible resource for industrial empires, ideological programs, and environmental campaigners during this period. Science has been at the heart of twentieth century history – from Einstein’s new physics to the Manhattan Project, from eugenics to the Human Genome Project, or from the wonders of penicillin to the promises of biotechnology. For some science would only thrive if autonomous and kept separate from the political world, while for others science was the best guide to a planned and better future. Science was both a routine, if essential, part of an orderly society, and the disruptive source of bewildering transformation.

Jon Agar draws on a wave of recent scholarship that explores science from interdisciplinary perspectives to offer a readable synthesis that will be ideal for anyone curious about the profound place of science in the modern world.

BOOK: Rereading the Fossil Record: The Growth of Paleobiology as an Evolutionary Discipline

Rereading the Fossil Record: The Growth of Paleobiology as an Evolutionary Discipline, by David Sepkoski (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012), 432 pp.

Although fossils have provided some of the most important evidence for evolution, the discipline of paleontology has not always had a central place in evolutionary biology. Beginning in Darwin’s day, and for much of the twentieth century, paleontologists were often regarded as mere fossil collectors by many evolutionary biologists, their attempts to contribute to evolutionary theory ignored or regarded with scorn. In the 1950s, however, paleontologists began mounting a counter-movement that insisted on the valid, important, and original contribution of paleontology to evolutionary theory. This movement, called “paleobiology” by its proponents, advocated for an approach to the fossil record that was theoretical, quantitative, and oriented towards explaining the broad patterns of evolution and extinction in the history of life.

Rereading the Fossil Record provides, as never before, a historical account of the origin, rise, and importance of paleobiology, from the mid-nineteenth century to the late 1980s. Drawing on a wealth of archival material, David Sepkoski shows how the movement was conceived and promoted by a small but influential group of paleontologists—including Stephen Jay Gould and Niles Eldredge, among others—and examines the intellectual, disciplinary, and political dynamics involved in the ascendency of paleobiology. By emphasizing the close relationship between paleobiology and other evolutionary disciplines, this book writes a new chapter in the history of evolutionary biology, while also offering insights into the dynamics of disciplinary change in modern science.

BOOK: Ordering Life: Karl Jordan and the Naturalist Tradition

Ordering Life: Karl Jordan and the Naturalist Tradition, by Kristin Johnson (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012), 376 pp.

For centuries naturalists have endeavored to name, order, and explain biological diversity. Karl Jordan (1861–1959) dedicated his long life to this effort, describing thousands of new species in the process. Ordering Life explores the career of this prominent figure as he worked to ensure a continued role for natural history museums and the field of taxonomy in the rapidly changing world of twentieth-century science.

Jordan made an effort to both practice good taxonomy and secure status and patronage in a world that would soon be transformed by wars and economic and political upheaval. Kristin Johnson traces his response to these changes and shows that creating scientific knowledge about the natural world depends on much more than just good method or robust theory. The broader social context in which scientists work is just as important to the project of naming, describing, classifying, and, ultimately, explaining life.

BOOK: Charles Darwin’s Notebooks from the Voyage of the ‘Beagle’

Charles Darwin’s Notebooks from the Voyage of the Beagle, edited by Gordon Chancellor and John van Wyhe (Cambridge: Cambirdge University Press, 2009), 650 pp.

This is the first full edition of the notebooks used by Darwin during his epic voyage in the Beagle. It contains transcriptions of all fifteen notebooks, which now survive as some of the most precious documents in the history of science. The notebooks record the entire range of Darwin’s interests and activities during the Beagle journey, with observations on geology, zoology, botany, ecology, barometer and thermometer readings, ethnography, anthropology, archaeology and linguistics, along with maps, drawings, financial records, shopping lists, reading notes, essays and personal diary entries. Some of Darwin’s critical discoveries and experiences, made famous through his own publications, are recorded in their most immediate form in the notebooks, and published here for the first time. The notebook texts are accompanied by full editorial apparatus and introductions explaining Darwin’s actions at each stage, focusing on discoveries that were pivotal to convincing him that life on Earth had evolved.

BOOK: Charles Darwin’s Shorter Publications, 1829–1883

Charles Darwin’s Shorter Publications, 1829-1883, edited by John van Wyhe (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009), 556 pp.

Charles Darwin’s words first appeared in print as a student at Christ’s College, Cambridge in 1829, and in almost every subsequent year of his life he published essays, articles, letters to editors, or other brief works. These shorter publications contain a wealth of valuable material. They represent an important part of the Darwin visible to the Victorian public, alongside his ever present sense of humour, and reveal an even wider variety of his scientific interests and abilities, which continued to his final days. This book brings together all known shorter publications and printed items Darwin wrote during his lifetime, including his first and his last publications, and the first publication, with A. R. Wallace, of Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. With over seventy newly discovered items, the book is fully edited and annotated, and contains original illustrations and a comprehensive bibliography.

BOOK: Species, Serpents, Spirits, and Skulls: Science at the Margins in the Victorian Age

Species, Serpents, Spirits, and Skulls: Science at the Margins in the Victorian Age, by Sherrie Lynne Lyons (Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 2010), 245 pp.

