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Paul Ranford

@paulranford.bsky.social
98 followers 108 following 537 posts

UK-based independent scholar, historian of science, finance manager, business studies lecturer. Retired from paid work (apart from occasional lectures). Antiquarian. Came to Hist of Science late but picked up degrees (BA, MSc, MPhil) along the way #oddmix

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Reposted by Paul Ranford
Becca Harrison @beccaeharrison.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
If I were running a university where staff spent weeks and weeks of time putting grant proposals together only for UKRI to feed them into LLMs without informed consent—effectively theft of the time and work—I’d be taking serious action to defend those staff. But I’m not running a university, so
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Matthew L. Jones @nescioquid.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Amazing postdoc opportunity in history of modern mathematics at IAS surrounded by excellent mathematicians, historians of science, and STS scholars. www.math.ias.edu/~akshay/hist...
math.ias.edu
Postdoctoral Scholar, History of Modern Mathematics | Institute for Advanced Study
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Aparna Nair @disabilitystor1.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
if you are reviewing an unpublished manuscript and you have the sheer unmitigated audacity, cheek, gall and laziness to upload it into an LLM to generate a review, let me tell you, you should be shunned and tarred and feathered
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Jane @localnotail.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Solidarity with this Piddington resident ♥️✊ #Newsnight
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Sober* and accurate assessment of the state of discussions between USA and Canada. * Ok, it carries a *touch* of Australian flamboyance. I almost wet myself. Should be read by everybody in the States. There’s a helpful glossary at the bottom.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Through a colander, darkly
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Kevin Mitchell @wiringthebrain.bsky.social · 06/08/2026
I just had an immediate "Ooh, I want this!" reaction and all my unread books are like "Dude..." 😅
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Rebekah Higgitt @rhiggitt.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
This seems to amount to saving funding for research by cutting it for the instruments and facilities that provide the necessary data.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Ignore all the anti-Guardian responses from those who would prefer you to read the Mail. This is a very heartwarming story.
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Celine Camps @celinecamps.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
🚨 Amazing #EarlyModern research degree opportunity: The University of Melbourne (Australia) is looking for a Ph.D Candidate who will work as part of an ARC-funded project on "The History of the Hourglass” (c. 1300-1600) ⏳ 🔗 More Info: shorturl.at/3NoNq #HistSTM
findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au
Histories of the Hourglass : Find an Expert : The University of Melbourne
<p> <span>Applications are invited for a PhD position as part of the Australian Research Council funded project The History of the Hourglass.</span> </p> <p> <span>This PhD research opportunity forms part of a project that undertakes the first history of the hourglass from its origins c.1300 through to its global circulation in the sixteenth century. The most precise time-measurement device of its era, the hourglass changed the course of history through its role in maritime travel, scientific experiments and everyday time management. It transformed time into a silent, interior flow crucial to a wide range of cultural projects: in Cairo classrooms or alchemical labs; in the cook’s kitchen or preacher’s pulpit. Alongside its critical intervention in the history of time, the project seeks to pioneer new scientific methods for analysing these fragile objects, with major benefits for their conservation in Australian and international collections.</span> </p> <p> <span>Applicants with the following background are particularly encouraged to apply:</span> </p> <ul> <li> <span>An undergraduate or master’s degree with a specialisation in medieval and/or early modern studies</span> </li> <li> <span>Proficiency in one or more languages other than English, with preference for German, Latin, French, Italian, Spanish or Portuguese</span> </li> <li>Awareness of current methods in the history of material and visual culture. </li> </ul> <p> <strong><span>Eligibility</span></strong> </p> <p> <span>Applicants must satisfy the minimum entry requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy-Arts at the University of Melbourne and demonstrate strong research ability and potential.</span> </p> <p> <span>Applicants will normally have completed a master’s degree or an Australian honours degree (or equivalent) that includes a thesis subject, with academic results equivalent to a University of Melbourne H1 standard. This generally means achieving at least 80% overall and 80% in the thesis or major research component.