Category Archives: Featured book

OU Athletics Department enables OU Libraries to acquire manuscript for the Galileo collection

Posted on April 4, 2013 by

Press Release (original at Public Affairs; photos for media): NORMAN – A rare manuscript written by a leading astronomer in Rome at the height of Galileo’s astronomical discoveries recently was acquired by the University of Oklahoma’s History of Science Collections. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Featured book, Manuscripts, archives, photos, Recent acquisitions | 1 Comment

Ptolemy, Almagest

Posted on March 8, 2012 by

Ptolemy’s Almagest, the most important work of astronomy for nearly 1500 years, suggests both the richness of the History of Science Collections’ holdings and the need to maintain active acquisitions. The Collections hold more than 50 works of Ptolemy, not … Continue reading →

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Posted in Featured book

Athanasius Kircher, Mundus subterraneus (1665)

Posted on September 14, 2011 by

We have recently made available, in its entirety, high resolution images of the most lavishly-illustrated treatise on the Earth in the 17th century:Athanasius Kircher, Mundus subterraneus (1665). (Gallery; cf. two-page spreads.) The range of interests displayed by Athanasius Kircher (1602–1680) … Continue reading →

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Posted in Featured book, Images recently digitized | 1 Comment

Charles Darwin, Soil Ecologist

Posted on August 18, 2011 by

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf) Charles Darwin, Formation of Vegetable Mould, Through the Action of Worms, 1881; F1357 The last work Darwin published is one of his least-known, but his study of mold and earthworms drew upon his … Continue reading →

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Posted in Exhibits and events, Featured book | 1 Comment

Charles Darwin, Botanist

Posted on August 17, 2011 by

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf) Charles Darwin regarded natural selection as a “universal law of nature.” Its comprehensive scope led him to investigate the natural world with a breadth of vision that encompassed both plants and animals. Darwin’s … Continue reading →

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Posted in Exhibits and events, Featured book | 1 Comment

Darwin on the Emotions

Posted on July 11, 2011 by

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf) Charles Darwin, Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872), F1142. In 1872, to illustrate continuities between humans and animals, Charles Darwin explored the expression of the emotions. Dogs have an amazing … Continue reading →

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Posted in Exhibits and events, Featured book | 1 Comment

Darwin, Descent of Man (1871)

Posted on July 8, 2011 by

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf) Charles Darwin, Descent of Man, and Selection in relation to Sex, 2 vols. (1871), vol. 1, F937.1.; and vol. 2, F937.2. In 1871 Charles Darwin published a two-volume work which followed up on … Continue reading →

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Posted in Exhibits and events, Featured book | 1 Comment

Darwin, Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication

Posted on July 7, 2011 by

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf) Darwin, Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication, 2 vols. (1868), vol. 1, F878.1 and vol. 2, F878.2. In a two-volume work, Darwin investigated the degree of variation evident in domesticated animals. For … Continue reading →

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Posted in Exhibits and events, Featured book | 1 Comment

Darwin on Orchids

Posted on July 1, 2011 by

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf) Darwin, On the Various Contrivances by which British and Foreign Orchids are Fertilised by Insects (1862), F800. After publishing the Origin of Species (1859), Darwin spent the remainder of his life exploring the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Exhibits and events, Featured book | 1 Comment

Darwin, Origin of Species (1859)

Posted on June 29, 2011 by

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf) After refining his ideas about species change in the special case of barnacles, in 1859 Charles Darwin published a general account of his theory of descent with modification by means of natural selection. … Continue reading →

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Posted in Exhibits and events, Featured book | 2 Comments

Darwin and Barnacles

Posted on June 28, 2011 by

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf) After Darwin’s emergence as a popular writer and a leading geologist, he turned to some thoughts that had been nagging him about species change. Darwin would devote the next decade to theorizing about … Continue reading →

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Posted in Exhibits and events, Featured book | 2 Comments

Charles Darwin: Geologist

Posted on June 22, 2011 by

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf) On the heels of the Beagle voyage, the magnificent Zoology of the Beagle drew attention to Charles Darwin as a promising young scientist, while at the same time the travel narrative made him … Continue reading →

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Posted in Exhibits and events, Featured book | 2 Comments

Charles Darwin, Voyage of the Beagle (1839)

Posted on June 21, 2011 by

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf) Which of Darwin’s books was the most popular during his own lifetime? Charles Darwin’s second book was a travel narrative, a lively account of the Beagle voyage originally published in 1839 as the … Continue reading →

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Posted in Exhibits and events, Featured book | 3 Comments

Charles Darwin, Zoology of the Voyage of H.M.S. Beagle (1838-1843)

Posted on June 20, 2011 by

Darwin@the Library info | Exhibit brochure (pdf) In the Zoology, Charles Darwin described the specimens he collected and sent back to England during the Beagle voyage. The Zoology is the rarest of all Darwin’s works, issued in 19 separate parts … Continue reading →

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Posted in Exhibits and events, Featured book | 2 Comments

Incunabula

Posted on February 8, 2011 by

What is the oldest book in the History of Science Collections? The Collections hold manuscripts written before Gutenberg inaugurated the age of printing ca. 1454, but the oldest printed book in the Collections dates from 1467. Works printed up through … Continue reading →

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Posted in Featured book, Finding aids | 1 Comment

Kepler and the snowflake

Posted on February 1, 2011 by

Today when the University has shut down because of this beautiful snowfall, let’s remember Johann Kepler, one of the most innovative astronomers who ever lived. Yet his contributions reached far beyond the realm of astronomy – to meteorology, mathematics, geology, … Continue reading →

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Posted in Featured book

Holly for the Holidays!

Posted on December 13, 2010 by

Along with mistletoe and poinsettias, no plant represents the winter holidays as much as holly (genus Ilex). The image to the right is found in a work currently on display by the British botanist William Baxter (1787 – 1871) (click … Continue reading →

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Posted in Exhibits and events, Featured book | 1 Comment

Historic texts in Geology: ePubs by Robert Cody

Posted on October 31, 2010 by

Now you can take some of the great works of the history of geology with you to the coffeeshop! Thanks to the generous and meticulous work of sedimentary geochemist Robert D. Cody, a series of historic texts in geology are … Continue reading →

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Posted in Digital projects, Featured book, Research tips | 1 Comment

Melding Art and Science: Albrecht Dürer in the Collections

Posted on August 18, 2010 by

Guest post by Nicholas Wojcik It is, indeed, summer. The sun is out and flexing its muscles, luring dedicated followers and addicts outdoors to bask in its ultra-violet rays while opponents find sanctuary in places of shade and air-conditioning. But … Continue reading →

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Posted in Featured book | 1 Comment

July 4, 1776

Posted on July 1, 2010 by

Settle down with a cup of coffee and take a brief glimpse with us, on this anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, into materials held by the Collections with a connection to this historic period. In his … Continue reading →

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Posted in Featured book, This day in history