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Ben Gross

@bhgross144.bsky.social
5K followers 2.4K following 3.1K posts

Head of Fellowships & Scholarly Programs at the Harry Ransom Center; Author of The TVs of Tomorrow-How RCA's Flat-Screen Dreams Led to the First LCDs (Chicago 2018). Posting in a personal capacity.

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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 3h
The submission deadline for @ransomcenter.bsky.social's 2027-28 research fellowships is one month away! Want to learn more about our collections or the application process? Join me on Friday (10/9) at 10 AM, CDT for an online info session: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/0fb438... #humanities 🗃️📜📚
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 6h
"I never did it as a kid’s show. I didn’t want to do a kid’s show...To me, I was doing 'Jeopardy' or 'Wheel Of Fortune' or 'The Price Is Right' or whatever. I just talked to them like they were grown-ups." Marc Summers reflects on #DoubleDare, which debuted 40 years ago today! #OnThisDay #TVHistory
nytimes.com
‘Double Dare’ Debuted 40 Years Ago. Children’s TV Was Never the Same. (Gift Article)
Marc Summers, the host of the celebrated Nickelodeon children’s show, reflects on the decades since slime and slop first lovingly enveloped our youth.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
Sure, Photograph 51 is cool, but if you really want to understand Rosalind Franklin's DNA research, you need to look at Photograph 49! Congrats to @alistairsponsel.bsky.social & Brian Sutton on the publication of their compelling new @jhistbiol.bsky.social article! #histSTM #histsci #biology 🗃️📜🧬
link.springer.com
Photograph 49 is the Key to Understanding the History of Rosalind Franklin’s DNA Photograph 51 - Journal of the History of Biology
This essay, co-authored by a historian of science and an X-ray crystallographer, sheds new light on Rosalind Franklin’s Photograph 51. We refute the infamous claim that, unlike James Watson, Franklin ...
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Getting ready for my first trip to West Texas. Hopefully, I won’t run into any trouble at Rosa’s Cantina…
youtu.be
Marty Robbins - El Paso (Audio)
YouTube video by MartyRobbinsVEVO
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Big changes are afoot at my former place of employment! I wish my colleagues at the Linda Hall Library the best of luck finding a new leader committed to growing & maintaining its print collections and supporting scholarship that bridges the divide between STEM & the humanities. #histsci #histSTM
lindahall.org
The Linda Hall Announces Leadership Transition
The Board of Trustees announced today that Eric Dorfman, PhD, has resigned as president and CEO, effective this month. Anne C. Dema, PhD, chair of the Board of Trustees, will serve as interim presiden...
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
First the Academy of Natural Sciences, and now the Sternberg Museum of #NaturalHistory. In a better world, leaders would divert some of the money currently being spent on AI or data centers to maintain our libraries, museums, and archives... #histSTM #histsci #STEM #paleontology 🗃️📜📚
kwch.com
Sternberg Museum in Hays to close by year’s end
The president of Fort Hays State University cited a budget shortfall in the closure decision.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
(taps microphone) Are there any #humanities scholars in the audience? Interested in learning more about @ransomcenter.bsky.social's 2027-28 fellowships? Tune into our online information session from 10-11 AM, CDT on Friday, October 9. Register here: events.teams.microsoft.com/event/0fb438... 🗃️📜📚
FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The good news: Registration is now open for @shothisttech.bsky.social's virtual meeting! The bad news: The conference schedule has not been posted. The weird news: SHOT apparently owns a time machine...? Further details: www.historyoftechnology.org/annual-meeti... #histSTM #histtech #STS 🗃️📜⚙️
Update 29 September

Acceptance and rejection emails will be sent by 30 September the latest.

The draft conference schedule will be posted here on Wednesday 30 September.

