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Venetia Burney
Today is the 106th anniversary of the birth of Venetia Katharine Douglas Burney, who was born in Banstead, England. She came from an educated family; her father was a professor at Oxford, her grandfather was the librarian at the Bodleian Library at Oxford, and her uncle was Science Master at Eton. Burney studied economics, and Continue reading
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A track on the tract
It’s not unusual to see the words “tract” and “track” confused; people use “track” where they mean “tract”, and (less often) talk about “tracts” that are really “tracks”. Maybe they shouldn’t be blamed too much, though, because the history of “track” and “tract” is pretty tangled and involves some weird coincidences. Both words appeared in Continue reading
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Kathleen Booth
Kathleen Booth One of the founders of the digital computer era is someone you’ve likely never heard of: Kathleen Booth. She was born July 9, 1922 in Worcestershire, England and attended the University of London, where she earned undergraduate and PhD degrees in mathematics. While she was studying at the University of London she was Continue reading
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Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin
You’ve heard of Zeppelins, the huge dirigibles that were the leading aviation machines until the Hindenberg disaster in 1937 convinced people that flying around underneath a large amount of hydrogen might not be the best idea. Oddly, although the photos are shocking, there were 97 people on board the craft and only 35 fatalities. Airliner Continue reading
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WANTED: Doornails, dead or alive
In 1884 the “Pall Mall Gazette” opined that “The Congo treaty may now be regarded as being as dead as a doornail.” We still say “dead as a doornail” today, a century and a half later. But wait, “Piers Plowman” includes this bit: “Fey withouten fait is febelore þen nouȝt, And ded as a dore-nayl.” That’s Continue reading
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Ojek
English borrows words from every language it touches. There are tens of thousands of words borrowed from European languages, but that’s just because of all the contact with them. Now that people can move around the world just a little more easily than months-long voyages or treks, English is continuing its borrowing ways, adopting additional Continue reading
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Robert Ledley
Good morning! Computers are now an inextricable part of medicine. It wasn’t always that way, though. One of the leaders in using computers in medicine and biomedical research was Robert Ledley who was born June 28 in New York City. You may have heard of him; he was “the only physicist who could pull your Continue reading
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Skinkle
Have you ever gone outside on a clear, calm night, and enjoyed looking up at the stars as they…skinkled? Or, as in an 1888 newspaper story, maybe you’ve watched “A handful of flame which..merely skinkles on the window-panes.” It’s true; in addition to twinkling, sparkling, gleaming, shimmering, flickering, glittering, winking, gleaming, scintillating, and corsuscating, objects that produce Continue reading
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Augustus De Morgan
These days it’s not too hard to find academicians who are very independent-minded and stand up to things like traditions, university bureaucracy, and political niceties. But in the first half of the nineteenth century it was much more unusual. One example, though, is Augustus De Morgan, who was born June 27, 1806 in Madras Presidency. Continue reading
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Patrick Branwell Brönte
You know about the Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily, and Anne — all of them were talented novelists. But they had a brother, too, Patrick Branwell. He went by his middle name, Branwell, and while he was probably just as talented as his sisters, lived a short and troubled life. Branwell Brontë was the only boy Continue reading
About Me
I’m Pete Harbeson, a writer located near Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to writing my own content, I’ve learned to translate for my loquacious and opinionated pup Chocolate Bossypaws. I shouldn’t be surprised, but she mostly speaks in doggerel. You can find her contributions tagged with Chocolatiana.
Check out my other blog, Techlimitics, where I’m grappling with the nature of simplicity.
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