History of Science61811 articles archived since 1845

Cloak of Invisibility, 1915

Reported in Scientific American, this Week in World War I: December 18, 1915 The word “camouflage” entered the English language, from the French, in 1917.

Novel Torpedo, 1915

Reported in Scientific American, this Week in World War I: December 11, 1915

Astronomers Rename Famous Exoplanets

More than 30 worlds have new names drawn from world mythology, literature and history

Astronomers Skeptical Over "Planet X" Claims

Two controversial new studies suggest the discovery of large objects at the outer reaches of the solar system

Ceres Is Cloudy, with a Chance of Cryovolcanoes

New findings reveal a crater’s vaporous hazes, and hint at the dwarf planet’s possible origin in the outer solar system

Archaeologists Survey Seaplanes Sunk During Pearl Harbor Attack

Better equipment, visibility allow University of Hawaii researchers to map and photograph planes lost during the December 7, 1941 bombing

Advanced Gun Technology, 1915

Reported in Scientific American, this Week in World War I: December 4, 1915 The belligerant nations in World War I strained their manufacturing capacity to the utmost to provide the most effective weapons and ammunition for their vast armed forces...

The Most Important Number in Climate Change

Just how sensitive is Earth's climate to increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide?

"Tin Hats" Return, 1915

Reported in Scientific American , this Week in World War I: November 27, 1915 Between the late 1700s and 1915, helmets were worn by soldiers mostly for reasons of aesthetics.

"Primitive Warfare" in 1915

Reported in Scientific American , this Week in World War I: November 20, 1915 Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary on May 23, 1915. It did not go well.

Aviation in 1915: A Weapon of War

Record Levels of CO2 Herald the Future of Climate Change

Global warming has become a 1-degree Celsius reality, making progress at climate talks in Paris even more imperative

The Phonograph Goes to War, 1915

Reported in Scientific American , this Week in World War I: November 6, 1915 Thomas Edison invented the Phonograph in 1877: a handy tabletop device that could play music for a small group of listeners...

When Naïve Realism Collides with Postmodernism

A scientific realist defends his faith against Fire in the Mind, a classic work of postmodern science journalism.

Stephen Jay Gould on Marx, Kuhn and Punk Meek

Paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould was influenced by Marx and Kuhn as well as by Darwin.

Electronic Ears for Air Defense, 1915

Reported in Scientific American, this Week in World War I: October 30, 1915

Bronze Age Skeletons Were the Earliest Plague Victims

Deadly disease suspected to have driven mass migrations across Europe and Asia

U.S. Navy and the Arms Race, 1915

Reported in Scientific American, this Week in World War I: October 23, 1915

A Fossil Find Gets Entangled with South Africa's Apartheid Past

Some prominent South Africans associate Homo naledi with stereotypes of blacks promulgated during decades of whites-only rule

Electronics Fight Submarines, 1915

Reported in Scientific American , this Week in World War I: October 16, 1915 By October 1915 German submarines had sunk about 750,000 tons of merchant shipping.