Registration is now open.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"You got history in my engineering!" "You got engineering in my history!" Two great tastes that go great together... #HistTech #STS 🗃️📜⚙️ #histSTM #EngineeringStudies
static.klipy.com
Reeses Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups Oops
ALT: Reeses Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups Oops
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
"The wireless I knew 45 years ago is not the radio of today. The television you know now as pioneers will not be the television of tomorrow." #OnThisDay in 1951, #RCA Labs became the David Sarnoff Research Ctr. & the facility's namesake delivered the speech that gave my book its title. #histSTM 🗃️📜📺
Brig. Gen. David Sarnoff, Chairman of the Board, Radio Corporation of America, speaking today (Thursday, Sept. 27) at ceremonies at Princeton, N.J. commemorating his 45th anniversary in radio. In the rear is the plaque attesting to his contributions to the electronics industry and carrying the announcement of the renaming of the RCA Laboratories at Princeton to the "David Sarnoff Research Center."

PHOTO GRATIS....FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEA new sign confirming that RCA Laboratories officially changed its name to the David Sarnoff Research Center.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Thomas Pennant, everyone's favorite 18th-century Welsh naturalist and antiquarian, would turn 300 this year! Now you can peruse a set of newly digitized letters and catalogs of his collections, courtesy of @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social. #histSTM #histsci 🗃️📜 #NatHist #NaturalHistory
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Exciting news from Cambridge, where the long-lost, original model of the USS Enterprise is about to go on display at the MIT Museum! (This is the one featured in the opening credits, not the larger studio model at the Smithsonian.) Details: mitmuseum.mit.edu/announcement... #StarTrek #scifi 🗃️📜🖖
The rediscovered original 33” model of the Starship Enterprise prior to restoration. Courtesy of Heritage Auctions/HA.com.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Yesterday was the start of fall here in Austin, but temperatures will remain in the 90s for the rest of the week. Guy Hansen, one of @ransomcenter.bsky.social's recent fellows, found a 19th c. cartoon in our collections showing another extreme climate event. www.instagram.com/p/Ddmpn0RCS0... 🗃️📜
George Cruikshank, "Gambols on the River Thames" (1814)George Cruikshank, "Gambols on the River Thames" (1814)
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
🎶Splinter taught them to paint detailed scenes... John Millais leads While Rossetti does machines. Collinson is cool but rude William Holman Hunt is a party dude!🎶 #ArtHistory #TMNT 🎨
The TMNT logo generator strikes again! (The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood)

http://glench.com/tmnt/
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Today at 1 PM, EDT (noon, CDT)! www.chstm.org/group/histor... #histSTM #histtech 🗃️📜⚙️
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Happy birthday to @aaas.org! The American Association for the Advancement of Sci. was established #OnThisDay in 1848. Its first meeting was held at the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia. (Another reason it shouldn't close...) More info: www.aaas.org/news/aaas-ce... #histSTM #histsci 🗃️📜
Objects and Rules
of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Adopted at Philadelphia, Sept. 20, 1848

1. Objects
The Society shall be called the AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. The objects of the Association are, by periodical & migratory meetings to promote intercourse between those who are cultivating Science in different parts of the United States, to give a stornger and more general impulse, and a more systematic direction to scientific research in our country; and to procure for the labours of scientific men, increased facilities and a wider usefulness.”
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Q: Which former U.S. President was trapped in an elevator at the University of Pennsylvania's main library on #TalkLikeAPirateDay in 1984? A: Gerald Arrrrrr Ford #LibraryLife #DadJoke #BadPun 🏴‍☠️
A sign in an elevator that reads:

On the 19th day
of September, 1984
Former U.S. President
Gerald R. Ford
was temporarily trapped
in this elevator.

