Tag Archives: history of science

The Forgotten History of Cyclone Science: Lessons for the Climate Crisis

This is the twelfth and final post in the series Historians Confront the Climate Emergency, hosted by ActiveHistory.ca, NiCHE (Network in Canadian History & Environment), Historical Climatology, and Climate History Network. By Vinita Damodaran In May 2020, Cyclone Amphan battered the east coast of Bangladesh and India, especially Kolkata and the Sundarbans, leaving hundreds of people dead and causing damage of over $13… Read more »

Climate History, the History of Science, and the Climate Crisis

This is the second post in the series Historians Confront the Climate Emergency, hosted by ActiveHistory.ca, NiCHE (Network in Canadian History & Environment), Historical Climatology, and Climate History Network. By Dagomar Degroot Historians have always concerned themselves as much with the present as the past. Some do so explicitly, their work guided by a conscious desire to provide context for a… Read more »

History Slam Episode 101: Science of the Seance

https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/History-Slam-Episode-101-Science-of-the-Seance.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham The humble Ouija Board, a beloved part of childhood slumber parties, cheesy sitcom plots, and top-10 games lists. Even though it’s just a board and disc, it can produce captivating evenings where people explore a mystical world. The idea that it is possible to communicate with the dearly departed is intriguing… Read more »

Scientific Instruments as “a History with, of, and Through Things”*

The “Reading Artifacts: Summer Institute in Material Culture Research” at the Canada Science and Technology Museum is another symptom of the growing trend in history and philosophy of science studies to include scientific artifacts as a resource for historical investigation and argumentation. In Leviathan and the Air Pump, Shapin and Schaffer argued scientific instruments are integral to the making of… Read more »