iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Charlotte Abney

“Watson’s 1968 book, amid other slights & sexist language directed at Franklin, implied the flash of insight was his. Popular accounts still routinely suggest Franklin missed the significance of the photo. She never had a chance to challenge Watson’s dismissive narrative; she died of cancer in 1958”

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Science History Institute @sciencehistory.org · 5h

Paper by the Science History Institute’s Alistair Sponsel and King’s College London’s Brian Sutton uncovers the significance of Rosalind Franklin's previously captured Photo 49. Learn more about their research here: www.sciencehistory.org/about/news/n...

sciencehistory.org

New Research Challenges Misconceptions about Rosalind Franklin’s Famed ‘Photo 51’ and the Discovery of DNA’s Double Helix

Paper by the Science History Institute’s Alistair Sponsel and King’s College London’s Brian Sutton uncovers the significance of her previously captured 'Photo 49.'

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

And if you do want to study the history of science, it’s also nonexistent Like…what? (My theory is that this person has either a partner or more likely a professional nemesis who got multiple campus visits in histsci)

Screen grab of a Reddit comment on a post in r/Historians:

It's not. I have a PhD in history. Unless you're ready fluent in an Asian or African language and want to study history of a specific Asian or African region or you want to study the history of science, the job market is nonexistent. I've been adjuncting for over a decade and I love it, but starting salaries for full time professors anywhere other than large universities is around $75k.
If you want to get a BA in history and then get an MBA or go into law, that's fine. But a career in history isn't really possible right now if you're not in the 1% of historians. This includes museum studies.

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

This year’s undergrads will all have been born after the first episode of House aired, and most of them after the first episode of Bones aired

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

rare moths, rare earths, whatever

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

Ok so I’m not saying Timeline is objectively good, but it *is* about (surprisingly fit?) historians of science (“a bitterly controversial field”) who time travel to medieval France. It telegraphs a lot of Crichton’s personal impressions of academic STS and the humanities!

Edward Johnston, Regius Professor of History at Yale, squinted as the helicopter thumped by overhead. It was heading south, toward Domme, where there was a landing field. Johnston glanced at his watch and said, "Let's continue, Chris."
"Okay," Chris Hughes said. He turned back to the computer mounted on the tripod in front of them, attached the GPS, and flicked the power button. "It'll take me a minute to set up."
Christopher Stewart Hughes was one of Johnston's graduate students. The Professor—he was invariably known by that name had five graduate students working on the site, as well as two dozen undergraduates who had become enamored of him during his introductory Western Civilization class.
It was easy, Chris thought, to become enamored of Edward Johnston. Although well past sixty, Johnston was broad-shouldered and fit; he moved quickly, giving the impression of vigor and energy. Tanned, with dark eyes and sardonic manner, he often seemed more like Mephistopheles than a history professor.
Yet he dressed the part of a typical college professor: even here in the field, he wore a button-down shirt and tie every day. His only concession to field work were his jeans and hiking boots.
What made Johnston so beloved by his students was the way he involved himself in their lives: he fed them at his house once a week; he looked after them; if any of them had a
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problem with studies, or finances, or family back home, he was always ready to help solve the difficulty, without ever seeming to do anything at all.
Chris carefully unpacked the metal case at his feet, removing first a transparent liquid crystal screen, which he mounted vertically, fitting it into brackets above the com-puter. Then he restarted the computer, so that it would recognize the screen.
"It'll just be a few seconds now," he said. "The GPS is calibrating."
Johnston just nodded patiently, and smiled
Chris was a graduate student in the history of science—a bitterly controversial field
—but he neatly sidestepped the disputes by focusing not on modern science, but on medieval science and technology. Thus he was becoming expert in techniques of metallurgy, the manufacture of armor, three-field crop rotation, the chemistry of tanning, and a dozen other subjects from the period. He had decided to do his doctoral dissertation on the technology of medieval mills— a fas-cinating, much-neglected area.
And his particular interest was, of course, the mill of Sainte-Mère.
Johnston waited calmly.
Chris had been an undergraduate, in his junior year, when his parents were killed in an automobile accident. Chris, an only child, was devastated; he thought he would drop out of school. Johnston moved the young student into his house for three months, and served as a substitute father for many years afterward, advising him on everything from settling his parents' estate to problems with his girlfriends. And there had been a lot of problems with girlfriends.
In the aftermath of his parents' death, Chris had gotten involved with many women. The subsequent complexity of his life dirty looks in a seminar from a jilted lover; frantic midnight calls to his room because of a missed period, while he was in bed with someone else; clandestine hotel-room meetings with an associate professor of philosophy who was in the midst of a nasty divorce-all this became a familiar textur…

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

This may be obscure, but wanted to say your 2019 talk archived on your blog has been really helpful & influential as I was putting together my syllabus for my fictional science seminar starting last year. Lots out there on sci fi lit, but not much on teaching STS with fiction (my focus), so thanks!

