Tragedy and Hope. The history of germ theory in the College collections. Marcus Terentius Varro (116–27 bc)De re rusticaVenice, 1514 The idea that certain diseases were caused by minute living creatures invisible to the human eye goes back more than 2,000 years.
The Roman scholar Marcus Varro was director of the imperial library atRome and the author of the above work on agriculture. Varro warned against locating homesteads in the proximity of swamps ‘because there are bred certain minute creatures which cannot be seen by the eyes,which float in the air and enter the body through the mouth and nose and there cause serious diseases’. Girolamo Fracastoro(1478–1553)De contagioneVenice, 1555 Fracastoro (pictured) stated that there were diseases that could be caused by a contagion which ‘passes from one thing to another’. Genome study places modern humans in the evolutionary fast lane. Countering a common theory that human evolution has slowed to a crawl or even stopped in modern humans, a new study examining data from an international genomics project describes the past 40,000 years as a time of supercharged evolutionary change, driven by exponential population growth and cultural shifts.
Anthropologist John Hawks estimates that positive selection in the past 5,000 years has occurred at a rate roughly 100 times higher than any other period of human evolution. His research is based on analysis of international genetic data that provides evidence of recent positive selection. The finding is likely to spark a rethinking of common assumptions about evolution being relaxed in modern humans.
Photo: Michael Forster Rothbart "In evolutionary terms, cultures that grow slowly are at a disadvantage, but the massive growth of human populations has led to far more genetic mutations," says Hawks. This finding runs counter to conventional wisdom in many ways, Hawks says. Darwin, C. R. 1871. The descent of man, and selection in relation to sex. London: John Murray. vol. 1. Ancient Babylonian astronomers calculated Jupiter’s position from the area under a time-velocity graph.
Babylonian astronomers tracked Jupiter. Ancient Babylonian astronomers calculated Jupiter’s position from the area under a time-velocity graph. Not-so-secret atomic tests: Why the photographic film industry knew what the American public didn’t. It's one of the dark marks of the U.S.
Government in the 20th century — a complete willingness to expose unwitting citizens to dangerous substances in the name of scientific advancement. An Ingenious, Sustainable Way to Quickly Build Tunnels That Will Last Forever. One of the first things we learned about in History of Architecture 101 was Romanesque architecture, and thus Roman arches.
Moving beyond the Greeks and their boring lintels, the Romans figured out that you could create massive, self-supporting archways that locked into place once the keystone in the top was inserted. Enter a caption (optional) Taking advantage of the compressive strength of stone, this system of archbuilding yielded magnificent structures. And unlike those moody Goths who later devised their own lousy take on the arch, the Roman arch was a nice, rational semicircle. So effective is the technique that it even works with old computer monitors; all you need is an intern labor force that understands they are required to come in on Saturday to realize your architectural whims.
Babylonian Astronomers Used Geometry to Calculate Jupiter’s Position. According to Prof.
Mathieu Ossendrijver of Humboldt University in Germany, Babylonian astronomers used geometry to calculate the position of Jupiter — a technique historians of science previously believed humans had not developed until at least 1,400 years later. Left: BM 34757, one of the Babylonian cuneiform tablets translated by Prof. Ossendrijver. Right: a visualization of trapezoid procedure on the tablet – the distance traveled by Jupiter after 60 days, 10º45′, is computed as the area of the trapezoid; the trapezoid is then divided into two smaller ones in order to find the time (tc) in which Jupiter covers half this distance. Image credit: Mathieu Ossendrijver, Humboldt University / British Museum. Demonhauntedworld. Charles Darwin's ecological experiment on Ascension isle. A lonely island in the middle of the South Atlantic conceals Charles Darwin's best-kept secret.
Two hundred years ago, Ascension Island was a barren volcanic edifice. Today, its peaks are covered by lush tropical "cloud forest". Italian Renaissance. » At the Door of the Loony Gas Building. The only way to start this story is by opening a door – the door leading into the Loony Gas building.