Van Pelt-Dietrich
Library Center
(Image courtesy of Penn Libraries)
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Looks like someone is courting the elusive Kree vote in this year's midterms... #CaptainMarvel #SupremeIntelligence
Captain Marvel and Rick Jones stand before the Supreme Intelligence in a panel from Captain Marvel #41 (Nov. 1975)

SI: THE SUPREME INTELLIGENCE HAS BEEN EXPECTING YOU!
CM: Honor is ours, Supremor--that you would take notice of two such as we! In fact, it was your curious intervention in Rick's battle against Annihilus* taht brought us back to Hala.
RJ: That, and some bad news we've got for ya!
SI: NEWS? WHAT COULD BE NEWS TO THE GREATEST KREE MINDS FROM THOUSANDS OF CENTUREIS--PRESERVED FOREVER AS ONE COLLECTED WILL--AND UNDISPUTED URLER OF A THOUSAND THOUSAND WORLDS?

* CM #35 --M

Image source: https://50yearoldcomics.com/2025/08/30/captain-marvel-41-november-1975/
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
"There's a reason there's a banana in my ear. I'm trying to lure the monkey out of my head..." In honor of Gerrit Graham, please enjoy these clips featuring everyone's favorite GOP governor of New York & aspiring Secretary of Balloon Doggies, Franklin Sherman! #TheCritic #RIPGerritGraham 📺
youtube.com
Best of Franklin Sherman from The Critic (Jay's Dad)
YouTube video by dsargent724
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
History of science & #BookHistory friends: What was the size of the initial print run of Hooke's Micrographia? (I've frequently seen the 1st edition referred to as a bestseller, but haven't found a source that confirms how many copies the Royal Society commissioned...) #HistSTM #histsci 🗃️📜🔬
Robert Hooke, Micrographia, Schema XXXIV (The Flea)
Image source: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/apr/22/big-tick-energy-how-a-humble-flea-kickstarted-british-art
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Scott Sandage @scottsandage.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
#ThatFeelingWhen you’ve got 26 original printings of The Columbian Orator, enough to put one into the hands of each student as you begin teaching how #FrederickDouglass taught himself #HowToRead and #SpeakTruthToPower
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Harry #Houdini was history's most famous magician, but did you know he was also a book collector? Learn more tonight as @ecolleary.bsky.social discusses his new book, Houdini's Library. Join us @ransomcenter.bsky.social at 6 PM, CDT or watch the livestream below! www.eventbrite.com/e/author-rea...
youtube.com
Eric Colleary - Houdini’s Library (2026)
YouTube video by Harry Ransom Center
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
For those who missed it, @amertrustbl.bsky.social has posted a recording of last night's conversation b/w @cnlibrarian.bsky.social & Philip Palmer. Highly recommended for anyone interested in #OscarWilde, the #MorganLibrary, exhibition design, or public memory surrounding 9/11. #booksky 🗃️📜📚
vimeo.com
“Where there is sorrow, there is holy ground”: Oscar Wilde in NY on 9/11
September 16, 2026 To mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11, Christine Nelson, in conversation with Philip Palmer, recalls one of the British Library’s most significant transatlantic partnerships: the ex...
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
My colleagues know I'm interested in #histSTM, so they bring stuff like this to my office. I have so many questions! 1) Was @ransomcenter.bsky.social once home to UT's Health Sci. Collection? 2) Were we actively collecting #histmed in the 1960s...& when did we stop? 3) Where are these books now? 📜🗃️
A nearly full three-ring binder listing the contents of the Health Sciences Collection (University of Texas / History of Science Collection 1969)
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
#ICYMI: Tonight @amertrustbl.bsky.social is hosting a conversation b/w @cnlibrarian.bsky.social & Philip Palmer about an Oscar Wilde exhibition that opened at the Morgan Library in September 2001. #RareBooks #SpecColls #BookSky 🗃️📜📚
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
"Puppet? Why so? Ay, that way goes the game..." -Hermia (Act III, Scene 2) Holding out hope this will inspire a future @folger.edu exhibition... #Muppets #Shakespeare 🗃️
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
History of science friends: Would you describe Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522-1605) as a *medieval* natural historian? Because that's what my former institution's recent social media post seems to be saying... (At least they didn't call him a biologist!) #histSTM #histsci 🗃️📜
Portrait of Ulisse Aldrovandi
From his Ornithologiae (1599)
WHICH ALDROVANDI MEDIEVAL SERPENT ARE YOU TODAY?
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
One week from today: CHSTM's History of Tech. working group kicks off its 2026-27 calendar by hosting a conversation w/Hyungsub Choi & Timothy Stoneman--the incoming editors of History+Technology! Join us on Zoom on Sep. 22 from 1-2:30 PM, EDT: www.chstm.org/group/histor... #histSTM #histtech 🗃️📜⚙️
Portrait of Hyungsub Choi holding a cat.
https://x.com/STHistorianPortrait of Timothy Stoneman
https://hsoc.gatech.edu/people/person/timothy-stoneman
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
🎶The stars at night, Are big and bright... 🎶👏👏👏👏 (Looking forward to my first-ever visit to McDonald Observatory in a few weeks....) #astronomy #astrophotography 🔭
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
"It’s not an invisibility cloak,” Preuß says. “Surveillance aims to capture your identity, and fashion is about expressing your identity. We’re making clothing that people can wear to make a statement about the importance of privacy in a digital world.”
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"In the morning, I walked out barefoot Among thousands of flowers Heavy with dew like the eyes of tears, And each had a name--" Today's lunch read: "The Names," a poem by Billy Collins dedicated to the victims of September 11 & their survivors allpoetry.com/poem/1432718... #poetry #booksky 🗃️📜📚
Typescript pages annotated by Billy Collins of his poem “The Names,” which commemorates victims of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Collins read the poem before a special joint session of Congress on September 6, 2002.

