🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
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rossbrooks.co.uk
🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
@rossbrooks.co.uk
13K followers 11K following 570 posts
Historian. #histsci. #queerhistory. First book, Darwin and the Queer Origins of Life, to be published by Yale University Press in August. Trekkie. Classical music. Seaside living (near Brighton). He/him. rossbrooks.co.uk. Agent: www.philippasitters.co.uk.
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rossbrooks.co.uk
🌈 Dr Ross Brooks @rossbrooks.co.uk · Nov 3
@bsky.app now has over 40M users! 🦋💙

To celebrate, I thought I'd repost the cover image of The Science of Life (August 1929) from which the beautiful butterflies on my profile banner are taken. The central specimens are all gynandromorphs (simultaneously female and male). #histsci #queerhistory 🌈🗃️
Front cover of issue 12 of The Science of Life by Julian Huxley, G. P. Wells, and H. G. Wells and published in August 1929. Illustrating an article titled ‘What Determines Sex,’ a colour photograph features a selection of butterflies from the collections of the London Natural History Museum. Down the centre are five gynandromorph specimens. For four of the species, female and male specimens are placed either side of the gynandromorph for comparison. Image made from my own copy.
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
tricksterprince.bsky.social
I couldn't agree more with @mirror.co.uk that it's a good time to investigate Agatha Christie's London.

Especially because there's 40% off Songs of Seven Dials in the @manchesterup.bsky.social sale.

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526181954/

#sevendials #20s30s
January 6, 2026 at 10:01 AM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
isaiashernandez.bsky.social
I am pleased to announce the release of my latest article in the Observatory. I believe the findings and discussions presented here contribute meaningfully to our understanding of queer ecology.

#academia #science #education #queer
How Queer Ecology Reveals the Diversity of Nature and Human Experience
observatory.wiki
January 5, 2026 at 5:34 PM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
manchesterup.bsky.social
Mermaids, unicorns, vampires are an empowering part of our queer folk heritage, author @sachacoward.bsky.social tells @lgbtqnation.com in a recent interview here: www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/12/merm...

'Queer as Folklore' is out now in paperback!
Mermaids, unicorns, vampires are an empowering part of our queer folk heritage - LGBTQ Nation
Queer people have existed in folklore throughout history. Realizing that gives us magical powers, Sacha Coward says.
www.lgbtqnation.com
January 5, 2026 at 10:55 AM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
clio2.bsky.social
Weekly #LGBTQ #Trans update on Daily Kos

www.dailykos.com/stories/2026...

Btw @rossbrooks.co.uk , this borrowed your cheery Bluesky post about the Globe Theater. Thanks for sharing that.
LGBTQ+ update: Shakespeare; further dispatches from the war on trans youth; pansy craze; more
Big updates on RFK Jr.'s proposal to shut down essentially all gender-affirming care for trans youth, as reported here 2 weeks ago. There is an opportunity to file comments, open until Feb. 17. ALSO, ...
www.dailykos.com
January 5, 2026 at 12:16 PM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
jamiebgall.co.uk
EU pals - shipping is restored!
For the first time since Brexit you can now get my rainbow Science and Science Fiction pin badges across Europe.

Tell your pals!
proudscience.etsy.com
A series of Pride coloured police boxes An array of science and sci fi themed rainbow pin badges Six pins in the style of Doctor Who characters.
January 5, 2026 at 1:50 PM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
royalhistsoc.org
Applications are also invited for a new RHS programme for 2026, co-hosted with @ihr.bsky.social and @chalkefestival.bsky.social.

'Pitch my Project' is for early career historians to present their research at the Chalke History Festival in June bit.ly/44kfUMM. Closing date: 6 February. #Skystorians
Pitch my Project: an opportunity for early career historians to present their work at the Chalke History Festival 2026 - RHS
Have you ever wanted to share your research with a wide audience? Would you like to gain experience in public speaking, and be supported to develop imaginative ways to communicate your research to the...
bit.ly
January 5, 2026 at 9:53 AM
rossbrooks.co.uk
Mood ('cos it's a bit nippy out):

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8K8...

