Michael H Whitworth
@profmhwhitworth.bsky.social
Oxford, U.K. Prof of Modern Literature and Culture. Literature & Science, Modernism, Book History, Virginia Woolf, 1920s & 30s poetry. Also found on IG under the same name. All posts in a personal capacity.
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
Whole fucking thing makes me sick to my stomach. An abject fucking liar, a man who lies as easily as he fucking breathes, threatening an organisation which strives for truthfulness. And plastic patriots like the Mail and Farage urging him on. Jackels.
November 11, 2025 at 7:24 AM
Whole fucking thing makes me sick to my stomach. An abject fucking liar, a man who lies as easily as he fucking breathes, threatening an organisation which strives for truthfulness. And plastic patriots like the Mail and Farage urging him on. Jackels.
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
Have you ever seen a cooler book?
November 11, 2025 at 7:28 AM
Have you ever seen a cooler book?
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
history will ultimately decide this but i think joyce carol oates might have just landed the most devastating burn in human history. like the death star trench run of posting
November 10, 2025 at 7:03 PM
history will ultimately decide this but i think joyce carol oates might have just landed the most devastating burn in human history. like the death star trench run of posting
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
Joyce Carol Oates may be the best poster of our time.
November 10, 2025 at 7:18 PM
Joyce Carol Oates may be the best poster of our time.
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
Very interesting thread 🧵 on the history of science 🧪 🧬
Okay, here are some first reflections on Watson.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
Watson's life is a tragedy, really of Shakespearean proportions. He did not, as most bios will tell you, do one great thing when he was young and then collect laurels for it for the next 60 years. His career arc was unlike any in science.
November 10, 2025 at 6:59 AM
Very interesting thread 🧵 on the history of science 🧪 🧬
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
Beautiful Jill McDonald front and back covers for this 1960s primary school English textbook, filled with lovely, thoughtful invitations to imagine, play with poems and write short creative pieces
November 7, 2025 at 2:53 PM
Beautiful Jill McDonald front and back covers for this 1960s primary school English textbook, filled with lovely, thoughtful invitations to imagine, play with poems and write short creative pieces
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
1/ Eleven Dutch parties across the political spectrum from socialist to conservative have issued a joint appeal to a provincial government to build a memorial to Black American soldiers who died in World War II, to replace one removed from the Netherlands American Cemetery. ⬇️
November 10, 2025 at 9:18 AM
1/ Eleven Dutch parties across the political spectrum from socialist to conservative have issued a joint appeal to a provincial government to build a memorial to Black American soldiers who died in World War II, to replace one removed from the Netherlands American Cemetery. ⬇️
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
We are so far through the looking glass that the man who tried to overthrow an election becomes president, the people who attacked the Capitol are turned into martyrs, & it's the BBC that gets punished - cheered on by the worst news outlets in the UK & the two most dishonest politicians of our age.
It’s not at all clear to me how the BBC can do any kind of serious journalism if its top two bosses can be forced to quit over such an obviously confected scandal. There is no substantive error here. How can the BBC report on Trump, or Farage, or anyone else, in these circumstances?
November 9, 2025 at 9:08 PM
We are so far through the looking glass that the man who tried to overthrow an election becomes president, the people who attacked the Capitol are turned into martyrs, & it's the BBC that gets punished - cheered on by the worst news outlets in the UK & the two most dishonest politicians of our age.
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
Note that still in post at the BBC is Robbie Gibb, who helped set up GB News, and John McAndrew, formerly director of news and programmes at GB News.
November 10, 2025 at 5:56 AM
Note that still in post at the BBC is Robbie Gibb, who helped set up GB News, and John McAndrew, formerly director of news and programmes at GB News.
