Joyce Chaplin
@joycechaplin.bsky.social
Harvard professor, historian of science, technology, and medicine, plus food and environment 🜃
(https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/joyce-chaplin)
New book: THE FRANKLIN STOVE (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374613808/thefranklinstove/)
(https://history.fas.harvard.edu/people/joyce-chaplin)
New book: THE FRANKLIN STOVE (https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374613808/thefranklinstove/)
Pinned
Greetings! Since I’m a historian of science, I thought my first post in this space should celebrate the cyanometer, the device Alexander von Humboldt (among others) used to determine just how blue any sky actually is
It was wonderful to talk Tom Paine and climate change last night—thank you @theitps.bsky.social and @noraslonimsky.bsky.social !
November 7, 2025 at 9:09 PM
It was wonderful to talk Tom Paine and climate change last night—thank you @theitps.bsky.social and @noraslonimsky.bsky.social !
Best books of 2025 so far…a list I did not expect to be on (and very happy to see it includes so many other titles about environment and energy!)
www.newyorker.com/best-books-2...
www.newyorker.com/best-books-2...
What We’re Reading
Reviews of notable new fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
www.newyorker.com
November 3, 2025 at 10:27 PM
Best books of 2025 so far…a list I did not expect to be on (and very happy to see it includes so many other titles about environment and energy!)
www.newyorker.com/best-books-2...
www.newyorker.com/best-books-2...
“The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental…they are deliberate exercises in doublethink.” Orwell, “1984”
September 5, 2025 at 12:21 AM
“The Ministry of Peace concerns itself with war, the Ministry of Truth with lies, the Ministry of Love with torture and the Ministry of Plenty with starvation. These contradictions are not accidental…they are deliberate exercises in doublethink.” Orwell, “1984”
First day of the semester, first day of a new class, a freshman seminar on “Moby-Dick,” the novel and its significance for the history of resource extraction: “wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?”
September 2, 2025 at 7:59 PM
First day of the semester, first day of a new class, a freshman seminar on “Moby-Dick,” the novel and its significance for the history of resource extraction: “wonder ye then at the fiery hunt?”
Reposted by Joyce Chaplin
Franklin didn’t just invent a stove—he invented five. Each one was designed to conserve fuel and control smoke. His final models in Europe? Built to burn coal cleaner.
Sound familiar? 📻 Listen to @joycechaplin.bsky.social break it down: benfranklinsworld.com/412
#EnergyHistory #History
Sound familiar? 📻 Listen to @joycechaplin.bsky.social break it down: benfranklinsworld.com/412
#EnergyHistory #History
412 Joyce Chaplin, The Franklin Stove
How did Benjamin Franklin’s stove save energy? What does it reveal about wood, trees, and attempts to control the climate?
benfranklinsworld.com
August 25, 2025 at 2:52 PM
Franklin didn’t just invent a stove—he invented five. Each one was designed to conserve fuel and control smoke. His final models in Europe? Built to burn coal cleaner.
Sound familiar? 📻 Listen to @joycechaplin.bsky.social break it down: benfranklinsworld.com/412
#EnergyHistory #History
Sound familiar? 📻 Listen to @joycechaplin.bsky.social break it down: benfranklinsworld.com/412
#EnergyHistory #History
The first anti-vaxxers worried that the original vaccine, which used cowpox against smallpox, would turn them into cows, a bizarre fear depicted here by caricaturist James Gillray—today is his day.
August 13, 2025 at 9:22 PM
The first anti-vaxxers worried that the original vaccine, which used cowpox against smallpox, would turn them into cows, a bizarre fear depicted here by caricaturist James Gillray—today is his day.
E pur si muove…
Breaking News: The EPA is planning to revoke the scientific determination that underpins the government’s legal authority to combat climate change. The agency’s administrator said the move would be “the largest deregulatory action in the history of America.”
E.P.A. Plans to Revoke the Legal Basis for Tackling Climate Change
The agency’s administrator said in a podcast that the move would be “the largest deregulatory action in the history of America.”
nyti.ms
July 29, 2025 at 10:44 PM
E pur si muove…
Thank you so much!!
Last was "The Franklin Stove" by @joycechaplin.bsky.social, who uses Ben Franklin as a lens into larger scientific, political, social, and industrial trends around heating/climate. This is one of the best histories I've ever read. Highly recommend
Full review: bookwyrm.social/user/bwaber/... (4/4)
Full review: bookwyrm.social/user/bwaber/... (4/4)
The Franklin Stove
A Washington Post Noteworthy Book of March“[A] richly textured history . . . This story holds numerous lessons for our era.” —The New Yorker“From Joy...
us.macmillan.com
July 24, 2025 at 6:37 PM
Thank you so much!!
You may not have noticed, but today is the second shortest day in history—if we get many more days like this, by 2029, atomic clocks may have to register a negative leap second www.space.com/astronomy/ea...
Earth will spin faster today to create 2nd-shortest day in history
Our planet has been rotating at its fastest since records began in 1973.
www.space.com
July 22, 2025 at 8:13 PM
You may not have noticed, but today is the second shortest day in history—if we get many more days like this, by 2029, atomic clocks may have to register a negative leap second www.space.com/astronomy/ea...
