
Lab hidden inside a famous monument - happy-go-lucky
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20170810-the-medieval-lab-hidden-inside-a-famous-monument
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CydeWeys
I find it weird that this article acts as if Robert Hooke isn't particularly
well known, and downplays his accomplishments somewhat. He's an influential
scientist, with contributions in many fields, whose name everyone learns in
high school (both in biology and physics class).

The British should be a bit more proud of him.

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Boothroid
So many contenders. Britain built the modern world.

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barrkel
The English-speaking world often thinks so.

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traverseda
You're implying you think they're wrong? Why not instead state _why_ you think
they're wrong.

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barrkel
I'm not really interested in a to and fro off-topic argument, but I know from
previous to and fros, every big European country has its own heroes of the
enlightenment. I find proclaiming nationalist "we're special" ownership ugly
and usually ignorant, which is why I commented.

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jpttsn
You suggest Britain is an unlikely candidate, merely because there are other
options?

Wouldn't it be much easier to criticize the notion that one country built the
modern world?

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dbingham
That's exactly what he(or she) is criticizing.

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jpttsn
Not explicitly. Instead, his/her argument has the form: "Every country claims
to be the important country, and nationalists are bad, so it can't be
Britain."

I commented because I thought that argument was badly constructed.

Of course, anyone can guess whether the argument's author supports the
alternative argument (as you claim).

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thefalcon
I can't help but think fondly of the Baroque cycle when reading about the
likes of Hooke and Wren.

[https://www.nealstephenson.com/baroque-
cycle/](https://www.nealstephenson.com/baroque-cycle/)

~~~
nullc
I can't help thinking of the false proof punishment in Anathem whenever anyone
mentions the Baroque cycle.

There are so many bits of true history mixed in indistinguishably with
irrelevant falsehoods-- which were especially irritating because I'd been
reading swaths of Philosophical Transactions from the 1700s shortly before
reading Quicksilver-- that I found reading it to be a punishment.

~~~
yoodenvranx
I _love_ the Baroque Cycle but I wish there would be some sort of annotated
version which highlights facts and fiction.

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pokemongoaway
I like this idea. Maybe there's a way to put a little beep in before and after
a historic sections of the audio books play :)

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ashark
The monument in question is this:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_to_the_Great_Fire_of_...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monument_to_the_Great_Fire_of_London)

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ninju
You ruined the surprise :-)

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Mz
This piece is really good for reasons that go far beyond the hidden Indiana
Jones style secret lab:

 _Every six months, the star moves north or south in the sky at a scale
equivalent to the hands moving 22 ten-thousandths of a second.

To magnify parallax enough to see it, you need a very large telescope indeed._

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anfractuosity
Very interesting, I'm curious if the lenses are still there?

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phlyingpenguin
Many of the scientific antiquities and papers of the UK end up at the Royal
Society Library. Brady Haran has a nice video series named Objectivity[1]
about objects in the archives done with their head librarian, Keith Moore[2].

[1]:
[https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtwKon9qMt5YLVgQt1tvJKg](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtwKon9qMt5YLVgQt1tvJKg)

[2]: [https://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-
science/author/kei...](https://blogs.royalsociety.org/history-of-
science/author/keithmoore/)

~~~
anfractuosity
Cheers, I didn't realise the Royal Society had a library. Will check your
links.

