Richard Fallon
@richardfallon.bsky.social
Scholar of Earth's history in literature and culture. Research Associate in Natural History Humanities at the Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge (rlf43@cam.ac.uk). Author of "Contesting Earth's History" and "Reimagining Dinosaurs".
A final handful of leaves on the Ginkgo biloba in Queen's Park, Chesterfield. Planted in the early 1980s.
November 9, 2025 at 12:58 PM
A final handful of leaves on the Ginkgo biloba in Queen's Park, Chesterfield. Planted in the early 1980s.
You can find my piece on the Hollow Earth in this month's @historytoday.com, alongside Kublai Khan, the National Smoke Abatement Society, and the Battle of Baku.
November 8, 2025 at 9:34 AM
You can find my piece on the Hollow Earth in this month's @historytoday.com, alongside Kublai Khan, the National Smoke Abatement Society, and the Battle of Baku.
The dedication of this Pelican book — which has been described by some as 'eminently readable' — may be of interest to fans of Breaking Bad.
November 7, 2025 at 12:49 PM
The dedication of this Pelican book — which has been described by some as 'eminently readable' — may be of interest to fans of Breaking Bad.
A powerful bookplate.
November 6, 2025 at 3:55 PM
A powerful bookplate.
Stumbled into this unusually literal-minded (and suspiciously Victorian-looking) conception of the geologic column as an ionic column constructed out of fossils. It comes from the tear-out sign-up form for two 1983 London conferences on creationism. The ichthyosaur paddle is a neat touch.
November 5, 2025 at 1:40 PM
Stumbled into this unusually literal-minded (and suspiciously Victorian-looking) conception of the geologic column as an ionic column constructed out of fossils. It comes from the tear-out sign-up form for two 1983 London conferences on creationism. The ichthyosaur paddle is a neat touch.
So you can, just about, stand a small moka pot on two prongs of a gas hob if the four are too widely spaced out. But may God have mercy on your soul.
November 4, 2025 at 7:54 AM
So you can, just about, stand a small moka pot on two prongs of a gas hob if the four are too widely spaced out. But may God have mercy on your soul.
Does anyone know where the Iguanodon footprints found in the Greensand near Arthur Conan Doyle's house in May 1909, and which ended up on display in his billard room, are today? I suspect they remained with the family, but there are a lot of potential museums they could have ended up in.
October 31, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Does anyone know where the Iguanodon footprints found in the Greensand near Arthur Conan Doyle's house in May 1909, and which ended up on display in his billard room, are today? I suspect they remained with the family, but there are a lot of potential museums they could have ended up in.
They say palaeontology is hard but I just found this well-preserved Compsognathus near my office in central Cambridge.
October 29, 2025 at 3:24 PM
They say palaeontology is hard but I just found this well-preserved Compsognathus near my office in central Cambridge.
Another excellent Fitzwilliam Museum piece: Édouard Vuillard, Woman Reading in the Reeds (1909).
October 29, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Another excellent Fitzwilliam Museum piece: Édouard Vuillard, Woman Reading in the Reeds (1909).
I've got an article in November's @historytoday.com on the remarkably durable hypothesis that Earth is hollow, from Halley to Symmes to underground feminist utopias to UFOs. You know the drill — to the centre of the Earth (I've probably used that one before).
October 28, 2025 at 8:16 AM
I've got an article in November's @historytoday.com on the remarkably durable hypothesis that Earth is hollow, from Halley to Symmes to underground feminist utopias to UFOs. You know the drill — to the centre of the Earth (I've probably used that one before).
The mistletoe outside Churchill College.
October 27, 2025 at 9:00 AM
The mistletoe outside Churchill College.
Some things that struck me at the Fitzwilliam Museum: The Tortoise (1940) by Nat Leeb, an enviable 1930s coffee set by Moorcroft Pottery, and unusually tasteful Coronation mug by Ravilious.
October 25, 2025 at 1:13 PM
Some things that struck me at the Fitzwilliam Museum: The Tortoise (1940) by Nat Leeb, an enviable 1930s coffee set by Moorcroft Pottery, and unusually tasteful Coronation mug by Ravilious.
Probably uncontroversial Sherlock-Holmes-related opinion: if you cut between the two plots, rather than recounting the American plot only after the Holmes ones, and if you revealed each plot's big twist around the same time at the climax, The Valley of Fear would make a damn fine film adaptation.