</span> <br> <br> <span>Applicants must review the Doctor of Philosophy (Arts) entry requirements before submitting an Expression of Interest.</span> </p> <p> <a href="https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/courses/dr-philart/entry-participation-requirements" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>https://handbook.unimelb.edu.au/courses/dr-philart/entry-participation-requirements</span> </a> </p> <p> <strong><span>How to apply</span></strong> </p> <p> <span>Expressions of Interest close <strong>Monday 21 September at 1700 (Melbourne time).</strong></span> </p> <p> <span>To apply, click the <strong><em>‘Submit Expressions of Interest’</em></strong> button at the top or bottom of this advertisement.</span> </p> <p> <span>Upload the following three documents as part of your Expression of Interest:</span> </p> <ol> <li> <span><strong>Academic transcripts</strong> for all completed or in-progress tertiary study</span> </li> <li> <strong>A one-page project description</strong> outlining a proposed research project examining the history of the hourglass between 1300 and 1600CE </li> <li> <strong>A current resume.</strong> Applicants are encouraged to use the Faculty’s resume template [<a href="https://go.unimelb.edu.au/otz2">https://go.unimelb.edu.au/otz2</a>]. Before uploding, please append to the end of the resume <strong>a 500-word statement</strong> describing your intellectual interests in the history of temporalities and material culture. </li> </ol> <p> <em>Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted and invited to interview. </em><br> <br> <span>Applicants who are successful at the Expression of Interest stage will be invited to submit a formal application for admission to the Doctor of Philosophy- Arts. An invitation to submit a full application does not guarantee admission or the award of a scholarship.</span> </p> <p> <span>For further information about the application process, please visit the Faculty of Arts Graduate Research applications webpage.</span> </p> <p> <a href="https://arts.unimelb.edu.au/study/graduate-research" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><span>https://arts.unimelb.edu.au/study/graduate-research</span> </a> </p>
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Thony Christie @rmathematicus.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Multi-talent Robert Hooke, who launched microscopy, was born 18 July 1635 #histsci #histtech thonyc.wordpress.com/2013/07/18/m...
thonyc.wordpress.com
Making the indiscernible visible: Robert Hooke’s Micrographia
The seventeenth century polymath Robert Hooke, who was born 17th  18th July 1635, is a complex and problematic figure in the history of science. Undoubtedly immensely talented and endlessly ingenio…
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
A delightful story. And poor Clement.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
Clacton, I don’t ask you for much, in fact nothing ever at all. Just this one thing, please Clacton. You know what to do.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
Wholly agree with this. You want a better BBC, constant complainers? FUND IT BETTER.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 11/06/2026
It is the middle of English June. A couple of weeks ago sleeping in nothings on top of the sheets was still uncomfortably warm. Today I am in my well-insulated home, had a piping hot soup for lunch, am wearing three layers including a medium-gauge woollen pullover and am still cold.
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 06/06/2026
Wasting China’s solar panel surplus is madness ft.trib.al/AHYlVPo | opinion
ft.trib.al
Wasting China’s solar panel surplus is madness
Clean power is within our reach — yet factories sit idle
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
As on many issues, I stand foursquare with Ian Dunt on this. Farage is a disgusting example of humanity with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
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Guy Sechrist, PhD @guysechrist.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
networks.h-net.org/jobs/70053/h...
networks.h-net.org
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens - Curator of Early Printed Books | H-Net
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 30/05/2026
If only there were a way, in modern times, of checking these statistics to reveal that they are utter tripe. Before posting, say?
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Pratchett is in no danger of being lost around here, I have a shelf full for re-reading every few years. He is erudite, wise and *properly* amusing, in a laugh-out-loud-and-can’t-stifle-the-giggles sort of way, and that is just so great. If you are not into Discworld, get into it.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
Also a mathematician, oceanographer, architect, systematiser, coiner of the words “scientist” and “physicist”, northerner. One of the last and great polymaths. What’s not to like?
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 23/05/2026
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 20/05/2026
I retired from a job I loved over two years ago. Yes, retirement has been and is good. To be generally the case however, certain desiderata must be permanently in place - a solid home life and a continuing income that meets all simple needs being the main elements. These are not small asks.
