The United States Postal Service will issue a stamp honoring Asa Gray in June. The third American Scientists stamp issuance honors chemist Melvin Calvin, botanist Asa Gray, physicist Maria Goeppert Mayer, and biochemist Severo Ochoa. The stamps go on sale June 16. Melvin Calvin was the first scientist to trace in detail the process of […]
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From Royal Gifts to Biodiversity Conservation: The History and Development of Menageries, Zoos and Aquariums, Thursday 19th and Friday 20th May 2011, Chester Zoo, UK This international Symposium is being held in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the Society for the History of Natural History. It is a joint collaboration between the Society for […]
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Council met recently (28 October) and there are a number of things to report. I am delighted to announce that Council has nominated our distinguished patron, Sir David Attenborough, for the Society’s Founders’ Medal. The Biodiversity Heritage Library, represented by Tom Garnett, has been awarded the John Thackray Medal. Twelve major natural history museum libraries, […]
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Researchers have demonstrated that the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago paved the way for mammals to get bigger — about a thousand times bigger than they had been. The study titled, “The Evolution of Maximum Body Size of Terrestrial Mammals,” released today in the prestigious journal Science, is the first to quantitatively explore […]
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A complete four-volume set of John James Audubon’s Birds of America is estimated to sell for between $6.2 million and $9.3 million at Sotheby’s in London next month, making it one of the most expensive books ever sold at auction. The book’s value is a function of its scarcity, its beauty and its significance to […]
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"Sir Hans Sloane’s Correspondence Online" website has been launched. The pilot project allows you to search over 1,400 letters addressed to the physician, scientist and collector, Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753). The letters cover a wide variety of subjects, from medical cases and scholarly disputes to travel or collecting. Most of the letters are in English, […]
Read moreBy Matt Walker, Editor, Earth News Ancient seaweed that have been found growing in the deep sea are "living fossils", researchers have reported. The two types of seaweed, which grow more than 200m underwater, represent previously unrecognised ancient forms of algae, say the scientists. As such, the algae could belong to the earliest of all […]
Read moreThe British Society for the History of Science invites book nominations for the 2011 Dingle Prize. In keeping with the Society’s concern to communicate history of science to broad audiences, the 2011 Dingle Prize will be offered for the best book in the history of science, technology, and medicine, first published in English in 2009 […]
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The Joint meeting between the Society for the History of Natural History and the Ray Society to celebrate the 350th anniversary of John Ray’s Catalogue of Cambridge Plants, 1660: the first English “County Flora” took place in Cambridge University Library, on Wednesday 3rd November 2010. The Morison room provided an ideal venue for the event, giving […]
Read moreOur patron Sir David Attenborough CBE will be attending the 5th Annual GREEN AWARDS to accept the inaugural green ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his committed efforts to broaden public understanding of environmental issues. The gala dinner takes place on 2nd December 2010 at the Natural History Museum, South Kensington, London. This year, the global GREEN […]
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