|
|
THE
WITCHES OF
AGNESI REFLECTIONS BY TWO WOMEN, SCIENCE WRITERS, AND CITIZENS ON THE PURSUIT OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AND HOW IT AFFECTS OUR LIVES |
|||||||
|
|
Science and
Math History Who was David Taylor? I’m tremendously interested in the ways technology evolved in the 20th century. For me, one of the most fascinating innovations of that time is the use of model basins for the testing of scale-models of ships before the ships were built –- a practice still in widespread use today. The Navy decided to follow the example of the navies of Europe and test scale-models first. But before they could test the models, they needed a place to test them. They chose David Watson Taylor, a brilliant mathematician who’d graduate with distinction from both the US Naval Academy and the Royal Naval College in England, to oversee the construction of the Experimental Model Basin at the Old Navy Yard in Washington, DC. [Read more] About the Witches of Agnesi Blog Gina Hagler and Margaret Balch-Gonzalez share our thoughts as women, science writers, and citizens about the pursuit of scientific knowledge and how it affects our lives in our blog, the Witches of Agnesi, whose name honors Maria Gaetana Agnesi, an extraordinary 18th-century Italian mathematician and social activist. In her day, Agnesi was something of a rock star. But today, she and her works have mostly been forgotten – except for one odd historical accident. [Read more] All content © 2008 Last updated November 16, 2008 |
