Month: November 2013
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Schapen, academici en liefhebbers
Door Jesper Oldenburger Geschiedenis en geschiedschrijving zijn zeker niet enkel en alleen binnen de academische muren gehuisvest. Geschiedenis is populair en talloze niet-academici houden zich momenteel, zowel op individuele basis als binnen een historische vereniging, bezig met het verleden. Naar aanleiding van een recente trip naar het schapeneiland Texel bespreek ik de verhouding tussen academische…
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The Power of Technology: Computing Equality in the 1980s (and How it Failed)
By Katrin Geske Realizing the demands of a modern state – think for instance of complex social security or tax systems – takes more than just a good idea and the intention to make it happen. The role of fully automated systems has increased immensely over the past 50 years and their importance was (and…
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Of Embryos and Transmutation IV – there and back again
By Robbert Striekwold Throughout the 19th century, ideas concerning embryonic and species development were joined together in a unification that many biologists took to be self-evident. Near the end of that century they split up, however, and embryology was largely left out of the Modern Synthesis of Darwin and Mendel. That is, until several spectacular…
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Following the Rule(s): Authority and Originality in Medieval Monastic Thought
By Lieke Smits Until the middle of the twentieth century, scholars assumed that in medieval culture authority (auctoritas) was deemed more important than originality.[1] The often-quoted expression attributed to Bernard of Chartres (d. after 1124), master in the cathedral school, that his fellow scholars were like dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants has certainly…