Your annual reminder of science’s foundational role in US history: on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was first publicly read, in Philadelphia, from a platform originally built for astronomers to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus—science was the literal platform for revolution
July 4, 2025 at 2:02 PM
Your annual reminder of science’s foundational role in US history: on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was first publicly read, in Philadelphia, from a platform originally built for astronomers to observe the 1769 Transit of Venus—science was the literal platform for revolution
“More than 98 percent of [Harvard] faculty who responded to the survey supported the University’s decision to sue the White House.” www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Faculty of Arts and Sciences Overwhelmingly Backs Harvard’s Fight Against Trump, Survey Shows | News | The Harvard Crimson
A decisive majority of faculty who responded to The Crimson’s annual survey of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences support the University’s lawsuit against the Trump administration’s federal fundin...
www.thecrimson.com
July 2, 2025 at 1:42 PM
“More than 98 percent of [Harvard] faculty who responded to the survey supported the University’s decision to sue the White House.” www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...
Bruce Lee, birthright citizen
June 28, 2025 at 1:04 AM
Bruce Lee, birthright citizen
Fantastic piece by @doctorvive.bsky.social about the climate crisis, a must-read and a necessary pushback to abundance-narrative delusions www.theguardian.com/environment/...
‘This is a fight for life’: climate expert on tipping points, doomerism and using wealth as a shield
Economic assumptions about risks of the climate crisis are no longer relevant, says the communications expert Genevieve Guenther
www.theguardian.com
June 25, 2025 at 9:36 PM
Fantastic piece by @doctorvive.bsky.social about the climate crisis, a must-read and a necessary pushback to abundance-narrative delusions www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Dogs and cats, living together… yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/06...
Yale backing Harvard in lawsuit against government
In a joint motion with 17 other universities, Yale argues that cutting federal funds to Harvard endangers the nation.
yaledailynews.com
June 7, 2025 at 1:34 AM
Dogs and cats, living together… yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/06...
Reposted by Joyce Chaplin
🔥Did you know colonial Americans worried about climate change during the Little Ice Age?
Benjamin Franklin had a solution: a stove that used less wood, produced more heat, and filled the room without smoke.
🎧 Episode 412: benfranklinsworld.com/412
#EarlyAmerica #History #ClimatePast #USHistory
Benjamin Franklin had a solution: a stove that used less wood, produced more heat, and filled the room without smoke.
🎧 Episode 412: benfranklinsworld.com/412
#EarlyAmerica #History #ClimatePast #USHistory
June 3, 2025 at 1:21 PM
🔥Did you know colonial Americans worried about climate change during the Little Ice Age?
Benjamin Franklin had a solution: a stove that used less wood, produced more heat, and filled the room without smoke.
🎧 Episode 412: benfranklinsworld.com/412
#EarlyAmerica #History #ClimatePast #USHistory
Benjamin Franklin had a solution: a stove that used less wood, produced more heat, and filled the room without smoke.
🎧 Episode 412: benfranklinsworld.com/412
#EarlyAmerica #History #ClimatePast #USHistory
“This splendid account offers a rich new perspective on the origins of climate science”—wow, and thank you @publisherswkly.bsky.social for the starred review of my new book on the FRANKLIN STOVE
May 23, 2025 at 6:05 PM
“This splendid account offers a rich new perspective on the origins of climate science”—wow, and thank you @publisherswkly.bsky.social for the starred review of my new book on the FRANKLIN STOVE
Since Harvard’s founding, its international students have spoken a great many languages, each of which would have apt and colorful expressions for telling the Trump administration where to get off with this blatantly prejudicial statement
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u...
Trump Administration Halts Harvard’s Ability to Enroll International Students
www.nytimes.com
May 22, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Since Harvard’s founding, its international students have spoken a great many languages, each of which would have apt and colorful expressions for telling the Trump administration where to get off with this blatantly prejudicial statement
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u...
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/22/u...
And today’s award for National Leader Maintaining Extraordinary Grace under Egregious Trump Pressure goes to South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05...
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05...
Trump Administration Live Updates: Meeting With South African Leader Turns Contentious Over False Genocide Claims
www.nytimes.com
May 21, 2025 at 5:32 PM
And today’s award for National Leader Maintaining Extraordinary Grace under Egregious Trump Pressure goes to South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05...
www.nytimes.com/live/2025/05...
This is bad www.wbur.org/news/2025/05...
Boston-area climate activists report visits from the FBI
Local climate activists are on edge after people claiming to be FBI agents visited at least six at their homes on the same day in Greater Boston in March. Weeks later, the motivations behind these vis...
www.wbur.org
May 18, 2025 at 10:55 PM
This is bad www.wbur.org/news/2025/05...
The pope has no airplane. The pope flies on chartered commercial aircraft. The plane he uses is, for the duration of the flight, designated as: Shepherd One.
May 13, 2025 at 8:26 PM
The pope has no airplane. The pope flies on chartered commercial aircraft. The plane he uses is, for the duration of the flight, designated as: Shepherd One.
Having blood drawn to see if I have measles antibodies—as one now does
May 12, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Having blood drawn to see if I have measles antibodies—as one now does
Recalling today the graciousness with which President Abraham Lincoln declined King Mongkut of Siam’s proposed gift to assist US transportation: “a stock from which a supply of elephants might be raised.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/11/u...
Trump Is Poised to Accept a Luxury 747 From Qatar for Use as Air Force One
www.nytimes.com
May 11, 2025 at 8:36 PM
Recalling today the graciousness with which President Abraham Lincoln declined King Mongkut of Siam’s proposed gift to assist US transportation: “a stock from which a supply of elephants might be raised.” www.nytimes.com/2025/05/11/u...