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Shannon K. Supple @mazarine.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Research fellowships at Yale’s Beinecke Library! 📜📚 First: Short-term Research Fellowship (2027-2028) For anyone not a student. (Students: see next post.) Application deadline is August 15, 2026. beinecke.library.yale.edu/programs/fel...

beinecke.library.yale.edu

Short-term Research Fellowships

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

After last week’s run of 105*F days in Philly, I’m truly enjoying this morning in Scotland, the home of sweater weather. These are my ideal outdoor conditions (63*F and a gothic fog-mist situation).

A quiet Edinburgh side street with stone buildings and very limited visibility due to misty fog

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 05/07/2026

Currently surveying chemistry textbooks for a project - any idea of the general date range?

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Registration is now open for our summer symposium, “The Global History of Modern Science, 1400-1914” Join us at @sciencehistory.org in Philadelphia on August 6 & 7 to discuss how modern science has been shaped through global cultural exchange! www.sciencehistory.org/cainconference

sciencehistory.org

The Global History of Modern Science, 1400–1914

The 2026 Cain Conference will address the major issues involved in understanding how modern science has been created through a process of global cultural exchange.

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

🚨 The CHSTM is offering 13(!!) new dissertation completion fellowships! Each provides $15k for three months of research for PhD candidates at US schools. Residence at SHI is optional, but comes with a place in our research community also - we’d be delighted to welcome any fellows! More info here:

chstm.org

New Dissertation Completion Fellowships | Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine

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Rebekah Higgitt @rhiggitt.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Calling all PhDs and ECRs who work on the history of material and visual culture of science - the Nuncius Essay Prize for 2026 is open for submissions until 31 August. Details here: brill.com/fileasset/do... #histSTM

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Omg 😭 I was wishing I was available to drive down and I’m so happy for you!!

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Benjamin Dreyer @bcdreyer.social · 29/05/2026

🚨 There's an s today! 🚨 🐝

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

@icpetrie.bsky.social Might be of interest in your local network :)

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

sciencehistory.org

The Global History of Modern Science, 1400–1914

The 2026 Cain Conference will address the major issues involved in understanding how modern science has been created through a process of global cultural exchange.

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

I’ve got this screenshot, no further info though

Screenshot of Bluesky post of tweet (or threads?) by dhuartson reading “don’t let anyone talk you out of spending $15 on a new hobby. That $50 will be the best $400 you ever spent” from April 22, 2026

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

My work on the discovery of yttrium is finally out in the world! 😭

The first page of a chapter written by me, entitled
FINDING YTTRIUM: JOHAN GADOLIN AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DISCOVERY
doi.org/10.1142/9789819813858_0002

The cover of the new book Discovering the Elements: No Simple Stories, edited by Brigitte van Tiggelen and Annette Lykknes

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

My work on the discovery of yttrium is finally out in the world! 😭

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

I would say so! I'm attaching here some 'testimonials' from the mid-semester survey. We read 'Introduction' and the 'Voudun & Zombiism' subsection in our Jurassic Park/Frankenstein unit (Oh No I've Created a Monster), then 'Machines' was the bridge to the AI/Big Data Systems unit

SW: I think Humans: A Monstrous History was the highest quality because it looked at multiple aspects of what the line between humans and machines were.
LP: I really enjoyed all of the parts from Humans: A Monstrous History. To me this piece touched on a lot of different themes and ideas when it comes to science in this class. I think it has the most synergy with every other work. Because of this it was the easiest to make relations to other works and really understand what it was talking about. Instead of engaging with one topic that it develops through the piece it explores a range of examples and perspectives which made the entire work feel fresh. I also really liked how it helped me think about the way I define words like monster or zombie. Overall I liked this piece the most because even though it was short I explored the most ideas in it.
AM: “Introduction,” “Voudun & Zombiism,” and “Machines,” from Humans: A Monstrous History (2025) has really stuck with me because of the wide application of the definintion of "monster" used. It is hard not to apply it everywhere in my daily life now.