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UCL Science and Technology Studies (STS) @stsucl.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
We’re hiring! We are recruiting for a Lectureship in Global History of Science to join our Department from September 2026. For more info and to apply, please visit: bit.ly/3R94V58 Closing Date: 9th June 2026 #WeAreSTS #Science #Historyofscience #Globalscience
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 19/05/2026
Never thought I would be very interested in a podcast about show business (broadly defined) but *The Rest is Entertainment* (Marina Hyde and Richard Osman) is the best pod by a mile and that’s not up for discussion. Full of wit, knowledge, solid good sense and intolerance only for the intolerant.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
One of the unforeseen problems caused by some years of collecting 18th century literature is an inability, on first attempt in modern script, to apprehend the word “chafed”.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
I wish I had put it like this in discussion with a particular reviewer of my first published paper. Rather than caving in 😞
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David Veevers @davidveevers.bsky.social · 15/04/2026
A lot of history as a practice is reinterpreting stuff that is well known, but every now and then you get to research and write about stuff that is genuinely unknown or certainly little known and you feel like you're actually tangibly adding to our collective knowledge of the past. It's thrilling.
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Dan Immergluck @danimmergluck.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Brutal.
A WHOLE CIVILIZATION
WILL DIE TONIGHT
My son needs lunch, and I have to put his backpack together, but a whole civilization will die tonight, so I'm wondering if they've closed their schools.
Like, a snow day, maybe, except instead of snow it's
"keep your children home so if you die, you die together" — instead of "well open back up once the plows have cleared" it's
"we don't know if we'll be here tomorrow, hold your babies tight."
It's just "talk" I'm told, which I've been told before.
"It's how the president makes his deals." But I've never heard anyone talk about other human beings this way, and I'm not certain I can look my son in the eyes if we all agree to stomach it one more time.
A civilization will die tonight, but as I zip up his backpack and kiss him off to school I think: if this is what we call leadership then I'm not entirely sure ours isn't already dead.
@michaelfdubois
Mukad A QuBoy
@michacifdubois
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Ashley Allen @phlashman.uk · 04/04/2026
I’m afraid all us electric car drivers are going to be unbearably smug whilst petrol prices go up we’re getting paid to fill up.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c05d6pprd… This is how I want my news presented by every single journalist in future, good news or bad. Clappy hands especially.
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Leeds Centre for the History and Philosophy of Science @hpsleeds.bsky.social · 30/03/2026
MA funding for 2026/7 is available now in the school of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science at Leeds ahc.leeds.ac.uk/philosophy/n...
ahc.leeds.ac.uk
MA Funding in the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science
The School is pleased to announce that it has several funding opportunities available for taught Masters students for 2026-27 entry, in addition to the many offered by the University more generally.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 26/03/2026
How very lovely 🥰
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 23/03/2026
Fabulous. Read this. NB Not comedy, although definitely laugh-making.
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Museums Association @museumsassociation.org · 18/03/2026
Opportunity | Become our new Policy Officer 👤 We're looking for a part-time policy officer (22.5 hours per week) to play a leading role in developing our policy and campaigns work. Scroll/tap to find out more 👇
museumsassociation.org
Opportunity | Become our new Policy Officer - Museums Association
We're looking for someone to play a leading role in developing our policy and campaigns work
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Alisa Bokulich @alisabokulich.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Submissions (< 10,000 words) invited for 2026 Du Châtelet Prize in Philosophy of Physics. Topic Celebrating 300th anniversary of 3rd ed. Newton’s Principia. www.duchateletprize.org Winner will receive $1000, workshop & SHPS pub Open to grad students & w/in 5 yrs PhD Deadline September 1, 2026 #HPS
Portrait of Emile Du Chatelet at desk with books, compass, armillary sphere (source: Wiki)Titlepage and frontispiece of the third edition Newton's Principia (source Wiki)
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Jon Agar @jonagar.bsky.social · 05/03/2026
We have a 4-year AHRC-funded PhD studentship on 'Rescue curation of space heritage' advertised! Supervision by me, space scientist Lucie Green (@luciegreen.bsky.social), and curators of space and engineering at the Science Museum, Doug Millard and Ben Russell www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
findaphd.com
AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship – ‘Urgent rescue curation of space heritage in a time of world crisis’ with The Science Museum Group and University College London at Universi...