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
the right winger who was appointed to lead the BBC in the hope of appeasing right wingers has been driven out by right wingers for not appeasing right wingers enough and the BBC has the chance to do the funniest thing ever
November 9, 2025 at 6:38 PM
the right winger who was appointed to lead the BBC in the hope of appeasing right wingers has been driven out by right wingers for not appeasing right wingers enough and the BBC has the chance to do the funniest thing ever
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
Facial prosthesis, c.1917. THREAD for #RemembranceSunday🧵
From the moment the first machine gun rang out over the Western Front, one thing was clear: mankind’s military technology had wildly surpassed its medical capabilities. Bodies were battered, gouged, hacked, and gassed. /1
From the moment the first machine gun rang out over the Western Front, one thing was clear: mankind’s military technology had wildly surpassed its medical capabilities. Bodies were battered, gouged, hacked, and gassed. /1
November 9, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Facial prosthesis, c.1917. THREAD for #RemembranceSunday🧵
From the moment the first machine gun rang out over the Western Front, one thing was clear: mankind’s military technology had wildly surpassed its medical capabilities. Bodies were battered, gouged, hacked, and gassed. /1
From the moment the first machine gun rang out over the Western Front, one thing was clear: mankind’s military technology had wildly surpassed its medical capabilities. Bodies were battered, gouged, hacked, and gassed. /1
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
“When you erase history, you make it easier to repeat…It’s about shaping what people believe about America itself…if the struggles of Black Americans are scrubbed…then it becomes easier to claim that systemic racism never existed in the first place. And that’s the real goal.” - Julian Vasquez Heili
1/ The US Government has quietly removed a memorial to Black soldiers who died in World War II from the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten, South Limburg. The move follows a complaint from the right-wing Heritage Foundation to the American Battle Monuments Commission. ⬇️
November 9, 2025 at 4:06 PM
“When you erase history, you make it easier to repeat…It’s about shaping what people believe about America itself…if the struggles of Black Americans are scrubbed…then it becomes easier to claim that systemic racism never existed in the first place. And that’s the real goal.” - Julian Vasquez Heili
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
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...
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
National Trust council elections saw a defeat for the Restore Trust campaign.
35k members voted to re-elect a slate of council candidates endorsed by the nominations committee
12k - 13.5k voted for candidates on Restore Trust slate
Non-slate candidated
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
35k members voted to re-elect a slate of council candidates endorsed by the nominations committee
12k - 13.5k voted for candidates on Restore Trust slate
Non-slate candidated
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
Voting results from the AGM
Read about the National Trust's 2025 Annual General Meeting and the results from the day.
www.nationaltrust.org.uk
November 8, 2025 at 11:50 PM
National Trust council elections saw a defeat for the Restore Trust campaign.
35k members voted to re-elect a slate of council candidates endorsed by the nominations committee
12k - 13.5k voted for candidates on Restore Trust slate
Non-slate candidated
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
35k members voted to re-elect a slate of council candidates endorsed by the nominations committee
12k - 13.5k voted for candidates on Restore Trust slate
Non-slate candidated
www.nationaltrust.org.uk/who-we-are/a...
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
#GLAM friends, quite a lot of you went to IU for your undergrad, MLS, and PhD! Those of us still here would appreciate alumni support against the upper administration’s nonsense, especially in regard to academic/intellectual freedom
My undergrad alma mater, Indiana University, has gone full Project 2025 - from eliminating liberal arts majors, to suppressing campus protest to shuttering the student paper. A group of alums are organizing thanks to @juliedicaro.bsky.social. Join us by filling the form.
forms.gle/vbsHAGUH6JHa...
forms.gle/vbsHAGUH6JHa...
Alumni For a Better IU
Connecting alumni to save IU
forms.gle
November 8, 2025 at 5:30 PM
#GLAM friends, quite a lot of you went to IU for your undergrad, MLS, and PhD! Those of us still here would appreciate alumni support against the upper administration’s nonsense, especially in regard to academic/intellectual freedom
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
With an eye to Photo 51 etc., has anyone written about stolen-discovery narratives as a counterpart to Eureka-moment narratives? It feels like the same underlying model of a discovery as a discrete event, neatly packaged with the credit.
November 8, 2025 at 12:01 PM
With an eye to Photo 51 etc., has anyone written about stolen-discovery narratives as a counterpart to Eureka-moment narratives? It feels like the same underlying model of a discovery as a discrete event, neatly packaged with the credit.
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
Haha, this from the New Yorker is getting passed around the math dork community. I did a comic about this kind of thought a few years ago: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/commut...
