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rmathematicus.bsky.social
Thony Christie
@rmathematicus.bsky.social
12K followers 650 following 2.9K posts
Aging freak who fell in love with the history of science and now resides mostly in 16th century Nürnberg.
Posts Media Videos Starter Packs
Reposted by Thony Christie
biodiversitypix.bsky.social
Biodiversity Pics @biodiversitypix.bsky.social · 1d
🧜‍♀️ Historiae naturalis de quadrupedibus libri: .
Amstelodami: Apud Ioannem Iacobi Fil. Schipper, MDCLVII [1657].

[Source]
An antique illustration from 1657 depicting various marine creatures and mythical sea beings. The main subjects include detailed drawings of several fish species such as a sawfish, a hammerhead shark, and a fish with a bulbous head. Notably, two figures resemble mermaids or sea monsters: one with a humanoid upper body and a long fish-like tail, lying one arm forward and opening its mouth, and another hybrid creature with a somewhat human face and elongated fish body. The page also includes separate sketches of shark jaws and teeth, labeled in Latin. The style is scientific yet imaginative, typical of 17th-century natural history works.
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Reposted by Thony Christie
tomlevenson.bsky.social
Boston Tom Levenson @tomlevenson.bsky.social · 1d
A post that allows me to give props to a wonderful book by one of the most innovative western historians of China, Jonathan Spence:

(If you get intrigues, libraries or buy from your preferred book source--the below is a reference, not a shopping recommendation.)
1 5 15
rmathematicus.bsky.social
Thony Christie @rmathematicus.bsky.social · 1d
Italian Jesuit Matteo Ricci, whose mathematical abilities, acquired from Clavius, made it possible for him as the first European in the 17th century to penetrate Chinese society & build a bridgehead for the Jesuit mission, was born 6 October 1552 #histsci
thonyc.wordpress.com/2012/10/06/a...
An Italo-Chinese Jesuit
The first history of science post that I wrote for The Renaissance Mathematicus was about the Jesuit mathematicus and educational reformer Christoph Clavius and his introduction of the mathematical…
thonyc.wordpress.com
4 20
Reposted by Thony Christie
celinecamps.bsky.social
Celine Camps @celinecamps.bsky.social · 1d
#SkyStorians, I'm looking for #MedievalSky and #EarlyModern paintings, engravings & other visual sources that depict screws.
(N.B. I'm not looking for depictions of screws in technical sources on this topic).
If anyone has come or comes across them, I'd love to know! #HistSci #HistTech #ArtHistory
2 11 7
Reposted by Thony Christie
lillyh.bsky.social
Count Melancholia @lillyh.bsky.social · 3d
2 19 95
Reposted by Thony Christie
ronfilipkowski.bsky.social
Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 2d
He could’ve fought, but he faked bone spurs. So someone else had to go in his place - most likely a working class kid whose daddy couldn’t afford to bribe a doctor. Now he’s talking shit about how it should’ve been fought.
2.1K 5.9K 19K
Reposted by Thony Christie
jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 2d
i think anyone taught by ilan wurman ought to ask the university of minnesota law school for their money back
stevevladeck.bsky.social
Steve Vladeck @stevevladeck.bsky.social · 2d
The very first statute authorizing domestic use of the military during domestic emergencies, enacted in 1792 by a Congress full of the same folks who wrote and ratified the Constitution, expressly provided for judicial review in certain circumstances *before* the President could even send troops.
130 1.2K 7.4K
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publichealthguy1.bsky.social
🎃 public HELLth guy 🎃 @publichealthguy1.bsky.social · 2d
a respected senior CDC official telling the public that the federal agency has undergone a hostile takeover and it barely makes the news because that’s the state of the world today
sheencr.bsky.social
Prof Sheena Cruickshank @sheencr.bsky.social · 3d
This is another damning picture of Kennedy refusing to meet with senior scientists and get advice about infections or vaccines whilst he spreads disinformation #healthpolicy
A ‘hostile takeover’: ousted CDC official raises alarm over RFK Jr approach to infectious disease
Debra Houry speaks after testifying on eight months under Kennedy, who critics say shuns science and spreads falsehoods
www.theguardian.com
4 280 760
Reposted by Thony Christie
johnraimo.bsky.social
John Raimo @johnraimo.bsky.social · 2d
Arnoud S. Q. Visser ( @arnoudvisser.bsky.social), On Pedantry: A Cultural History of the Know-it-All (@princetonupress.bsky.social, 2025; #skystorians) press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
On Pedantry
A lively and entertaining cultural history of a supremely annoying intellectual vice
press.princeton.edu
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Reposted by Thony Christie
drlindseyfitz.bsky.social
Dr Lindsey Fitzharris @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 3d
Update: within hours of this post, the Daily Memphian printed Dan Conaway's article. They claimed he quit the newspaper (which he helped to found!) after they asked for "edits." Gimme a break. I spoke to Dan, and he's been cheered by your support. He's considering starting his own newsletter/blog.
drlindseyfitz.bsky.social
Dr Lindsey Fitzharris @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 3d
Memphis writer Dan Conaway, who helped found the @dailymemphian.bsky.social & comes from a century of local journalism, has just been censored by his own publication.