Science permeates nearly every aspect of our lives, and yet, as current debates over intelligent design, the causes of global warming, and alternative health practices indicate, the question of how to distinguish science from pseudoscience remains a difficult one. To address this question, Sherrie Lynne Lyons draws on four examples from the nineteenth century—sea serpent investigations, spiritualism, phrenology, and Darwin’s theory of evolution. Each attracted the interest of prominent scientists as well as the general public, yet three remained at the edges of scientific respectability while the fourth, evolutionary theory, although initially regarded as scientific heresy, ultimately became the new scientific orthodoxy. Taking a serious look at the science behind these examples, Lyons argues that distinguishing between science and pseudoscience, particularly in the midst of discovery, is not as easy as the popular image of science tends to suggest. Two examples of present-day controversies surrounding evolutionary psychology and the meaning of fossils confirm this assertion. She concludes that although the boundaries of what constitutes science are not always clear-cut, the very intimate relationship between science and society, rather than being a hindrance, contributes to the richness and diversity of scientific ideas. Taken together, these entertaining and accessible examples illuminate important issues concerning the theory, practice, and content of science.

BOOK: What About Darwin?

Historian Thomas F. Glick, author/editor of many books on the reception of Darwinism (The Comparative Reception of Darwinism, Darwin on Evolution: The Development of the Theory of Natural Selection, The Reception of Darwinism in the Iberian World: Spain, Spanish America and Brazil (Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science), Negotiating Darwin: The Vatican Confronts Evolution, 1877-1902 (Medicine, Science, and Religion in Historical Context), and The Reception of Charles Darwin in Europe (Reception of British & Irish Authors Europe)), has recently published What about Darwin?: All Species of Opinion from Scientists, Sages, Friends, and Enemies Who Met, Read, and Discussed the Naturalist Who Changed the World (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2010):

Charles Darwin and his revolutionary ideas inspired pundits the world over to put pen to paper. In this unique dictionary of quotations, Darwin scholar Thomas Glick presents fascinating observations about Darwin and his ideas from such notable figures as P. T. Barnum, Anton Chekhov, Mahatma Gandhi, Carl Jung, Martin Luther King, Mao Tse-tung, Pius IX, Jules Verne, and Virginia Woolf.

What was it about Darwin that generated such widespread interest? His Origin of Species changed the world. Naturalists, clerics, politicians, novelists, poets, musicians, economists, and philosophers alike could not help but engage his theory of evolution. Whatever their view of his theory, however, those who met Darwin were unfailingly charmed by his modesty, kindness, honesty, and seriousness of purpose.

This diverse collection drawn from essays, letters, novels, short stories, plays, poetry, speeches, and parodies demonstrates how Darwin’s ideas permeated all areas of thought. The quotations trace a broad conversation about Darwin across great distances of time and space, revealing his profound influence on the great thinkers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

ARTICLE: Seaside natural history and divinity: a science-inclined Scottish cleric’s avoidance of evolution (1860–1868)

New in Archives of Natural History:

Seaside natural history and divinity: a science-inclined Scottish cleric’s avoidance of evolution (1860–1868)

P.G. Moore

Abstract The Reverend Robert William Fraser (1810–1876), a Presbyterian minister in Edinburgh, published on religious, historical and scientific (physical science, natural history) themes. His natural history titles Ebb and flow (1860), Seaside divinity (1861) and The seaside naturalist (1868) were aimed at the popular market. Appearing in the years immediately after Darwin’s On the origin of species (1859), the tone of Fraser’s books sheds light on the response of a popular, science-inclined clergyman in Scotland’s Enlightenment capital to the idea of evolution. His avoidance of the issue of evolution by natural selection is evident but was not shared by all contemporary clerics.

BOOK: Philosophy after Darwin: Classic and Contemporary Readings

Philosophy after Darwin: Classic and Contemporary Readings, edited my Michael Ruse (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009), 580 pp.

Wittgenstein famously remarked in 1923, “Darwin’s theory has no more relevance for philosophy than any other hypothesis in natural science.” Yet today we are witnessing a major revival of interest in applying evolutionary approaches to philosophical problems. Philosophy after Darwin is an anthology of essential writings covering the most influential ideas about the philosophical implications of Darwinism, from the publication of On the Origin of Species to today’s cutting-edge research.

Michael Ruse presents writings by leading modern thinkers and researchers–including some writings never before published–together with the most important historical documents on Darwinism and philosophy, starting with Darwin himself. Included here are Herbert Spencer, Friedrich Nietzsche, Thomas Henry Huxley, G. E. Moore, John Dewey, Konrad Lorenz, Stephen Toulmin, Karl Popper, Edward O. Wilson, Hilary Putnam, Philip Kitcher, Elliott Sober, and Peter Singer. Readers will encounter some of the staunchest critics of the evolutionary approach, such as Alvin Plantinga, as well as revealing excerpts from works like Jack London’s The Call of the Wild. Ruse’s comprehensive general introduction and insightful section introductions put these writings in context and explain how they relate to such fields as epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of language, and ethics.

