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Shells and Pebbles

@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social

Interesting finds on the shores of the history of science and the humanities. We are a group of historians of science from the Netherlands editing a blog on the history of the sciences and the humanities. Posts by Elian Schure.

23 Posts76 Follower47 Folgt
Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Why is doing a PhD hot? How do you stay alive in the ebb and flow of PhD life? How much coffee is too much coffee? And what do ladybirds have to do with it? The editors wrote an end-of-year post to give you some insights into our personal lives! www.shellsandpebbles.com/2026/07/06/a...

A Day in the Life of a PhD Candidate

Three academic years ago, a rag tag team of PhD Candidates took up the task of resurrecting Shells & Pebbles. Since then, several have completed their PhDs and graduated to new pursuits, or hav…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 2mo ago

When you cut an island in two, what happens to the zone splitting the two halves? Is it a dead space, or does it become a place where plants and animals can roam freely? Rafail Frixou discusses his notes on the Buffer Zone that splits Cyprus in two: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2026/06/22/n...

Notes from the United Nations Buffer Zone

I used to perform this joke when I was still working the comedy circuit in Amsterdam.1 It was a textbook comparison joke, where the comedian compares something familiar to the audience with somethi…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 3mo ago

How would you visualise the trains between Utrecht and Amsterdam? And the number of people being born in the Netherlands? Our own Marieke Gelderblom exhibits five graphs showing how this was done in the past! Enjoy our statistical visualisation exhibition: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2026/06/08/m...

Mini-tentoonstelling historische statistische visualisatie

Dit artikel is een mini-tentoonstelling van vijf Nederlandse historische statistische diagrammen. Dergelijke afbeeldingen zijn tegenwoordig niet meer weg te denken uit ons alledaags leven; het ‘kij…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 4mo ago

"Consent: Een geschiedenis van dwang en vrije wil en alles daartussenin" by Chanelle Delameillieure and Jolien Gijbels gave a historical perspective on discussions of consent. Marit de Wit wrote a review for S&P. With your consent, read it here: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2026/05/12/a...

A historical view at a contemporary concept

Consent: Een geschiedenis van dwang en vrije wil en alles daartussenin (“A history of force and free will and everything inbetween”), Lannoo, 2025, edited by Chanelle Delameillieure and Jolien Gijb…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 4mo ago

Why is there a model of a pregnant torso in Museum Boerhaave? What was the role of this phantom in medical history? Panagiota Tsoutsa tell us about her experience with obstetric dolls. Read about the phantom of the museum on the blog: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2026/04/29/a...

A phantom in the museum

While wandering through the hallways of the Rijksmuseum Boerhaave in Leiden, there is a room where one encounters a peculiar object that immediately catches the attention. In the “Medical Room”, in…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 5mo ago

As a philosopher and writer, Jean-Jacques Rousseau needs no introduction. But what did he think about science education? This week, Henk van den Belt discusses Rousseau's visions on educating children about science. Read it on the blog: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2026/03/30/r...

Rousseau on Science Education: The Delusion of Radical Independence

How is one to teach science? The conventional method is that a teacher sets out the received view on a certain topic and hopes that their students will somehow assimilate this view. An obvious draw…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 5mo ago

Scientific discoveries are often presented as miraculous events, but are they? Annette Lykknes shows us the need for historical research in tales of scientific discovery, using examples from chemistry. Read it here: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2026/03/17/u...

Understanding the Nature of Scientific Discovery through Stories about the Chemical Elements

Header image: one version of the “Periodic Table of Flags”. Reproduced by kind permission from Jamie Gallagher. Discovery histories fascinate. They are filled with “bravery, ingenuity, and insurmou…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 6mo ago

What does the philosophy of intuitionism have to do with a language for aliens? Daniele Sansoni explains it to us! This week, we have the second part of our series about Hans Freudenthal and the development of LINCOS. Read it here: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2026/03/02/a...

A Genealogy of Freudenthal’s Lincos, Part II: Intuitionistic Footprints Amongst the Stars

Header image: Portrait of H. Freudenthal, 1957. Sourced from Utrecht Archives. This article is the second part of a two-part series (the first one is to be found here), aim…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 6mo ago

The project that gave us the atomic bomb was surrounded by secrecy. Yet, how can something as big as an atomic bomb be secret? In this week's post, Ton van Helvoort discusses the paradox of secret science. Read it here www.shellsandpebbles.com/2026/02/16/h...

Het kernwapen: geheime wetenschap en verborgen technologie

Afbeelding: Los Alamos, de stad die officieel niet bestond. Als centrum van ontwerp en eindassemblage van de eerste atoombommen was Los Alamos volledig geïsoleerd van de rest van New Mexico (Foto: …

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Why is trying important? How does one move from art to science and back? Our very own Maura Cassidy Burke interviewed Peter Galison about black holes, objectivity, and more! Read it on the blog: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2026/02/02/o...

On Trying: An Interview with Peter Galison

Peter Galison: I’m Peter Galison. I am a professor at Harvard University, where I’ve been for quite a while, and before that I taught at Stanford for about ten years. I grew up in New Y…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 7mo ago

Why did the mathematician Hans Freudenthal write a language to communicate with extraterrestrials? What is the historical background of this theoretical language? This week's post by Lorenzo De Piccoli is part of an in-depth study into Freudenthal's Lincos: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2026/01/19/a...