Here’s the column they wouldn't run.

Please consider writing:
[email protected]
[email protected]

Stand with Dan.
"Family and friends," he said, "then home – where you live, your neighborhood, your town, your city – then your state, then your region, then your country." My father was explaining to me when I was 11 or 12 why he went to war when he didn't have to. He was driving me to Boy Scout camp, and we had some time to talk. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, he was an engineer, and his company had government contracts that could keep him here. At almost 33, he was also getting long in the tooth for war. My mother would also have me tell you he also had two small children, my brothers, one eight months, and the other five. He joined the Navy a week after Pearl Harbor. "Those are the priorities in the order of priority," he continued. "But if your country is threatened, really threatened, everything flips. If your country, this country, falls, everything in that lineup falls, everything in that lineup is at mortal risk." "So, I'll know when it's country first?" "You'll know," he answered. Last week, I shared the mayor's plan for peacefully enduring, if not gaining, from the National Guard presence in our city. That was last week. This week changed everything. This week, the president called an extraordinary meeting. He and the secretary of defense addressed a room of some 800 generals and admirals called from their command posts around the world to hear the president's words in Virginia. He told our country's top brass their attention would soon be turned inward. That they would be commanding military operations in our cities against the "enemy within." Further, he said that they should hold military training exercises in our cities. Never mind what Secretary Hegseth told them. His message was as empty as his suit. He basically told them they had to shave and lose weight. The Commander in Chief told them their enemies are Americans, and that their field of battle would be Democratic cities. The great power and might of America's military would be turned toward its own. Toward here, people. Not here in general terms, here in very specific terms. Memphis is an official battlefield. "Family and friends," he said, "then home – where you live, your neighborhood, your town, your city ..." As the rest of the world rages, the president told his top military leaders that we will disengage from the protection of our interests and those of our allies and attack the political enemies of our president, root out the "radical left," crush "the woke," seal our borders against mighty Venezuela, and reduce blue cities and states to whimpering vassals of the federal government. The president who would be king. Before this week, he commanded the justice department to intimidate and threaten, even indite, his political enemies including a former director of the FBI, and DA's in Georgia and New York. A president can't do that. Not just because it's blatantly personal and political. Not just because it's abuse of power, petty, and childish. Because most if not all of what he's doing is straight-up, in-your-face, unconstitutional. It is, in fact, just the latest additions to the long list of unconstitutional that defines the dangerous actions of this man. You know this is wrong. No what-about this or that. You know this is wrong. No bemoaning the awful state of something or somewhere. You know this is wrong. Nothing excuses this. Nothing. Now, he has openly told the military that anyone in America that challenges him is the enemy, and where they live the new front. The National Guard deployed here will be unarmed and have no power to arrest. They are a camo-covered smokescreen, eye candy for the cameras disguising what will really be going on, click bait for the internet. We now know that Trump and his minions are sending hundreds of ICE agents and FBI agents to Memphis, not to mention a small army of Justice Department prosecutors and investigators. The mission is to arrest, prosecute, incarcerate/deport as many people as possible. Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney General, was here this week to tell us that, along with Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, and Stephen Miller, Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff. Not to mention, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, looking very much like he was waiting to be told wat to do, bless his heart. Here, ready to rumble. Who wasn't here or invited was Steve Cohen, the duly elected Democratic representative in Congress of all the people who will be in that rumble. Republicans should be every bit as alarmed as Democrats – every American should – because every time Trump stomps on the Constitution, he leaves that boot print on every one of us. Or, as the very first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, famously put it, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Due process and habeas corpus are becoming quaint reminders of a once proud nation of constitutional laws and justice. What happened in that room in Virginia this week, and what happened out at Shelby Farms give us more than a hint of what could follow the National Guard to Memphis. "So, I'll know when it's country first?" "You'll know," he answered. One man has put 340 million people at risk of losing this democracy. Just as surely as he's made the Oval Office look like a bad imitation of royal chambers at Versailles, just as surely as he's made the majority of both house of Congress look like lackeys waiting to empty the king's chamber pot, just as surely as he's turning the Constitution into a Mara-a-Lago doormat, just as surely, he's coming for us. You're right, Dad. I know. I'm a Memphian, soon under siege. (Lt. Frank E. Conaway Sr., 1943)
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Reposted by Thony Christie
astroroyalscot.bsky.social
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · 3d
🔊Calling #Dundee! Mills, the UK's 1st public observatory, is about to turn 90! This time last year looming budget cuts threatened its closure forever, but overwhelming public support saved it🥳. Do join us for the 90th🎂birthday celebrations on the 27th Oct! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿🔭

🎟️: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/professor-...
astroroyalscot.bsky.social
Astronomer Royal for Scotland | Catherine Heymans @astroroyalscot.bsky.social · Dec 2
Hot-off-the-press news: this evening Dundee City Council voted to formally approve the recommendation that the Mills Observatory remains open for the public to use! Huge thanks go to Dr Gilchrist, chair of the Dundee Astronomical Society, who has worked tirelessly to secure this win 🥳🔭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿
An Aerial shot of an observatory building with a white-domed roof surrounded by a forest of Autumnal trees on top of a hill overlooking the city of Dundee. Credit: https://www.dundeeculture.com/post/everything-you-need-to-know-about-mills-observatory-s-reopening
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Reposted by Thony Christie
dbellingradt.bsky.social
Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · Dec 8
Seasonal greetings for both the #bookhistory and #digitalhistory folks: a keyboard waffle iron. 🗃️
A waffle iron that forms keyboard waffles.
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rmathematicus.bsky.social
Thony Christie @rmathematicus.bsky.social · 3d
My username is the name of my #histsci blog
funkelly.bsky.social
Fun @funkelly.bsky.social · 3d
explain your username:

there used to be two kellys in my friend group but the other one did something unforgivable, so they needed to differentiate between us until she was transitioned out and I became fun kelly. then my best friend & i worked together for years so everyone just calls me fun.
aminus.bsky.social
A. Marmot 🌱 @aminus.bsky.social · 3d
Explain your user name

The next time you're on a hike in Big Sky Country, keep an eye out for marmots. Marmots are closely related to large ground squirrels and prairie dogs. They are a common sight in the mountains around Big Sky - especially when you get into the higher elevations
5
Reposted by Thony Christie
matthewcobb.bsky.social
Matthew Cobb @matthewcobb.bsky.social · 3d
Although being a muscid, neither this fly nor its larvae would do any harm to the fruit…
1 1 2
Reposted by Thony Christie
annegoldgar.bsky.social
Anne Goldgar @annegoldgar.bsky.social · 3d
Full program for 2025-6 for the IHR Low Countries Seminar. All meetings both in person and online. To register for any session, go to www.history.ac.uk/seminars/low...
1 14 16
Reposted by Thony Christie
susanklaiber.bsky.social
Susan Klaiber @susanklaiber.bsky.social · 3d
With a bespectacled cow playing backgammon?!?
martinkusch.bsky.social
Martin Kusch @martinkusch.bsky.social · 3d
Classical Vienna. -- Early-modern wall-painting on Baeckerstrasse in the 1st district. #Vienna #photography #photographyOnBlueSky #Austria
1 10 55
Reposted by Thony Christie
adamkeiper.com
Adam Keiper @adamkeiper.com · 3d
"One man has put 340 million people at risk of losing this democracy. Just as surely as he's made the Oval Office look like a bad imitation of royal chambers at Versailles, just as surely as he's made the majority of both houses of Congress look like lackeys waiting to empty the king's chamber pot…"
drlindseyfitz.bsky.social
Dr Lindsey Fitzharris @drlindseyfitz.bsky.social · 3d
Memphis writer Dan Conaway, who helped found the @dailymemphian.bsky.social & comes from a century of local journalism, has just been censored by his own publication.

