Portal:History Of Science/Previous Pictures - Science Pictures

• For the queue of future selected pictures, and to suggest new ones, see Portal talk:History of science/Picture.

2006

January 20

---

January 27

---

February 3

---

February 10

---

February 17

---

February 24

---

March 10

---

March 17

---

March 24

---

March 31

---

April 7

---

April 21

---

April 28

---

May 5

---

May 12

---

May 19

---

May 26

---

June 2

---

June 9

---

June 16

---

June 23

---

June 30

---

July 7

---

July 14

---

July 21

---

July 28

---

August 4

---

August 18

---

August 25

---

September 1

---

September 8

---

September 17

---

October 7

---

October 28

A Philosopher Giving a Lecture on the Orrery (sometimes called simply The Orrery) is a painting (oil on canvas, ca. 1766) by Joseph Wright of Derby depicting a public lecture about a model solar system, with a lampâ€"in place of the sunâ€"illuminating the faces of the audience. Wright captures the spirit of the Enlightenment, with knowledge as a force of moral uplift for the audience of commoners under the tutelage of the natural philosopher. Consistent with the astronomical theme, the partially illuminated faces may represent the phases of the moon, ranging from full (the children) to gibbous (the man standing on the left) to new (the figure seen from behind).

---

December 12

The late 19th century was a period of increased tension and conflict between science and religion; the relationship is dramatized in this engraving by W. Ridgway (published in 1878) after Daniel Huntington's 1868 painting Philosophy and Christian Art. An attractive young woman attempts to persuade a wizened natural philosopher of the virtue of Christian art (in the form of an adoration scene), while he resolutely points to his book, the pages of which read "SCIENTIA" and "MECHANICA", in answer. In addition to youth and beauty, the young woman has nature itself, seen through the window, on her side. (In the original painting, the landscape is a somewhat wilder Romantic scene, meant to emphasize the power of nature.)

2007

January 13

ENIAC, short for Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, was the first large-scale, electronic, digital computer capable of being reprogrammed to solve a full range of computing problems, although earlier computers had been built with some of these properties. ENIAC was designed and built to calculate artillery firing tables for the U.S. Army's Ballistics Research Laboratory. The first problems run on the ENIAC however, were related to the design of the hydrogen bomb.

---

February 3

Der Quacksalber (The Quack) is a painting (oil on wood, 53 x 56 cm) by Franz Anton Maulbertsch, from some time before 1785. The subject, of course, is quackeryâ€"the peddling of unproven, and sometimes dangerous, medicines, cures or treatmentsâ€" which has existed throughout the history of medicine. In ancient times, theatrics were sometimes mixed with actual medicine to provide entertainment as much as healing. Quack medicines often had little in the way of active ingredients, or had ingredients which made a person feel good, such as what came to be known as recreational drugs. Morphine and related chemicals were especially common, being legal and unregulated in most places at the time. Arsenic and other poisons were also included.

---

March 17

"Fuji at Torigoe" is the eightieth woodblock print from One Hundred Views of Mt. Fuji by the Japanese ukiyo-e artist Hokusai. It depicts the observatory of the Calendar Bureau during the Edo period, with astronomers working on the roof, Mt. Fuji in the background. The astronomical device, however, is not an observational instrument; it is an orrery. Judging by the outdoor location for the instrument and the fact that it is missing essential components, it is likely that Hokusai produced this design based on another illustration. According to Hokusai scholar Henry D. Smith II, the orrery is best seen as an indication of Hokusai's interest in Western science rather than a representation of Japanese astronomical practice.