Monthly Archives: August 2010

List of awesome people

Posted on August 20, 2010 by

So, normally I like to be sensitive to the fact that history is complicated and there are very few simple, neatly packaged stories. But this is the end of the course, and I feel like indulging myself in some bad … Continue reading →

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The Law of Squares, or, Faraday fails at math

Posted on August 20, 2010 by

I’m writing my final paper on the 1858 transatlantic telegraph. One of the important moments in the story is the controversy over Thomson’s Law of Squares, which describes the behavior of signals in submarine telegraphs. Thomson discovered the law in … Continue reading →

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Dr. Bruce’s Apparatus

Posted on August 18, 2010 by

This is my final project for the Victorian Medicine half of the course, a presentation about Dr. Bruce’s electrical apparatus in the science museum. Dr. Bruce’s Apparatus Medical Electricity Presentation It’s hosted on prezi, a cool nonlinear presentation platform.

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Self-pollution got you down? Have a s’more!

Posted on August 7, 2010 by

The social purity movement that sprang up in the late nineteenth century crusaded against many vices in society. One of their primary concerns was male chastity. In the lecture on Tuesday, we saw an image of a male chastity device … Continue reading →

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Minding the Gap for 150 Years

Posted on August 1, 2010 by

The Victorians had an obsession with new technology. When they needed to move coal faster, they invented the steam powered train. When the Thames smelled awful, they built an enormous and expensive sewer system. When they wanted to get across … Continue reading →

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