An invaluable anthology and sourcebook, Philosophy after Darwin traces philosophy’s complicated relationship with Darwin’s dangerous idea, and shows how this relationship reflects a broad movement toward a secular, more naturalistic understanding of the human experience.

ARTICLE: A bridge-builder: Wolf-Ernst Reif and the Darwinisation of German paleontology

From Historical Biology: A Journal of Paleobiology:

A bridge-builder: Wolf-Ernst Reif and the Darwinisation of German paleontology

Georgy S. Levit and Uwe Hoßfeld

Abstract Wolf-Ernst Reif was an outstanding German paleontologist, who, along with his empirical studies (biomechanics, functional and constructional morphology, etc.), paid significant attention to theoretical issues and the history of his discipline. Reif was a bridge-builder, skillfully synthesising history, theory and empirical studies within German-language paleontology. This paper briefly discusses sophisticated relationships between German paleontology and Darwinism based on the historical studies of Wolf-Ernst Reif. German paleontology did not fully embrace Darwinism until the 1970s. There are several reasons for this. First, alternative evolutionary theories (saltationism, neo-Lamarckism, orthogenesis) occupied a significant segment of the theoretical landscape in the German life sciences. Second, typological thinking persisted in German paleontology after the Second World War. Third, German paleontologists were relatively uninterested in discussing mechanisms of evolution, concentrating instead on reconstructing phylogenetic history.

BOOK: Darwin in Galapagos: Footsteps to a New World

Darwin in Galápagos: Footsteps to a New World, K. Thalia Grant and Gregory B. Estes (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2009), 362 pp.

In 1835, during his voyage on HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin spent several weeks in Galápagos exploring the islands and making extensive notes on their natural history. Darwin in Galápagos is the first book to recreate Darwin’s historic visit to the islands, following in his footsteps day by day and island by island as he records all that he observes around him.

Thalia Grant and Gregory Estes meticulously retrace Darwin’s island expeditions, taking you on an unforgettable guided tour. Drawing from Darwin’s original notebooks and logs from the Beagle, the latest findings by Darwin scholars and modern science, and their own intimate knowledge of the archipelago, Grant and Estes offer rare insights into Darwin’s thinking about evolution in the context of the actual locales that inspired him. They introduce Darwin as a young naturalist in England and onboard the Beagle and then put you in his shoes as he explores remote places in the islands. They identify the unique animals and plants he observed and collected, and describe dramatic changes to the islands since Darwin’s time. They also explore the importance of Darwin’s observations and collections to the development of his thinking after the voyage.

Ideal for visitors to Galápagos and a delight for armchair travelers, Darwin in Galápagos is generously illustrated with color and black-and-white photographs and line drawings, as well as detailed maps of Darwin’s island itinerary and informative box features on the archipelago’s natural history.

The Giants’ Shoulders #56

Image of £2 coins from UK by Flickr user p_rocket71

Welcome to The Giants’ Shoulders #56, bringing you the world of history of science blogging over the last month all in one place. For lack of energy (I’m under the weather) and the overwhelming number of great and worthy posts (this is only a good sign that history of science blogging is healthy), there is no grand theme to this blog carnival. Instead, I will offer the posts to you in Chicago Manual Style format. Yes, CMS has citation (footnote/endnote) and bibliographic guidelines for blog posts! Awesome. I will use the citation format, as that includes the title of the blog post, whereas the bibliographic format only includes the post URL and name of the blog. For example,

John Ptak, “History of Science Reference Tools,” Ptak Science Books, February 3, 2013, http://longstreet.typepad.com/thesciencebookstore/2013/02/history-of-science-reference-tools.html.

The author of the post above would like to expand his list of science reference tools, so he respectfully invites readers to share their top five go-to reference sites for the history of science, either in the comments here, or John can be reached on Twitter at @ptak. Thanks!

Also, before I bombard you with an incredibly long list of posts, let me highlight a few that go together, as they address the act of blogging:

Jai Virdi, “HPS Blogging V.2013,” From the Hands of Quacks, January 30, 2013, http://jaivirdi.com/2013/01/30/hps-blogging-v-2013/.

Mike Thicke, “False dilemmas in science blogging,” The Bubble Chamber, January 30, 2013, http://thebubblechamber.org/2013/01/false-choices-in-science-blogging/.

Nathaniel Comfort, “Toward a historioriography of science & social media,” Genotopia, February 4, 2013, http://genotopia.scienceblog.com/271/toward-a-historioriography-of-science-social-media/.

Mike Thicke, “Interview with James Collier of the Social Epistemology Review and Reply Collective,” The Bubble Chamber, February 10, 2013, http://thebubblechamber.org/2013/02/interview-with-james-collier-of-the-social-epistemology-review-and-reply-collective/.

On to the #histsci!

Dan Allosso, “Birth Control in the First Half of the 19th Century,” The Historical Society, February 6, 2013, http://histsociety.blogspot.fr/2013/02/birth-control-in-first-half-of-19th.html.

Rupert Baker, “Our unusual ‘Chymist’,” The Repository, The Royal Society, January 17, 2013, http://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2013/01/17/unusual-chymist/.