PhD Project - AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Partnership (CDP) studentship – ‘Urgent rescue curation of space heritage in a time of world crisis’ with The Science Museum Group and University College Lond...
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Ian Dunt @iandunt.bsky.social · 23/02/2026
These people are poison. They will unleash racist thugs on the streets of this country and call it security. They will subjugate us to the US and call it patriotism. They must be stopped. There is no more important task in politics.
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Jon Agar @jonagar.bsky.social · 19/02/2026
I’d like to apologise for my university’s craven actions, failing to defend staff and throwing the rest of the UK university sector under the bus on this issue. UCL had the resources others do not have to fight this properly in court.
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Dr_Aust_PhD @draustphd.bsky.social · 15/02/2026
It is utterly extraordinary that one of the UK's greatest engines of soft power has to scrabble about with the begging bowl like this. 'With just seven wks before its funding runs out, the UK’s greatest cultural asset and most trusted international news organisation must be supported.' 100% this.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
This is appalling. Measles, an often injurious and sometimes fatal yet wholly and safely preventable disease, ffs. We’re not even a proper grownup country any more.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
Exactly so. The BBC World Service is surely the preferred radio station for anybody seeking to keep abreast of global affairs. Clear, eloquent, diverse, balanced. It really mustn’t be lost.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
In real terms, ##1-10 will be ignored *in toto*.
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Financial Times @financialtimes.com · 30/01/2026
Help make the world financially literate ft.trib.al/4BMD30a | opinion
ft.trib.al
Help make the world financially literate
The FT’s campaign has reached thousands of schools and with your help can reach many more
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
Not even mentioning that the Baltic States plus Finland could probably roll the Russians right back before we got our boots on.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
Agree with all of this. Especially the last line.
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Sarah Murphy @13sarahmurphy.bsky.social · 27/12/2025
“None of us can guess how the Trump assault on the BBC will play out, because he wields unprecedented power, unchecked by personal dignity or decency.” No. We can’t. But we can condemn forever the repulsive British politicians and media gobshites who would side with him instead of us.
We must back BBC to the hilt against Trump
Assault on the broadcaster is part of wider game to discredit any news source that is not sympathetic to the president

Extracts:


.
Since Trumps inauguration,
national leaders on this side of the Atlantic, including Sir Keir Starmer, have displayed extreme caution in response to American insults and hostile acts. They strive to avert a high noon with the most powerful man on earth.
This is probably necessary. Trump is spoiling for a fight with Europe, not least in his impatience to complete the betrayal of Ukraine.
Yet none of us, and especially our government, should display indifference to his assaults on both US and foreign media organisations.
He identifies the interests of himself and of America with its tech giants, and fights every attempt to restrain their excesses. He is frustrating regulation of Al, even to the point of promoting legislation to prevent states from introducing their own restraining measures. Magas standard-bearers denounce efforts to prevent social media from publishing falsehoods, libels and hate messages as "attacks on free speech". This week five British citizens campaigning for regulation of social media content were denied US visas, after the Trump administration alleged that they were seeking to censor tech companies. Tech investors are pouring hundreds of millions into supporting anti-regulation candidates for next year's midterm elections. 

None of us can guess how the Trump assault on the BBC will play out, because he wields unprecedented power, unchecked by personal dignity or decency. We should merely recognise that if he is successful in taming or suppressing liberal media at home and abroad, the world as well as the US will become a darker place.
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 07/12/2025
If the implied answer to the question “Can we ever understand…etc?” Is “No”, what is the point of asking the question?
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Paul Ranford @paulranford.bsky.social · 05/12/2025
#WorldCupDraw I could have organised this better meself and been down the pub by now. Heidi, you’re with me. Or Nicole. Up to you.
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Leila Belkora PhD, astrophysics @leilabelkora.bsky.social · 02/12/2025
While I was writing under deadline pressure, I left little notes to myself. I’m trying to clean up my desk now, and so far have found these notes are either a) unimportant, b) unintelligible, or c) absolutely vital pieces of information I’d left out of the manuscript. It’s quite nerve-wracking.
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