October 25, 2025 at 7:08 AM
Probably uncontroversial Sherlock-Holmes-related opinion: if you cut between the two plots, rather than recounting the American plot only after the Holmes ones, and if you revealed each plot's big twist around the same time at the climax, The Valley of Fear would make a damn fine film adaptation.
This Hyphantaenia chemungensis bursting out of the plate. looks like an architectural fantasy by Piranesi. Drawn by G. B. Simpson and lithographed by Philip Ast for James Hall & J. M. Clarke's A Memoir on the Paleozoic Reticulate Sponges Constituting the Family Dictyospongidae (1898). #FossilFriday
October 24, 2025 at 7:10 AM
This Hyphantaenia chemungensis bursting out of the plate. looks like an architectural fantasy by Piranesi. Drawn by G. B. Simpson and lithographed by Philip Ast for James Hall & J. M. Clarke's A Memoir on the Paleozoic Reticulate Sponges Constituting the Family Dictyospongidae (1898). #FossilFriday
Good stuff from Wikipedia here.
October 23, 2025 at 8:20 AM
Good stuff from Wikipedia here.
Does anyone familiar with John Sibbick's work know where this beautiful illustration of Silurian graptolites was published?
October 22, 2025 at 10:16 AM
Does anyone familiar with John Sibbick's work know where this beautiful illustration of Silurian graptolites was published?
Lithograph of Eocene Coniferæ by Ellen Caroline Woodward, in John Starkie Gardner's A Monograph of the British Eocene Flora, vol. 2 (1883–86). Unlike her palaeontological sisters, Gertrude and Alice, E. C. Woodward became better known as an artistic metalworker – as did Gardner.
October 22, 2025 at 7:48 AM
Lithograph of Eocene Coniferæ by Ellen Caroline Woodward, in John Starkie Gardner's A Monograph of the British Eocene Flora, vol. 2 (1883–86). Unlike her palaeontological sisters, Gertrude and Alice, E. C. Woodward became better known as an artistic metalworker – as did Gardner.
Spotted this fine case of diplomatic phrasing at the weekend.
October 21, 2025 at 7:00 AM
Spotted this fine case of diplomatic phrasing at the weekend.
Biblically accurate graptolite. Too easy?
October 20, 2025 at 7:23 AM
Biblically accurate graptolite. Too easy?
More @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social collections for #FossilFriday. A mixed media display about 'the pre-Adamite Sharks of the Pliocene Era' with writing by geologist and entrepreneur Edward Charlesworth. Left somewhat toothless as the rusty fang of the Red Crag Sea has escaped its holding restraints.
October 17, 2025 at 7:09 AM
More @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social collections for #FossilFriday. A mixed media display about 'the pre-Adamite Sharks of the Pliocene Era' with writing by geologist and entrepreneur Edward Charlesworth. Left somewhat toothless as the rusty fang of the Red Crag Sea has escaped its holding restraints.
Yvonne Rosalind Barlow's 1983 painting of Nora Barlow, Charles Darwin's granddaughter, in the @theul.bsky.social. Living from 1885 to 1989, Nora was already nine during the Oscar Wilde trial and could (in theory) have played Castlevania II on the NES.
October 15, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Yvonne Rosalind Barlow's 1983 painting of Nora Barlow, Charles Darwin's granddaughter, in the @theul.bsky.social. Living from 1885 to 1989, Nora was already nine during the Oscar Wilde trial and could (in theory) have played Castlevania II on the NES.
A hearty Japanese giant salamander in the @zoologymuseum.bsky.social.
October 14, 2025 at 7:11 AM
A hearty Japanese giant salamander in the @zoologymuseum.bsky.social.
Walking down the Madingley Road today I'll be sure to look out for ichthyosaurs. In the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social, of course.
October 13, 2025 at 7:05 AM
Walking down the Madingley Road today I'll be sure to look out for ichthyosaurs. In the @sedgwickmuseum.bsky.social, of course.
Some dangerous snakes of Australia, helpfully indicated by Professor Frederick McCoy. Thanks, Professor!
October 11, 2025 at 7:20 AM
Some dangerous snakes of Australia, helpfully indicated by Professor Frederick McCoy. Thanks, Professor!