Wikipedia:WikiProject History of Science/Newsletter/May 2007

Image:Astrolabe-Persian-18C.jpg The WikiProject History of Science Newsletter
Issue II - May 2007

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; Project news

• Article assessment for the Version 1.0 Editorial Team continues apace. About one third of the nearly 500 articles carrying the {{tl|HistSci}} banner have now been assessed. Once again, please help assess more history of science articles; this is especially important for determining which articles will be included in upcoming static (e.g., DVD) releases of Wikipedia. For instructions, see the Assessment page.

; Member news

• The project has currently 73 members. The new members since the last newsletter are: Michelferrari, Thony C., GeoWriter, Reddi, Ruud Koot, and D.H. One prolific member, Expresso Addict, left the WikiProject and Wikipedia in general, due frustrations chronicled in a November [http://espresso-addict.livejournal.com/137350.html blog entry].

; Editing news

• With the concerted efforts of a number of editors from the History of Science project and beyond, history of biology reached Good Article status followed in short order by Featured Article status.
• We have a new article on the phage group that could do for some expansion.
• Rusty Cashman has been working hard on Alfred Russell Wallace.
• TimVickers has made a good start on history of biochemistry.
• DonSiano has been working on Joseph Black and Percy Williams Bridgman.
• A new user, Macdonald-ross, has dramatically expanded Thomas Henry Huxley; some help with copy-editing and formatting from experienced users could probably bring the article to a high standard in short order.
• Peterlewis created an interested article on the Versailles train crash and has been working the History of rail transport in Great Britain series.
• Lacatosias and Rmrfstar have worked hard to bring Conatus to Featured Article status.
• Jpbowen has created a weird little article on the Elephant clock.
• Grimhelm wrote a nice historically-oriented article on Cannon operation.
• Reddi has been working on Fringe science.
• D.H has been expanding Expanding earth theory.
• Nuclear programme of Iran is a hot topic that could use more attention from those wise in the ways of STS.
• The history section of Equipartition theorem has been developing as editors of that article push for Featured Article quality.
• Mostly fruitless discussion has been ongoing for several months over physics, especially about the lead, but the history section could use a total rewrite to avoid the names and dates, one damn fact after another style of history.
• Though WikiProject Pseudoscience has been fairly quiet lately, the battle against nonsense continues apace. It seems that WikiProject Paranormal has become the active center for discussing the wide spectrum of fringe theories.
• An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump is under peer review.
• [If you've been working on articles that would benefit from the attention of other project members, list them here.]

; Collaboration of the Month

• The History of Science Collaboration has been put on hold due to lack of nominations. It will resume when any nomination has four votes. Please, nominate future collaborations and vote for the next selection. Some of the past collaborations have been very successful.

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; About this newsletter

Welcome to the second issue of the History of Science WikiProject's newsletter! This newsletter is issued periodically to help keep participants up-to-date about Wikipedia goings on related to the histories of science, medicine and technology.

I encourage all members to get more involved and if you are wondering what with, please ask.

--ragesoss, Editor

; Project volunteers

• Volunteers needed - if any members feel able to take on project tasks such as creating history of medicine or history of technology Task Forces, monitoring and maintaining the Announcements template, managing Assessment activity or anything else you believe needs special attention, please let me know.

; Newsletter challenge

• The first person to start each article gets lasting fame and a mention in the next newsletter. This edition's general article creation challenge is Leviathan and the Air Pump.
• The history of biological sciences challenge is Gunther Stent. Last times's challenge is PaJaMo experiment.
• The history of physical sciences challenge is "Quantum theoretical re-interpretation of kinematic and mechanical relations", a 1925 paper by Heisenberg, Pauli and Born.
• The history of medicine challenge is History of endocrinology. Last times's challenge is History of public health.
• The history of technology challenge is History of the microscope. Last times's challenge is technological sublime.

Image:Original_Barnstar.pngFastfission created a very nice entry for the previous general challenge: Society for Social Studies of Science.

Image:Original_Barnstar.pngAnonymous Dissident answered the physical sciences challenge admirably with the Great Comet of 1577'''.