Philip Ball, “Righting history,” Chemistry World, January 9, 2013, http://www.rsc.org/chemistryworld/2013/01/chemistry-science-history.

Michael Barton, “Get to Know Darwin,” The Dispersal of Darwin, January 30, 2013, http://thedispersalofdarwin.wordpress.com/2013/01/30/get-to-know-darwin/.

Michael Barton, “I post this without comment,” The Dispersal of Darwin, February 5, 2013, http://thedispersalofdarwin.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/i-post-this-without-comment/.

BBC, “Five Portraits of Science,” The Essay, BBC Radio 3, January 14-18, 2013, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006x3hl/episodes/guide#b01px412.

David Bressan, “The Forgotten Naturalist: Alfred Russel Wallace,” History of Geology, January 9, 2013, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2013/01/09/the-forgotten-naturalist-alfred-russel-wallace/.

David Bressan, “Geologizing with Darwin,” History of Geology, February 12, 2013, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2013/02/12/geologizing-with-darwin/.

David Bressan, “Men among prediluvian Beasts,” History of Geology, January 27, 2013, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2013/01/27/men-among-prediluvian-beasts/.

B. Ricardo Brown, “Darwin, Slavery, the HMS Black Joke, and Seaman Morgan,” Until Darwin: Science & the Origins of Race, February 12, 2013, http://until-darwin.blogspot.com/2013/02/darwin-slavery-hms-black-joke-and.html.

B. Ricardo Brown, “Darwin, Slavery, and Science (2009),” Until Darwin: Science & the Origins of Race, January 24, 2013, http://until-darwin.blogspot.com/2013/01/darwin-slavery-and-science-2009.html.

Michael Bycroft, “Correctives to #overlyhonestmethods,” Double Refraction, January 17, 2013, http://doublerfraction.blogspot.com/2013/01/correctives-to-overlyhonestmethods.html.

Richard Carter, “Charles Darwin to Charles Lyell, 10th January, 1860,” The Friends of Charles Darwin, January 10, 2013, http://friendsofdarwin.com/2013/01/20130110/.

Thony Christie, “Down a mineshaft or why historians (must) become polymaths,” Renaissance Mathematicus, February 7, 2013, http://thonyc.wordpress.com/2013/02/07/down-a-mineshaft-or-why-historians-must-become-polymaths/.

Thony Christie, “A play is not a history book,” Renaissance Mathematicus, February 15, 2013, http://thonyc.wordpress.com/2013/02/15/a-play-is-not-a-history-book/.

Thony Christie, “What Kepler and Newton really did,” Renaissance Mathematicus, February 5, 2013, http://thonyc.wordpress.com/2013/02/05/what-kepler-and-newton-really-did/.

Matthew Cobb, “What is life? The physicist who sparked a revolution in biology,” Notes & Theories, February 7, 2013, http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/feb/07/wonders-life-physicist-revolution-biology.

Jason Colavito, “How a (Sort of) Believer in Ancient Astronauts Almost Became U.S. President,” JasonColavito.com, February 6, 2013, http://www.jasoncolavito.com/1/post/2013/02/how-a-sort-of-believer-in-ancient-astronauts-almost-became-us-president.html.

Nathaniel Comfort, “Hilary Rose on eugenics & genetic medicine,” Genotopia, January 31, 2013, http://genotopia.scienceblog.com/268/hilary-rose-on-eugenics-genetic-medicine/.

Richard Conniff, “Lost and Gone Forever,” The Opinionator, The New York Times, February 3, 2013, http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/02/03/lost-and-gone-forever/.

Justin Cook, “International Museum of Horology (Musée International d’Horlogerie), Switzerland,” The BSHS Travel Guide, February 6, 2013, http://www.bshs.org.uk/travel-guide/international-museum-of-horology-musee-international-dhorlogerie-switzerland.

Joanna Corden, “Piltdown Man,” The Repository, The Royal Society, February 4, 2013, http://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2013/02/04/piltdown-man/.

Stephanie Cowell, “Poetry, pain, and opium in Victorian England: Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s use of laudanum,” Wonders & Marvels, February 5, 2013, http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2013/02/poetry-pain-and-opium-in-victorian-england-elizabeth-barrett-brownings-use-of-laudanum.html.

Henry Cowles, “A Novel History of Psychology,” AmericanScience: A Team Blog, February 15, 2013, http://americanscience.blogspot.com/2013/02/a-novel-history-of-psychology.html.

Henry Cowles, “Up Goer Five and the Rhetoric of Science,” AmericanScience: A Team Blog, January 31, 2013, http://americanscience.blogspot.com/2013/01/up-goer-five-and-rhetoric-of-science.html.

Helen Anne Curry, “David Kinkela on DDT, American politics, and transnational history,” AmericanScience: A Team Blog, January 16, 2013, http://americanscience.blogspot.com/2013/01/david-kinkela-on-ddt-american-politics.html.

Athene Donald, “A cracking tale: why did the world’s first jetliner fall out of the sky?,” Occam’s Corner, January 21, 2013, http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/occams-corner/2013/jan/21/cracking-tale-first-jet-aircraft.

