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Michael D. Barton

@darwinsbulldog.bsky.social

1.6K followers 570 following 360 posts

Historian & Darwin aficionado. Editor, John Tyndall Correspondence Project. Father & advocate for connecting children to nature (natureplaysign.com). He/him/his. Portland, OR.

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Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · Nov 13

"Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds, which follows from the advance of science." ~ Charles Darwin

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Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 1h

@helenczerski.bsky.social @rolandjackson.bsky.social Roland, I think we should use one of these as the frontispiece for the volume of correspondence for his last year of life.

Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 23h

Attn: @rebecca-altman.bsky.social

Reposted by Michael D. Barton

Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 3d

Congratulations to Renée Bergland, whose book Natural Magic is the Winner of the @bshsnews.bsky.social's Hughes Prize! This award celebrates the best book in the history of science which is accessible to a wide audience of non-specialists.

Explore this exceptional book here: hubs.ly/Q03Lz1pb0

Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science by Renée Bergland

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Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 1d

Janet Browne reviews Martin Hewitt's (@vicmanch.bsky.social) "Darwinism’s generations: the reception of Darwinian evolution in Britain, 1859–1909" for the journal Metascience:

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

#HPS #histsci

Age does count - Metascience

Metascience -

link.springer.com

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Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 1d

ARTICLE: Leonard Jenyns on the variation of species and Charles Darwin on the origin of species 1844–1860 bit.ly/48RiAo2

#HPS #histsci

ARTICLE: Leonard Jenyns on the variation of species and Charles Darwin on the origin of species 1844–1860

In the journal Notes and Records: the Royal Society Journal of the History of Science: Leonard Jenyns on the variation of species and Charles Darwin on the origin of species 1844–1860 Mark Hanson a…

bit.ly

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Reposted by Michael D. Barton

The Well-read Naturalist @wellreadnaturalist.bsky.social · 4d

Since its beginnings, the discoveries of palaeontology have captured and fired the public's imagination, and the public's enthusiasm for it has had an effect upon the field itself. Learn more in "Palaeontology in Public" (@uclpress.bsky.social). #Booksly

www.wellreadnaturalist.com/2025/10/pala...

Palaeontology in Public

Edited by Dr. Chris Manias, "Palaeontology in Public" features a collection case studies, each published as a chapter, by a remarkable assembly of noteworthy authors in the field. It's as informative ...

www.wellreadnaturalist.com

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Reposted by Michael D. Barton

Princeton University Press @princetonupress.bsky.social · 5d

From the award-winning author of Revolutionizing the Sciences, a monumental historical account of how we came to see the world through the lens of science.

Peter Dear's The World as We Know It publishes Oct 21 (6 Jan UK pub).

Preorder yours: press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...

The World as We Know It: From Natural Philosophy to Modern Science by Peter Dear. From the award-winning author of Revolutionizing the Sciences, a monumental historical account of how we came to see the world through the lens of science

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Reposted by Michael D. Barton

emmetee.bsky.social @emmetee.bsky.social · 6d

It's ashame we have missed the opportunity to award Jane Goodall the Nobel Peace Prize. A truly deserving nominee. I will miss her brilliance, her insight, and most of all, her kindness.

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Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 6d

I was fortunate to meet her in 2008 at Montana State Univ. for a lecture, signed books afterward. While mostly everyone in line had the most recent paperback of In the Shadow of Man purchased from the university bookstore, she placed her hand on mine and said she was delighted to see an older copy.

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Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 6d

Jane Goodall Institute announced just minutes ago that she died this morning from natural causes while in California for a speaking tour. :(

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Reposted by Michael D. Barton

The Linnean Society of London @linneansociety.bsky.social · 9d

“It tires me a great deal to sit to anyone, but I should be the most ungrateful and ungracious dog not to agree”

September's Treasure of the Month is our most famous portrait of Charles Darwin, which is now part of UNESCO's Memory of the World.
buff.ly/hQkkwPX

Collier's 1881 portrait of Charles Darwin, who stands in a large brown overcoat against a brown background. He is holding a hat and has a white beard and downcast expression.

