Michael D. Barton
@darwinsbulldog.bsky.social
Historian & Darwin aficionado. Editor, John Tyndall Correspondence Project. Father & advocate for connecting children to nature (natureplaysign.com). He/him/his. Portland, OR.
Pinned
"Freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men’s minds, which follows from the advance of science." ~ Charles Darwin
Yay! I was one of three attendees of this webinar that won a copy of this book.
Tomorrow (Nov 11) at 6:00 pm EST, the Teacher Institute for Evolutionary Science welcomes Gillen D’Arcy Wood for a virtual discussion of his book, The Wake of HMS Challenger, examining the legendary scientific odyssey and exploring why its legacy looms larger than ever.
RSVP here: buff.ly/7qgpqWb
RSVP here: buff.ly/7qgpqWb
November 13, 2025 at 3:26 PM
Yay! I was one of three attendees of this webinar that won a copy of this book.
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
How good is @wellerstein.bsky.social? He’s so good that he can work the word “awful” into a book title and still make you want to read it!
If you’re into atomic/Cold War history, he’s the man.
If you’re into atomic/Cold War history, he’s the man.
The new book... exists!!! Got my author copies in the mail today! Looks quite readable! Spelled my name right on the cover, even!!!
harpercollins.com/products/the-most-awful-responsibility-alex-wellerstein
harpercollins.com/products/the-most-awful-responsibility-alex-wellerstein
November 12, 2025 at 4:01 PM
How good is @wellerstein.bsky.social? He’s so good that he can work the word “awful” into a book title and still make you want to read it!
If you’re into atomic/Cold War history, he’s the man.
If you’re into atomic/Cold War history, he’s the man.
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
We are also currently hiring a curatorial fellow to work with the papers of Rosalind Franklin and others in the History of Molecular Biology Collection!
This is a 2-year staff position in the archive with a salary of $55k/year and full benefits:
www.sciencehistory.org/research/fel...
This is a 2-year staff position in the archive with a salary of $55k/year and full benefits:
www.sciencehistory.org/research/fel...
For those with a scholarly interest in Franklin, Watson, and other pioneering researchers in molecular biology, @sciencehistory.org has just opened our new landmark collection of their papers, and applications for research fellowships are currently open:
www.sciencehistory.org/hmbc
www.sciencehistory.org/hmbc
History of Molecular Biology Collection
This unparalleled collection includes Rosalind Franklin's historic 'Photo 51,' which revealed the double-helix structure of DNA.
www.sciencehistory.org
November 8, 2025 at 3:45 PM
We are also currently hiring a curatorial fellow to work with the papers of Rosalind Franklin and others in the History of Molecular Biology Collection!
This is a 2-year staff position in the archive with a salary of $55k/year and full benefits:
www.sciencehistory.org/research/fel...
This is a 2-year staff position in the archive with a salary of $55k/year and full benefits:
www.sciencehistory.org/research/fel...
This year marks the bicentennial of the birth of Thomas Henry Huxley, born 4 May 1825. The only notice I've seen for this is John van Wyhe's short piece for the @linneansociety.bsky.social: bit.ly/4oVPZmq
#HPS #histsci
#HPS #histsci
November 11, 2025 at 12:24 AM
This year marks the bicentennial of the birth of Thomas Henry Huxley, born 4 May 1825. The only notice I've seen for this is John van Wyhe's short piece for the @linneansociety.bsky.social: bit.ly/4oVPZmq
#HPS #histsci
#HPS #histsci
No jacket required forest walk with my pup yesterday, in West Linn, Oregon. 🍄 🍁 ☀️
November 10, 2025 at 3:07 PM
No jacket required forest walk with my pup yesterday, in West Linn, Oregon. 🍄 🍁 ☀️
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
Yes, some people's legacies are complicated. For example, Watson. After all, though he was racist, don't forget his other traits. For example, he was also sexist. And also anti-semitic. And a data / idea thief. So let's not forget all the different facets.
November 8, 2025 at 12:52 AM
Yes, some people's legacies are complicated. For example, Watson. After all, though he was racist, don't forget his other traits. For example, he was also sexist. And also anti-semitic. And a data / idea thief. So let's not forget all the different facets.
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
07-Nov: On this day in 1913, Alfred Russel Wallace died. Wallace famously came up with a near-identical explanation for how evolution occurs independently of Charles Darwin. You can read about their friendship here: friendsofdarwin.com/articles/dar... #histsci
Modesty and candour: the Darwin-Wallace friendship
To mark the 200th anniversary of Wallace’s birth, an article exploring the friendship between Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace.
friendsofdarwin.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:54 PM
07-Nov: On this day in 1913, Alfred Russel Wallace died. Wallace famously came up with a near-identical explanation for how evolution occurs independently of Charles Darwin. You can read about their friendship here: friendsofdarwin.com/articles/dar... #histsci
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
James D. Watson is dead. Stay tuned for some thoughts, based on my research on his biography, to be published soon.