Lindsey Fitzharris, “Silent Voices in History: The Searchers of the Dead,” the chirurgeon’s apprentice, February 11, 2013, http://thechirurgeonsapprentice.com/2013/02/11/silent-voices-in-history-the-searchers-of-the-dead/.

Katherine Ford, “A curious fact…,” The Repository, The Royal Society, January 15, 2003, http://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2013/01/15/curious-fact/.

Katherine Ford, “A Fellow’s election card,” The Repository, The Royal Society, February 11, 2013, http://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2013/02/11/election-card/.

Jennifer Frazer, “Darwin’s Neon Golf Balls,” The Artful Amoeba, January 15, 2013, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/artful-amoeba/2013/01/15/darwins-neon-golf-balls/.

Susannah Gibson, “Natural Histories in Eighteenth-Century Britain,” Dissertation Reviews, February 13, 2013, http://dissertationreviews.org/archives/2275.

Greg Gbur, “Phantasmagoria: How Étienne-Gaspard Robert terrified Paris for science,” Skulls in the Stars, February 11, 2013, http://skullsinthestars.com/2013/02/11/phantasmagoria-how-etienne-gaspard-robert-terrified-paris-for-science/.

Greg Gbur, “The physicist vanishes,” Science Chamber of Horrors, February 4, 2013, http://sciencehorrors.tumblr.com/post/42322645813/the-physicist-vanishes.

Greg Good, “Romantic Science, Romantic Music: Alexander von Humboldt and Franz Schubert,” GEOcosmoHISTORY, February 10, 2013, http://www.geocosmohistory.com/2013/02/romantic-science-romantic-music.html.

Greg Good, “Starting off in a new direction: Earth, Cosmos, and History,” GEOcosmoHISTORY, February 8, 2013, http://www.geocosmohistory.com/2013/02/starting-off-in-new-direction-earth.html.

Graeme Gooday, “Review: Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond,” Reviews in History, February 13, 2013, http://www.history.ac.uk/reviews/review/1369.

Bill Griffith, “Lord Porter of Luddenham at Imperial College, London,” BSHS Travel Guide, February 2, 2013, http://www.bshs.org.uk/travel-guide/lord-porter-of-luddenham-at-imperial-college-london.

Jacob Hamblin, “Can’t Historians Predict the Future?,” Minds in a Groove, February 4, 2013, http://jacobdarwinhamblin.com/2013/02/04/cant-historians-predict-the-future/.

Jacob Hamblin, “History of Science off the Beaten Path, History of Science at Oregon State University, January 31, 2013, http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/historyofscience/2013/01/31/history-of-science-off-the-beaten-path/.

Ann-Marie Hansen, “Contracts and Early Modern Scholarly Networks,” The Sloane Letters Blog, February 4, 2013, http://www.sloaneletters.com/earlymodern-scholarly-contracts/.

Jennifer Harbster, “Saving Science Blogs,” Inside Adams, January 25, 2013, http://blogs.loc.gov/inside_adams/2013/01/saving-science-blogs/.

Tom Harper, “Stargazing with maps. In the dark?,” Magnificent Maps Blog, January 18, 2013, http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/magnificentmaps/2013/01/stargazing-with-maps-in-the-dark.html.

Darin Hayton, “Forgeries, Lies, and Deception in History,” Darin Hayton, February 8, 2013, http://dhayton.haverford.edu/2013/02/08/forgeries-lies-and-deception-in-history/.

Darin Hayton, “Gopkin on Galileo,” Darin Hayton, February 6, 2013, http://dhayton.haverford.edu/2013/02/06/gopnik-on-galileo/.

Darin Hayton, “Science Heroes Refuse to Die, Darin Hayton, February 3, 2013, http://dhayton.haverford.edu/2013/02/03/science-heroes-refuse-to-die/.

Darin Hayton, “Tales of Scientific Heroes are Just Celebrity Biographies,” Darin Hayton, January 31, 2013, http://dhayton.haverford.edu/2013/01/31/tales-of-scientific-heroes-are-just-celebrity-biographies/.

Vanessa Heggie, “The science of Ripper Street,” The H Word, February 3, 2013, http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/the-h-word/2013/feb/03/victorian-science-of-ripper-street.

Robinson A. Herrera, “The Ambulatory Archive: Santa Muerte Tattoos as Historical Sources,” The Appendix, December 2012, http://theappendix.net/issues/2012/12/the-ambulatory-archive-santa-muerte-tattoos-as-historical-sources.

Rebekah Higgit, “Heritage and the Royal Institution,” The H Word, January 29, 2013, http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-h-word/2013/jan/29/history-science.

Rebekah Higgit, “Thinking about life on Mars – video,” The H Word, January 18, 2013, http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-h-word/2013/jan/18/mars-history-science.

 Joanna Hopkins, “Can you feel the chemistry?,” The Repository, The Royal Society, February 14, 2013, http://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2013/02/14/can-you-feel-the-chemistry/.

Rowan Hooper, “Wallace: Wonders of nature have been solace of my life,” New Scientist, January 24, 2013, http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23103-wallace-wonders-of-nature-have-been-solace-of-my-life.html.

