Happy Pride Month! Please enjoy this list of books and articles by LGBTQ+ scientists and books about queer science issues and history, recommended by your favorite Niels Bohr Librarians and Archivists. From biographies to science popularizations to best practices guides and fiction, there’s a little something here for everyone:

In early 2019, the Niels Bohr Library & Archives (NBLA) acquired a book of particular interest to both the history of science generally and our personal history as an archive: Emilio Segrè’s own copy of the physics textbook he wrote, Nuclei and Particles (1965). 

Physics textbooks have something of a reputation for being on the dry side, especially older ones written for a university-level audience, as is the case with Nuclei and Particles: An Introduction to Nuclear and Subnuclear Physics. However, I would argue that there are elements of these older physics textbooks that spark interest and lines of intrigue, even in a non-physicist such as myself.

NBL&A is having so much fun with our rare book ABCs series; we’re expanding our alphabet-based collection exploration to the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives. I've decided to kick off May's Photos of the Month by highlighting terms that begin with the letter S, quoted to be “the best letter of the alphabet” by your unbiased author, Sarah. 

People have been fascinated by alchemy since ancient times. Little did they know, however, their dreams to convert the lead into gold would one day result in breakthrough cures and unprecedented imaging capabilities for physicians.

I don’t think there’s much left to write about 2020 that hasn’t already been written. We can all agree that it was a challenging year. We spent the months of March - July with almost no access to our physical collections. And from July - December we had very limited access. But we didn’t let that stop us from growing our collections in exciting new ways. This blog is hopefully the first in a series that will shine a spotlight on some of the library’s newest acquisitions. 

The Niels Bohr Library & Archives has recently acquired a rather unusual book of poetry and photographs written by missionary and physicist Laura Dickinson. Despite its unassuming cover, this book, entitled Optimism and Other Poems, has some unique touches, including an inscription by the author to a “Cousin Carrie,” as well as, still tucked within its pages, a bookmark belonging to an early owner. Cousin Carrie was likely Dickinson’s second cousin, Carrie Gaylord, who worked at Spelman College as a Matron and then Hostess. Inside the book are 40 short poems, as well as 6 photographs also taken by Dickinson.

Last month, humanity got a small break from the humdrum reality of lockdown life on Earth to celebrate otherworldly scientific achievement:

The Perseverance rover successfully landed on the Jezero Crater of Mars on February 18, 2021. Events like these always boggle my mind with their sheer human scientific ingenuity - cool enough on its own - but I also enjoyed this chance to contemplate the existence of astrobiology, a.k.a. one of my favorite science fiction tropes ever: aliens! The Perseverance’s mission is to “seek signs of ancient life and collect samples of rock and regolith (broken rock and soil) for possible return to Earth.” Besides the aliens (!), equally sci-fi worthy goals of the mission include technological demonstration of the rover’s equipment for future missions to Mars, as well as geological exploration of the planet. As the Perseverance explores the terrain, the mission’s team will assign names to the geological features it encounters in Navajo, in cooperation with the Navajo Nation. 

The Perseverance’s hunt for traces of long-extinct Martian microorganisms inspired me to think about the history of our search for extraterrestrial life (SETI) and the history of our attempts to contact this life. Although we do not anticipate reciprocal communication on this mission, I would consider the search for evidence of life to be a kind of contact in itself. On a somewhat silly note, March seems an auspicious month to think about Mars and SETI, as the month of March in French is “mars,'' and World Contact Day is celebrated on March 15th. On a more serious note, I wondered what threads of the scientifically grounded story of our search for life and contact might be lurking in our photo collections. Let’s take a look. 

Who is ready for a new batch of Zoom backgrounds?! We know you’ve been waiting for the third installment of our Zoom background offerings...

Because of the pandemic my free time has definitely shifted to indoor activities, which has given me a great excuse to catch up on my reading lists and watch lists. Now, for the most part these lists are fairly separate. I am always cautious of any movie or TV series which is based on a book. The two genres each have their own merits, but when it comes down to it, I’m usually Team Book. I’ve just been betrayed too often. (Ella Enchanted anyone?)

If I could pick a different era to live in as someone of my current age, I would choose the 1960s.