Simon Naylor

@simonnaylor.bsky.social

860 followers 770 following 47 posts

Professor of Historical Geography, University of Glasgow, Scotland. My book, The Observatory Experiment: Meteorology in Britain and its Empire, is out now with Cambridge University Press.

Videos

Biology 38%

Philosophy 16%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Simon Naylor

This Is My Glasgow @thisismyglasgow.bsky.social · 5h

I know Glaswegians keep some unusual pets, but I've never come across an aerial quadropus before! If you see Nipsy on your travels around the city, please let their owners know. 😀

#glasgow #glasgowhumour #streetart #scottishhumour #keepglasgowweird #findnipsy

Reposted by Simon Naylor

Rachel Dishington @radishington.bsky.social · 1d

Excited for our oral history event on ‘Living and Working Along the Leen’ on Thursday 13 November at UoN Lakeside Arts. Made possible by @royalhistsoc.org Scouloudi Public History funding.

Come along to share your memories of Nottingham’s River!
www.lakesidearts.org.uk/event/living...

Living and Working Along the Leen

Explore historical archival photos and share your own memories, to examine how Nottingham River Leen's meaning for local residents has shifted over time.

www.lakesidearts.org.uk

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · 10d

Another great geography-themed gaming session in our Creative Impact Lab. This time we played Pandemic: Rising Tide. Apologies Dutch friends, we failed to stop the sea!

Reposted by Keith Lilley, Simon Naylor

James Kneale @jameskneale.bsky.social · 18d

In the past week I've taught 200+ first-year students in the "forgotten", "lost" map library at @uclgeography.bsky.social with the help of some great PGTAs.

Imagine what we could do with this collection if we could only find it! 🤔

A group of students working with maps in UCL's not-so-forgotten map library

More students who have somehow found their way to the "forgotten" UCL map library I've been using for the last 25 years

Oh look! Students enthusiastically discussing maps as part of their first year core course! Where's this, you say? UCL Geography map library!

Goad maps, Booth maps, maps making a case for the EU as a rival to the US & USSR, maps galore at UCL Geography's map library - if only we knew how to find it! 🤔😭🫠

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · 24d

Looks amazing! What are you going to be playing??

Reposted by Patrick Walsh, Simon Naylor

Katja Bruisch @kbruisch.bsky.social · Sep 17

Exciting list of speakers presenting in our Environmental History Research Seminar this term. If you happen to be in Dublin, come along. We'll meet on Mondays at 1 PM in the Trinity Long Room Hub #envhist

Thanks to @tlrhub.bsky.social for hosting us!
@historytcd.bsky.social
👇

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · Sep 15

It's been very wet here in Scotland over the weekend but beautifully sunny for my morning run into work today.

Reposted by Éric Verdeil, Margot C. Finn, Simon Naylor

Colin McFarlane @colinmcfarlane.bsky.social · Sep 12

This is a great little collection in Transactions on 'worlding geography' and area studies... rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/toc/10.1... @rgs-ibghe.bsky.social

Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers | RGS Journal | Wiley Online Library

Click on the title to browse this issue

rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · Sep 10

Not my game, I just like playing it and other @stonemaiergames.com! I am a Geography academic at Glasgow University and we're using games to encourage staff and students to think and talk about environmental issues.

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · Sep 10

Following @greenhouseuis.net @finnarne.me excellent example and played Finspan board game in our new Creative Impact Lab today @uofglasgow.bsky.social @stonemaiergames.com

Reposted by Simon Naylor

Fraser MacDonald @frasermacdonald.bsky.social · Sep 8

On strike again.

We’ve had to do this for so long that our primary school kids who joined us on snow day picket lines are now students themselves.

Utterly ridiculous way to run a university.

Five primary school kids and a snow man on freezing, snowy UCU picket line in February 2018, coincidentally the same month that Sir Peter Mathieson became Principal of Edinburgh University.

Reposted by Keith Lilley, Simon Naylor

Patrícia Silveira @patriciasgeo.bsky.social · Aug 28

Super proud of this research group! HGRG at the International Conference of Historical Geographers in China!
Next stop of the ICHG will be Rio de Janeiro in 2028, save the date 🗓️🌎

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · Aug 27

No RGS action then Innes?

Reposted by Simon Naylor

Matt McDowell @yorkhillyankee.bsky.social · Aug 20

On the archaeology of Scottish skateboarding.

Scotland's first skatepark to be dug up by archaeologists

A University of Glasgow team will undertake excavation and survey work at the former Kelvin Wheelies park.

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Simon Naylor, Stefan C. Aykut

Dr. Dominik Huenniger @dominikhhh.bsky.social · Aug 19

Here we go: the first session of our „energy transition & energyscapes” organised by @melinabuns.bsky.social & @dudleymarianna.bsky.social .
#ESEH2025 #EnergyHistory #EnvHist
Really excited about this.