Virginia Hughes, “Darwin In the Age of Ebooks,” Download the Universe, January 7, 2013, http://www.downloadtheuniverse.com/dtu/2013/01/darwin-in-the-age-of-ebooks.html.

Dana Hunter, “Darwin: Geologist First and Last,” Rosetta Stones, February 10, 2013, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/rosetta-stones/2013/02/10/darwin-geologist-first-and-last/.

Ashutosh Jogalekar, “Leo Szilárd, a traffic light and a slice of nuclear history,” The Curious Wavefunction, February 12, 2013, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/the-curious-wavefunction/2013/02/12/leo-szilard-a-traffic-light-and-a-slice-of-nuclear-history/.

Eric Michael Johnson, “Macaque and Dagger in the Simian Space Race,” The Primate Diaries,” February 14, 2013, http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/primate-diaries/2013/02/14/macaque-and-dagger-in-the-simian-space-race/.

Steve Jones, “Alfred Russel Wallace, the man who pre-empted Darwin,” The Telegraph, January 14, 2013, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/evolution/9801281/Alfred-Russel-Wallace-the-man-who-pre-empted-Darwin.html.

Gilbert King, “The Rise and Fall of Nikola Tesla and his Tower,” The Past Imperfect, February 4, 2013, http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/history/2013/02/the-rise-and-fall-of-nikola-tesla-and-his-tower/.

Greg Laden, “Charles Darwin, Geologist,” Greg Laden’s Blog, February 11, 2013, http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2013/02/11/charles-darwin-geologist-2/.

Fiona Keates, “That’s Ent-ertainment,” The Repository, The Royal Society, February 8, 2013, http://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2013/02/08/george-ent/.

Roger Launius, “Reflections on the Loss of STS-107: Ten Years Ago,” Roger Launius’s Blog, February 1, 2013, http://launiusr.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/reflections-on-the-loss-of-sts-107-ten-years-ago-redirect/.

Roger Launius, “Wednesday’s Book Review: ‘Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age’,” Roger Launius’s Blog, February 6, 2013, http://launiusr.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/wednesdays-book-review-red-moon-rising-sputnik-and-the-hidden-rivalries-that-ignited-the-space-age/.

Roger Launius, “What is the Space Shuttle’s Place in Modern American History?,” Roger Launius’s Blog, January 14, 2013, http://launiusr.wordpress.com/2013/01/14/what-is-the-space-shuttles-place-in-modern-american-history/.

Daniel Lende, “On Science, Social Science, and Politics,” Neuroanthropology, January 21, 2013, http://blogs.plos.org/neuroanthropology/2013/01/21/on-science-social-science-and-politics/.

Cory Lewis, “HPS could be the Corpus Callosum of the academy,” The Bubble Chamber, January 16, 2013, http://thebubblechamber.org/2013/01/hps-could-be-the-corpus-callosum-of-the-academy/.

Eleanor Louson, “A cold day in Ottowa,” Productive (adj), February 6, 2013, http://elouson.blogspot.ca/2013/02/a-cold-day-in-ottawa.html.

Martin Mahony, “The slippery concept of ‘climate’,” Topograph: contested landscapes of knowing, January 16, 2013, http://thetopograph.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/the-slippery-concept-of-climate.html.

Adrienne Mayor, “Alexander the Great and the Rain of Burning Sand,” Wonders & Marvels, February 2013, http://www.wondersandmarvels.com/2013/02/alexander-the-great-and-the-rain-of-burning-sand.html.

Patrick McCray, “Apprehending the Artifact,” Leaping Robot Blog, February 6, 2013, http://www.patrickmccray.com/2013/02/06/apprehending-the-artifact/.

John McKay, “Boltunov’s drawing,” archy, February 6, 2013, http://johnmckay.blogspot.com/2013/02/boltunovs-drawing.html.

John McKay, “An Early Description of Permafrost,” Mammoth Tales, February 3, 2013, http://mammothtales.blogspot.com/2013/02/an-early-description-of-permafrost.html.

Adam McLean, “Lawrence Principe takes Basilius Valentinus to the laboratory,” Bibliotheca Philosophica, February 13, 2013, http://www.ritmanlibrary.com/2013/02/lawrence-principe-takes-basilius-valentinus-to-the-laboratory/.

Keith Moore, “The romantic Mr Edwards,” The Repository, The Royal Society, February 13, 2013, http://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-science/2013/02/13/romantic-mr-edwards/.

Larry Moran, “How Linus Pauling Discovered the α-Helix,” Sandwalk, February 7, 2013, http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-linus-pauling-discovered-the.html.

Kate Morant, “The Paramore becalmed,” Halley’s Log, January 15, 2013, http://halleyslog.wordpress.com/2013/01/15/the-paramore-becalmed/.

Dawn Moutrey, “Winter surprise: tiny phrenology book,” Whipple Library Books Blog, January 23, 2013, http://whipplelib.wordpress.com/2013/01/23/winter-surprise-tiny-phrenology-book/.