'See'st thou not how stiff
And wondrous old
Far unfit to bear the bitter cold'
Jakub Jósef Orlinski - Purcell - King Arthur - The Cold Song
YouTube video by Classical HD Live
www.youtube.com
January 5, 2026 at 9:41 AM
rossbrooks.co.uk
Incidentally, the Globe has regular LGBTQ-themed guided tours. There are also excellent learning resources in their free guide 'Finding Queerness in Our Records': cdn.shakespearesglobe.com/uploads/2025... 🌈🎭🏳️‍⚧️🗃️

www.shakespearesglobe.com/whats-on/gui... #queer #history #theatre #drama
January 4, 2026 at 10:18 AM
rossbrooks.co.uk
Annual New Year cocktails up the Shard with the brilliant @djberry.bsky.social. Then we went to see a wonderfully wintry production of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Shakespeare's Globe (actually the Globe's indoor Sam Wanamaker Playhouse, so not *too* wintry!). Great day! #London 🍸🎭
Two chaps posing happily in the cocktail bar at the top of the Shard in London. Dominic is wearing a light blue top. I'm wearing a purple jumper and a striped shirt. The cityscape, including the River Thames, can be seen in the background. Photo of myself inside the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse just before a performance. I'm wearing a purple jumper and a striped shirt. I'm also wearing specs. Other audience members and the stage can be seen in the background.
January 3, 2026 at 8:43 PM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
sciam.bsky.social
The Quadrantid meteor shower peaks tonight! Let us know if you catch a shooting star 🌠
Watch the First Meteor Shower of 2026 Light Up the Sky This Weekend
The new year has arrived, and the Quadrantid meteor shower is coming in hot. Here’s how to see this often-spectacular shower at its peak
www.scientificamerican.com
January 3, 2026 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
uomnch.bsky.social
Transgressors closes Sunday, January 4! This exhibit, originally presented at Chachalu Tribal Museum and Cultural Center, showcases nine artists exploring the past, present, and future of Indigenous queer identity and is curated by Anthony Hudson and Felix Furby. #indigenousart #pnw
A close up of the black fabric introduction panel. The title "Transgressors" crosses the top of the panel in bright pink font, with a rainbow ribbon winding around it. Underneath the title is text reading "transgressor. noun. 1: someone or something that transgresses, going beyond a boundary or limit."  A wide view of the Transgressors exhibit. Black pillars with pictures of the artists and short bios are sprinkled throughout the space. Colorful woven corn by Geo Neptune and an illuminated box with art by Steph Littlebird are visible.  In the center of the frame is a black rectangle with pink text reading "What does a future with us in it look like? Everyone is encouraged to draw or write to add to the wall. Use this wall as a communal wish." The rectangle is surrounded by pieces of white paper, some with colorful drawings, some with text reflections. At least 15 pieces of paper are visible.
January 1, 2026 at 8:00 PM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
respectthecows.bsky.social
Very excited to share that on the last day of this year, my 1st peer-reviewed article (co-created with artist Jesse Blanchard) about #trans actress Valerie Wilson was published! Read it here
viewjournal.eu/articles/10.... #cinema #valeriewilson #transfilm #frenchcinema #transhistory #archive #memory
“They Lack Imagination…” ─ Valérie Wilson and Trans Life in the Audiovisual Archive | VIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture
viewjournal.eu
December 31, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
linneansociety.bsky.social
Happy New Year from us at the Linnean Society! Enjoy this print of an advertisement for Pain's Fireworks for Queen Victoria's Jubilee in 1887.

You can even get a print of it here: buff.ly/OYLcWDQ
An illustration of a palace with lights strung between Union Jack flags. It advertises "Pain's Daylight Fireworks," in warm oranges and yellows.
January 1, 2026 at 10:01 AM
rossbrooks.co.uk
Lots of promising queer history books to look forward to in 2026. Here are just a few coming soon . . . 🌈📚🗃️

www.beacon.org/A-Black-Quee...

www.bloomsbury.com/uk/queer-inh...

www.dukeupress.edu/gay-print-cu...

manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526165312/

utppublishing.com/doi/book/10....
Front cover of A Black Queer History of the United States by @crileysnorton.bsky.social and Darius Bost. Published by @beaconpress.bsky.social in January. Front cover of A Queer Scrapbook: Britain and Ireland since 1945 by @justinbengry.bsky.social, Matt Cook, @rebeccajennings.bsky.social, and E-J. Scott. Published by @manchesterup.bsky.social. Front cover of I Will Not Abandon You: Queer Women in Nazi Germany by @schuneke.bsky.social. Published by @uoftpress.bsky.social in April. Front cover of How Queer Bookshops Changed the World by A. J. West. Published by @oneworldbooks.bsky.social in May.
January 1, 2026 at 10:37 AM
rossbrooks.co.uk
Happy New Year! 🎉🥂

Wishing everyone love and happiness in 2026 . . .

