December 2011
6 posts
12 tags
Debate over Irish Giant’s fate reawakens
An article in the British Medical Journal this week has reopened the debate about whether the skeleton of Charles Byrne, the ‘Irish Giant’, should be removed from the London museum where it has been on display for almost 200 years and buried at sea, as was his wish.
Byrne, who reputedly grew to more than eight feet tall, was born near the border of County Derry and County Tyrone in 1761,...
7 tags
Linnaeus’s long goodbye?
From January 1, 2012 botanists will no longer be required to provide Latin descriptions of newly discovered plants in a move designed to speed up the process of classifying species before they die out. The new rules, agreed at a conference during the International Botanical Congress last summer, represent a radical shake-up of a system that dates back almost 260 years. The ‘binomial’...
2 tags
Unlikely style icon: The Little Mermaid
“She’s sleek, chic and this season, she’s totally on trend,” says Net-A-Porter of the current vogue for all things mermaid. “Nod to Ariel’s unique aquatic style with shimmering and shell-embellished accessories – Comme des Garçons’ iridescent wallet and Yves Saint Laurent’s coral-style ring are top of our wish list. This must be underwater love.” Hmmm.
7 tags
The unluckiest Frenchman ever?
French astronomer Guillaume Le Gentil sailed from Paris in 1760 for Pondichéry (Puducherry) in India to observe the transit of Venus on June 6, 1761. On the way, he stopped off at Île de France (Mauritius) and learned of the war that had broken out with the English in the intervening months. They had colonized Pondichéry and so he changed his destination for the more easterly isle of...
27 tags
The transit of Venus and the longitude problem – a...
The size of the solar system was one of the chief puzzles of 18th century science. Astronomers of the day knew that six planets – Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn – orbited the Sun (they had not yet discovered Uranus, Neptune and Pluto), and they knew the relative spacing of those planets. Jupiter, for instance, is five times further from the Sun than Earth. But how far is that...