Carla Nappi, “Christopher I. Beckwith, Warriors of the Cloisters: The Central Asian Origins of Science in the Medieval World,” New Books in Science, Technology, and Society, January 22, 2013, http://newbooksinscitechsoc.com/2013/01/22/christopher-i-beckwith-warriors-of-the-cloisters-the-central-asian-origins-of-science-in-the-medieval-world-princeton-university-press-2012/.

Carla Nappi, “Deborah R. Coen, The Earthquake Observers: Disaster Science from Lisbon to Richter,” New Books in Science, Technology, and Society, February 11, 2013, http://newbooksinscitechsoc.com/2013/02/11/deborah-r-coen-the-earthquake-observers-disaster-science-from-lisbon-to-richter-university-of-chicago-press-2012-2/.

Carla Nappi, “Joel Isaac: Working Knowledge: Making the Human Sciences from Parsons to Kuhn,” New Books in Science, Technology, and Society, January 28, 2013, http://newbooksinscitechsoc.com/2013/01/28/joel-isaac-working-knowledge-making-the-human-sciences-from-parsons-to-kuhn-harvard-up-2012/.

Carla Nappi, “Michael Gordin: The Pseudo-Science Wars: Immanuel Velikovsky and the Birth of the Modern Fringe,” New Books in Science, Technology, and Society, January 15, 2013, http://newbooksinscitechsoc.com/2013/01/15/michael-d-gordin-the-pseudo-science-wars-immanuel-velikovsky-and-the-birth-of-the-modern-fringe-university-of-chicago-press-2012/.

Hannah Newton, “A Bag of Worms: Treating the Sick Child in Early Modern England, 1580-1720,” The Recipes Project, January 17, 2013, http://recipes.hypotheses.org/744.

Roger Pielke, Jr., “The Authoritarian Science Myth,” Roger Pielke, Jr.’s Blog, January 17, 2013, http://rogerpielkejr.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-authoritarian-science-myth.html.

John Pieret, “On the First Day of Darwin” through “On the Twelfth Day of Darwin, Thoughts in a Haystack, February 1-12, 2013, http://dododreams.blogspot.com/2013_02_01_archive.html.

 Maria Popova, “Happy Birthday, Pale Blue Dot: A Timeless Valentine to the Cosmos,” Brain Pickings, February 14, 2013, http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/02/14/happy-birthday-pale-blue-dot/.

Maria Popova, “How Chemistry Works: Gorgeous Vintage Science Diagrams, 1854,” Brain Pickings, January 31, 2013, http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2013/01/31/edward-youmans-chemical-atlas/.

James Poskett, “Django Unchained and the racist science of phrenology,” Notes & Theories, February 5, 2013, http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2013/feb/05/django-unchained-racist-science-phrenology.

James Poskett, “Letters of Alfred Russel Wallace go online,” Nature, January 24, 2013, http://www.nature.com/news/letters-of-alfred-russel-wallace-go-online-1.12300.

John Ptak, “How Old are (Some) Scientific Words? Many Not Very,” Ptak Science Books, February 3, 2013, http://longstreet.typepad.com/thesciencebookstore/2013/02/how-old-are-some-scientific-words-many-not-very.html.

John Ptak, “Pre-Darwin Darwin, Without the Post-Darwin,” Ptak Science Books, January 19, 2013, http://longstreet.typepad.com/thesciencebookstore/2013/01/pre-darwin-darwin-without-the-post-darwin.html.

Michael Robinson, “Beyond the Extreme,” Time to Eat the Dogs, January 27, 2013, http://timetoeatthedogs.com/2013/01/27/beyond-the-extreme/.

David Rooney, “The multiple lives of Alan Turing,” Stories from the stores, February 5, 2013, http://sciencemuseumdiscovery.com/blogs/collections/the-multiple-lives-of-alan-turing/.

Meg Rosenburg, “Between Science and HPS: How did I get here?,” True Anomalies: Tales from the History of Science, February 13, 2013, http://www.trueanomalies.com/between-science-and-hps/.

Steve Shapiro, and Andrew Bensley, “The 6 Greatest Acts of Trolling in the History of Science,” CRACKED.com, February 3, 2013, http://www.cracked.com/article_20212_the-6-greatest-acts-trolling-in-history-science.html.

Patrick Slaney, “Audra J. Wolfe: Competing with the Soviets: Science, Technology, and the State in Cold War America,” New Books in Science, Technology, and Society, February 4, 2013, http://newbooksinscitechsoc.com/2013/02/04/audra-j-wolfe-competing-with-the-soviets-science-technology-and-the-state-in-cold-war-america-johns-hopkins-2013/.

Lisa Smith, “Hans Sloane’s New York Collections,” The Sloane Letters Blog, February 10, 2013, http://www.sloaneletters.com/sloane-new-york/.

Lisa Smith, “Preparing for an Epidemic in the Eighteenth Century,” The Sloane Letters Blog, January 28, 2013, http://www.sloaneletters.com/preparing-epidemic-18thc/.

Amy Shira Teitel, “Schirra’s Stellar Navigation,” Vintage Space, January 26, 2013, http://amyshirateitel.com/2013/01/26/schirras-stellar-navigation/.

