Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis

Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis

@vbs55.bsky.social

Professor, History of Science at University of Florida. Coeditor-in-Chief, Journal of the History of Biology, Past President, ISHPSSB. HSS, BSA, SSE and AAAS. Historian of biology and evolutionary biology, genetics, systematics and the botanical sciences.

115 followers71 following9 posts

Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis
@vbs55.bsky.social

Published in JHB: the story of the discovery of DNA newly revised thanks to Alistair Sponsel and Brian Sutton who studied Rosalind Franklin's notebooks and camera work and images--she did "see it" after all, unlike what Watson and so many others thought. www.science.org/content/arti... website.

science.orgHow did Rosalind Franklin miss the helix in her iconic DNA image? She didn’tNew analysis refutes James Watson’s claim he was first to recognize significance of famed photograph 51
Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis
@vbs55.bsky.social

Congratulations to Lily Balloffet, the recipient of the 2026 Mendelsohn Prize for “Environment, Tropical Disease, and Scientific Networks in Argentina: Folclore and Multiscalar Mobilities," published in JHB 58.3 (2025):387-411 in Megan Raby's Topical Collection! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

link.springer.comEnvironment, Tropical Disease, and Scientific Networks in Argentina: Folclore and Multiscalar Mobilities - Journal of the History of BiologyThis article employs space and place as analytic categories in the history of life sciences and public health research in rural Argentina. The historical-ecological panorama of South America’s “Gran C...
Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis
@vbs55.bsky.social

ISHPSSB Council has approved an ISHPSSB Community Award recognizing a member who has played an outstanding role in supporting, managing, or building our organization, or fostering a spirit of community. Nominations may be made by a brief one-page letter by any member to bsmocovi@ufl.edu by June 30.

Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis reposted

Christopher Webb
@cwebbonline.com

Christiane Amanpour’s reaction to the Oval Office ambush has me shook. I feel like she’s seen it all. I think she knows this was staged because Trump and Vance don’t want peace unless Putin gets it all.

Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis reposted

Freddy Tran Nager
@professorfreddy.bsky.social

"Regardless of style and tactics, everyone in the American scientific community must hold to the principles of independence, peer evaluation, and inclusion. These have enabled the country’s success in science & technology for at least a century. We will not turn our backs on them now." #AcademicSky

Holden Thorp@holdenthorp.bsky.social

The response of the science community to the last month is not about one statement or action. It's about all of us with our different frames. For Science's part, we are doing what we have always done and have no plans to change. My thoughts on what we can do. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

science.orgCome together, right nowThe chaos, conflicting information, firings, and hurtful rhetoric of the Trump administration’s approach to science over the past month are causing anxiety, grief, and concern for the scientific commu...
Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis
@vbs55.bsky.social

The deadline for ISHPSSB's travel grants to Porto is on March 1. Please check the ISHPSSB's conference website for more information on this and on hotels. Some have started to fill up. I recommend the HF hotels like Tuela and Ipanema near the conference venues and listed on the conference website.

Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis reposted

Greg Priest
@gregpriest.bsky.social

In celebration of Darwin Day 2025, Darwin Online has issued the largest collection of Darwin caricatures ever assembled, including, they claim, 30 that were previously unknown. Here’s a link: https://darwin-online.org.uk/Caricatures.html 🌱🐋🧪🐡 #HistSTM #EvoBio

Greg Priest@gregpriest.bsky.social

Charles Darwin was born OTD in 1809. Though best known for evolution by natural selection, I’d venture that he devoted more time, and more published pages, to plant physiology and behavior than any other subject. It was all to serve his evolutionary project, but still. #HPBio #Evobio 🧪 #HistSTM

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