Joyce Chaplin
@joycechaplin.bsky.social
Harvard professor, historian of science, technology, and medicine, plus food and environment 🜃
(https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/joyce-chaplin)
New book: THE FRANKLIN STOVE (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374613808/thefranklinstove/)
(https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/joyce-chaplin)
New book: THE FRANKLIN STOVE (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374613808/thefranklinstove/)
It was wonderful to talk Tom Paine and climate change last night—thank you @theitps.bsky.social and @noraslonimsky.bsky.social !
November 7, 2025 at 9:09 PM
It was wonderful to talk Tom Paine and climate change last night—thank you @theitps.bsky.social and @noraslonimsky.bsky.social !
First day of the semester, first day of a new class, a freshman seminar on “Moby-Dick,” the novel and its significance for the history of resource extraction: “wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?”
September 2, 2025 at 7:59 PM
First day of the semester, first day of a new class, a freshman seminar on “Moby-Dick,” the novel and its significance for the history of resource extraction: “wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?”
The first anti-vaxxers worried that the original vaccine, which used cowpox against smallpox, would turn them into cows, a bizarre fear depicted here by caricaturist James Gillray—today is his day.
August 13, 2025 at 9:22 PM
The first anti-vaxxers worried that the original vaccine, which used cowpox against smallpox, would turn them into cows, a bizarre fear depicted here by caricaturist James Gillray—today is his day.
Your annual reminder of science’s foundational role in US history: on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was first publicly read, in Philadelphia, from a platform originally built for astronomers to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus—science was the literal platform for revolution
July 4, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Your annual reminder of science’s foundational role in US history: on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was first publicly read, in Philadelphia, from a platform originally built for astronomers to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus—science was the literal platform for revolution
Bruce Lee, birthright citizen
June 28, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Bruce Lee, birthright citizen
“This splendid account offers a rich new perspective on the origins of climate science”—wow, and thank you @publisherswkly.bsky.social for the starred review of my new book on the FRANKLIN STOVE
May 23, 2025 at 6:05 PM
“This splendid account offers a rich new perspective on the origins of climate science”—wow, and thank you @publisherswkly.bsky.social for the starred review of my new book on the FRANKLIN STOVE
Delighted to find my new book briefly noted @newyorker.com which, in about 100 words, gets the book exactly right
April 17, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Delighted to find my new book briefly noted @newyorker.com which, in about 100 words, gets the book exactly right
“America runs on RESISTANCE”—Senator Ed Markey says in Boston, at the Massachusetts #HandsOff demonstration, where gazillions of people are still showing up, despite the rain
April 5, 2025 at 5:15 PM
“America runs on RESISTANCE”—Senator Ed Markey says in Boston, at the Massachusetts #HandsOff demonstration, where gazillions of people are still showing up, despite the rain
For #WomensHistoryMonth: Mary Norris, an early American woman of #science, loaned her telescope to Philadelphia’s observation of the 1769 Transit of Venus (part of an international astronomical effort). Norris was formidable—John Adams said that if she’d been his wife, “I should have shot myself”
March 22, 2025 at 5:01 PM
For #WomensHistoryMonth: Mary Norris, an early American woman of #science, loaned her telescope to Philadelphia’s observation of the 1769 Transit of Venus (part of an international astronomical effort). Norris was formidable—John Adams said that if she’d been his wife, “I should have shot myself”
There’s a lot going on right now…but I want to take time to thank @harvardbookstore.bsky.social for hosting an event for my FRANKLIN STOVE book and my wonderful colleague @agr.bsky.social for her expert comments and discussion leading into the Q&A—the book is in the wild!
March 14, 2025 at 7:12 PM
There’s a lot going on right now…but I want to take time to thank @harvardbookstore.bsky.social for hosting an event for my FRANKLIN STOVE book and my wonderful colleague @agr.bsky.social for her expert comments and discussion leading into the Q&A—the book is in the wild!