#HappyNewYear #HappyNewYear2026
a blonde woman is singing with the words happy new year below her
ALT: a blonde woman is singing with the words happy new year below her
media.tenor.com
January 1, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
momoulton.bsky.social
Give me your best recent British & Irish LGBTQI+ history recommendations! I'm updating the reading list for my queer & trans history module. Looking for things published in the last 2-3 years. 🌈🎓 ‍🌈 🏳️‍⚧️ #queerhistory
December 29, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
richardfallon.bsky.social
Paul Delvaux's painting The Awakening of the Forest (1939) was inspired by the subterranean forest in Jules Verne's Journey to the Centre of the Earth. As far as I know (not much), we don't have a wide-ranging study of Surrealism's relationship with Earth's history (www.artic.edu/artworks/111...)
Nude figures parade through a mysterious primordial forest; a bespectacled scientist looks on from the left.
December 30, 2025 at 8:31 AM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
wallpapermag.bsky.social
'Deviant Ornaments' at the National Museum of Norway examines the far-reaching history of Queer art www.wallpaper.com/art/exhibiti...
In Norway, discover 1000 years of Queer expression in Islamic Art
'Deviant Ornaments' at the National Museum of Norway examines the far-reaching history of Queer art
www.wallpaper.com
December 26, 2025 at 9:01 AM
rossbrooks.co.uk
Did someone say 'boxing'?

'The Boxer' (1933) by Russian artist Konstantin Somov. 🥊🌈🎨

Happy Boxing Day!

#BoxingDay #Christmas #queer #lgbtq #art #arthistory #1930s 🗃️
Colour image of the painting ‘The Boxer’ (1933) by Russian artist Konstantin Somov. The young, handsome, and naked boxer sits in front of a mirror. His boxing gloves hang on a nail behind next to the mirror.
December 26, 2025 at 9:48 AM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
linneansociety.bsky.social
This Christmas Day, we're sharing a festive favourite with a scientific past.

This illustration of Poinsettia pulcherrima comes from Fleurs de Java (1742), created during the Linnean age of botanical discovery.

From science to Christmas tradition, season’s greetings from us at the Society!
December 25, 2025 at 10:00 AM
rossbrooks.co.uk
Happy Christmas! 🎄🎅

'Christmas day is one of great importance to the men: the whole of it has been given up to revelry, at present there is not a sober man in the ship' - Charles Darwin, 25 December 1831. 🍾

thedispersalofdarwin.wordpress.com/2010/12/13/c... #Christmas #histsci #histbio 🗃️
Christmas on HMS Beagle
Charles Darwin spent Christmas day of 1831 in Devonport awaiting favourable weather for the departure of HMS Beagle. Darwin wrote in his diary for the voyage: Christmas day is one of great importan…
thedispersalofdarwin.wordpress.com
December 25, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Reposted by 🌈 Dr Ross Brooks
rossbrooks.co.uk
I'll be looking out for Rudolph and her friends tonight! 🔴🦌🦌🛷🎁🎅

Same-sex sexual behaviours are well documented for reindeer, female and male. Read about it in Bruce Bagemihl's Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity (1999). #queer #lgbtq #science #nature #Christmas 🌈
Drawing of two male reindeer standing side by side, one of which is courting the other by 'vacuum licking,' or slurping, by which the animal flicks or smacks its tongue against the upper palate while approaching the other male with its head outstretched. The image, one of many, was created by John Megahan especially for Bagemihl's 'Biological Exuberance.'
December 24, 2025 at 8:26 AM
rossbrooks.co.uk
Just to add, if you miss Rudolph tonight, there's another great spot to be made as the International Space Station follows in Santa's path early tomorrow morning. 🦌🛷🎅🛰️👩‍🚀

Here are some timings: www.space.com/stargazing/s...

Here's another great piece: www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/art... #space #Christmas
December 24, 2025 at 11:26 AM
rossbrooks.co.uk
I'll be looking out for Rudolph and her friends tonight! 🔴🦌🦌🛷🎁🎅

Same-sex sexual behaviours are well documented for reindeer, female and male. Read about it in Bruce Bagemihl's Biological Exuberance: Animal Homosexuality and Natural Diversity (1999). #queer #lgbtq #science #nature #Christmas 🌈
Drawing of two male reindeer standing side by side, one of which is courting the other by 'vacuum licking,' or slurping, by which the animal flicks or smacks its tongue against the upper palate while approaching the other male with its head outstretched. The image, one of many, was created by John Megahan especially for Bagemihl's 'Biological Exuberance.'
December 24, 2025 at 8:26 AM