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Richard Fallon

@richardfallon.bsky.social

3.4K followers 1.5K following 740 posts

Scholar of Earth's history in literature and culture. Research Associate in Natural History Humanities at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge.

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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 23d

In a few weeks, I'll be starting a new role as Research Associate in Natural History Humanities at Cambridge, based at the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social. As part of @camglamresearch.bsky.social, my project will be about 'Re-Excavating the Cambridge School of Geology, 1850–1914'.

Robert B. Farren's portrait of the elderly geologist Adam Sedgwick, cradling and gesturing to a globe.

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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 3h

A heron of the Cam.

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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 4h

Agostino Scilla's sketch of a shark in La vana speculazione disingannata dal senso (1670). This is Scilla's pencil sketch version in the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social archives. Wish my vain speculations could be undeceived by sense! Ah well.

Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 2d

According to one (hostile) contemporary, Zacharias Conrad von Uffenbach, viewing John Woodward's celebrated museum of fossils was a trying experience. Woodward allegedly bored visitors by quoting 'whole pages of his works' and spent the entire time admiring himself in 'mirrors hanging in every room'

Title page of John Woodward's An Attempt towards a Natural History of the Fossils of England.

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Reposted by Richard Fallon

Steve White @sharkbitesteve.bsky.social · 3d

Very excited to find the advent calender with my NHM artwork already in our local Marks 'n' Sparks! Had to buy one even if it was just for the cool cutouts on the back! Now I'll be able to act out the classic T.rex v Trike confrontation!

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Reposted by Richard Fallon

Ben Miller @extinctmonsters.bsky.social · 4d

This adorable oreodont family has had quite a journey. Paul Miller made this mount for the U of Chicago Walker Museum in 1924. They were transferred to the Field when the Walker shut down, then loaned to the BYU museum for 60 years. The oreodonts are now back in Chicago. #FossilFriday

Framed plaster slab with three mounted Miniochoerus skeletons

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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 5d

Charles Mason, Woodwardian Professor of Fossils at Cambridge, 1734–1762. According to one contemporary, the 'coarse and slovenly' Mason 'could ornament a subject at the same time that he disgusted and disgraced Society'.

Engraving of a sceptical-looking bewigged man.

Reposted by Richard Fallon

Darren Naish @tetzoo.bsky.social · 5d

You've likely seen Auguste Jobin's 1884 reconstruction of Stegosaurus, in which it's portrayed as a spiny-backed, long-necked biped. Great news! Splendidhand Toys have produced a model of Jobin's vision, I'm proud to own one :) Get your own at... www.etsy.com/uk/listing/4... #dinosaurs

Splendidhand model of Jobin stegosaur against rocky backdrop, info card in shot.

Splendidhand model of Jobin stegosaur against rocky backdrop.

Splendidhand model of Jobin stegosaur against rocky backdrop, close up.

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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 5d

A Planorbis discus from the Bembridge Limestone of the Isle of Wight, presented to the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social by none other than Lord Tennyson. There rolls the deep where grew the tree!

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Iván Narváez @inarvaezp.bsky.social · 6d

Grillosaurus, Dyrodor, Filarmura, Stegoceratops, Monocornus... probablemente no te suenen estos #dinosaurios o 'dinosauroides', porque todos ellos son nomen ignotum. Es decir, son criaturas del pasado que sólo existen en los mundos de ficción. Te cuento más... [1/9]

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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 7d

New job, new aurochs.

Shaggy sculpted aurochs on the stairway to the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences.

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The Public Domain Review @publicdomainrev.bsky.social · 7d

Nudibranchs as pictured by a Japanese illustrator named Kumataro Ito, artist for the USS Albatross’ Philippine Expedition, 1907–10. More of his stunning images here: publicdomainreview.org/collection/k...

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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 8d

Interesting New Yorker cover spotted.

Green-tinted cover of The New Yorker for 18 February 1950: a museum security guard finds that a fossil dinosaur egg has hatched.

Reposted by Richard Fallon

Crystal Palace Dinos @cpdinosaurs.bsky.social · 8d

Articles or photos that reference the condition of the Crystal Palace Dinos before 1950 are quite rare.

The caption on this photo, dated as 1924, refers them being “extracted from the mud”, which could imply a period of time where the lake also needed some attention..

Black and white scanned newspaper photo . A smartly dressed boy and girl study a fresh looking Crystal Palace Mosasaurus. The lake water level appears non-existent. The caption:

“The collection of models of antediluvian monsters on an island in the grounds of the Crystal Palace has now been extracted from the mud and renovated. Teeth and claws have been sharpened, eyes painted, and everything done to make them as attractive as possible.”

