From the category archives:

Science and Technology

Christopher Wren and the Bees

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By Gene Kritsky
Christopher Wren (1632-1723), the architect who designed St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, is also known for designing one of the first wooden box bee hives. Unlike the typical box hive we use today, Wren’s hive was octagonal.
In Wren’s day, beekeepers preferred to use the skep hive, an inverted basket that was fashioned [...]

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How do you Explain the Seemingly Unexplainable?

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The celestial apocalypse of 1859

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Of Bloodletting and Birthdays

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By Holly Tucker
I won’t divulge my age, but I will mention that a birthday on November 3 makes me a Scorpio.
And because this blog is about history and not me, I’ll use this opportunity to transition into a discussion of bloodletting.
How’s that for a fluid transition?
Astrology and astronomy were not two separate fields in the [...]

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Telling Time by Flowers

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By Mary Novik
Recently, when I was reading from my novel Conceit, an experienced gardener asked whether the flower clock, used by Ann More to tell time, would actually work. In Conceit, it’s summer 1599, Ann is living in York House on the bank of the Thames in London, and she is having an erotic [...]

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Flint axe and Creationism

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By Kathryn Hadley
Over the past months, news headlines have been dominated by events marking the bicentenary of Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his Origins of Species. Six months prior to Darwin’s publication, however, another hugely significant discovery was made, when a flint axe was found in northern France. The discovery [...]

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Cyriacus, Renaissance Man

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By Marina Belozerskaya
When we use the phrase “a Renaissance man” we typically think of someone of cultivated tastes, diverse cultural interests, and multiple talents. Cyriacus of Ancona was a true Renaissance man, but in a very different way. A self-made merchant and traveler, he became a diplomat and spy, hobnobbing with kings, emperors, [...]

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