Here’s the column they wouldn't run.

Please consider writing:
[email protected]
[email protected]

Stand with Dan.
"Family and friends," he said, "then home – where you live, your neighborhood, your town, your city – then your state, then your region, then your country." My father was explaining to me when I was 11 or 12 why he went to war when he didn't have to. He was driving me to Boy Scout camp, and we had some time to talk. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, he was an engineer, and his company had government contracts that could keep him here. At almost 33, he was also getting long in the tooth for war. My mother would also have me tell you he also had two small children, my brothers, one eight months, and the other five. He joined the Navy a week after Pearl Harbor. "Those are the priorities in the order of priority," he continued. "But if your country is threatened, really threatened, everything flips. If your country, this country, falls, everything in that lineup falls, everything in that lineup is at mortal risk." "So, I'll know when it's country first?" "You'll know," he answered. Last week, I shared the mayor's plan for peacefully enduring, if not gaining, from the National Guard presence in our city. That was last week. This week changed everything. This week, the president called an extraordinary meeting. He and the secretary of defense addressed a room of some 800 generals and admirals called from their command posts around the world to hear the president's words in Virginia. He told our country's top brass their attention would soon be turned inward. That they would be commanding military operations in our cities against the "enemy within." Further, he said that they should hold military training exercises in our cities. Never mind what Secretary Hegseth told them. His message was as empty as his suit. He basically told them they had to shave and lose weight. The Commander in Chief told them their enemies are Americans, and that their field of battle would be Democratic cities. The great power and might of America's military would be turned toward its own. Toward here, people. Not here in general terms, here in very specific terms. Memphis is an official battlefield. "Family and friends," he said, "then home – where you live, your neighborhood, your town, your city ..." As the rest of the world rages, the president told his top military leaders that we will disengage from the protection of our interests and those of our allies and attack the political enemies of our president, root out the "radical left," crush "the woke," seal our borders against mighty Venezuela, and reduce blue cities and states to whimpering vassals of the federal government. The president who would be king. Before this week, he commanded the justice department to intimidate and threaten, even indite, his political enemies including a former director of the FBI, and DA's in Georgia and New York. A president can't do that. Not just because it's blatantly personal and political. Not just because it's abuse of power, petty, and childish. Because most if not all of what he's doing is straight-up, in-your-face, unconstitutional. It is, in fact, just the latest additions to the long list of unconstitutional that defines the dangerous actions of this man. You know this is wrong. No what-about this or that. You know this is wrong. No bemoaning the awful state of something or somewhere. You know this is wrong. Nothing excuses this. Nothing. Now, he has openly told the military that anyone in America that challenges him is the enemy, and where they live the new front. The National Guard deployed here will be unarmed and have no power to arrest. They are a camo-covered smokescreen, eye candy for the cameras disguising what will really be going on, click bait for the internet. We now know that Trump and his minions are sending hundreds of ICE agents and FBI agents to Memphis, not to mention a small army of Justice Department prosecutors and investigators. The mission is to arrest, prosecute, incarcerate/deport as many people as possible. Pam Bondi, U.S. Attorney General, was here this week to tell us that, along with Pete Hegseth, the Secretary of Defense, and Stephen Miller, Trump's Deputy Chief of Staff. Not to mention, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee, looking very much like he was waiting to be told wat to do, bless his heart. Here, ready to rumble. Who wasn't here or invited was Steve Cohen, the duly elected Democratic representative in Congress of all the people who will be in that rumble. Republicans should be every bit as alarmed as Democrats – every American should – because every time Trump stomps on the Constitution, he leaves that boot print on every one of us. Or, as the very first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, famously put it, "A house divided against itself cannot stand." Due process and habeas corpus are becoming quaint reminders of a once proud nation of constitutional laws and justice. What happened in that room in Virginia this week, and what happened out at Shelby Farms give us more than a hint of what could follow the National Guard to Memphis. "So, I'll know when it's country first?" "You'll know," he answered. One man has put 340 million people at risk of losing this democracy. Just as surely as he's made the Oval Office look like a bad imitation of royal chambers at Versailles, just as surely as he's made the majority of both house of Congress look like lackeys waiting to empty the king's chamber pot, just as surely as he's turning the Constitution into a Mara-a-Lago doormat, just as surely, he's coming for us. You're right, Dad. I know. I'm a Memphian, soon under siege. (Lt. Frank E. Conaway Sr., 1943)
3 30 99
Reposted by Thony Christie
histphilosophy.bsky.social
Peter Adamson @histphilosophy.bsky.social · 3d
Miira Tuominen and I edited this new book from Brill with no fewer than 25 chapters on various aspects of ancient and medieval philosophy in Greek, Arabic, and Latin texts. Actually there's a little Persian in there too.

