Faith · Science · Society

Texas Bishop Joseph Strickland signs open letter against vaccination

An open letter by Catholic bishops against vaccination has appeared online. Of course, the letter of 12 December bears the signatures of only a small group of far-right Catholic figures, yet not only the church leadership but perhaps even some secular authorities ought to look closely at this démarche.

NB! · Monarchies · Science

The Horseless Carriage, 1649

The horseless carriage, 1649. England. A self-propelled machine driven by clockwork. Devices of this kind were known at the courts of many European monarchs; in his time Peter I used something akin to such a machine in his mock processions.

Architecture · Books · Moscow · Science · Society

Literary critic and editor of the magazine "Znanie-Sila" Olga Balla writes that this Saturday the editorial office is being evicted from the seventeenth-century chambers on Kozhevnicheskaya Street, where it had been based for several decades

Literary critic and editor of the magazine "Znanie-Sila" Olga Balla writes that this Saturday the editorial office is being evicted from the seventeenth-century chambers on Kozhevnicheskaya Street, where it had been based for several decades. The magazine itself has existed since 1926 and is one of

Science · People · Nature · Humour

Speaking of feline co-authors, one cannot fail to recall the beloved cat of the great scholar Yury Valentinovich Knorozov: Asya, whom Yury Valentinovich quite seriously regarded as his co-author and signed accordingly, though obstinate editors refused…

Science · People · Humour

In the academic journal Physical Review Letters of 24 November 1975 there appeared a cryogenics paper, "Two-, Three-, and Four-Atom Exchange Effects in bcc 3He", by members of the Department of Physics of the University of Michigan…

In the academic journal Physical Review Letters of 24 November 1975 there appeared a cryogenics paper, "Two-, Three-, and Four-Atom Exchange Effects in bcc 3He", by Professors J. H. Hetherington and F. D. C. Willard of the Department of Physics of the University of Michigan. Five years

Aristocracy · Science · People

Countess Ada Lovelace, daughter of Byron, and the first attempt at computer programming

The first programmer in history is held to be Countess Ada Lovelace, the only legitimate child of George Gordon Byron, whom she did, in fact, see precisely once in her life, when she was a month old. Brought up by the leading scholars of her day, Ada showed a gift

NB! · Archaeology · Monarchies · Museums · Science · People · Rome

A reconstruction of Nero's appearance, based on his bust in the Capitoline Museums, lets us see with what expression on his face he made a hell on earth

Museums · Science · Palaeontology · Nature

The Maiasaura nest in Montana was the first proof that dinosaurs cared for their young

A mother dinosaur watches over her brood. This is a photograph of the display at the Museum of the Rockies, where in the 1980s and 1990s the skeleton of a Maiasaura stood beside a model of a dinosaur nest with growing hatchlings. The point is that a nest of just

Art · Museums · Science

Charles Bell painted tetanus in 1809 after seeing soldiers wounded at Corunna

A painting by the surgeon Charles Bell, 1809, hangs in the Edinburgh Surgeons' Hall. Bell resolved to paint this canvas after witnessing the torments of tetanus among wounded British soldiers following the battle against Napoleon's troops at Corunna. The picture captures the final stage of tetanus, when

Observations · Science · Education · Nature

Spring mount for a label on a cork oak in the Royal Holloway University arboretum

Julia Koricheva, Professor of Ecology at Royal Holloway, University of London, has photographed the label on a cork oak in the university arboretum. Note the spring that holds the sign loosely on its screw, so that no foreign object presses too tightly against the bark. In short, the damage done

Science · Mores · Paris · People

The French Pantheon once saw a joint burial, connected with the first woman admitted to that mausoleum, Sophie Berthelot, who in the scale of French history was remarkable only for being the faithful wife of the outstanding French physicist and chemist…

The French Pantheon once saw a joint burial, connected with the first woman admitted to that mausoleum, Sophie Berthelot, who in the scale of French history was remarkable only for being the faithful wife of the outstanding French physicist and chemist Pierre Marcellin Berthelot, familiar to us at least from

Archive · Books · Science

An indispensable work for all who are interested in military history and the history of Russian military dress, "A Historical Description of the Clothing and Armament of the Russian Troops" by Colonel Bibikov and Staff Captain Viskovatov, has appeared on

An indispensable work for all who are interested in military history and the history of Russian military dress, "A Historical Description of the Clothing and Armament of the Russian Troops" by Colonel Bibikov and Staff Captain Viskovatov, has appeared on the website of the Historical Library in almost