NB! · Archive · Science · People

Mary Allen Wilkes

Mary Allen Wilkes. A legend. This year the first person to use a personal computer at home turns 85

NB! · Observations · Science · People · Ethnography

President of Iceland Guðni Jóhannesson Spotted Strolling Casually at the Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference in Reykjavik

President of Iceland Guðni Jóhannesson has been spotted strolling casually at the Nordic Ethnology and Folklore Conference in Reykjavik. Guðni is a historian, a doctor of sciences and the author of 7 books. No throngs of bodyguards or vast retinue were detected in the vicinity.

Faith · Observations · Science

The Cistercian Numeral System of the 13th Century Writes Numbers up to 9999 with a Single Sign

Never mind whether you remember your Roman numerals: today we learn medieval ciphers. Or, more precisely, the Cistercian system of numeration, devised by learned monks in the thirteenth century. The Cistercian system of counting allows any number up to 9999 to be written with a single sign. Take a look

Architecture · Science · Paris

Eugène Hénard's Palace of Electricity at the 1900 Paris World's Fair

The heart of the 1900 Exposition Universelle in Paris was the magnificent Palace of Electricity, designed by Eugène Hénard: behind its elegant 130-metre façade lay a vast power station supplying energy to all the pavilions of the exhibition. The façade, 70 metres high, was crowned by a chariot bearing

NB! · Science · Society · People · Humour

Isaac Newton Breaks Russian Law by Investigating the Dispersion of Light

Science · Nature

Chimpanzee brutally beaten to death with stones and sticks, then partly eaten and left to the beasts of his former tyrant

Chimpanzee brutally beaten to death with stones and sticks, then partly eaten and left to the beasts of his former tyrant. The wounds on the body showed that, before his death, the cruel alpha male had been held down by the arms while other primates rained blows upon him. The

Architecture · Museums · Science · Saint Petersburg

The Optical Telegraph Tower of the Winter Palace and the Line to Warsaw

Look at the Winter Palace from the start of Nevsky Prospect, from Palace Bridge or from the garden by the western façade, and you cannot fail to notice the tower rising above its general bulk. This is the telegraph tower, or optical telegraph tower. A semaphore system of communication was

Coming Up · Science · Education · Society

Lecture on public history in modern media to conclude the Public History Workshop project

📌 Friends, this Friday we shall talk about public history. At 19:00 the final open lecture of the "Public History Workshop" project will take place. Battles for History and Public History: The Place of Historical Enlightenment in Modern Media The lecture will be given by me. Please register

Science · Palaeontology · Nature

Russian scientists grew narrow-leaved campion from 38,000-year-old permafrost tissue

In these pots before you is narrow-leaved catchfly, a plant of the pink family (Caryophyllaceae) common in tundra conditions. What is so special about these unprepossessing flowers? If nothing else, that they were grown from the tissues of a plant 38,000 years old, preserved in the permafrost. As

Coming Up · Cinema · Science · Society

Kinopoisk series “Nulevoy patsient” on the 1988 HIV outbreak in Elista begins on 19 May

In 1988 an ordinary doctor at a children's polyclinic in Elista detected HIV among his patients, despite the distrust of senior colleagues, a shortage of information and the conditions of a provincial hospital. The high-profile investigation drew the eyes of the whole country and brought about colossal

Books · Science · Pop Culture

American writer David Gerrold described multifunctional gadgets in 1999

One can say with confidence that the American writer and screenwriter David Gerrold's prediction about the development of technology has come true. As early as 1999, Gerrold wrote a column on the ubiquity, within a few years, of gadgets combining the functions of a telephone, a pocket organiser,

NB! · Science · Education