Sign in

Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD

@tiffanynichols.bsky.social
1.9K followers 378 following 44 posts

LSST-DA Catalyst Faculty Fellow History of Astrophysics, Physics, and Science + Environmental History.

PostsRepliesMedia
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 02/02/2026
#histstm colleagues. Please send recs for journals covering the intersection of history of science and law, but the target audience is historians of science, legal historians (who are interested in science), and policymakers who use #histstm to inform their decisions. Thank you!
242
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 25/09/2025
Heads up, #humanities scholars! @ransomcenter.bsky.social is hosting an online info session about our 2026-27 research fellowships. Join me & Tracy Bonfitto next Thursday (Oct. 2) at 9 AM, CDT for details about our collections & application process. events.teams.microsoft.com/event/ad72fe... 🗃️📜📚
Social media graphic promoting the Harry Ransom Center's fellowship program. A photograph of a fellow reading a postcard is surrounded by a blue frame with white text ("FELLOWSHIP APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN") on each side.
1189
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 26/08/2025
This is tough news. Rai touched so many lives and cultivated a new way of knowing the universe! As I was working on my PhD, he answered every email--literally, was incredibly generous with his time, a huge supporter of the history of science, and so much more.
nytimes.com
Rainer Weiss, Who Gave a Nod to Einstein and the Big Bang, Dies at 92
070
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Trevor Owens @tjowens.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Great read for anyone interested in relationships between big science projects, science policy, and land/landscapes.
061
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 22/08/2025
Huge thank you to AIP (@aip.bsky.social) History and Rebecca Charbonneau (@rebeccacharbon.bsky.social) for spotlighting my latest article! 🤩 #ligo #physics #history #histstem
3186
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 13/08/2025
Finding sites for precision instruments, especially in LIGO's case, is no easy task. My article on LIGO's consideration of placing part of their broadband gravitational wave detector in the Blueberry Barrens of Maine is now available in @isisjournal.bsky.social! #histstem #hps #gravitationalwaves
journals.uchicago.edu
University of Chicago Press Journals: Cookie absent
3257
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Kathryn Olesko @kathrynolesko.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Thanks to Donald Salisbury for the invitation to write a piece on the crisis in American science for the APS FHPP Newsletter. This time I interviewed four colleagues on their areas of expertise. My heartfelt thanks to all. higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com/APS/fc77d112...
higherlogicdownload.s3.amazonaws.com
042
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 05/08/2025
Check out Kathy's post raising issues around science in the USA and current policy climate. She reached out for comment on my thoughts on the LIGO array, which is spread across two sites that work together as a single broadband gravitational wave detector. #physics #sciencepolicy
034
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Kathryn Olesko @kathrynolesko.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
I ask my new + old followers to circulate this open access roundtable onAmerican science. Please repost! We in the USA are losing our lead in scientific research due to totalitarian tendencies in the current administration. This loss will affect all of us. journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/...
journals.sagepub.com
The crisis in American science - Kathryn M. Olesko, Anthony Eames, Cyrus C. M. Mody, Ilana Löwy, Thomas Zeller, Mark Walker, Mitchell G. Ash, Donna Haraway, 2025
The second regime of Donald J. Trump has decimated federal science and federally supported science to a greater degree than his first regime, unleashing an unpr...
46049
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 20/06/2025
Check out the Humans of LIGO blog! Provides an inside look at the amazing LIGO community! It has been a dream to study the history of the amazing endeavor that is LIGO and those who founded, foster, and research in the LIGO Scientific Community! Thanks so much for featuring me! #gravitationalwaves
1216
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
LIGO Scientific Collaboration @ligo.org · 05/06/2025
LIGO and Virgo will resume observing on 11 June joined by KAGRA! All four kilometre-scale gravitational-wave detectors will observe at the same time! Our observing run (O4) has been extended to run until 18 November 2025 and we look forward to many discoveries ligo.org/ligo-virgo-k... ☄️🔭🧪
Aerial views of the LIGO, Virgo and KAGRA detectors

Credit: Caltech/MIT/LIGO Lab; The Virgo collaboration/CCO 1.0; ICRR, Univ. of Tokyo
24017
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Cyrus Mody @ccmmody.bsky.social · 02/06/2025
I have a new article out in Science & Education (journal of the Int'l History, Philosophy & Science Teaching Group) that should eventually be part of a special issue surveying common ground in the recent-ish history of science and science education literatures: link.springer.com/article/10.1...
link.springer.com
Where Do, and Should, Science and Science Education Happen? - Science & Education
Wherever scientific research can be found, science education is usually present too, and vice versa. Moreover, the sites of science and science education often contain much else besides: commerce, bur...
