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Karl Galle

@karlgalle.bsky.social

5K followers 1.2K following 2.5K posts

Historian of science, mostly medieval to early modern astronomy & mathematical arts. Things German, Polish, Egyptian, or hey that looks interesting. Ex public policy + occasional tuba. Copernicus book in progress. Don't get long covid, it sucks.

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 22d

I have likewise joined the exodus from academia-dot-edu in the wake of their new terms of service. For more on my background and work, you can now find me at Knowledge Commons: hcommons.org/members/karl...

hcommons.org

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 7h

No problem! As I said, the original (& reasonable) assumption was that notes were Tycho's because he had owned the volume. Only the later Gingerich & Westman work revised that & gave a more detailed provenance (summarized briefly in Gingerich's De rev census): search.library.ucla.edu/permalink/01...

search.library.ucla.edu

Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 13h

Digitized Vatican copy of Copernicus alert! 👇 In this case, their catalog attribution of MSS notes to Tycho Brahe is out-of-date, & these notes have more recently been ascribed to Paul Wittich (with Tycho as later owner), but it's still a great volume. Gingerich census description attached. #HistSci

First page of notes from Owen Gingerich's published census of copies of the first two editions of Copernicus's book De revolutionibus. The Vatican catalog cites a short 1973 article by Gingerich discussing Tycho as a source for the manuscript notes in this copy, but later work by him and Robert Westman traced the volume's history and its more detailed annotations to Paul Wittich, with Tycho actively seeking and acquiring the volume after Wittich's death.

Second page of Gingerich's notes on this copy, plus a third page one of the manuscript diagrams of planetary models.

Third page of notes from Gingerich's census, also including the beginning of notes on another Vatican copy of Copernicus's book that formerly belonged to and was annotated by Achilles Pirmin Gasser.

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Reposted by Karl Galle

COSMOPOET @cosmopoet.bsky.social · 14h

🧵🧵In the very first instalment of this guest author and fellow stargazer 🤩💫and skywalker 🌌👣series, it is my pleasure to introduce Stamatina Mastorakou (@smasto.bsky.social), the October Cosmopoet! Here's what she had to share about her chosen poem:

Byzantine Silver Plate Depicting Aratus and Urania

This Byzantine silver plate is on view at the Institute as part of the exhibition "Time and Cosmos in Greco-Roman Antiquity".

isaw.nyu.edu

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Reposted by Karl Galle

Monica Keane @monicakeane.bsky.social · 15h

So happy to see this book in print! This project has been such a pleasure

La Sfera / The Globe: Cosmology, Science, and Geography by Gregorio Dati, Carrie Benes (Editor), Laura Ingallinella (Editor): Compare Prices on New & Used Copies | ISBN: 9781599104812 - Alibris share.google/is0A9ix9tp27...

La Sfera / The Globe: Cosmology, Science, and Geography in the Fifteenth-Century Mediterranean

Dati's La sfera/The Globe presents an Italian/English edition of this treatise on geography, cosmology, astronomy, and astrology, composed in the 1420s in Florence. Illustrated by dozens of color ex...

share.google

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 15h

Title story in Kurt Vonnegut's Welcome to the Monkey House, although it's a bit creepy and not as good as other stories in that collection.

Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 15h

Any library cart races in the long hallways? 🧐

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 1d

And even bring back a few of the classics as well! 🧐 😃

Poster that says "READ - FALL IN LOVE WITH BOOKS" and shows Miss Piggy dressed as Cleopatra and lounging on her side with a book while Kermit as Antony brings her a stack of even more books.

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 1d

Yes, I was pleasantly surprised to see they had made an OA version of the catalog right from the outset because I also don't expect to be in Nuremberg before the exhibition closes, & even if I wanted to splurge on ordering a printed catalog, current US tariff/postal conditions make that impossible.

Reposted by Karl Galle

Anne Goldgar @annegoldgar.bsky.social · 1d

FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER, Alexander Marr (Cambridge) will speak on “Three Renaissance ‘Grotesques’: Holbein, Dürer, Massys,” IHR Low Countries Seminar, in person IHR Wolfson Rm NB02 and online, 5:30 London time. Register here: www.history.ac.uk/news-events/...

Three Renaissance ‘Grotesques’: Holbein, Dürer, Massys

www.history.ac.uk

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 1d

This looks great 👇👇, and also there is an open-access version of the 400-page exhibition catalog online, for those of us sadly unable to travel and see the objects displayed in person: books.ub.uni-heidelberg.de//arthistoric... #medievalsky

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Jan McVicker @jmcvicker.bsky.social · 4d

Ned Blackhawk - How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution
The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.
www.theatlantic.com/magazine/arc...

How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution

The Founders were inspired—and threatened—by the independence and self-governance of nations like the Iroquois Confederacy.

www.theatlantic.com

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 1d

🥳🎉, and best of luck!

Reposted by Karl Galle

Christian Callisen @ctcallisen.bsky.social · 2d

A (long) thread of (anglophone) #StarterPacks and #feeds of interest to #EarlyModern #skystorians.

The first two posts list a sample of hashtags for which Bluesky feeds currently exist. The following forty-two(!) posts list starter packs for scholars of various aspects of early modern history.

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Reposted by Karl Galle

sibyllacumae.bsky.social @sibyllacumae.bsky.social · 1d

Two years ago I was selling a copy of the Plannck II Columbus letter. I wish everyone could be aware that Columbus was a crank who incredibly lucked his way into infamy and history, and not particular well thought of in his own time. Here is sometime I made:
www.christies.com/en/stories/t...

www.christies.com

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Reposted by Karl Galle

Katie Birkwood @girlinthe.bsky.social · 1d

For the Monday afternoon crowd.

