418 Search Results
Astrology and Archives
The history of astrology has been written about in terms of scientific, theological and occult ideas, and practices including observations and computa
Organized Wisdom and Revenge of the Humdrum
Right from the beginning, the term "bureaucracy" was a sneer or an accusation, to be contrasted with organized wisdom. Officials concerned with produc
Secondary Sounds: A History of Perception through Routine Experimental Practices in the Psychological Laboratory
Sometimes, the dull sound of tapping on a shoe box could be heard in the lab. At other times, much more complex installations of interconnected instru
Artificial “Listening”: From Fechner to Sensor Fusion
At the MPIWG, I will develop one chapter of a larger forthcoming book for MIT Press that focuses on how we make sense in our current age of artificial
Exploring the Material Culture of Acoustics in German Collections
There is an extensive literature on the history of acoustics in Germany, complemented by diverse collections of surviving historic acoustical instrume
Vierundzwanzig Jahre Geschichte der Rationalität
No 64
Ein Seefahrer richtet seinen Kurs nach den Sternen; ein Weber bepannt seinen Webstuhl nach einem komplizierten Muster aus Farben und Formen; ein Stadtbeamter erkennt die Verbindung zwischen einem bestimmten Brunnen und dem Ausbruch einer Epidemie; ein Braumeister korrigiert seine Zutaten, um die Gärung zu beschleunigen; ein Höfling leitet aus einem Blickwechsel eine königliche Intrige ab; ein Bürokrat organisiert das Steuersystem eines Reiches; ein Kräuterkundler identifiziert eine Pflanze, die Wunden heilt.
Lorraine Daston
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Twenty-Four Years of the History of Rationality
No 64
A navigator fixes a course by the stars; a weaver strings a loom with an intricate pattern of colors and shapes; a city official discerns a link between a certain well and the outbreak of an epidemic; a brewer adjusts ingredients to speed up fermentation; a courtier infers a royal intrigue from an exchange of glances; a bureaucrat organizes the tax system of an empire; a herbalist identifies a plant that heals wounds.
Lorraine Daston
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Color and Contingency in Robert Boyle's Works
Robert Boyle’s 1664 Experiments and Considerations Touching Colours is full of experiments and observations that “enquire seriously into the Natu
Studying Agricultural Meteorology Through its Publications: Investigating the Creation of an Interdisciplinary Research Field Through Bibliographic Data
Agricultural meteorology is the science that studies how weather factors affect crop growth and livestock performance. At the beginning of the twentie
Experimental Imagery: An Investigation of Fifteenth-Century Alchemical Expression (Image, Symbol, and Word)
Medieval alchemy employed a distinctive language, imagery, and metaphorical expression in its writings. Non-verbal elements played a vital role in thi