Seb Falk

@sebfalk

Historian of science Admissions Tutor at Girton College, University of Cambridge Singer, sailor, runner, father "Always generous" – The New Yorker

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Seb Falk@sebfalk· 27d

I almost used this photo instead of the other one – might have suited you better 💮

Another photo of the same train station as before, with a white rose motif in the iron arches

Seb Falk@sebfalk· 27d

Bonus: a brief stop in my favourite station

Beautiful columns, arches and curved platforms of (can you guess?)

Seb Falk@sebfalk· 28d

Since I completely forgot to post about my own presentation beforehand, here's the abstract. Thanks to everyone who came and/or chatted about the project with me afterwards. It was really useful to air some new ideas to a friendly crowd! Even more excited to get writing the book now!

Back to the Future of Wayfinding: Pre-modern astro-navigation in the GPS age

New technologies in the 20th century challenged the need for navigators to look to the stars. The rapid development of radio direction-finding, beam and hyperbolic systems, and finally satellite navigation, promised to make old methods redundant. An unfathomable global system of transmitters and receivers would replace skills in taking sightings and computing with brass and paper tools; the signals from atomic clocks would eclipse the long-fixed shapes of the constellations.

Yet from the beginning this march of new technology was contested. In the first place, while black-box systems promised to make knowledge of location and direction universally accessible, the cost of equipment raised new barriers. As prices plummeted and precision soared, concerns grew that sailors and pilots might lack the understanding necessary to interpret navigational data, leading to increased risk. It has even been suggested that reliance on technology rewires our brains, making us
stupider.

Meanwhile, as ‘traditional’ techniques became outmoded, interest surged in
reconstructing the seemingly miraculous methods of the past. Respect for the
astrolabe-toting heroes of the European ‘Age of Exploration’ was complicated by a
growing pluralistic awareness that their achievements had been preceded by a suite of skills and senses practised in the Pacific. In the Anthropocene, an instinctive feel for one’s environment seems ever more precious when alone atop a vast ocean.

Most recently, fears about the vulnerability of GPS systems to jamming or even spoofing have become stronger – and more realistic. Put together, these pressures have caused hydrographic offices and training schools to pull back from abandoning old materials and methods. This paper will survey the arguments of manufacturers and mapmakers, technologists and traditionalists – from the backstaff to the blue dot – to show why, in the age of Google, navigation is so contested.

Seb Falk@sebfalk· 28d

On my way home from a magnificent #eshs-hss conference. Edinburgh hosted us brilliantly (including the conference ceilidh!) & it was wonderful to catch up with old friends & colleagues, and make meet many new ones. Newly inspired by #HistSTM!

Ceilidh lines in the National Museum of Scotland

Edinburgh castle in the sunshine, with blue sky behind

View down over Edinburgh from Salisbury Crags, with the castle visible in the background

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jun 24

Aw thanks for remembering. He deserved so many parties (pic actually from a 2-yo's birthday party, not his own)

Beautiful dog Ridley (Lab/German Shepherd/Rottweiler cross) wearing a party hat

Seb Falk@sebfalk· May 26

Job opportunity for an early-career scholar in politics/international relations of the Middle East / North Africa / South Asia. 3 years from 1 September. Apply by 4 June. Come and work with me at wonderful @girtoncollege.bsky.social! Full details: www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/55579/

Girton College in the morning sun, with slanting light through the trees, a slight mist, and the tower in the background

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Apr 6

This is obviously best for UK readers

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Mar 21

Authentic medieval "photograph" here 📸 accompanying this interesting @theguardian.com piece on some new (unpublished) research on the Battle of Hastings www.theguardian.com/culture/2026...

Artist's portrait of King Harold II, from a Wills cigarette card, c1898. With blond beard, red cloak and fairytale crown. Used on a Guardian web story with caption "Photograph: incamerastock/Alamy"

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Mar 20

Timely: here's Baron Smith, rocking not one but two hats at his installation as Chancellor of Cambridge University (@cam.ac.uk) earlier this week For full 🎥 bsky.app/profile/cam....

Lord Smith in Cambridge PhD gown with scarlet facings and doctoral bonnet, parading outside the Cambridge Senate-House

Lord Smith in black hat and gown with lots of gold braid, giving an address in the Senate-House

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Feb 18

Neatly done @theguardian.com

Headline from the Guardian app: "Countries that do not embrace AI could be left behind, says OpenAI’s George Osborne", accompanied by photo of sidelit Osborne mid-speech.

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Feb 4

Stumbled across this article from 2008. How times have changed – not just the policies but also the tenor of political discourse 😔 www.theguardian.com/education/20...

Headline: " This article is more than 17 years old
Plans for 20 new university towns
This article is more than 17 years old
Campuses are to be set up over the next six years at a cost of £150m, with many located in areas suffering high levels of unemployment"

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jan 25

Why is this a thing on planes (and only on planes)? Does anyone care if they find the basin slightly wet or soapy?