RCP museum @rcpmuseum.bsky.social · 4d

To celebrate the launch of exhibition 'A Body of Knowledge', lead curator & rare books librarian Katie Birkwood shares her thoughts reflecting upon a career in libraries, the RCP library specifically & the exhibition:

👉 history.rcp.ac.uk/blog/librari...

@rcphysicians.bsky.social #BodyOfKnowledge

Katie Birkwood delivering a speech in the Dorchester Library.

An open book showing illustrations of roosters in a display case.

The smallest book in the RCP library open showing an illustration of a skeleton.

Katie Birkwood standing next to the famous displayed anatomical text by Andreas Vesalius in the exhibition.

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Reposted by Karl Galle

Maia Blumberg @maiablumberg.bsky.social · 12d

📣 Call for Contributors: Edited Volume - The Medieval in Museums
@archumanities.bsky.social 🖼️📜

🗓️ Abstract deadline: 3 Nov 2025 (17:00 GMT) ⏰

Full #CfP: bit.ly/CfPMiM

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Reposted by Karl Galle

Joumana Medlej @majnouna.com · 2d

There's still time to sign up for my Thursday talk. Teaching the Abjad numerals while going on interesting tangents about astrolabes, how Indian numerals changed Arab mathematics, and how disinformation is far older than the internet.

www.arabbritishcentre.org.uk/whatson/when...

When Letters Were Numbers: Rediscovering the Abjad Numerals with Joumana Medlej - The Arab British Centre

In this online talk, Joumana Medlej shares her research into this forgotten aspect of Arabic writing history, that is also known as hisāb al-jummal. She tells the story of the Abjad numerals — their o...

www.arabbritishcentre.org.uk

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 2d

Interesting #HistTech story on a lesser-known Bletchley Park figure, by @andrewsmithauthor.bsky.social: www.theguardian.com/world/2025/o...

Move over, Alan Turing: meet the working-class hero of Bletchley Park you didn’t see in the movies

The Oxbridge-educated boffin is feted as the codebreaking genius who helped Britain win the war. But should a little-known Post Office engineer named Tommy Flowers be seen as the real father of comput...

www.theguardian.com

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Rare Book School @rarebookschool.bsky.social · 13d

The Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography (SoFCB) at RBS invites applicants to its 2025 cohort of Junior Fellows.

Applications are due 𝗪𝗲𝗱𝗻𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆, 𝟭𝟵 𝗡𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿.

For details about this & other RBS scholarships & fellowships, visit tinyurl.com/Apply-SoFCB-2025

A vertically oriented rectangular graphic is split into an upper portion and a lower portion. The upper half shows a photo of a woman with pulled-back dark brown hair wearing a dark dress jacket and scarf. To her left, bold black text reads “I feel no hesitation saying that joining the SoFCB fully transformed my academic life and research.” Below the woman, smaller text in white reads, “Elizaveta Strakhov, Past President, Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography (SoFCB)”. The lower portion of the graphic has a mostly white background with a couple of horizontal bars in gray and black. Text in white, black, red, and yellow reads, “Apply now! The SoFCB Junior Fellows Program. Application Deadline: Wednesday, 19 November 2025. Learn more & apply at tinyurl.com/Apply-SoFCB-2025.”

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 3d

There's also a sequel "Los Muertos" that's entirely forgettable but does have a slightly hilarious sequence of Jon Bon Jovi as the stoner lead unpacking his vampire hunting equipment from a case shaped like a huge surfboard.

Reposted by Karl Galle

Jennifer Sherman Roberts @jshermanroberts.bsky.social · 4d

"Proposals for virtual presentation are welcome."

Love to see it.

James F. McGrath (ReligionProf) @religionprof.bsky.social · 4d

#CFP : Star Gazing: Astrology and Astronomy in the Medieval and Renaissance Imagination

cmrs.osu.edu/events/cfp-s...

CFP: Star Gazing: Astrology and Astronomy in the Medieval and Renaissance Imagination

Call for PapersStar Gazing: Astrology and Astronomy in the Medieval and Renaissance ImaginationPopular Culture and the Deep Past 2026

cmrs.osu.edu

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 4d

This is mostly about printers and booksellers rather than specifically binders, but if you can get your hands on a copy (or e-copy online), perhaps it might have references to additional scholarship on binders? www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501...

Poets, Patrons, and Printers by Cynthia J. Brown | Paperback | Cornell University Press

Cynthia J. Brown explains why the advent of print in the late medieval period brought about changes in relationships among poets, patrons, and printers which led to a new conception of authorship.Exam...

www.cornellpress.cornell.edu

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 4d

I missed that yesterday was the "birthday" of the Prague astronomical clock: www.lindahall.org/about/news/s... #HistSTM #medievalsky

Photo of the Prague Astronomical Clock, Clock Tower, Old Town Hall, Czech Republic, by Steve Collis from Wikimedia commons -- the astrolabe dial is in the center, the calendar dial below, and the windows for the apostles above.

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Karl Galle @karlgalle.bsky.social · 4d

Team 🐘 www.lindahall.org/about/news/s... 🤪

Edme Jomard

Edme-François Jomard, a French topographical engineer and cartographer, was born Nov. 22, 1777. When he was just 21 years old, fresh out of the recently established École Polytechnique...

www.lindahall.org

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Lisa Fagin Davis @lisafdavis.bsky.social · 6d

@rarebookschool.bsky.social doesn't generally accept high school students but they made an exception for Gauri in my Fragmentology class last summer. I am so proud of her! LOOK WHAT SHE DID! #IIIF #MedievalSky timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices...

Bridging archives: The role of IIIF in global manuscript preservation

India’s manuscript tradition is among the richest in the world, spanning centuries, languages, and disciplines. Yet, much of this vast repository remains fragmented, fragile, and inaccessible. The tec...

timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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