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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 9d

A high street endling: there's one small, lonely, desolate fish still alive in the empty aquarium in what used to be Holy Moly, and the Japanese restaurant, on Harborne high street. Reminds me of Lafcadio Hearn's essay about the cricket he forgot to feed.

Reposted by Richard Fallon

Mike Sanders @bronterre1.bsky.social · 11d

Very sad to hear of the passing of Tony Harrison, a truly great #working-class poet. Probably best known for ‘V’ but fwiw I think his ‘School of Eloquence’ & ‘Continuous’ collections are outstanding.

youtu.be/FA3AL14d05k?...

'V' by Tony Harrison

YouTube video by spartakirk109

youtu.be

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Old English Wordhord @oewordhord.bsky.social · 11d

wamm-sceaþa, m.n: evil-doer, sinner, criminal. (WAHM-SHEH-ah-tha / ˈwam-ˌʃɛa-θa)
Image: Silos Apocalypse; N Spain (Santo Domingo de Silos), 1091-1109; @britishlibrary.bsky.social Add MS 11695, f. 40r.
#OldEnglish #WOTD

Medieval manuscript illustration of a serpent twisted around a fruit tree, whispering in the ear of Eve who stands beside Adam, each holding a fig leaf in front of their genitals.

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Paul Stewens @p-stewens.bsky.social · 11d

This is HUGE. Unconditional #repatriation of 28,000 fossils from the Dubois collection to Indonesia. Largest ever fossil and perhaps natural history #restitution (AFAIK). Famous #hominin fossil included. Lots of things to unpack, here are some preliminary thoughts. /1

Naturalis Biodiversity Center @naturalis.bsky.social · 12d

Nederland geeft fossielen Dubois-collectie terug aan Indonesië.

Statement en meer informatie te vinden op www.naturalis.nl/persberichte...

Scheldepkapje in Dubois-collectie in zaal vroege mens

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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 12d

El Toxodonte is having a good rest.

Chris Manias @chrismanias.bsky.social · 12d

A sadly never-realized Pleistocene animal park in La Plata, Argentina. Article from from Fray Mocho (9 August 1912)

The animals were designed by Josef Pallenberg, who also did the dinosaur sculptures at Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg

(more info in this article: doi.org/10.31048/185... )

#FossilFriday

Double page spread from an Argentinian magazine from 1912. Shows models of prehistoric animals, including a Toxodon, Macrauchenia, Mylodon, Megatherium, Mastodon, Glyptodon and sabre-toothed cap. The central image is an illustration of all the creatures standing in a landscape.

Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 13d

For some crazy reason I feel that Wikipedia isn't doing justice to Auden's 'Funeral Blues'.

Wikipedia text: By presenting the poem in the imperative, Auden sketches attention to it, according to the scholar John G. Blair.[12] In 2009 the scholar Heidi Hartwig argued that the poem could be read and interpreted in many different ways, depending on how and by whom it was presented.[13] Joseph Warren Beach notes that in the revised version of the poem, the first two stanzas are tied to the everyday world, referencing mundane things such as airplanes and telephones. Conversely, the two new stanzas reference things more common to typical ballads, such as the ocean or the heavens. The two halves "have an underlying tone of cosmic disillusion characteristic of the interwar period." He considers that piecing the halves together makes the poem "lively" and appealing to various readers.[5]

Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 14d

Yep, do want

Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 14d

More classy yet also fossiliferous ceramics from the V&A's collections: an earthenware dish made by Daphne Corke for the Chelsea Pottery, London (1953). Accession number C.73-1953. collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O19230/...

V&A description: Earthenware dish decorated with a fossil fish. Decoration in coloured glazes in 'inlay and overlay technique'.

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Reposted by Richard Fallon

Paintings of London @paintingsoflondon.bsky.social · 14d

'Concert Hall', Queen's Hall, Langham Place (1929) by Sybil Andrews

(Glenbow Museum)

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Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 14d

I hope that, when one day the @nhm-london.bsky.social's Mammals hall is totally overhauled, this cartoon continues to play. Ideally from a massive screen. Criterion edition.

Photo of the cartoon about mammal evolution (From Forests to Grasslands: A Journey through Time) playing in the NHM Mammals gallery. This shot depicts Cainotherium.

Richard Fallon @richardfallon.bsky.social · 14d

Woohoo! Congrats!

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Charlie Gough @charliejgough.bsky.social · 14d

I submitted my thesis last week! grateful for the 4 wonderful years that led to this moment 🥂

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