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Reposted by Michael D. Barton

Angst for Beginners @angst4beginners.bsky.social · 7d

I have October 1 saved in my calendar as "poor Charles Darwin" in honor of this very relatable diary entry from this day in 1861:

"But I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything."

An image of Charles Darwin's handwritten diary entry reading: "But I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything."

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Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 7d

Historian of science John van Wyhe (not on BlueSky) asks:

Can anyone decipher this charity that Darwin supported in 1872?

"Dr [illeg] Jackson subscription charity"

#histsci #HPS

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Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 7d

Hoping to be able to get just the slipcase for this, as I already have both volumes.

Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 9d

Tomorrow 9/30 12pm EST, hear historian of science and exploration Michael Robinson talk on "Out There: Scientists, Exoplanets, and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life," a Brown Bag for the @amphilsociety.bsky.social: bit.ly/4nZBr4S

#HPS #histsci

This Week: 2026-2027 Library & Museum Fellowship Opportunities Now Available

bit.ly

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Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 9d

Yep, Ziggy is my big lap burrito

Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 9d

I'm halfway through, it's excellent!

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Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 9d

I'm halfway through, it's excellent!

Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 9d

Ruin a band with law:

Subpoena-lime

Tarquin 'Howling Mad' Holmes @tarquinhh.bsky.social · 9d

Ruin a band with law:

Skid Escrow

Tortie & the Blowfish

They Might Be Clients

Corey Rayburn Yung @coreyryung.bsky.social · 9d

Ruin a band with law:

The Psychedelic Furloughs

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Michael D. Barton @darwinsbulldog.bsky.social · 9d

A nice little surprise in a local library used book store: Insectivorous Plants by Charles Darwin (New York: Appleton, 1899). $3.50

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Reposted by Michael D. Barton

Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 12d

And here we are. Another damn’d thick, square book. A real wrist-sprainer. UK edition (pictured) has endpapers showing Crick and Brenner’s blackboard and colour plates. Both U.K. and US editions have sections heralded by a double page photo as here. Loads of illustrations. Out in November!

Cover and spine of CRICK, my biography of Francis Crick

Double page photo of Crick at blackboard with section title The Central Problem

Colour plate showing Crick at Cold Spring Harbor in 1954.

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Reposted by Michael D. Barton

Andrea Love, PhD | Biomedical Scientist @drandrealove.bsky.social · 15d

If you didn’t know, Mehmet Oz has a financial stake in the company iHerb which sells: folinic acid supplements (folinic acid = leucovorin)

The lies about Tylenol, autism, and this “treatment” are ALL part of their grift.

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Reposted by Michael D. Barton

BSHS @bshsnews.bsky.social · 21d

BSHS Hughes Prize 2025 Winner 🎉
Congratulations to Renée Bergland as the winner of the BSHS Hughes Prize 2025 for "Natural Magic: Emily Dickinson, Charles Darwin, and the Dawn of Modern Science"

A brilliant book opening 19th-c histSTEM to a broader public📖✨

www.bshs.org.uk/the-winner-o...

a banner with the book's title and cover

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Reposted by Michael D. Barton

Jack Ashby @jackdashby.bsky.social · 19d

This humble flea is the only #Darwin specimen in the whole of Australia. It comes from an #armadillo that young Charles collected in 1832 in Argentina, during the voyage of the Beagle.
Now in the Chau Chak Wing Museum, @sydney.edu.au

A close-up of a flea in a yellowish circle (the cover-slip of a glass microscope slide)

A small cardboard box in which a glass microscope slide is held in place by a series of metal pins.
Below, a label reads:
"1 female flea, Phthiropsila agenoris (Rothschild, 1904)
Found in an armadillo Dasypus minutus, Bahrain Blanca, Northern Argentina

Collected by Charles Darwin 1-7 September 1832"

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Reposted by Michael D. Barton

Andrew Christopher Knapp @knapprew.bsky.social · 19d

Beautiful day for a visit to Down House, followed by a drink in Darwin's local

The rear of Down House, former home of Charles Darwin, on a sunny day

View over a haymeadow towards Down House on a sunny day

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