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Danny Robb

@inverting-vision.bsky.social

450 followers 670 following 91 posts

Writing about the history of science, exploration, and technology. Interested in photography + robotics in planetary science, oceanography, cryosphere. Regular contributor for JSTOR Daily. Work in Aeon, Atlas Obscura. History Blog: invertingvision.com

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Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · May 28

The NSF was an effort to unleash the scientific energies of the US harnessed to win WWII.

Despite congressional battles, debates over presidential power, Red Scare - the agency's importance was rarely doubted. Vannevar Bush had made sure of that in 1945.

daily.jstor.org/science-in-w...

#HistSci 🗃️

Science in War, Science in Peace: The Origins of the NSF - JSTOR Daily

The 1950 establishment of a federal agency devoted to space, physics, and more belied a cross-party consensus that such disciplines were vital to national interest.

daily.jstor.org

Reposted by Danny Robb

Prof. Abel Méndez @profabelmendez.bsky.social · 23h

We’re uncovering a remarkable treasure trove of scientific and historical data about the #WowSignal and the early days of #SETI. Your support can help us bring this history to light. #AreciboWow phl.upr.edu/wow/trip

Reposted by Danny Robb

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · 4d

120 years ago, the Wright Brothers created a practical flying machine. Their test on October 5, 1905 may have been more significant, in some ways, than their 1903 Kitty Hawk flights. Today, you can visit the field in Ohio where it happened.

#histSTM 🗃️ #aviation

daily.jstor.org/a-practical-...

A Practical Machine: The Wright Brothers in Dayton - JSTOR Daily

Orville and Wilbur Wright wanted to create a practical machine—not a novelty or a gimmick—and they accomplished that at Ohio’s Huffman Prairie on October 5, 1905.

daily.jstor.org

Reposted by Danny Robb

Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · 5d

A Practical Machine: The Wright Brothers in Dayton daily.jstor.org/a-practical-...

A Practical Machine: The Wright Brothers in Dayton - JSTOR Daily

Orville and Wilbur Wright wanted to create a practical machine—not a novelty or a gimmick—and they accomplished that at Ohio’s Huffman Prairie on October 5, 1905.

daily.jstor.org

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · 4d

120 years ago, the Wright Brothers created a practical flying machine. Their test on October 5, 1905 may have been more significant, in some ways, than their 1903 Kitty Hawk flights. Today, you can visit the field in Ohio where it happened.

#histSTM 🗃️ #aviation

daily.jstor.org/a-practical-...

A Practical Machine: The Wright Brothers in Dayton - JSTOR Daily

Orville and Wilbur Wright wanted to create a practical machine—not a novelty or a gimmick—and they accomplished that at Ohio’s Huffman Prairie on October 5, 1905.

daily.jstor.org

Reposted by Danny Robb

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · 5d

Aristotle noticed that when bees returned to the hive, they shook or "danced" in front of a group. Millennia later, scientists debated whether it was a form of "language" amid shifts in scientific methods and philosophies in the 20th century.

#histsci 🗃️ #bees

daily.jstor.org/the-bee-danc...

The Bee Dance Debate - JSTOR Daily

Can insects communicate? In the middle of the twentieth century, scientists disagreed on whether bees could possess a “language” expressed through motion.

daily.jstor.org

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · 5d

Aristotle noticed that when bees returned to the hive, they shook or "danced" in front of a group. Millennia later, scientists debated whether it was a form of "language" amid shifts in scientific methods and philosophies in the 20th century.

#histsci 🗃️ #bees

daily.jstor.org/the-bee-danc...

The Bee Dance Debate - JSTOR Daily

Can insects communicate? In the middle of the twentieth century, scientists disagreed on whether bees could possess a “language” expressed through motion.

daily.jstor.org

Reposted by Danny Robb

Patrick McCray @patrickmccray.bsky.social · 8d

My former student wrote a history of the SOFIA airborne observatory...check out her work :)

www.nasa.gov/history/sofia/

SOFIA: A NASA History Office Report - NASA

This report by Lois R. Rosson is the first retrospective look at SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, since the mission’s conclusion in 2022.

