November 30: Gregory of Tours

Gregory of Tours, Statue at the Louvre, Paris

I like Gregory of Tours. His feast is November 17, but I opted to talk about Möbius that day, so we’ll consider Gregory today, on the anniversary of his birth, A.D. November 30, 539. Students at Scholars Online have the rare opportunity to read Gregory, in English in Western Literature to Dante, or in Latin… Continue reading November 30: Gregory of Tours

November 29: Anthony Browne

Anthony Browne, National Portrait Gallery detail

For today: Anthony Browne, First Viscount Montagu, born Nov 29, 1528. He’s important to us as an example of the man who is a member of the loyal opposition. Anthony Browne was the eldest son of a knight of considerable wealth whose estates included Battle Abbey and Hatchlands Park in Surrey and Sussex, and who… Continue reading November 29: Anthony Browne

November 28: The Royal Society

Coat of Arms, Royal Society of London

In the 1640s, a group of natural philosophers led by Robert Boyle  exchanged correspondence and met informally to discuss scientific ideas. Influenced by Francis Bacon’s empirical emphasis in the “new science”,  he described in his essays and his New Atlantis, they exchanged data from their various experiments and observations, and sought rational explanations. Boyle called… Continue reading November 28: The Royal Society