24011
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 05/05/2025
Curious about the process that Dr. Walter Massey (then-Director of the National Science Foundation) used to select LIGO'S Hanford, WA, and Livingston, LA, sites? This talk stems from my extensive research of first impression used to reconstruct this history.
050
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 03/05/2025
Thank you so much for having me! Really enjoyed my visit to the American Institute of Physics!
0143
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 02/05/2025
Nominations for the American Physical Society's Pais Prize for History of Physics are due June 2. The nomination package is a fairly heavy lift, so get cracking! #histsci www.aps.org/funding-reco...
aps.org
Abraham Pais Prize for History of Physics
The American Physical Society is a nonprofit membership organization working to advance physics by fostering a vibrant, inclusive, and global community dedicated to science and society.
024
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 01/05/2025
Happening tomorrow!
0104
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Will Thomas @williamthomas.bsky.social · 16/04/2025
The AIP history, library, and archives teams are excited to launch two new #histsci email newsletters. Our Weekly Edition will offer a short article on the history of the physical sciences and the history community's work. The Monthly is an update on what we're doing at AIP. ww2.aip.org/newsletters
Two images of sign-up boxes for the AIP History Weekly Edition and the AIP History Monthly Update.
084
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 11/04/2025
Really looking forward to this!!! #physics #historyofphysics #histstm
0205
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
HPS @ AAAS @hps-aaas.bsky.social · 27/03/2025
We are delighted to welcome to the AAAS, Section-L ( #HPS ) Steering Committee #histsci @tiffanynichols.bsky.social (as Early Career Representative) & #philsci Wendy Parker (Member-at-Large). Congrats to them both on their election! 🎉 www.aaas.org/sections/his...
Tiffany Nichols faculty page at Northeastern
Assistant Professor of History and Civil and Environmental Engineering; Legacy Surve Space and Time Discovery AllianceFaculty page for Wendy Parker is professor of philosophy at Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on topics in general philosophy of science and philosophy of climate science/meteorology.
0165
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 22/03/2025
Nice seeing colleagues @ the APS Global Summit! Enjoyed presenting my research on the nat'l phase of LIGO's site selection & the important role that experts across physics, engineering, grants, law, & science policy played in determining LIGO's two locations. Abstract: summit.aps.org/events/APR-B...
summit.aps.org
Mini-Symposium: Early History of LIGO
10:45 am – 12:33 pm, Monday March 17, Session APR-B04, Anaheim Marriott, Platinum 3
140
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 18/03/2025
What happens when dams no longer in use are removed? Nature springs back! Great piece for environmental history & history of technology courses--especially thinking about long-term implications of abandoned tech/what remains from tech & industries that have moved on. e360.yale.edu/features/nor...
e360.yale.edu
How Tearing Down Small Dams Is Helping Restore Northeast Rivers
More than 30,000 small dams currently block river tributaries from Maine to Maryland. New initiatives to remove them are aimed at restoring natural flows, improving habitat for aquatic life, and reope...
020
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
American Astronomical Society (AAS) @aas.org · 10/03/2025
The total lunar eclipse of March 13–14 — the first anywhere since 2022 — will be visible across all of North and South America. skyandtelescope.org/press-releas... @skyandtelescope.bsky.social
skyandtelescope.org
Prepare for the March 13-14 Total Lunar Eclipse
The total lunar eclipse of March 13–14 — the first anywhere since 2022 — will be visible across all of North and South America.
0359
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
University of Washington Press @uwapress.uw.edu · 03/03/2025
In this episode of @newbooksnetwork.bsky.social's New Books in Animal Studies, author Dawn Day Biehler discusses her book ANIMATING CENTRAL PARK with Miranda Melcher newbooksnetwork.com/animating-ce...
The book cover of Animating Central Park: A Multispecies History by Dawn Day Biehler features a sepia-toned historical photograph of a woman dressed in early 20th-century attire bending forward and feeding a squirrel in Central Park. The background shows a tree-lined park path with fallen leaves. The title is displayed in bold, yellow and brown block letters, with the subtitle in smaller, dark brown text below. The author's name is in green, and a foreword credit to Paul S. Sutter appears at the bottom.
092
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 01/03/2025
Once again boosting the signal for any #histSTM (or #histsci, #histttech & #histmed) friends in the audience! @contingent-mag.bsky.social is one the few publications that prioritizes the work of historians outside of tenure-track academia. Now you can join their editorial team! #ScholarSaturday 🗃️📜
13726
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 16/01/2025
What was your favorite history book in 2024? For me it was Catherine Dunlop's The Mistral about how the materiality of this regional wind system resisted the establishment of modern French infrastructures (technological, economical, and climate) in Provence.
