Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist
Who knew that one of mankind’s greatest scientists also worked as a gumshoe on London’s mean streets, or that this same absent-minded professor helped England fix its monetary policy from an office in the Tower of London? Thomas Levenson brings all sorts of surprises to light in his own sleuthing of a little known but significa
Chantal Akerman: Moving through Time and Space
This exploration/homage arrives in the form of a lecture/conversation, breaking some conventions, not unlike the object/subject of the event, Chantal Akerman, filmmaker and video artist. Two Akerman experts discuss her work in the kick-off event to an exhibition at MIT’s List Visual Arts Center.
Fir
The Inner History of Devices
Contemporary science has done a great disservice to Sigmund Freud, suggests Sherry Turkle, who believes the psychoanalytic tradition can teach us much about the often concealed connections between physical objects and our thoughts and feelings. On the occasion of the publication of her latest book, The Inner History of Devi
enChanting Musical Artifacts in Unlikely Places: Rare Resources in MIT’s Lewis Music Library
There are times when it’s necessary to judge a book by its cover, or a single page, because that’s all that remains. Michael Scott Cuthbert and Nancy Schrock reveal some treasures from MIT’s early music collection which, while often incomplete or damaged, sing volumes about their origins and use.
Contemplative Dimensions of Human Experience
In a mind-stretching talk covering the history of the planet, development of higher-order consciousness, and East-West religious practices, Trappist monk Thomas Keating claims that humanity is poised to take its next evolutionary step, to the “furthest levels of human understanding.”
While
The Gutenberg Parenthesis: Oral Tradition and Digital Technologies
Should we view the last 500 years or so of Western culture as a strange interlude, defined by printed page and other artifacts that once dominated the landscape but are now fading in relevance? In this forum, Thomas Pettitt makes the deliberately provocative case for a Gutenberg “Parenthesis” -- a period marked b
The Current Crisis in the Middle East
True to form, Noam Chomsky makes a sweeping and copiously detailed indictment of U.S. Middle East policy, brooking no contrary or alternate views. His history-filled lecture (interrupted by occasional applause) focuses on four crises, involving the Palestinians, the Lebanon invasion, the Iraq war and the “impending catastroph
The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
Perhaps no one comprehends the roots of depravity and cruelty better than Philip Zimbardo. He is renowned for such research as the Stanford Prison Experiment, which demonstrated how, in the right circumstances, ordinary people can swiftly become amoral monsters. Evil is not so much inherent in individuals, Zimbardo showed, but e
Chomsky on Gaza
While he admits to no surprise about events in Gaza, Noam Chomsky does consider “the latest U.S.-Israeli attack on helpless Palestinians” a step beyond terrorism and aggression. He says “some new term is needed for the sadistic and cowardly torture of people caged with no possibility of escape, being pounded daily by the most s
Computers with Commonsense: Artificial Intelligence at the MIT Round Table
Visiting the San Diego Zoo’s orangutans and chimpanzees inspires Patrick Henry Winston to ponder what makes humans different from our primate cousins. His field of artificial intelligence extends that question to thinking about how humans differ from computers. Winston’s goal is to “develop a computational theo
Portuguese studies review
The PSR is a peer reviewed journal devoted to promoting interdisciplinary scholarly study of the countries, regions, and communities that share, build on, or are transforming a Portuguese or Brazilian legacy. The PSR promotes a critical understanding of the historical and current evolution of political, economic, social and cultural networks incorporating Portugal, Brazil, and other lusophone countries. The journal, launched in 1991 by Trent University (Ontario, Canada) is published biannually,
Brazilmax
This website presents thoroughly researched information about Brazil in all the aspects of its life. One particular section describes the different area of Brazil, carefully mixing geographical information with tourist attractions, providing access to maps and also promising a places index at the time of cataloguing. Another section offers a long list of literary guides to the character of the country and its inhabitants. The section 'features' offers detailed information on: art and culture; b
Khrushchev and Khrushchev : from the Kremlin to Brown University
The website "Khrushchev and Khrushchev: from the Kremlin to Brown University" is the online version of an exhibition organised and hosted by Brown University Library in 2002. It focuses on the visit by the Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev (1894-1971, premier 1954-1964) to the United States of America in October 1960. The second Krushchev of the exhibition title is his son Sergei Krushchev, who famously took American citizenship in 1999 and donated his father's papers to Brown University Library.
South Asian diaspora
The South Asia Diaspora website hosted by the South / Southeast Asia Library at the University of California, Berkeley, contains several useful resources for scholars researching the Indian diaspora. The site briefly describes the relevant archives held at Berkeley, and includes images from the archive illustrating aspects of the diaspora in California. An essays section summarises the history of Indian immigration to California during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and links to further
Staffordshire hoard, the
This is currently the main website for the 1,500-item Staffordshire Hoard. The Hoard is a very large and significant find of Anglo-Saxon worked gold and silver, discovered by a metal detectorist in a mid Staffordshire field in 2009. The find was saved for the nation through public fund-raising in 2010, and will be permanently displayed in Stoke-on-Trent (the collecting authority museum) and Birmingham in the UK. At June 2010 the website has: an archive of the initial press and media materials;
Islam in British stone
Developed by Asian Youth Alliance (AYA), the Islam in British Stone website promotes Britain's most significant Muslim heritage sites and Islamic-influenced buildings, and provides information about the earliest mosques, prayer halls and historically significant Muslim and Islamic heritage sites in Britain. The 'Heritage Sites' section contains a timeline of these buildings, with further information and links for each building, and a note to say whether it was the first in the area and/or whethe
Paul Revere Williams : American architect : a man and his work
The Paul Revere Williams website is designed to provide introductory material about African-American architect Paul R. Williams (1894-1980), who was the first African American member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the first to become a Fellow (FAIA). The project is a collaboration between AIA and the University of Memphis. The website provides information about the architect and a large image gallery, which can be browsed by decade or category. The 'resources' section of the w
From Terra Australis to Australia : State Library of New South Wales
This website, from the State Library of New South Wales, Australia, provides a history of the first discovery and exploration of Australia. Beginning with the biggest naval expedition into Pacific Waters, from Britain, in 1787, and known as the First Fleet, this attractively designed, easy to navigate, and simple to use website provides a wealth of information on the exploration, and discovery, of Australia. The website provides - with the use of Flash - a number of images and charts taken fro
Tabula rasa
Tabula Rasa is a website providing "a compendium of material on a number of esoteric subjects" with an emphasis on the history of horror in Australia and beyond. The site covers a number of topics, including: 'Dark Ages'; 'horror on screen'; Australiana; comics; and role playing games, with special sections on Stephen King and Doctor Who. The site would interest those researching science fiction and horror literature, as well as those studying media and television. The horror section typifies
Teresa de Castro's website
The website of the Spanish historian Dr. Teresa de Castro offers electronic versions of some of her scholarly work on the history of food. Users may choose between navigating the site in English or Spanish, while her work may be in Spanish, English, or Italian. De Castro has published books and articles on the history of food in Spain (including Al-Andalus and Sefarad) and Australia. She has made available electronic versions of some of her books online: "Food mentality in Spain at the Renaissan