Reposted by Danny Robb

JSTOR Daily @jstordaily.bsky.social · 11d

Arthur C. Clarke’s undersea adventures are often overlooked, but his passion for scuba diving influenced his visions of the future. https://bit.ly/3Ko3zQv

Arthur C. Clarke's Scuba Adventures and Ocean Frontiers - JSTOR Daily

Clarke's interest in oceanic exploration in the 1950s was, like his undersea fiction, often neglected by an audience focused on the race for outer space.

Reposted by Danny Robb

Bill Higgins-- Retired Beam Jockey @beamjockey.bsky.social · 11d

#ArthurCClarke was *fascinated* by the mysterious Giant Squid, writing about it often. None had ever been seen, though it was a known enemy of the sperm whale.

I thought of him recently when video of a whale & giant squid turned up on Instagram. He would've loved it:

bsky.app/profile/rebe...

Rebecca R Helm @rebeccarhelm.bsky.social · 13d

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

Reposted by Danny Robb

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · 11d

Arthur C. Clarke was an avid scuba diver for most of his life, which influenced his fiction and vision of the Earth's future. But mid-century interest in oceanic exploration and expansion was mostly lost in the glare of the space race.

#HistSTM 🗃️ #scuba

daily.jstor.org/arthur-c-cla...

Arthur C. Clarke’s Scuba Adventures and Ocean Frontiers - JSTOR Daily

Clarke's interest in oceanic exploration in the 1950s was, like his undersea fiction, often neglected by an audience focused on the race for outer space.

daily.jstor.org

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · 11d

Arthur C. Clarke was an avid scuba diver for most of his life, which influenced his fiction and vision of the Earth's future. But mid-century interest in oceanic exploration and expansion was mostly lost in the glare of the space race.

#HistSTM 🗃️ #scuba

daily.jstor.org/arthur-c-cla...

Arthur C. Clarke’s Scuba Adventures and Ocean Frontiers - JSTOR Daily

Clarke's interest in oceanic exploration in the 1950s was, like his undersea fiction, often neglected by an audience focused on the race for outer space.

daily.jstor.org

Reposted by Danny Robb

JSTOR Daily @jstordaily.bsky.social · 27d

How can teachers use the work of Octavia Butler, Ursula Le Guin, and other writers of speculative fiction to teach students about political and social theories? https://bit.ly/487g4JV

Speculative Fiction: Beyond a Novel’s Entertainment Value - JSTOR Daily

The classroom is a place to equip students to better understand the world as it was and is. Speculative fiction can help.

Reposted by Danny Robb

JSTOR Daily @jstordaily.bsky.social · 25d

There was a growing pantheon of heroes in the early twentieth century, as the new science of caves, speleology, emerged. But right-wing nationalism was also growing in Austria, and it changed the nature and purpose of speleology in central Europe. https://bit.ly/464hlQN

Underground Conquest: Cave Exploration and Nationalism - JSTOR Daily

As cave exploration became more popular and speleology developed as an academic discipline, cave explorers were drawn into a problematic European nationalism.

Reposted by Danny Robb

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · 22d

When cave science emerged in the early 20th century, early speleological communities became entangled in right-wing nationalism. Cave explorers became nationalist symbols, as "conquerors" of an underground world.

#histsci 🗃️

daily.jstor.org/underground-...

Underground Conquest: Cave Exploration and Nationalism - JSTOR Daily

As cave exploration became more popular and speleology developed as an academic discipline, cave explorers were drawn into a problematic European nationalism.

daily.jstor.org

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · 22d

When cave science emerged in the early 20th century, early speleological communities became entangled in right-wing nationalism. Cave explorers became nationalist symbols, as "conquerors" of an underground world.

#histsci 🗃️

daily.jstor.org/underground-...

Underground Conquest: Cave Exploration and Nationalism - JSTOR Daily

As cave exploration became more popular and speleology developed as an academic discipline, cave explorers were drawn into a problematic European nationalism.

daily.jstor.org

Reposted by Danny Robb

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · Aug 17

Benoit Mandelbrot believed the rise of computer graphics in the 1970s was essential for the creation of fractal geometry. He described it as "a new geometric language," and was fascinated by the art and applications that emerged from his work.

#HistSTM 🗃️ #math
daily.jstor.org/fifty-years-...