Harry Ransom Center
University of Texas at Austin


(the title of the poem is)
The Names 
(and it is dedicated to the victims of September 11th and their survivors)

Yesterday, I lay awake in the palm of the night.
A soft rain stole in, unhelped by any breeze,
And when I saw the silver glaze on the windows,
I started with A, with Ackerman, as it happened,
Then Baxter and Calabro,
Davis and Eberling, names falling into place
As droplets fell through the dark.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
My friend Carin Berkowitz was recently diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) & is now searching for a liver donor. If you are blood type O (+/-) & healthy, you could be a match. Please spread the word & help her beat liver cancer! givealiver.com #CancerSucks #skystorians #histsci #histSTM
Carin Berkowitz poses for a photo with her daughter Celia after running a marathon earlier this year. Carin is wearing orange sneakers, her race bib, and a purple lanyard reading "2026 marathon." She is carrying a bouquet of flowers. Celia is holding a poster with a large message ("GO MOMMY!") surrounded by several smaller 26.2s. Carin and Celia are standing in front of a tiled archway embedded in a wall with a mural. (I'm not sure of the precise location...)
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Reposted by Ben Gross
Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Really nice coverage in the inquirer of our rally to keep the academy of natural sciences open. Br sure to read the part where 10 year ago old Ryan Sumner-Lee is quoted. share.inquirer.com/ZP7zHY
share.inquirer.com
Hundreds rally to protest the planned closure of the Academy of Natural Sciences museum
The crowd was decidedly intergenerational.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
"After all, a library serves no purpose unless someone is using it." -Mr. Atoz, All Our Yesterdays In honor of the show's 60th anniversary, here are a few Star Trek-related items from @ransomcenter.bsky.social's collections. #StarTrek #StarTrek60 #StarTrekDay #LLAP #scifi 🖖 🗃️ 📜
Jon Lovitz and William Shatner pose for a photo after "The Restaurant Enterprise" sketch on Dec. 20, 1986. Lorne Michaels Collection, Box 695.

Harry Ransom Center
University of Texas at AustinHarlan Ellison, The City on the Edge of Forever (c. 1966). Harry Ransom Center Book Collection; PS 3555 L62 C579 1966.

Harry Ransom Center
University of Texas at AustinDavid Gerrold, The Trouble with Tribbles (New York: Ballantine Books, 1973). Harry Ransom Center Book Collection;PS 3557 E69 T76.

