The Size of Things: Historical Overlaps

As noted back in June of this year, scale bars are not only useful for understanding size in space, but also helpful for adding context to time. Though less of a scale bar and more of a frame of reference, the video below offers a fun look at the overlap between historical events. We often think of historical events discretely, without also connecting them with what was happening elsewhere in the world. Doing so can lead to some surprises, like the overlap between Woolly Mammoths and the Great Pyramids, or that the University of Oxford is older than the Aztec Empire. And did Pablo Picasso get a chance to listen to Dark Side of the Moon? Find out below.

David Crotty

@davidacrotty

David Crotty is a Senior Consultant at Clarke & Esposito, a boutique management consulting firm focused on strategic issues related to professional and academic publishing and information services. Previously, David was the Editorial Director, Journals Policy for Oxford University Press. He oversaw journal policy across OUP’s journals program, drove technological innovation, and served as an information officer. David acquired and managed a suite of research society-owned journals with OUP, and before that was the Executive Editor for Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, where he created and edited new science books and journals, along with serving as a journal Editor-in-Chief. He has served on the Board of Directors for the STM Association, the Society for Scholarly Publishing and CHOR, Inc., as well as The AAP-PSP Executive Council. David received his PhD in Genetics from Columbia University and did developmental neuroscience research at Caltech before moving from the bench to publishing.

Discussion

1 Thought on "The Size of Things: Historical Overlaps"

Nice set of comparative /coinciding events

reminds me of the spirit of David Edgerton’s, 2006. “The Shock of the Old: Technology and Global History since 1900”. Oxford: OUP. May favorite story from that: Hitler’s invasion of Russia used more horses than Napoleon’s!