Fifty Years of Fractals - JSTOR Daily

A half century ago ago, Benoit Mandelbrot coined the word "fractal" and pioneered a new type of geometry.

daily.jstor.org

Reposted by Danny Robb

Jennifer Ouellette @jenlucpiquant.bsky.social · Aug 17

Fifty Years of Fractals daily.jstor.org/fifty-years-...

Fifty Years of Fractals - JSTOR Daily

A half century ago ago, Benoit Mandelbrot coined the word "fractal" and pioneered a new type of geometry.

daily.jstor.org

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · Aug 17

Benoit Mandelbrot believed the rise of computer graphics in the 1970s was essential for the creation of fractal geometry. He described it as "a new geometric language," and was fascinated by the art and applications that emerged from his work.

#HistSTM 🗃️ #math
daily.jstor.org/fifty-years-...

Fifty Years of Fractals - JSTOR Daily

A half century ago ago, Benoit Mandelbrot coined the word "fractal" and pioneered a new type of geometry.

daily.jstor.org

Reposted by Danny Robb

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · Aug 8

The airplane was an ideal tool for Soviet propaganda. They targeted peasants with stories and films, and Red Army vets took them into the air on demonstration flights. In these narratives and "air-baptisms," we see Soviet visions of the future.

daily.jstor.org/convincing-p...

#HistSTM 🗃️ #aviation

Convincing Peasants to Fly in the Soviet Union - JSTOR Daily

With air-minded films, poems, and demonstrations, Soviet leaders sought to lift peasants out of their “backward” lives and into the world of the modern proletariat.

daily.jstor.org

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · Aug 8

The airplane was an ideal tool for Soviet propaganda. They targeted peasants with stories and films, and Red Army vets took them into the air on demonstration flights. In these narratives and "air-baptisms," we see Soviet visions of the future.

daily.jstor.org/convincing-p...

#HistSTM 🗃️ #aviation

Convincing Peasants to Fly in the Soviet Union - JSTOR Daily

With air-minded films, poems, and demonstrations, Soviet leaders sought to lift peasants out of their “backward” lives and into the world of the modern proletariat.

daily.jstor.org

Reposted by Danny Robb

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · Jul 3

Huygens hid the discovery of Saturn's rings with an anagram in his 1656 pamphlet on Titan:

"aaaaaaacccccdeeeeehiiiiiiillllmmnnnnnnnnnooooppqrrstttttuuuuu"

He had done the same with Titan itself, and first revealed the solutions to a select few.

daily.jstor.org/christiaan-h...

#Histsci 🗃️🔭 #space

Christiaan Huygens and the Scientific Secrets of Saturn - JSTOR Daily

Seventeenth-century science was so competitive that Christiaan Huygens used a cipher to conceal his Saturn observations when sharing them with interlocutors.

daily.jstor.org

Danny Robb @inverting-vision.bsky.social · Jul 3

Huygens hid the discovery of Saturn's rings with an anagram in his 1656 pamphlet on Titan:

"aaaaaaacccccdeeeeehiiiiiiillllmmnnnnnnnnnooooppqrrstttttuuuuu"

He had done the same with Titan itself, and first revealed the solutions to a select few.

daily.jstor.org/christiaan-h...

#Histsci 🗃️🔭 #space

Christiaan Huygens and the Scientific Secrets of Saturn - JSTOR Daily

Seventeenth-century science was so competitive that Christiaan Huygens used a cipher to conceal his Saturn observations when sharing them with interlocutors.

daily.jstor.org

Reposted by Danny Robb

JSTOR Daily @jstordaily.bsky.social · Jun 26

In 1925, Science magazine announced a spectacular new invention they called “Radio Movies.” Can you imagine watching a movie “by radio”? bit.ly/45Nv0fn

Phantoscopes, Radiovision, and the Dawn of TV - JSTOR Daily

After creating a projector called the Phantoscope in 1895, C. Francis Jenkins successfully tackled the problem of transmitting motion pictures through radio.

daily.jstor.org

Reposted by Danny Robb

Ben Railton @americanstudier.bsky.social · Jun 23

PS. Also happens to be the 100th anniversary of another key media technology, as @inverting-vision.bsky.social highlights for today's JSTOR Daily:

daily.jstor.org/phantoscopes...

daily.jstor.org