“The roads by which men arrive at their insights into celestial matters seem to me almost as worthy of wonder as those matters in themselves.”
-Johannes Kepler
This blog is dedicated to the history of science, exploration, and technology. The intersection of these topics is what interests me most. My primary focus is lunar and planetary science, but I also write about the exploration of the oceans and the cryosphere.
Thomas Kuhn wrote that experiencing scientific paradigm shift is like putting on glasses that invert your vision. At first, it completely transforms your perspective on the world. After a while you adjust, and the once-uncomfortable perspective becomes your new reality.
Illustrations are from Isaac Newton’s Opticks.
The Author
My name is Danny Robb, and I studied History and Philosophy before becoming a World History teacher. I earned a master’s degree in history, studying remote sensing technology in scientific exploration. I wrote my thesis on the Lunar Orbiter program of 1966-1967, analyzing how scientists and Apollo mission planners used photography to explore the Moon.
I’m currently experimenting with the POSSE (Post Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere) publishing system. Subscribing here (see the sidebar) is the best option, but you can also subscribe to my content on Medium and Substack, if one of those is your preferred platform.
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Or contact me at invertingvision@gmail.com
Other Work
Aeon
How the Moon Became a Place
Atlas Obscura
Cold War Espionage and Space Exploration
JSTOR Daily
All posts found here, selected posts below:
- The First Lunar Lander and the Great Moon Dust Debate
- Spider in the Telescope: The Mechanization of Astronomy
- Archimedes Rediscovered: Technology and Ancient History
- The Case of the Volcano on the Moon
- Cassini’s First Years at Saturn
The Space Review
The 1962 Iowa Summer Study
Theses