While I write that up, y'all can throw tomatoes at this if you like. But I will offer a more nuanced take.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
While I write that up, y'all can throw tomatoes at this if you like. But I will offer a more nuanced take.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
James Watson, Co-Discoverer of the Structure of DNA, Is Dead at 97
www.nytimes.com
November 7, 2025 at 8:39 PM
James D. Watson is dead. Stay tuned for some thoughts, based on my research on his biography, to be published soon.
While I write that up, y'all can throw tomatoes at this if you like. But I will offer a more nuanced take.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
While I write that up, y'all can throw tomatoes at this if you like. But I will offer a more nuanced take.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/07/s...
As the spouse of a kickass county clerk who officiates weddings for ALL couples, if you don't want to marry a gay couple, resign and get a different fucking job!
She believes in the sanctity of traditional Christian marriage.
November 7, 2025 at 9:05 PM
As the spouse of a kickass county clerk who officiates weddings for ALL couples, if you don't want to marry a gay couple, resign and get a different fucking job!
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
I asked him what was the most important thing he ever did. He replied “opposing the patenting of human genes”. For a full picture of Jim, his terrible flaws and his insights, we will have to wait for @nccomfort.bsky.social’s forthcoming biography.
November 7, 2025 at 7:57 PM
I asked him what was the most important thing he ever did. He replied “opposing the patenting of human genes”. For a full picture of Jim, his terrible flaws and his insights, we will have to wait for @nccomfort.bsky.social’s forthcoming biography.
Anthony Hopkins to play Charles Darwin in movie that will begin filming in 2026. The film Creation (2009) relied on the ghost of his daughter Annie to dramatize his life, now the ghost of Darwin himself will appear to his widow Emma. I guess movies about Darwin can't be made w/out the supernatural.
November 6, 2025 at 5:38 PM
Anthony Hopkins to play Charles Darwin in movie that will begin filming in 2026. The film Creation (2009) relied on the ghost of his daughter Annie to dramatize his life, now the ghost of Darwin himself will appear to his widow Emma. I guess movies about Darwin can't be made w/out the supernatural.
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
OTD in 1880, Charles Darwin published The Power of Movement in Plants. D believed that plants are active agents in the world: “A radicle may be compared with a burrowing animal such as a mole, which wishes to penetrate perpendicularly down into the ground.”
🧪🌱🐋 #philsci #HistSTM 🦋🦫
🧪🌱🐋 #philsci #HistSTM 🦋🦫
November 6, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
I love these secular candles ✨
October 28, 2025 at 2:23 AM
I love these secular candles ✨
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
always mildly shocked that Darwin looked like this and didn't have a big beard when he wrote On the Origin of Species.
He said: "if I really have as bad an expression, as my photograph gives me, how I can have one single friend is surprising."
He said: "if I really have as bad an expression, as my photograph gives me, how I can have one single friend is surprising."
October 28, 2025 at 10:53 AM
always mildly shocked that Darwin looked like this and didn't have a big beard when he wrote On the Origin of Species.
He said: "if I really have as bad an expression, as my photograph gives me, how I can have one single friend is surprising."
He said: "if I really have as bad an expression, as my photograph gives me, how I can have one single friend is surprising."
Lovely autumn color at the Environmental Learning Center at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, Oregon yesterday. 🍂
October 31, 2025 at 1:28 PM
Lovely autumn color at the Environmental Learning Center at Clackamas Community College in Oregon City, Oregon yesterday. 🍂
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
We have a new review on the BSLS website: Jim Endersby reviews Adrian Desmond's Reign of the Beast: The Atheist World of W. D. Saull and his Museum of Evolution (www.bsls.ac.uk/2025/06/desm...).
Desmond, Adrian, Reign of the Beast: The Atheist World of W. D. Saull and his Museum of Evolution – The British Society for Literature and Science
www.bsls.ac.uk
June 5, 2025 at 12:46 PM
We have a new review on the BSLS website: Jim Endersby reviews Adrian Desmond's Reign of the Beast: The Atheist World of W. D. Saull and his Museum of Evolution (www.bsls.ac.uk/2025/06/desm...).
Historian of science Jim Endersby on "Darwin, Hooker, and Empire" (from 2009): www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzb9...
#HPS #histsci
#HPS #histsci
Jim Endersby • Darwin, Hooker, and Empire
YouTube video by Wolf Humanities Center
www.youtube.com
October 31, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Historian of science Jim Endersby on "Darwin, Hooker, and Empire" (from 2009): www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzb9...