Brian Switek, “Book Review: The Complete Dinosaur, Second Edition,” Laelaps, January 29, 2013, http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/29/book-review-the-complete-dinosaur-second-edition/.

Brian Switek, “Fossils of Future Past,” Laelaps, January 24, 2013, http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/24/fossils-of-future-past/.

Will Thomas, “Kuhn’s Demon, or: The Iconoclastic Tradition in Science Criticism,” Ether Wave Propaganda, January 21, 2013, http://etherwave.wordpress.com/2013/01/21/kuhns-demon-or-the-iconoclastic-tradition-in-science-criticism/.

Will Thomas, “R.A. Fisher, Scientific Method, and the Tower of Babel, Part 1 and 2,” Ether Wave Propaganda, February 2/9, 2013, http://etherwave.wordpress.com/2013/02/02/r-a-fisher-scientific-method-and-the-tower-of-babel-pt-1/ and http://etherwave.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/r-a-fisher-scientific-method-and-the-tower-of-babel-pt-2/.

UCL History of Medicine, “How To Make a Victorian Villain (or the Tale of Isaac Baker Brown) Part 1 and 2,” The UCL Centre for the History of Medicine Blog, January 17/26, 2013, http://uclhistoryofmedicine.wordpress.com/2013/01/17/how-to-make-a-victorian-villain-or-the-tale-of-isaac-baker-brown-part-1-3/ and http://uclhistoryofmedicine.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/how-to-make-a-victorian-villain-or-the-tale-of-isaac-baker-brown-part-2-2/.

Alberto Vanzo, “Empiricism and innate ideas,” Early Modern Experimental Philosophy, February 4, 2013, https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/emxphi/2013/02/empiricism-and-innate-ideas/.

Jai Virdi, “Popular Remedies for Deafness,” From the Hands of Quacks, February 11, 2013, http://jaivirdi.com/2013/02/11/popular-remedies-for-deafness/.

Jai Virdi, “Searching for Charlatans,” From the Hands of Quacks, February 1, 2013, http://jaivirdi.com/2013/02/01/searching-for-charlatans/.

Jennifer Wallis, “Muscle and mind in the asylum,” Asylum Science, February 4, 2013, http://asylumscience.com/2013/02/04/muscle-and-mind-in-the-asylum/.

Michael Washburn, “Floating Ideas: ‘Soundings,’ About Marie Tharp, by Hali Felt,” Sunday Book Review (The New York Times), January 25, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/27/books/review/soundings-about-marie-tharp-by-hali-felt.html.

Brandon Watson, “Whewell on Newton’s Laws IV: The Second and Third Laws,” Siris, January 30, 2013, http://branemrys.blogspot.de/2013/01/whewell-on-newtons-laws-iv-second-and.html.

Mike White, “There is grandeur in Lucretius’ view of life,” The Finch and Pea, February 10, 2013, http://thefinchandpea.com/2013/02/10/there-is-grandeur-in-lucretius-view-of-life/.

Emily Winterburn, “Happy familes and Nobel Prizes,” Tea and Stars, February 6, 2013, http://scienceanddomesticity.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/happy-families-and-nobel-prizes/.

Emily Winterburn, “Herschel’s telescope,” Tea and Stars, January 12, 2013, http://scienceanddomesticity.wordpress.com/2013/01/12/herschels-telescope/.

Alun Withey, “‘Weird’ remedies and the problem of ‘folklore’,” Dr Alun Withey, January 24, 2013, http://dralun.wordpress.com/2013/01/24/weird-remedies-and-the-problem-of-folklore/.

Ed Yong, “Scientific families: Dynasty,” Nature, January 16, 2013, http://www.nature.com/news/scientific-families-dynasty-1.12205.

Michelle Ziegler, “History Meets Biology at the AHA,” Contagions, January 8, 2013, http://contagions.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/history-meets-biology-at-the-aha/.

Unknown, “Rankine on Entropy, Love and Marriage,” Carnotcycle, February 1, 2013, http://carnotcycle.wordpress.com/2013/02/01/rankine-on-entropy-love-and-marriage/.

And, since February 12 was Darwin Day AND Mardi Gras, I’ll share one more Darwin post (from last year, but too good not to):

Cyriaque Lamar, “In the 1870s, Charles Darwin was the theme of a downright deranged Mardi Gras parade,” io9, May 2, 2012, http://io9.com/5906922/in-the-1870s-charles-darwin-was-the-theme-of-a-downright-deranged-mardi-gras-parade.

Well, there you have it, about a month’s worth of history of science/technology/medicine blogging (and this is far from comprehensive). Just one month? Wow!

As far as I know, a host for the March edition of The Giants’ Shoulders is still needed. If interested, reach out to the blog carnival organizers here or here.

Giants’ Shoulders #57 will be hosted by Alison Boyle (@ali_boyle) on the Science Museum Blog on 16^th March. Submission should as always be made direct to the host or to Thony at The Renaissance Mathematicus or to Dr SkySkull at Skull in the Stars by 15^th March at the latest.