Harry Ransom Center
University of Texas at AustinStar Trek II Exhibit D storyboards (c. 1982). Thomas Smith Papers, Box 17.

Harry Ransom Center
University of Texas at Austin
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Reposted by Ben Gross
Sarah McAnulty, Ph.D. @sarahmackattack.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
So we want to livestream the rally tomorrow from the Save The Academy instagram account, but the accounts needs 1000 followers to allow livestreaming. Please please please can everyone go follow this instagram account? www.instagram.com/savetheacade...
instagram.com
Instagram
Create an account or log in to Instagram - Share what you're into with the people who get you.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Did #Galileo design a four-lens telescope at some point before 1630? In a new Annals of Science article, José María Moreno Madrid examines a treatise by Spanish friar Ignacio Muñoz that hints at that possibility. www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.... #histSTM #histastro #astronomy #ScholarSunday 🗃️📜🔭
Excerpt from De Tellescopiis Stellarum by Dominican firar Ignacio Muñoz.

**Latin text**
De Tellescopiis Stellarum
156] Anno 1666 in civitate Mexicana die 8 Augusti Pro RexNovae Hispaniae D. Antonio de Toledo, Marchio de Manseramihi accommodavit Tellescopium fabricatum a Galilaeocuius fabricam examinavi, ut videre est in sequentibusproportionibus, et mensuris. Constat specillis 4. Primumspecillum lenticulare ut in .A. cuius semidiameter .A.B. etlunula eius .C. Exterior. Et .C.D. circellus, seu annulusretinens lunulam.Haec approximatur oculo, sed oculus ponitur in .E.respiciens per parvum foramen quasi pupilla oculi distat avitro .A. distantia .E.A.Secundum specillum omnino aequale est primo .C. et eiussemidiameter .A.F. quam etiam (re exactius examinata)judico esse veram semidiametrum primi specilli. Distatsecunda luna a prima quanta est linea sequens.G. Hic lunasecunda est lenticularis.