A Genealogy of Freudenthal’s Lincos, Part I: Looking up from the ruins of Babel

This article is the first part of a two-part series, aiming to provide a short introduction to the intellectual history and genealogy of Hans Freudenthal’s Lingua Cosmica. This first part aim…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 8mo ago

How do you curate medical exhibitions? Which concerns arise when displaying human remains? Our own Bianca Angelien Claveria interviewed Manon Parry about the curation of medical exhibitions and her current book. Read it on the blog: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2026/01/05/c...

Curating for the Curious: An interview with Prof. Manon Parry

Dr. Manon S. Parry is Professor of Medical and Nursing History at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam (VU), and Associate Professor of American Studies and Public History at the University of Amsterd…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 8mo ago

What happens when you take a course without a clear schedule, guided by personal learning goals? Anouk van Wijhe, David Skogerboe, Thomas Wind, and Toine Pieters show how the Living Pasts: Exploring Futures course at Utrecht University works. Read it here: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2025/12/15/l...

Living Pasts: Exploring Futures

An innovative course connecting students to history, and history to the world of endless possibilities. The first thing students learn in the Living Pasts: Exploring Futures course is nothing will …

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Dealing with historical sources can be challenging enough, but what happens when you are dealing with anonymous historical sources? Last month, the Gewina Najaarsdag centred around questions of anonymity. Read the report by Heike Bekaert on the blog: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2025/12/10/v...

Verslag najaars-bijeenkomst Gewina 2025

Anonieme kennis in de premoderne periode. Anonieme kennis zorgt voor heel wat uitdagingen binnen het historisch onderzoek. Dit gaat van praktische problemen, zoals het opslaan van de informatie in …

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 9mo ago

This year marks the 100th anniversary of extragalactic astronomy! To celebrate, Evert Meurs wrote a post for Shells and Pebbles about the beautiful astronomical images that are now visible everywhere. As always, read it on the blog: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2025/11/28/h...

Het kosmische perspectief: honderd jaar extragalactische sterrenkunde

Afbeelding: ESO/Juan Carlos Muñoz. We zijn eraan gewend geraakt om velerlei fraaie en fascinerende plaatjes van hemelobjecten langs te zien komen in kranten en tijdschriften, op televisie en intern…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Why are historical competencies so important for sustainability education? How do Jules Verne and the Wadden Sea show this? In this week's post, Michiel van Harskamp shows us the importance of historical knowledge in sustainability education. Read it here! www.shellsandpebbles.com/2025/11/03/e...

Education for a green future? A plea for historical perspectives in sustainability education

I am not a historian. Yet, as a sustainability education researcher, I know how important a historical perspective can be when dealing with sustainability issues. In this text, I show some of the c…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Who was Katharine Way, and how was she involved with John A. Wheeler and nuclear physics? In today's post, Stefano Furlan tells us about an unknown nuclear physicist with a large impact on others. Read it on the blog: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2025/10/22/t...

The Discovery of Fission and Katharine Way, “Dear to the Community of Nuclear Physicists”

Tell me where all times past are. – John Donne1 1. Introduction: a missed epoch-making discovery? As the century that saw the dawn of the nuclear age was drawing to a close, John A. Wheeler (…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 11mo ago

What happens when you ask ChatGPT questions about homosexuality? What does this tell us about biases in AI? Read all about it today on the blogpost by Paola Altomonte: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2025/09/23/a...

A Chat with ChatGPT

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been increasingly present in columns of magazines and newspapers, in posts shared thousands of times on social media, and in the preoccupied voices of politicians, …

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Happy September! The best way to start the school year is, of course, by reading a Shells & Pebbles post. This week, our very own Bianca Angelien Claveria takes us with her on her research trip! What does the "world's largest leper colony" look like? www.shellsandpebbles.com/2025/09/08/m...

Mapalad: Fieldwork Notes from Culion

“Godzilla vs. Kong. Why was this movie chosen to entertain the ferry passengers? Was the movie a personal favorite, or was it the only movie available?” I asked myself, as I craned my neck and shif…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · last yr.

Whether you are going to São Paulo, New York, Manila, or Utrecht for the holidays, Shells and Pebbles has you covered! We have some wonderful destinations for you in our Staff Summer Travel Tips. Read it on the blog: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2025/06/23/s...

Shells and Pebbles Summer Travel Tips

“It takes an endless amount of history to make even a little tradition.” – Henry James As this academic year comes to a close, our team of editors wanted to cultivate a tradition started last…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · last yr.

What do you discover when studying the colonial past of your faculty? Yavanne van Tiggelen interviewed Elian Schure about her experiences researching Utrecht University's Faculty of Science. Read all about it on the blog in English or Dutch: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2025/06/09/k...

‘Knowledge gathered in a colonial context is transferred to students without regard to its history’

Elian Schure is a PhD candidate at Utrecht University (UU). She is currently working on her research on human categorization in biological research. During her master’s degree in History and Philos…

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Shells and Pebbles@shellsandpebbles.bsky.social · last yr.

And today, you can immediately enjoy our newest post on intellectual histories! Chiara Lacroix shows us the challenges of context by comparing two intellectual histories. Go read it on the blog: www.shellsandpebbles.com/2025/05/26/i...

Is writing context-laden intellectual histories possible?

This essay compares two relatively recent works of intellectual history centred on the 18th century, both with an ambitious scope, and both written by established historians of science and medicine…

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