Sign: "As a Courtesy to the Next Passenger May We Suggest that You Use Your Towel to Wipe Off Water Basin. Thank You!"

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jan 24

Having flown on Ryanair just yesterday, I agree with every word of this from @mrkocnnll.bsky.social in the Irish Times

Print article in the newspaper: "Only Elon Musk can bring me to Ryanair's defence"

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jan 10

If you need a timeline cleanse: here's a highlight of a lovely selection of avian visitors to our wintry garden today. Like me, this beautiful goldfinch loves teasels!

Collage of four photos of a goldfinch perched on various teasels and just taking off

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jan 5

JOB ALERT! 3-year postdoc at @girtoncollege.bsky.social - research anything you like in History, Archaeology or Anthropology in a wonderful, welcoming scholarly community. PLEASE SHARE! Closes 12 January www.girton.cam.ac.uk/job-vacancie...

Here's what it looked like on my return to work this morning - beautiful red brick gabled building of Girton's Hall, with a dusting of snow on the grass in front.

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jan 3

Two fun museum finds in Colchester today: 1. Clock owned by William Gilbert (of De Magnete (1600) fame) 2. Pub sign from the old At the Sign of the Whalebone Inn on East Hill

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jan 3

Lovely crisp morning for a run through the Essex countryside. Stopped at this stunning medieval church. Is this graffiti by the door something apotropaic? www.visitchurches.org.uk/visit/our-ch...

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Dec 31

Went to see the much-vaunted murmurations at Fowlmere. Starlings didn't do their thing. Oh well, we were patient, did our best quiet braving the cold and ate gummy bears. Happy new year everyone.

Boy looking out from bird hide over reed beds

People looking out of hide towards reed beds

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Dec 23

A few more from my morning at @theul.bsky.social Some lovely volvelles in this copy of Martin Cortes' "Art of Navigation", tr. Richard Eden (1579). I also like the pelican on the frontispiece 🪶

Volvelle demonstrating magnetic variation

Volvelle demonstrating the oblique horizon

Volvelle explaining how a nocturnal instrument works

Frontispiece to an English translation of Martin Cortes, "The Arte of Nauigation"

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Dec 23

Christmas appears in Pedro de Medina's "Art of Navigation"! 🎄 Nice to spot it in this 1554 Italian translation (Venice, Pedrezano) at @theul.bsky.social this morning. Note the commentary on the painless birth of Jesus: he was laid on a bed of hay because there was nothing softer to hand 🌟

Page of old book with calendar featuring commentary in Italian on the nativity – Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jul 21

Some highlights from a brilliant access-all-areas tour of Durham Castle, courtesy of @durhammemsa.bsky.social Chair @charrathompson.bsky.social. Wish me luck with my keynote this morning!

Durham's motte & bailey castle, much embellished up to the 19th century

Column capital from the Norman chapel, including a man in an attitude of praising the heavens

Misericord from the Tunstall Chapel, featuring pigs playing the bagpipes

Best toilet interior: a part of a Norman (12th-century) archway with chevron design

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jul 19

An actual (excellent) book

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jul 18

FWIW, here's Sabra's article in the DSB. Of course even if we assume he was a loyal husband & father, lots of things could have happened that meant he didn't have a wife/daughter by his later life...

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jul 18

Where do you get the son-in-law info from? I have to admit I've not heard that before. Since I was passing my departmental library with a few mins to spare, here are some pages from Sabra's 1989 edition of the Optics

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jul 17

Nice to see the Song of Wade featured in the newspapers! I'm happy to be an "academic sleuth" – but I'm not a "scientist". *Humanities scholars can make discoveries too!*

Brief article in Daily Telegraph - "Chaucer's elvish mystery was 900-year-old typo

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jul 16

I'm so thrilled to have this published! Starting from a chat over lunch at @girtoncollege.bsky.social, James Wade & I chipped away at this & have made some fascinating discoveries. The actual article should be published later today. In the meantime, more here: www.cam.ac.uk/stories/song...

Girton Fellows solve a 130-year-old Chaucerian literary mystery

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jul 13

Another decent day in NW8. A lot of nerves & edges on the way to 42-2. Anyone else here? #ENGvIND

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jul 12

Lovely day to be at the cricket. Any other Skystorians here? #ENGvIND

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jun 26

My review of two new books about early flight is now out in @thetls.bsky.social! As you can tell, I liked one of them more than the other... Online version via tinyurl.com/falk-TLS-flight

Photo of printed newspaper. Article can be read online via https://tinyurl.com/falk-TLS-flight

Seb Falk@sebfalk· Jun 20

A few photos from my plenary lecture at #AAS246 in Anchorage, & the presentation of the Osterbrock Prize for #TheLightAges. That's surely the biggest screen I've ever used – there were 3 of them! Great to see John Westwyk's work at super-scale 🤩 Why didn't I just stand behind the podium though 🙈