Today, on the anniversary of Harvard being named for John Harvard (#otd 1639), we are rallying at Harvard to defend all places of higher education in the United States
March 13, 2025 at 4:21 PM
Today, on the anniversary of Harvard being named for John Harvard (#otd 1639), we are rallying at Harvard to defend all places of higher education in the United States
Eric Williams, CAPITALISM AND SLAVERY, on the modern history of profiting financially from exploitation and human suffering, is one of the most important books I read in grad school, and I’m passing on the favor in my grad seminar today
March 12, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Eric Williams, CAPITALISM AND SLAVERY, on the modern history of profiting financially from exploitation and human suffering, is one of the most important books I read in grad school, and I’m passing on the favor in my grad seminar today
On Boston Common, below the historic State House, today was a beautiful day to #StandUpForScience (but it’s beautiful to do that any day)
March 7, 2025 at 7:35 PM
On Boston Common, below the historic State House, today was a beautiful day to #StandUpForScience (but it’s beautiful to do that any day)
It’s a big box of books day
February 18, 2025 at 9:14 PM
It’s a big box of books day
From Providence (RI), with love
February 14, 2025 at 6:40 PM
From Providence (RI), with love
Benjamin Franklin produced the very first chart of the Gulf Stream and then two more charts of it—here’s the final one, of 1786, showing Dr. Franklin in the lower right-hand corner, lecturing poor old Neptune, behind whom is the source of the Gulf Stream: the Gulf of Mexico
February 11, 2025 at 9:24 PM
Benjamin Franklin produced the very first chart of the Gulf Stream and then two more charts of it—here’s the final one, of 1786, showing Dr. Franklin in the lower right-hand corner, lecturing poor old Neptune, behind whom is the source of the Gulf Stream: the Gulf of Mexico
The Philadelphia Eagles were named, in 1933, to honor Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s National Recovery Administration, part of the New Deal—the NRA’s Blue Eagle stood for protection of labor and federal oversight of the U.S. economy (pic: Library of Congress)
February 9, 2025 at 7:17 PM
The Philadelphia Eagles were named, in 1933, to honor Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s National Recovery Administration, part of the New Deal—the NRA’s Blue Eagle stood for protection of labor and federal oversight of the U.S. economy (pic: Library of Congress)
I am grateful and amazed to get such early, generous praise for my #FranklinStove book from the likes of @amitav.bsky.social @kawulf.bsky.social @charlescmann.bsky.social Alan Taylor, Stacy Schiff, and Philip Deloria. Pinching myself
February 5, 2025 at 8:24 PM
I am grateful and amazed to get such early, generous praise for my #FranklinStove book from the likes of @amitav.bsky.social @kawulf.bsky.social @charlescmann.bsky.social Alan Taylor, Stacy Schiff, and Philip Deloria. Pinching myself
Never trust a book by its cover—unless it’s designed by the insanely brilliant Na Kim
#FranklinStove
#FranklinStove
January 27, 2025 at 5:49 PM
Never trust a book by its cover—unless it’s designed by the insanely brilliant Na Kim
#FranklinStove
#FranklinStove
Who cares about the #WHO? Everyone who’s been free of smallpox since 1980, when the WHO declared victory in its global vaccination campaign to eradicate the deadly disease, at a cost of $300 million, saving the world an estimated $1 billion (and massive misery) every year ever since
January 21, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Who cares about the #WHO? Everyone who’s been free of smallpox since 1980, when the WHO declared victory in its global vaccination campaign to eradicate the deadly disease, at a cost of $300 million, saving the world an estimated $1 billion (and massive misery) every year ever since
RIP David Lynch, whose cartoon, “The Angriest Dog in the World,” helped get me through at least a couple of years in grad school
January 17, 2025 at 1:33 AM
RIP David Lynch, whose cartoon, “The Angriest Dog in the World,” helped get me through at least a couple of years in grad school
Spotted my forthcoming #FranklinStove book in the @fsgbooks.bsky.social display @historians.org meeting—not quite in the wild, but getting closer…
January 4, 2025 at 7:33 PM
Spotted my forthcoming #FranklinStove book in the @fsgbooks.bsky.social display @historians.org meeting—not quite in the wild, but getting closer…