JC: The work "Humans: A Monstrous History" was really impactful for me because it really shifted my perspective on monsters and why/how they were created and retained through human history. It brought in classic examples of monsters with historical or cultural relevance, demonstrating how the monster is a reflection of human biases or judgments and overall, a reflection of society. I think it really stuck with me because it provided so many examples and types within each section; for instance , the Robots section included various topics such as androids, uncanny valley, cyborgs, AI and more and their significance in human society.
JE: I think Humans: A Monstrous History has stuck with me. I had nevr really looked into how monsters are defined and I feel like I keep coming back to the framework that they use in these chapters. I also keep thinking about its discussion of AI and robotics, practically any time I see any headlines about new developments in the industry. I think the issue it illustrates of maintaining our humanity in the face of these evolving industries is really powerful.

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Just in time for me to update my order at the campus bookstore! I assigned the Machines chapter to my Science & Lit class this semester, and next semester I’m assigning the whole thing :D

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

The APS is seeking applicants for a four-month fellowship this summer to research their garden and botanical collections! Applications due by April 19, fellow will ideally start in May. More info here:

amphilsoc.org

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 30/03/2026

So I’ve got this protein bar that since Sept has now been to Manchester, Luxembourg, London, New Orleans, LA, and twice to Chicago. I just took it to Stockholm, and yesterday brought it back home safely again

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 24/03/2026

Älskade Stockholm! Världens allra bästa stad 💙

In the foreground, a boat flying a Swedish flag; in the background, a view across the water to the Mariaberget overlook neighborhood of the Södermalm island of Stockholm

A cafe table with a vase of tulips, a blue plate with a braided cardamom bun, and an oat latte in a cut glass tumbler

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

If someone even applies to a program or position they are owed acknowledgment and gratitude for their work

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Fun fact: In Jurassic Park, Ian Malcolm’s famous anti-tech speech basically quotes More Work For Mother …then completely ignores half the point

“No. I’ll tell you the problem with engineers and scientists. Scientists have an elaborate line of bullshit about how they are seeking to know the truth about nature. Which is true, but that’s not what drives them. Nobody is driven by abstractions like ‘seeking truth.’
"Scientists are actually preoccupied with accomplishment. So they are focused on whether they can do something. They never stop to ask if they should do something. They conveniently define such considerations as pointless. If they don’t do it, someone else will. Discovery, they believe, is inevitable. So they just try to do it first. That’s the game in science. Even pure scientific discovery is an aggressive, penetrative act. It takes big equipment, and it literally changes the world afterward. Particle accelerators scar the land, and leave radioactive byproducts. Astronauts leave trash on the moon. There is always some proof that scientists were there, making their discoveries. Discovery is always a rape of the natural world. Always.
"The scientists want it that way. They have to stick their instruments in. They have to leave their mark. They can’t just watch. They can’t just appreciate. They can’t just fit into the natural order. They have to make something unnatural happen. That is the scientist’s job, and now we have whole societies that try to be scientific.” He sighed, and sank back.
Ellie said, “Don’t you think you’re overstating–”
“What does one of your excavations look like a year later?”
“Pretty bad,” she admitted.
“You don’t replant, you don’t restore the land after you dig?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “There’s no money, I guess… .”
“There’s only enough money to dig, but not to repair?”

“Well, we’re just working in the badlands… .”
“Just the badlands,” Malcolm said, shaking his head. “Just trash. Just byproducts. Just side effects … I’m trying to tell you that scientists /want/ it this way. They want byproducts and trash and scars and side effects. It’s a way of reassuring themselves. It’s built into the fabric of science, and it’s increasingly a disaster.”
“Then what’s the answer?”
“Get ride of the intelligent ones. Take them out of power.”
“But then we’d lose all the advances—”
“What advances?” Malcolm said irritably. “The number of hours women devote to housework has not changed since 1930, despite all the advances. All the vacuum cleaners, washer-dryers, trash compactors, garbage disposals, wash-and-wear fabrics…Why does it still take as long to clean the house as it did in 1930?”
Ellie said nothing.
“Because there haven’t been any advances,” Malcolm said. “Not really. Thirty thousand years ago, when men were doing cave paintings at Lascaux, they worked twenty hours a week to provide themselves with food and shelter and clothing. The rest of the time, they could play, or sleep, or do whatever they wanted. And they lived in a natural world, with clean air, clean water, beautiful trees and sunsets. Think about it. Twenty hours a week. Thirty thousand years ago.”
Ellie said, “You want to turn back the clock?”
“No,” Malcolm said. “I want people to wake up. We’ve had four hundred years of modern science, and we ought to know by now what it’s good for, and what it’s not good for. It’s time for a change.”
“Before we destroy the planet?” she said.
He sighed, and closed his eyes. “Oh dear,” he said. “That’s the last thing I would worry about.”