November 7, 2025 at 5:26 PM
Haha, this from the New Yorker is getting passed around the math dork community. I did a comic about this kind of thought a few years ago: www.smbc-comics.com/comic/commut...
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
the tory proposal to deport 4-7% of the uk population is a fascist one - & we have to call it that
my latest with @thebulwark.com
www.thebulwark.com/p/tories-con...
my latest with @thebulwark.com
www.thebulwark.com/p/tories-con...
The Tories’ Dangerous Drift
In the U.K., a shocking proposal from a Conservative MP elicited pushback from her party only belatedly. It signals darker things to come.
www.thebulwark.com
November 7, 2025 at 4:55 PM
the tory proposal to deport 4-7% of the uk population is a fascist one - & we have to call it that
my latest with @thebulwark.com
www.thebulwark.com/p/tories-con...
my latest with @thebulwark.com
www.thebulwark.com/p/tories-con...
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
They really stuck the landing on this one.
New York millionaires: threatening to flee the city since 2009
November 7, 2025 at 10:05 PM
They really stuck the landing on this one.
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
Today's a good day to remember Rosalind Franklin, British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose untimely death meant three men shared a Nobel prize for discovering the structure of DNA for which she'd done most of the work.
November 7, 2025 at 8:02 PM
Today's a good day to remember Rosalind Franklin, British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose untimely death meant three men shared a Nobel prize for discovering the structure of DNA for which she'd done most of the work.
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
Not enough attention is being paid to the effective closure of the bulk of one of the 2 or 3 most important public archives for modern British history. A terrible own goal for the BBC as a public-service agency.
WAC wrong-headedness
(that's the BBC Written Archives Centre)
I've brought together the key links for the campaign against the changes which now make independent and exploratory research at WAC impossible - and why this matters.
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/wac-wrong-he...
(that's the BBC Written Archives Centre)
I've brought together the key links for the campaign against the changes which now make independent and exploratory research at WAC impossible - and why this matters.
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/wac-wrong-he...
WAC wrong-headedness - Illuminations
John Wyver writes: Some of you will know that I have been very involved over the past months with attempts to reverse the wrong-headed changes to access at the BBC Written Archives Centre (above, with...
www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk
November 7, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Not enough attention is being paid to the effective closure of the bulk of one of the 2 or 3 most important public archives for modern British history. A terrible own goal for the BBC as a public-service agency.
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
Today, a friend involved in the Esna restoration project has shared with me his latest stunning photos of the restored ceiling and columns of the Temple of Khnum in Esna, Upper #Egypt. During a multi-year restoration project, the dirt and soot that had obscured the ...🧵1/3
📷 D. v. Recklinghausen
🏺
📷 D. v. Recklinghausen
🏺
November 7, 2025 at 8:54 AM
Today, a friend involved in the Esna restoration project has shared with me his latest stunning photos of the restored ceiling and columns of the Temple of Khnum in Esna, Upper #Egypt. During a multi-year restoration project, the dirt and soot that had obscured the ...🧵1/3
📷 D. v. Recklinghausen
🏺
📷 D. v. Recklinghausen
🏺
Reposted by Michael H Whitworth
#OTD 1867, Marie Curie was born.
During WWI, Curie created a vehicle that contained a hospital bed, a generator, an X-ray machine and photographic darkroom equipment. These “petite Curies" (below) could be driven right up to the Front. Curie also helped train 150 women as radiology technicians.
During WWI, Curie created a vehicle that contained a hospital bed, a generator, an X-ray machine and photographic darkroom equipment. These “petite Curies" (below) could be driven right up to the Front. Curie also helped train 150 women as radiology technicians.
November 7, 2025 at 1:13 PM
#OTD 1867, Marie Curie was born.
During WWI, Curie created a vehicle that contained a hospital bed, a generator, an X-ray machine and photographic darkroom equipment. These “petite Curies" (below) could be driven right up to the Front. Curie also helped train 150 women as radiology technicians.
During WWI, Curie created a vehicle that contained a hospital bed, a generator, an X-ray machine and photographic darkroom equipment. These “petite Curies" (below) could be driven right up to the Front. Curie also helped train 150 women as radiology technicians.