England Plundered Holland’s Glory

Lisa Jardine, author of Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory, has won McGill University’s Cundill prize:

Going Dutch

Going Dutch: How England Plundered Holland’s Glory (Harper), the remarkable story of the relationship between the Dutch Republic and Britain, two of 17th Century Europe’s most important colonial powers, has earned British historian Lisa Jardine the 2009 Cundill International Prize in History at McGill University.

In this wide-ranging book, Jardine masterfully assembles new research in political and social history, together with the histories of art, music, gardening and science, to show how Dutch tolerance, resourcefulness and commercial acumen had effectively conquered Britain long before the Glorious Revolution of 1688 that overthrew King James II of England. Above all, Jardine tests the traditional view that the rise of England as a world power took place at the expense of the Dutch, finding instead that it was a “handing off” of the baton of cultural and intellectual supremacy to a Britain then expanding in international power and influence.

Read the full news story at the McGill Newsroom.

See the short list for the prize, with brief synopses of the books, author bio’s and cover pic’s here.

And read this review in The Guardian.

New Leeuwenhoek Web Site!

Good news for all Leeuwenhoek students and those interested in the science of The Netherland’s Golden Age. Douglas Anderson has produced a new web site called Lens on Leeuwenhoek.

Why a web site dedicated to Antoni van Leeuwenhoek? From the introduction page:

When I began researching the life and accomplishments of Antony van Leeuwenhoek, I was struck by:

the small amount of information
the amount of contradictory information

Why wasn’t there more information about this fascinating, important man? What are the correct facts about his life and accomplishments? This web site tries to respond to both questions by presenting:

attractive, interesting information
correct information

This promises to be the most comprehensive web site on Leeuwenhoek available today. Douglas Anderson is an associate professor of humanities at Medaille College,  New York. I look forward to visiting this site a great deal in the future. There is little I can say that would not be better understood than by simple visiting Lens on Leeuwenhoek!

I consider  this a very exciting development and I wish Professor Anderson and his web site great success in the forthcoming years.

Bridge to the Past – The Leeuwenhoek Microscope

I know I promised to stay away until fall, but this came up at Small Things Considered and I thought it deserved attention – recreating the past to better understand the present:

The Ten Minute Leeuwenhoek Microscope

by Patrick Keeling¹

Patrick melts a glass tube (while looking away!) to make
a Leeuwenhoek microscope at the UBC Advanced
Molecular Biology Labs High School Science Teacher
Conference (October, 2008). Source.

I was on leave from teaching for a couple of years. The summer before re-starting my third year Protistology course I began to think about some things I wanted to change. One thing I wanted to do was to add a section on the history of microbiology to put things into perspective and hopefully connect students with the material a bit. My colleague, Max Taylor, had a replica of a van Leeuwenhoek microscope that he once showed to me, and I thought it would be fun to make one as close to the original design as possible to show the class what it was like. I did some superficial snooping around about how it was built, including finding the original paper in the Proceedings of the Royal Society where he described the design. I realized it would be pretty straightforward, including making a lens that was pretty close to the ones he would have used.

For the complete article and links to more on home-made Leeuwenhoek microscopes, please visit The Ten Minute Leeuwenhoek Microscope at Small Things Considered.

¹Patrick Keeling is a scholar of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Evolutionary Biology Program, and assistant professor, Department of Botany, University of British Columbia.

Summer Notice

I hope to return to this blog in the the fall, with the hope of catching up with lost articles and unfinished pages. Have a good summer!

A Leuwenhoek Time Line

Google has a time-line for Leeuwenhoek:

Stamps Feature Dutch Scientists.

“Summer stamps” (1937) with Jacob Maris (1837-1899) painter, F. de la Boë Sylvius (1614-1672) medical doctor, J. van den Vondel (1587-1679) writer and playwright, A. Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) scientist.

“Summer stamps” (1938) Marnix van Sint Aldegonde (1540-1598) writer, Ottho Gerhard Heldring (1804-1876) preacher and author, Maria Tesselschade Roemersdochter Visscher (1594-1649) poet and engraver, Rembrandt Harmens-zoon van Rhijn (1606-1669) painter, Herman Boerhaave (1668-1738) anatomist, botanist,chemist, humanist and researcher.

Images provided by Wouter Hagens at Wikimedia Commons.

Huygens in France

Etablissement de l'Académie des Sciences et fondation de l'observatoire. 1666

Is this Christiaan Huygens (right) by Cassini's side?

This painting shows the establishment of the Academy of Sciences in France in 1666, during the reign of Louis XIV. Christiaan Huygens was one of the founding members of the Academy, and he  lived in Paris from 1666 to 1681. Research done by  C.J. (Kees) Verduin  indicates that there may be an unknown portrait of Christian Huygens in this painting, which now hangs in the Musée National du Château et des Trianons in Versailles.

Go to A Portrait of Christiaan Huygens for more information on his research.

He also has a Christiaan Huygens web page here.

Swammerdam’s Scorpion

The Scorpion

From Jan Swammerdam’s Historia Insectorum Generalis, ofte, Algemeene Verhandeling van de Bloedeloose Dierkens : waar in, de waaragtige gronden van haare langsaame aangroeingen in leedemaaten, klaarelijk werden voorgestelt : kragtiglijk, van de gemeene dwaaling der vervorming, anders metamorphosis genoemt, gesuyvert : ende beknoptelijk, in vier onderscheide orderen van veranderingen, ofte natuurelijke uytbottingen in leeden, begreepen. t’Utrrecht : By Meinardus van Dreunen, 1669.

As found at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Born Today – Christiaan Huygens

Christiaan Huyghens, 1629-1695

From Today in Science History:

Christiaan Huygens, born 14 Apr 1629; died 8 Jul 1695. Dutch mathematician, astronomer, and physicist, who founded the wave theory of light, discovered the true shape of the rings of Saturn, and contributed to the science of dynamics – the study of the action of forces on bodies. Using a lens he ground for himself, on 25 Mar 1655, he discovered the first moon of Saturn, later named Titan. In 1656, he patented the first pendulum clock, which he developed to enable exact time measurement while observing the heavens. Huygens studied the relation of the length of a pendulum to its period of oscillation (1673) and stated theories on centrifugal force in circular motion which influenced Sir Isaac Newton in formulating his Law of Gravity. Huygens also studied and drew the first maps of Mars. On 14 Jan 2005, a NASA space probe, named after Huygens, landed on Titan.

Leeuwenhoek Microscope Sold

The Leeuwenhoek microscope that was being offered at Christies (see previous entry) has been sold to an anonymous bidder for a record $461,104. This is the highest price ever paid for a Dutch scientific instrument, selling at three times the estimated value. See a report by  Adriana Stuijt here.

Antoni van Leeuwenhoek