150
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Really enjoyed the lively conversation tonight at the Yale Hist & Phil of Physics Working Group about my latest article in @hsnatsci.bsky.social on the blurring of field and laboratory with precision instruments like LIGO's interferometers! Article available here: online.ucpress.edu/hsns/article...
online.ucpress.edu
Hidden in Plain Sight: Discerning Signal from Noise in the Expanded Laboratory Environment
What happens when disturbances in precision measurement instruments are indecipherable to physicists despite extensive review of the instruments and their outputs? How do physicists parse instrument o...
1143
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Space Telescope Science Institute @stsci.edu · 10/12/2024
Hubble just celebrated a decade of tracking our solar system’s outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus and Neptune—as seen in this montage of observations taken since 2014. (1/8) 🔭 🧪 🧵
A montage of Hubble views of our solar system’s four giant outer planets: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, taken from 2014 to 2024. From upper left toward the center: The hazy white polar cap on the three teal-colored Uranus images appears more face-on as the planet approaches northern summer. Center-right to far-center right: Three images of the blue planet Neptune show the coming and going of clouds as the Sun’s radiation level changes. Seven views of yellow-brown Saturn stretch across the center of the mosaic in a triangle, showing the tilt of the ring plane relative to the view from Earth. From left to right shows from an oblique angle to nearly edge-on, with colorful changes to bands of clouds in the turbulent atmosphere. Bottom center: Three images of Jupiter spanning nearly a decade form a triangle. Notable changes are seen in Jupiter’s colorful white and brown striped cloud structure. The Great Red Spot, seen at southern latitudes, is prominent in each photo.
19623
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Ariel Ron @arielron.bsky.social · 09/12/2024
Please circulate: CFP for Western History Dissertation Workshop. This is an exceptional chance for advanced grad students working on a western history topic to get feedback from leading scholars in the field and to do it in the Arcadian paradise that is the Huntington Library.
03941
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
HPS @ AAAS @hps-aaas.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Are you a graduate student, postdoc, or undergrad in #philsci #histsci #HPS or related field? Are you interested in trying out a membership to AAAS to see what it's all about? @hps-aaas.bsky.social is excited to offer FREE memberships to students & postdocs. Just fill out application by 12/22/24 ⤵️
airtable.com
Airtable | Everyone's app platform
Airtable is a low-code platform for building collaborative apps. Customize your workflow, collaborate, and achieve ambitious outcomes. Get started for free.
1106
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 15/11/2024
Here's the second starter pack of Environmental Historians
050
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
ICEHO @iceho.bsky.social · 08/11/2024
We just maxed out the Environmental History Starter Pack! This means you can follow 150 environmental historians and #envhist institutions by clicking a button. We would happily create a second pack. Let us know if you want to be in it!
489945
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Christopher Berry @cplberry.bsky.social · 10/11/2024
Finally starting to put together a starter pack of awesome people working in black holes and relativistic astrophysics, gravitational-wave science, and related areas of gravitation. Suggestions for additions welcome! go.bsky.app/7AYfSd1 [🧪🔭⚛️]
1414742
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Rubin LSST:UK @lsstuk.bsky.social · 08/11/2024
You can read our latest news and catch up on the latest @vrubinobs.bsky.social milestones (such as the installation of the M1M3 mirror, pictured) in our recently published newsletter: lsst-uk.atlassian.net/wiki/x/AQA04 (image: RubinObs/NOIRLab/SLAC/NSF/DOE/AURA #astronomy
A group of people in hardhats and safety clothing are installing a large mirror on the Simonyi Survey Telescope
0156
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 06/11/2024
Happening tonight!
192
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 05/11/2024
Very excited to announce that I will be the Vice Chair of the History of Astronomy Division of the American Astronomical Society (@aasoffice.bsky.social) starting in 2025! #histofastro #astronomy #histsci #histstm
3251
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Teasel Muir-Harmony @teaselmuir.bsky.social · 31/10/2024
New podcast by the '13 Minutes to the Moon' team telling the story of the history of the space shuttle. Intro episode of '16 Sunsets' released this week: podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/1...
podcasts.apple.com
16 Sunsets
History Podcast · 2 Episodes · Updated fortnightly
043
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 30/10/2024
Huge thank you to the Miller Center at University of Maryland for work shopping my book chapter!! The history department provided great questions, insights, and directions I can take. It was especially amazing given the connections UMD has in the rise of general relativity and experimental physics!
