I’m a controversialist and catalyst, quietly enabling others to develop by providing different ideas and views of the world. Born in London in the early 1950s and initially trained as a research chemist I retired as a senior project manager after 35 years in the IT industry. Retirement is about community give-back and finding some equilibrium. Founder and Honorary Secretary of the Anthony Powell Society. Chairman of my GP's patient group.
An Advent Calendar of Notable Scientists William Perkin
Image from Wikipedia
British chemist and entrepreneur best known for his serendipitous discovery of the first synthetic organic dye, mauveine, made from aniline. Though he failed in trying to synthesise quinine for the treatment of malaria, he became successful in the field of dyes.
An Advent Calendar of Notable Scientists Charles Darwin
Image from Wikipedia
English naturalist, geologist and biologist, best known for his contributions to the science of evolution. His proposition that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors is now widely accepted, and considered a foundational concept in science. With Alfred Russel Wallace, he introduced the idea that the branching pattern of evolution resulted from the process of natural selection.
Episode seven (for days 31 to 35) of my 100 day challenge to find words I don’t know. I’m scraping words from https://randomword.com/ and each day picking one that I find interesting and which is also in the OED.
Day
Date
Word
Meaning
31
Sunday 1 December
pourpointerie **
Quilted material with studs at the seams, worn in the Middle Ages as armour
32
Monday 2 December
pongee
A soft, usually unbleached kind of Chinese silk fabric, woven from uneven threads of raw silk
33
Tuesday 3 December
scoliograptic
Marked by oblique lines
34
Wednesday 4 December
zenana
The system of segregating women away from men in harems
An Advent Calendar of Notable Scientists Gottfried Leibnitz
Image from Wikipedia
Prominent German polymath and one of the most important logicians, mathematicians and natural philosophers of the Enlightenment. As a representative of the seventeenth-century tradition of rationalism, Leibniz’s most prominent accomplishment was conceiving the ideas of differential and integral calculus, independently of Isaac Newton.
An Advent Calendar of Notable Scientists Marie Curie
Image from Wikipedia
Polish (naturalized-French) physicist and chemist who conducted pioneering research on radioactivity. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, is the only woman to win the Nobel prize twice, and is the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two different scientific fields.
An Advent Calendar of Notable Scientists Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
Image from Wikipedia
A Dutch businessman and scientist. Largely self-taught in science, he is commonly known as “the Father of Microbiology”, and one of the first microscopists and microbiologists.
An Advent Calendar of Notable Scientists William Harvey
Image from Wikipedia
English physician who made seminal contributions in anatomy and physiology. He was the first known physician to describe completely, and in detail, the circulatory system and properties of blood being pumped to the brain and body by the heart.
Each month this year we’re bringing you a post under the general title “Things that Count in [Number]” where [Number] will be the month. And naturally each month’s post will contain the [Number] of items (so just one for January, up to 12 for December).
For our purposes the definition of counting includes things which either come in groups of [Number] (eg. four suits in a pack of playing cards) or things which count in [Number] (eg. decimal coinage counting in tens).
Things which Count in Twelve …
Apostles
Drummers drumming
Jurymen
Months of the year
Signs of the zodiac
Books in Anthony Powell’s sequence A Dance to the Music of Time
Episode six (for days 26 to 30) of my 100 day challenge to find words I don’t know. I’m scraping words from https://randomword.com/ and each day picking one that I find interesting and which is also in the OED.
Day
Date
Word
Meaning
26
Tuesday26 November
florisugent
Sucking honey from flowers
27
Wednesday 27 November
prasinous **
A leek-green colour
28
Thursday 28 November
stocious
Drunk; intoxicated
29
Friday 29 November
morosophy
The foolish pretence of wisdom
30
Saturday 30 November
inaniloquent
Prone to foolish or empty babbling
** My favourite of the words presented.
Next episode in a few days!
Eccentric looks at life through the thoughts of a retired working thinker