brill.com/display/titl...
Animals in Greek, Arabic, and Latin Philosophy
"Animals in Greek, Arabic, and Latin Philosophy" published on 29 Sep 2025 by Brill.
brill.com
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Reposted by Thony Christie
anitaleirfall.bsky.social
Anita Leirfall @anitaleirfall.bsky.social · 3d
What He Should Have Said: the Early Cartesians

Early Cartesians including Cordemoy and de La Forge develop, but also challenge, Descartes’ ideas, defending atomism and occasionalism. s361.podbean.com/pb/e3724a8b2... #EarlyCartesians #Descartes #philosophy #philsky
s361.podbean.com
2 4
Reposted by Thony Christie
gettymuseum.bsky.social
Getty @gettymuseum.bsky.social · 3d
Gugliermo’s advice got you hungry for more information on #Medieval Travel?

Going Places: Travel in the Middle Ages is on view at the Getty Center through Nov 30, 2025!

🗺️ www.getty.edu/exhibitions/...
Going Places: Travel in the Middle Ages | Getty Exhibitions
Explore how manuscript illuminators documented and reimagined medieval travel in a variety of modes.
www.getty.edu
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Reposted by Thony Christie
philipcball.bsky.social
Philip Ball @philipcball.bsky.social · 3d
You thought you knew what the Second Law of thermodynamics is? So did I. Researching this piece for @quantamagazine.bsky.social made me realise that I knew only the classical approximation to it. 🤯
www.quantamagazine.org/a-thermomete...
A Thermometer for Measuring Quantumness | Quanta Magazine
“Anomalous” heat flow, which at first appears to violate the second law of thermodynamics, gives physicists a way to detect quantum entanglement without destroying it.
www.quantamagazine.org
3 14 65
rmathematicus.bsky.social
Thony Christie @rmathematicus.bsky.social · 3d
He’s not on Facebook
Reposted by Thony Christie
mbarany.com
Michael Barany @mbarany.com · 4d
Major Academic Press: we're doing a Rigorous Scholarly alternative to Wikipedia which will be closed access and expensive, with invitation-only authorship and secretive reviews
[editorial: not sure what aspects of Wikipedia are left there]
2 2 7
Reposted by Thony Christie
drskyskull.bsky.social
Dr. SkySkull @drskyskull.bsky.social · 3d
"marrying JD Vance" 😂😂😂😭😭😭
jamellebouie.net
jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 3d
also, in keeping with Vance’s view of american identity, only white people are fully American with the right to critique or dissent. nonwhites must show proper gratitude (supporting Trump or marrying JD Vance) before they can speak critically of the country (in approved ways, of course)
jessicacalarco.com
Jess Calarco @jessicacalarco.com · 3d
Weaponized gratitude is a key tool in the abuser's toolkit. The goal is to convince the victim that they owe the abuser so much, they should feel guilty for wanting to complain.
3 28