#HPS #histsci
#HPS #histsci
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
Happy Publication Day to Ellen Morris Bishop!
"Living with Thunder: Exploring the Geologic Past, Present, and Future of the Pacific Northwest, 2nd Edition" is now available from your favorite booksellers and directly from OSU Press!
beav.es/x72
#NorthwestGeology #Mountains #Oregon #Washington #Idaho
"Living with Thunder: Exploring the Geologic Past, Present, and Future of the Pacific Northwest, 2nd Edition" is now available from your favorite booksellers and directly from OSU Press!
beav.es/x72
#NorthwestGeology #Mountains #Oregon #Washington #Idaho
October 28, 2025 at 10:58 PM
Happy Publication Day to Ellen Morris Bishop!
"Living with Thunder: Exploring the Geologic Past, Present, and Future of the Pacific Northwest, 2nd Edition" is now available from your favorite booksellers and directly from OSU Press!
beav.es/x72
#NorthwestGeology #Mountains #Oregon #Washington #Idaho
"Living with Thunder: Exploring the Geologic Past, Present, and Future of the Pacific Northwest, 2nd Edition" is now available from your favorite booksellers and directly from OSU Press!
beav.es/x72
#NorthwestGeology #Mountains #Oregon #Washington #Idaho
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
Animals and the history of natural history, or, what would natural history look like had Charles Darwin been a cat person? With @professorbopeep.bsky.social and Anya Zilberstein @animalhistory.bsky.social www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/a...
Animals and the History of Natural History
We see the concept of nonhuman cultures and their historicity as one of the most significant and fascinating recent developments in the field.
www.ucpress.edu
October 29, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Animals and the history of natural history, or, what would natural history look like had Charles Darwin been a cat person? With @professorbopeep.bsky.social and Anya Zilberstein @animalhistory.bsky.social www.ucpress.edu/blog-posts/a...
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
Ooh, Simon Schaffer reader coming down the pike. I blogged through a good chunk of his oeuvre back in the day, which was really illuminating. Too bad they didn't include "The Show That Never Ends" (on perpetual motion), which is probably my favorite: doi.org/10.1017/S000... #HPS
Working Knowledge
Collects key articles by Simon Schaffer, one of the most important historians of science working today. Working Knowledge is the first English-language collection of essays by Simon Schaffer, coautho...
press.uchicago.edu
October 29, 2025 at 10:41 PM
Ooh, Simon Schaffer reader coming down the pike. I blogged through a good chunk of his oeuvre back in the day, which was really illuminating. Too bad they didn't include "The Show That Never Ends" (on perpetual motion), which is probably my favorite: doi.org/10.1017/S000... #HPS
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
It's late autumn here in the northern hemisphere. The leaves are beginning to pile up on the ground. Please consider leaving them there to play their natural role in the ecosystem. This new episode of In Defense of Plants explains why. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...
Ep. 549 - Advocating for Fallen Leaves
Podcast Episode · In Defense of Plants Podcast · 10/26/2025 · 1h 2m
podcasts.apple.com
October 30, 2025 at 2:28 PM
It's late autumn here in the northern hemisphere. The leaves are beginning to pile up on the ground. Please consider leaving them there to play their natural role in the ecosystem. This new episode of In Defense of Plants explains why. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i...
Stopped reading about rivers to read about rocks, but now back to rivers!
October 30, 2025 at 11:05 PM
Stopped reading about rivers to read about rocks, but now back to rivers!
Reposted by Michael D. Barton
Happy #WorldAsteroidDay
At events, we’ve been asked by kids if dinosaurs would have seen THE asteroid before it hit
LOTS of assumptions, but a 10km object coming in at 45° would hit the atmosphere 200km away, so its angular size would be ~3° - approx 5x the size of the moon - before hell begins..
At events, we’ve been asked by kids if dinosaurs would have seen THE asteroid before it hit
LOTS of assumptions, but a 10km object coming in at 45° would hit the atmosphere 200km away, so its angular size would be ~3° - approx 5x the size of the moon - before hell begins..
June 30, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Happy #WorldAsteroidDay
At events, we’ve been asked by kids if dinosaurs would have seen THE asteroid before it hit
LOTS of assumptions, but a 10km object coming in at 45° would hit the atmosphere 200km away, so its angular size would be ~3° - approx 5x the size of the moon - before hell begins..
At events, we’ve been asked by kids if dinosaurs would have seen THE asteroid before it hit
LOTS of assumptions, but a 10km object coming in at 45° would hit the atmosphere 200km away, so its angular size would be ~3° - approx 5x the size of the moon - before hell begins..