030
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 30/10/2024
I will have a brief appearance on the upcoming PBS Nova episode, "Decoding the Universe: Quantum"! It is scheduled to air at 9:00 pm ET, Nov. 6, 2024, on PBS and live on YouTube!
0221
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @rubinobservatory.org · 29/10/2024
Photons, meet the Commissioning Camera 🤝 On October 24, Rubin staff successfully completed the first end-to-end on-sky test of the full telescope system using the testing camera — from capturing the sky to transferring data to SLAC! 🔭🧪 🔗: rubinobservatory.org/news/test-came…
A softly blurred grayscale photo of the circle-shaped top end of Rubin’s Simonyi Survey Telescope, which fills the image. A group of about 10 tiny human figures is lined up at the very bottom of the photo, lining the bottom of the circle. A three-by-three grid separated by black lines is overlaid on the image, indicating the camera's sensor array.
111437
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 25/10/2024
Awesome week at the LSST-DA Catalyst Symposium and Data Science Fellowship Program! As a historian, I got to lead a day long ethics workshop applying astrophysical approaches to social data to explore what happens and think through how historical methods can lead to more ethical data analysis.
031
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 22/10/2024
Hi to my new followers! I'm a historian of physics and environmental history. I write about how precision instruments are sited and the social implications of those placements.
180
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Asif Siddiqi @historyasif.bsky.social · 21/10/2024
Article of mine, couple of years old, on history/genealogy of Russian 'secret cities' (ZATOs), where I describe "atomized urbanism," i.e., "the tension between the obdurate reality of the city and the goal of the state to obliterate that reality through secrecy." www.cambridge.org/core/journal...
cambridge.org
Atomized urbanism: secrecy and security from the Gulag to the Soviet closed cities | Urban History | Cambridge Core
Atomized urbanism: secrecy and security from the Gulag to the Soviet closed cities - Volume 49 Issue 1
062
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory @rubinobservatory.org · 15/10/2024
We're still buzzing about our beautiful telescope! 🤩 #ICYMI Rubin Observatory staff installed the primary/tertiary mirror onto the Simonyi Survey Telescope. We officially have a complete telescope using the commissioning camera! 🔭🧪 More: rubinobservatory.org/news/primary-mirror-install
 A dozen people in orange construction vests and hard hats work around the black circular mirror structure on top of its teal support cell.
0284
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Jonathan McDowell @planet4589.bsky.social · 07/10/2024
Many thanks to the Open Lunar Foundation for issuing a statement in support of our call for cislunar/deep space transparency www.openlunar.org/blog/aas-sta...
openlunar.org
AAS Statement
Read our statement in support of the American Astronomical Society’s (AAS) statement on the importance of transparency in cislunar and interplanetary spaceflight activities.
1172
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
APS Gravity—DGRAV @dgrav.org · 02/10/2024
Hello, Bluesky! We are the APS Division of Gravitational Physics (DGRAV). Hope to take part in the gravity conversations here!
4364
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 02/10/2024
Loving the latest issue of Isis, the journal of the History of Science Society (HSS). Timed with HSS's Centennial, it explores the role of a society's journal in stewarding a field of scholarship and the forms of labor involved.
040
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Ben Gross @bhgross144.bsky.social · 23/09/2024
Hey, #histSTM & #histtech friends! CHSTM's Technology working group is kicking off the fall semester w/a recap of this year's @shothisttech.bsky.social conference. Join us tomorrow (Sep. 24) @ 1 PM, EDT as we discuss SHOT's 1st meeting in South America! www.chstm.org/content/hist... #SHOT2024⚙️
chstm.org
History of Technology | Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine
0113
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
HPS @ AAAS @hps-aaas.bsky.social · 23/09/2024
Did you know that the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has a Section L devoted to History & Philosophy of Science? www.aaas.org/sections/his... Exec Cmttee includes Hanne Andersen, Conevery Valencius & @alisabokulich.bsky.social Follow us for more info about what we do!
aaas.org
25022
Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD @tiffanynichols.bsky.social · 21/09/2024
Curious about how @LIGO's sites were selected? My dissertation provides the fascinating history! Many years of work that is result of my unique combination of history of science and physics, law, and environmental history expertise. dash.harvard.edu/handle/1/373... #siteselection #histstm
dash.harvard.edu
3239
Reposted by Tiffany Nichols, JD, PhD
Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences @hsnatsci.bsky.social · 09/07/2024
Today is a great day to read "The Black Androids: A Chrestomathy" in the latest issue of HSNS. A Chrestomathy is a group of readings compiled to help a student learn a language. The authors of this essay use this framework to work through their study of black androids.
133