**English translation**
On the Telescopes of the Stars
156] On August 8, 1666, in Mexico City, the viceroy of NewSpain D. Antonio de Toledo, Marquis of Mancera, handed mea telescope fabricated by Galileo, the construction of which Iexamined, as can be seen in the following proportions andmeasurements. It consists of four lenses. The first lens islenticular, as in .A., whose semi-diameter is .A.B., and itscurved surface (lunula) is .C. – exterior – and .C.D. is thesmall ring holding the lens surface (lunula).It is brought close to the eye, but the eye is set at .E., lookingthrough a small hole about the size of the pupil. The eye isdistant from the glass .A. the distance .E.A.The second lens is entirely the same as the first .C. andits semidiameter is .A.F., which, upon closer examination,I judge to be the true semidiameter of the first lens.The second lens is as distant from the first as the length ofthe following line .G. This second lens is lenticular.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Pretty sure this is my all-time best #MapTap score… www.maptap.gg September 6 94🏅 100🎯 100🎯 100🎯 97🔥 Final score: 985
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Boosting the signal for all my Philly friends! (Especially those of you who care about #NaturalHistory, #histsci, #scicomm, or #museums...)
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Glad to learn that city & state leaders are trying to keep the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, even though it appears Drexel is abandoning its long-time home on the Ben Franklin Parkway. 6abc.com/post/philade... #museums #histsci #scicomm
6abc.com
Philadelphia leaders work to preserve Academy of Natural Sciences as museum prepares to close
The effort is focused on preserving the academy's research, education and public engagement missions, according to David Cohen, an attorney and former U.S. ambassador to Canada who has joined the effo...
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Reposted by Ben Gross
Prof Gavin Yamey MD MPH @gavinyamey.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
A devastating pattern San Francisco’s legendary, world class California Academy of Sciences, in Golden Gate Park, just laid off 53 people, whose jobs will now be done by AI I don’t think AI can do content creation & exhibit design for natural sciences FFS! www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/open...
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Question for #histSTM, #histsci & #scicomm friends: Once the Academy of Natural Sciences closes its galleries, what institution will take its place as the oldest natural history museum in the United States? whyy.org/articles/aca... #Museums #MuseumSky #NaturalHistory 🗃️📜
whyy.org
The Academy of Natural Sciences museum in Philly is closing
The Academy will continue scientific research and public education, but its museum will go the way of the dinosaur.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Happy 250th birthday, America! To celebrate the occasion, we're closing your oldest natural history museum. www.nbcphiladelphia.com/news/local/a... #scicomm #Philadelphia
nbcphiladelphia.com
Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University to close museum on Sept. 30
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University will close its museum in Philadelphia on Sept. 30, 2026, NBC10 confirmed.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
A shocking moment in the history of American science... (Also personally devastating: The Academy was my childhood natural history museum!) #histsci #histSTM #museums
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
“What matters in literature in the end is surely the idiosyncratic, the individual, the flavor or the color of a particular human suffering...” #ICYMI: @ransomcenter.bsky.social has acquired the papers of literary critic & author Harold Bloom! www.hrc.utexas.edu/press/releas... #booksky 🗃️📚📜
Photograph of Harold Bloom taken in 1986 by Bernard Gotfryd.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
Tonight's cooking experiment: Sous vide ribeye steak with steamed baby broccoli and sautéed shiitake mushrooms. (As you might imagine, everything was delicious!) #Cooking #Foodsky
A fork with a piece of perfectly cooked steak in front of a dinner plate containing the rest of the steak, steamed baby broccoli, and sautéed shiitake mushrooms.
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Statler & Waldorf: 🎶Why do we always come here? I guess we'll never know...🎶 Uatu: 🎶Perhaps the better question is "What if you skipped the show?"🎶 [Variant cover for Fantastic Four #17, drawn by Giuseppe Camuncoli, HT @muppetpictures.bsky.social] #Muppets #Marvel #WhatIf #comics
Cover art for Fantastic Four #17 by Giuseppe Camuncoli.
Statler and Waldorf sit in their traditional booth while Uatu looks on. He wishes that he could also heckle that evening's performances, but he has sworn an oath never to interfere...only to observe!
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
In other news, the University of Manchester, where Rutherford conducted some of his most important experiments, has just joined the Consortium for History of Science, Technology & Medicine: www.chstm.org/news/univers... #histSTM #histsci 🗃️📜
chstm.org
University of Manchester Joins Consortium | Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Ernest Rutherford, the New Zealand-born physicist who confirmed the existence of the atomic nucleus & namesake of Element #104, was born #OnThisDay in 1871. His coat of arms features a quote from Lucretius: Primordia Quaerere Rerum (To seek the first principles of things) #histSTM #physics 🗃️📜⚛️
Element 104 (Rutherfordium), featuring a photograph of its namesake.

Image source: https://periodictable.com/Elements/104/index.htmlCoat of Arms of Ernest Rutherford

Per saltire arched Gules and Or, two inescutcheons
voided of the first in fess,  within each a martlet Sable.
Crest:  A baron's coronet.  On a helm wreathed of the Colors,
a kiwi Proper.  Mantling:   Or and Gules.
Supporters:   Dexter,  Hermes Trismegistus  (patron saint
of knowledge and alchemists).   Sinister,  a Maori warrior.
Motto:   Primordia Quaerere Rerum
("To seek the first principles of things."   Lucretius.)
Below the motto, the cross of the Order of Merit (hanging on a ribbon from the shield).

Image source: https://www.numericana.com/arms/rutherford.htm
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
This counts as #histastro, right? 🔭
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Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Today I learned that Malta has a larger population than Iceland! According to Wikipedia... 🇮🇸 : 394,324 (2026 census) 🇲🇹 : 588,254 (2025 census)
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