St Edmund Hall Blog
The St Edmund Hall blog brings you the latest thought in academic research and interesting artefacts from our archive and library.
Please note that any opinions or views expressed by blog contributors are not shared or held by St Edmund Hall.
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Determinism and Enlightenment: the collaboration of Diderot and d’Holbach
24 May 2023
Ruggero Sciuto’s Determinism and Enlightenment: the collaboration of Diderot and d’Holbach is the April volume in the Oxford University Studies in the Enlightenment series.
“Ye sight was very splendid & great”: Teddy Hall witnesses and celebrations of Coronations past
2 May 2023
As the Coronation of Charles III on 6 May 2023 approaches, Librarian James Howarth investigates connections between Aularians and the Coronations of the last 350 years.
The Inevitable Energy Transition
10 Mar 2023
Our current insatiable appetite for energy has had direct ramifications on geopolitical tensions and triggered current and future climate disasters. It is only a question of time until we move towards sustainable and renewable…
How to find holes in the universe
28 Feb 2023
We cannot study the shape of the universe by looking at it from the outside. Many other mathematical settings also show this lack of an outside view. Geometry and Topology allow us to get our head around shape from an entirely…
Crossing the Alps in the Renaissance: German immigrants in northern Italy
21 Feb 2023
During times of war, religious tension, and political strife, people and goods still made their way across the Alps into northern Italy. Connections traversed geographical and social boundaries as people from all walks of life…
‘Bought out of Mr Churchill’s study’: John Mill, the Old Library and the Churchill Family
14 Feb 2023
What a list of books in the Hall’s oldest record reveals about the construction of the Old Library collection, the beginnings of postgraduate study and a Principal’s attempts to ingratiate himself with an aristocr…
Celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science through the Library
10 Feb 2023
This International Day of Women and Girls in Science, the Library is exploring our collections to celebrate some of the women who have led the way through the male-dominated field of climate science.
Where there’s a will….
28 Oct 2022
How a bequest by Principal Rawlinson in his will of 1631 still pays out today
Making and receiving impact in Nepal
28 Oct 2022
When I considered projects in my application for the Matt Greenwood Travel Scholarship, I worried I might not fully embrace Matt’s gifts of adventure, courage, and concern for others.
“He was my bridge to Oxford and beyond”: Kevin Crossley-Holland and Bruce Mitchell
24 Oct 2022
Aularian Kevin Crossley Holland is a poet, translator and re-teller of medieval poetry, romance, and folklore for all ages. However, his relationship with Old English got off to a rocky start until a sympathetic tutor and an ag…
Papering over protest in sixteenth-century Venice
15 Jun 2022
Historians work on sources, but what can the absence of sources tell us?
What has Earth’s Magnetic Field Ever Done for Us?
16 Feb 2022
Is a magnetic field an essential criterion on the planet habitability list?
Celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science 2022
9 Feb 2022
Using the Library to celebrate and showcase St Edmund Hall’s own Women in Science.
Teddy Hall’s self-proclaimed Bishop of Dorchester
13 Oct 2021
A recent arrival in the Hall Archives is a scrapbook on the life of Dr Frederick George Lee, Aularian and Victorian “character”. He was a clergyman, an antiquarian, a Jacobite and the founder of the Order for Corp…
Uncovering invisible rivers in Kenya
21 Jul 2021
Some of the largest rivers on Earth are in the sky. Around the world, great streams of water vapour flow a few hundred metres above the ground while remaining invisible to people living below. These rivers play a fundamental ro…
Is it Unjust for Multinational Corporations to Pay Taxes to Corrupt Regimes?
22 Jun 2021
In this short blogpost, I consider the issue of tax and corruption in the international tax arena.
‘For books in the Library’ or the uncertain fate of £10: An account of donations by Francis Cherry and Henry Partridge
16 Jun 2021
‘For books in the Library’ or the uncertain fate of £10: An account of donations by Francis Cherry and Henry Partridge
No veil of uncertainty at COP26, please!
25 May 2021
The UK will be hosting the next UN Climate Change Conference this year, and we need to ensure the policymakers are fully onboard.
What starts Alzheimer’s disease?
19 May 2021
Alzheimer’s disease may start with a “…. toxic interaction between microglial genetic susceptibility, aging and a long-term unhealthy balance of blood fats in the body”.
Descartes goes to Hollywood
5 May 2021
What possible connection could there be between the philosopher René Descartes, androids, zombies, and Hollywood? More than you might have originally thought.
Reconstructing d’Holbach
28 Apr 2021
Begun in 2018, Digital d’Holbach will provide the scholarly community with the first critical edition of the complete works of one of the most important thinkers of the Age of Enlightenment.