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Richard de Nooy @richarddenooy.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

This lunch includes all five of the main Dutch food groups: cheese, cucumber, geometry, boredom and sorrow, with most of the vitamin content provided by the soul-destroying view of endless flatness spilling off the far-flung horizon.

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

I’ve got one of those, and 2 out of ~11 productive seminar meetings is a big chunk of the semester. But I’m stranded on the west coast till the airport is functional again, so asynchronous it is

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 22/02/2026

On the one hand, it sucks that my flights keep getting cancelled and I’m now stranded by this storm for at least two extra days now. I would much rather be at home. On the other hand, I guess I can think of worse places to be stuck right now

A photo of the campus of Pomona College on a bright and sunny day with snow capped mountains is the background

A screenshot of the weather forecast where every day is in the 60s and sunny

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 10/02/2026

Thinking of buying this pack of science enthusiasm decals for the absurdist humor of being……almost there

Image of a decal with a cartoon beaker containing a cheerful hedgehog and the number 6.022x10^23 (the number of particles in a mole)

Image of a sticker with a cartoon image of a splashing half a glass of water reading “Technically it’s always full” with the water labeled H2O and the air labeled O2

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 05/02/2026

It’s not a meaningful error, but it is repeated throughout, and it’s one I’ve never seen in 14 years working on it Pronouncing it eee-trium now

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 04/02/2026

Somewhat disorienting mix in my inbox this morning of being addressed as Professor by my students but as Ms. by various professors (despite my lengthy institutional email signature)

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Alisa Bokulich @alisabokulich.bsky.social · 02/02/2026

HSS Dissertation Travel Grant to support travel to sources for PhD students in history of science and technology working on their dissertation. Grants may be up to US$2,500. Grad students from any university are eligible Deadline Tuesday, March 31. hssonline.org/page/dissert... #HPS

2026 HSS Dissertation Travel Grant
Applications are Open
We are excited to
announce that applications for the new HSS Dissertation Travel Grant are now open.
This
grant supports dissertation research activities, with an emphasis on travel to sources, for PhD students in the history of science and technology working on their dissertation proposal or dissertation itself.
Graduate
student members from any university are eligible to apply. The application includes a two-page, single-spaced research proposal, two-page cv, a short budget detailing anticipated expenses, and a letter of support from a faculty member in the applicant's program.
Individual
grants may be up to US$2,500.
Applications
will be open until Tuesday, March 31.

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 12/01/2026

Genuinely I’m happy not going to concerts anymore bc the summer that came out I saw Robyn and Kelis on the All Hearts Tour at the 9:30 club and nothing will *ever* come close

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

Applications for 2026-27 fellowships at @sciencehistory.org are still open until Jan 15, with recommendations due Jan 31! ⏰📚 Could your research benefit from time in our archives, rare books, instruments, and other collections? Find info about our fellowships and our guide for applicants here!

sciencehistory.org

Science History Institute Fellowships

The Institute is home to the largest private fellowship program in the historical study of science, medicine, and technology in the United States.

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 09/01/2026

I hear you. I have a couple of pieces in the works on rare earths and Scandinavia and it feels gross just trying to keep the intros updated. Less than zero desire to spin off something public

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 02/01/2025

It’s time to apply for fellowships at @scihistoryorg.bsky.social! ⏰ All apps are due January 15 ⏰ Rec letters for research fellowships are due January 31 (No rec letters for curatorial fellowships)

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Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Imagine if you were a sports fan but every year your team won the championship and you knew exactly when it would happen. #9LC

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

We always include a Christmas Day rebroadcast also!

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

Thank you for this btw!! Was not familiar but I’m definitely teaching JP and I love this for context

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 23/12/2025

By a fluke of funding, I’ll be attending my first AHA in a few weeks. Event specific advice welcome! Friends, let me know if you’ll be there! And if you’d like to perhaps get a coffee and learn more about SHI fellowships, collections, scholarly programs, and academic partnerships :)

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Charlotte Abney @abney.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

sciencehistory.org

Science History Institute Fellowships

The Institute is home to the largest private fellowship program in the historical study of science, medicine, and technology in the United States.

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