"Illustrations of sea monsters as scientific diagrams...are part of a longer visual history of imaginative images of deep space that brings them into conversation with the first image of a black hole." FANTASTIC read! 👇
Welcome from a historian of science and science writer! Here are some sea monster treats for ocean scientists: aeon.co/essays/how-b...
Like sea monsters on premodern maps, deep-space images are science’s fanciful means to chart the edges of the known world
Honestly any information anyone has on Freitag or the book would be much appreciated! It's been a fascinating read, but finding scholarship on it has been a total bust.
The book is from 1678 and appears to have been published posthumously, since Freitag lived from 1581-1641. I'm curious to know if it was originally printed in Latin, however, since it seems like most of his works were, or if the vernacular edition was the primary one.
I have a question for Early Modern Bluesky! One of the sources I've been spending the most time with for my research is Johann Freitag's "Kurtzer Bericht von der Melancholia Hypochondriaca," but actual records about the book and author have been harder to come by. #histsci#histSTM#earlymodern
as a Big Nerd I have to tell you I went to Mendel’s abbey to look at his peas but the most notable part is actually the little hats he made for his microscopes
I love the knowledge that the Germans did this too, because I've mostly seen it in English books from the same era. Everyone just loved a long sentence back then.
I love early modern books. I got to a point in a book describing the causes symptoms of melancholia that seemed worth writing down in my notes, and I figured I'd just grab the most important sentence. The sentence in question:
Just walked into the geology section of the Natural History Museum softly chanting “rocks! rocks! rocks!” An old lady nodded. I’ve found my people.