History of Inventions. Introduction Technology extends our abilities to change the world: to cut, shape, or put together materials; to move things from one place to another; to reach farther with our hands, voices, and senses.
Eighteenth Century Inventors and Inventions: EnchantedLearning.com. HARGREAVES, JAMESJames Hargreaves (1720?
- April 22, 1778) was an English weaver and spinner (he spun wool thread using a spinning wheel). He invented the spinning jenny, a hand-powered multiple spinning machine. Inventions - Facts, Figures, Pictures & Stories - History.com. Internet History Sourcebooks Project. Internet History Sourcebooks Project Paul Halsall, Editor Last Modified: Dec 11 | linked pages may have been updated more recently The Internet History Sourcebooks Project is a collection of public domain and copy-permitted historical texts presented cleanly (without advertising or excessive layout) for educational use. 1.
This project is both very large and fairly old in Internet terms. At the time it was instigated (1996), it was not clear that web sites [and the documents made available there] would often turn out to be transient. 2. 3. Feedback and Help While I encourage notes, comments and feedback in general, I am unable to reply to all of them. For guidance on homework, research, how people lived/ate/dressed in the past, see the various Help! I am unable to help locate details about your family, or give translations of your name or nickname into Chinese (a very common request)! I am always happy to hear from people who wish to submit copy permitted texts to the various sites below. History of Science Society. Welcome to the Museum of the History of Science - Museum of the History of Science.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Automating Tinder with Eigenfaces. While my friends were getting sucked into "swiping" all day on their phones with Tinder, I eventually got fed up and designed a piece of software that automates everything on Tinder. An update on Tinderbox: Well, I didn't think I'd do it. I even wrote in my post that I wouldn't. Nearly a year since I released Tinderbox, I finally decided to take a packaged approach and make the technology more available.
The 2000 Year-Old Computer - Decoding the Antikythera Mechanism (2012) History and Women: Maria Anna Mozart. Maria Anna Mozart (30 July 1751 – 29 October 1829) Musician Maria Anna Mozart, beloved nicknamed Nannerl, was the elder and only sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. As children, both were considered gifted musical prodigies and their father, Leopold, arranged tours to display their talents to the masses in the grandest capitals of Europe.
Both children could play the most challenging pieces and could compose into notes any song they heard. They enjoyed a pleasant childhood, indulging their musical creativity and creating their own childish kingdom. As Nannerl and Wolfgang’s musical genius progressed into composition, her adoring younger brother greatly praised and encouraged her work. Thereafter, Leopold focused all his attentions on Mozart, not Nannerl. Victoria, one of her students, becomes her protégé. Kepler's Discovery. World History Timeline World History TimeMap. The Age of Reason: Europe from the 17th to the Early 19th Centuries. Babbage - Computers Plan 28 Blog. Science Timeline. History of invention: A science and technology timeline.
The Babbage Engine (1820s 1830s) US History Timeline: 1800 - 1900. Before 1600 | 1600 - 1700 | 1700 - 1800 | 1800 - 1900 | 1900 - 2000 | American Revolution Timeline | Cold War Timeline 1796 - December 7. John Adams is elected second president of the U.S. Jefferson is elected vice president, having received the second largest number of electoral votes. 1797 - March 4. Adams inaugurated as President - Jefferson is inaugurated as vice president of the United States and begins gathering information on rules of parliamentary practice. 1798 - June-July.
Re-visiting and revising the famous Bushy Tree diagram of the lineage of visual computing systems. The Newly Inspired Bushy TreeA re-visiting and revising the famous Bushy Tree diagram of the lineage of visual interactive computing systems (click on many of the "leaves" to bring up associated web resources)
Pre-Classical & Classical Science. The Scientific Revolution - Site Map & Table of Contents - Dr Robert A. Hatch - The Scientific Revolution Home Page. Our Prints – HistoryShots InfoArt. 19 Maps That Will Blow Your Mind and Change the Way You See the World. Top All-time. You Won’t Believe Your Eyes. Watch. ChronoZoom. Building Stonehenge - Wally Wallington Can Move Anything!