Reposted by Pratik Chakrabarti, Simon Naylor, Jan Machielsen

Rebekah Higgitt @rhiggitt.bsky.social · Aug 4

I just noticed that Metropolitan Science will be out in paperback - exciting news! Not available until next year, but can be pre-ordered for a relatively affordable £26.09 @jasminekt.bsky.social www.bloomsbury.com/uk/metropoli... #earlymodern #histSTM 🗃️

Metropolitan Science

Exploring distinctive practices in the artisanal, mercantile, and governmental sites of London, Metropolitan Science offers a new perspective on the development…

www.bloomsbury.com

Reposted by Aileen Fyfe, Simon Naylor

Hayden Lorimer @slipshodspeller.bsky.social · Jan 10

The Annual Conference of the Royal Geographical Society will take place in Birmingham, 26-29th August 2025. If you’re interested in ‘Library Encounters’, whether it be campaigning, collaborating or creating, then do take a look at our session Call for Papers.

@hesterparr.bsky.social

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · Jun 20

Beautiful plan of the proposed Forth & Clyde Canal in John Smeaton's 1767 Report to the Trustees for Fisheries, Manufactures and Improvements in Scotland.

Reposted by Jonathan Harris, Simon Naylor

Journal of Historical Geography @jofhistgeog.bsky.social · Jun 16

Vol. 88 is out!

It is our 50th anniversary issue, and includes a special issue on ‘Archives as Worldmaking’ edited by @jakehodder.bsky.social and @snehakrishnan.bsky.social

sciencedirect.com/journal/journal-of-historical-geography/vol/88/suppl/C

Take a look at the contents below 🧵

1/31

Reposted by Marianne Hundt, Simon Naylor

Alan Lester @alanlester.bsky.social · Jun 15

PhD Studentship at Legacies of British Slavery Centre: www.ucl.ac.uk/work-at-ucl/...

UCL – University College London

UCL is consistently ranked as one of the top ten universities in the world (QS World University Rankings 2010-2022) and is No.2 in the UK for research power (Research Excellence Framework 2021).

www.ucl.ac.uk

Reposted by Simon Naylor

Grace Wright @graceq22.bsky.social · Jun 6

Crofters and cottars and lairds, oh my!

Co-organising this conference in July. Sign up to the mailing list for updates here ➡️ eepurl.com/i-Zqf2

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · Jun 1

yikes!

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · May 31

Lovely map of canals and their catchment basins from the 1907 Royal Commission on canals and navigable rivers

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · May 21

Emily St. John Mandel's Sea of Tranquility is extraordinary. Partly set on Vancouver Island (partly on the Moon!) and I picked it up and read it while visiting the west coast a couple years ago.

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · May 10

who wouldn't want to be an attic genius?

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · May 8

We are running a 1-day workshop on historical geographies / environmental histories of water knowledge on Thursday 15 May. If you would like to attend online and haven't already signed up please contact me using the Contact link on the webpage: www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

University of Glasgow - Research - Research units A-Z - Away from the Water - EventsSearch iconClose menu iconMenu icon bar 1Menu icon bar 2Menu icon bar 3

www.gla.ac.uk

Reposted by Michela Massimi, Aileen Fyfe, Simon Naylor

Rebekah Higgitt @rhiggitt.bsky.social · May 8

If you're in or around London on Thursday 29 May, join @jasminekt.bsky.social and me to celebrate the publication of Metropolitan Science. Big thanks to the Institute of Advanced Studies & @stsucl.bsky.social for supporting the event. Book a free ticket here: www.ucl.ac.uk/institute-of... #histsci 🗃️

IAS Book Launch: Metropolitan Science

Join authors Rebekah Higgitt and Jasmine Kilburn-Toppin for the launch of their book 'Metropolitan Science. London Sites and Cultures of Knowledge and Practice, c. 1600-1800'

www.ucl.ac.uk

Simon Naylor @simonnaylor.bsky.social · May 1

Congratulations Dan - look forward to reading it.

Reposted by Simon Naylor

London Review of Books @lrb.co.uk · Apr 22

‘I sometimes wonder whether my love of compost is a response to the dispiriting cleanness of modern life – the spray’n’wipe, the no-touch flush, the sanitisers and disinfectants.’

@frasermacdonald.bsky.social makes compost: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...

Fraser MacDonald · On Compost

I sometimes wonder whether my love of compost is a response to the dispiriting cleanness of modern life – the spray’...

www.lrb.co.uk

Reposted by Simon Naylor

Dan Hicks @profdanhicks.bsky.social · Apr 22

today’s Guardian www.theguardian.com/science/2025...

Oxford academics drank from cup made from human skull until 2015, book reveals

Decades-long use of chalice at Worcester College highlights violent colonial history of looted human remains, says Prof Dan Hicks

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