Au musée de la Pharmacie de Bâle, qu'on me recommande chaudement (le plus ancien d'Europe), un bel exemplaire de Micrographia nova (1687), montrant des cirons du fromage, chers à Pascal.
Image F. K-L
#histnat #bookhistory #histsci #histtech
"For one shilling a head, spectators were ushered into a dimly lit back room to see the Euphonia, a machine that boasted the ability to replicate human speech. (...)
Sideshow automaton’s voices were often faked by hiding a person somewhere beneath the apparatus. Viewers of the Euphonia were impressed because there was clearly no hidden chamber for such a ruse to take place."
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/texttospeech-in-1846-involved-a-talking-robotic-head-with-ringlets #histtech
Text-To-Speech in 1846 Involved a Talking Robotic Head With Ringlets

Meet the Euphonia, a machine that boasted the ability to replicate human speech.

Atlas Obscura
"The Euphonia was a talking machine created in the early to mid-nineteenth century by the Austrian inventor Joseph Faber (...)
Faber's "Fabulous Talking Machine" was constructed of several different mechanisms and instruments: a piano, a bellows, and a mechanical replica of the human throat and vocal organs."
#wikifact
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphonia_(device) #histtech #histsci
Euphonia (device) - Wikipedia

#Manchester History, #HistSTM & #HistTech hivemind: Do we know if anyone is working on a biography of Harold Hankins, UMIST Principal from 1984, and first VC when UMIST obtained university status? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_...

Harold Hankins - Wikipedia
Harold Hankins - Wikipedia

Mot du jour : Electroculture.
"En 1783, l'abbé Pierre Bertholon de Saint-Lazare invente l'électrovégétomètre, appareil visant à recueillir l’électricité atmosphérique pour la distribuer dans le sol."

#histtech #motdujour
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89lectroculture

The natural historian, Henry Baker, who wrote The Microscope Made Easy described as the first laboratory manual for microscopy, was born 8 May 1698 #histsci #histtech
https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2011/05/08/how-to-use-a-microscope/
How to use a microscope.

The regular reader of this blog (are you still there?) will have long ago realised that I have a genuine fondness for polymaths and that I like to promote the memory of obscure contributors to the …

The Renaissance Mathematicus

Joseph Moxon wrote, printed and published the first ever accurate and detailed account of the techniques and methods of printing 1683-84 #histtech

https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2026/05/01/joseph-moxon-a-man-of-many-talents/

Joseph Moxon innovative printer, publisher, author, globe and instrument maker in the second half of the seventeenth century #histsci #histtech
https://thonyc.wordpress.com/2026/05/01/joseph-moxon-a-man-of-many-talents/
Joseph Moxon–a man of many talents

As I explained in a previous post Emery Molyneux (d. 1598) was the first English, printed-globe maker. After Molyneux departed from England to the Netherlands in 1597, where he died a year later, i…

The Renaissance Mathematicus
Today is #EarthDay. 🌍 But what about Earth at #night? 🌌🌃 And how did scientists come to understand #night as environment, albeit in distinct ways? #envhist #envhum #histsci #histtech #sts @[email protected] uwapress.uw.edu/book/9780295...

Transforming Night
Transforming Night

Who owns the night—and what is lost as we flood it with light, worldwide?Darkness has become legible—and contested. Blending archival narrative with on-t...

University of Washington Press