Ohrstrom Blog » Natural Sciences

New Archives Online Exhibit: Places of Invention

Lisa Laughy — Mon, 31 May 2010 15:35:30 +0000

A new online exhibit, called Places of Invention: Science and Mathematics at St. Paul’s School, is now part of the Ohrstrom Library website. This online exhibit is based on a more in-depth Archives photograph exhibit now on display in the upper level of Ohrstrom Library. Here is an excerpt from the introduction to the online exhibit:

With construction of the Lindsay Center for Mathematics and Science now well underway, it is fitting that the St. Paul’s School community reflects back upon the places that have served the study of science and mathematics so well throughout the School’s history.

Photos from the Archives were scanned specifically for the online exhibit including this image of a Biology classroom in the Westinghouse Lab:

The online exhibit features images ranging from the first science lab built on the St. Paul’s School grounds in 1889 to the architectural renderings of the Lindsay Center for Mathematics and Science, now under construction. The main gallery of thumbnail images includes links to individual pages that feature larger images and brief descriptions. There is also a slideshow of the images that can be initiated from any of the pages in the exhibit.

Take a few moments to browse through the gallery of images and follow the development of the places that have helped to facilitate the high standard of education in mathematics and science that has been a part of the St. Paul’s School vision from its very beginning.

Visit the online exhibit by clicking HERE.

Visit the full Archives exhibit in the upper level lobby of Ohrstrom Library.

New Reference Books: A Dictionary of Biology, A Dictionary of Earth Sciences

Lura Sanborn — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:00:12 +0000

Two new updates by famed reference publisher, Oxford University Press are now available in Ohrstrom:

A Dictionary of Biology edited by Robert S. Hine, Oxford, 2008.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 574 Ox2M

A Dictionary of Biology, now in its 6th edition is, in fact, a straight-forward dictionary of biology. Flip through the alphabetical listings to find brief definitions of:
•   Abductor
•   Corolla
•   Factor VIII
•   Palaeozoic

A Dictionary of Earth Sciences edited by Michael Allaby, Oxford, 2008.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 550 AL5D

A Dictionary of Earth Science, now in its 3rd edition is also a straight-forward dictionary, this time about earth sciences. Flip through the alphabetical listings to find brief definitions of:
•   Accumulation zone
•   Goldschmidt’s rules
•   Moisture budget
•   Tidal current

Helpful for: Biology, Ecology, Eco-Action, Human Anatomy

New Reference Book: Nature and the Environment in 20th-Century American Life

Lisa Laughy — Thu, 21 May 2009 12:00:57 +0000

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

Nature and the Environment in 20th-Century American Life by Brian Black, Westport: Greenwood, 2006.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 304.2 B56N20

Did recent Earth Day activities generate an interest in topics related to the environment? This new reference book is a great way to continue fueling the inspiration. Read about oil and the automobile, the evolution of the National Park Service and/or the Donora Smog of 1948. Dozens of additional topics are covered and discussed in this new source. Photos and primary texts are scattered throughout the volume.

Helpful for: Humanities IV, U.S. History Research, Environmental Research

New Reference Book: Landmarks and Pioneers in American Science

Lisa Laughy — Tue, 19 May 2009 12:00:58 +0000

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

Research and Discovery: Landmarks and Pioneers in American Science edited by Russell Lawson, M.E. Sharpe, 2008.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 509 L44R

This three volumes set presents scientific biographies, topics and inventions from fourteen different branches of science. A handful of primary source documents conclude each section.

Read about Weather in Early America, John Josselyn’s Description of Seventeenth-Century Fauna, Psychoanalysis in America, Count Rumford and/or browse the entry on New Hampshire’s own Mary Baker Eddy and her connection to Medicine & Health.

Helpful for: Science, Humanities IV, Ecology

Photo credit:

Count von Rumford, Benjamin Thompson. Essays, Political, Economical, and Philosophical. 2 vols. Boston: Manning & Loring, 1799. Thomas Jefferson’s Library. Lib. of Congress. 17 Apr. 2009 .

New Reference Book: The Oxford Companion to the Year

Lisa Laughy — Thu, 07 May 2009 12:00:40 +0000

Lura Sanborn – Reference Librarian

The Oxford Companion to the Year by Bonnie Blackburn & Leofranc Holford-Strevens, Oxford, 2003.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF 529.3 B560

The first half of this volume offers a day-by-day listing of associated events and people. The focus is on British and U.S. events with some non-western celebrations included.

The second half of the volume describes the history of the Christian calendar and major non-Christian calendars.

Helpful for: Celebrations, Browsing, History of the Calendar

Photo credit:

Earth Day Banners at Ohrstrom Library

Lisa Laughy — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 20:12:44 +0000

Kevin Barry – Library Director

Earth Day activities moved indoors due to rainy conditions, but that didn’t interfere with plans to make banners for Ohrstrom Library. Students who signed up for the “Great Books” project were given the challenge of choosing environmentally themed books from Ohrstrom’s collection and then designing a large-scale painted canvas banner to express that book’s message. The results of this combined effort are the four magnificent 10’ x 3’ Earth Day bookmark/banners now hanging proudly from the second floor balcony down into the Baker Reading Room in Ohrstrom Library. These works are nothing short of dazzling.

On your next walk across school grounds stop by Ohrstrom and marvel at what the “Great Books” team created in just a few short hours during the Earth Day celebration at SPS. Here are some pictures of the finished banners hanging in the library. Please come by and see them in person – You won’t believe your eyes!

Very special thanks to the following students for their enthusiasm for the “Great Books” project:

In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto. By Michael Pollan.
Students: Adele Xu, Stephanie O’Connell, Michelle Lee, Billy Kim, Emily Laackman

The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus: Exploring and Conserving Our Natural World. By Jacques Cousteau and Susan Schiefelbein.
Students: Claire Branch, Olivia Moore, Lucy Bass

Walden. By Henry David Thoreau.
Students: Ga Hye (Caroline) Kim, Elsa M. Henderson, Sarah Brockett

The Lorax. By Dr. Seuss.
Students: Caroline Yost, Claire Stanton, Katherine Robinson

Special Note of Thanks to Adult Participants: Ms. Laughy, Mrs. Reider and Mrs. Wardrop.

New Reference Books: Earth Day Edition

Deb Baker — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 12:00:13 +0000

Here are two new reference books in Ohrstrom Library’s collection with special significance for Earth Day:

Human Development Report 2007/2008 Fighting Climate Change: Human Solidarity in a Divided World published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), director and lead author Kevin Watkins, 2007.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: Ref. 303.44 Un3 2007/2008

UNDP’s annual report measures the health, welfare, economic and physical security and well being of people in 175 UN member nations plus Hong Kong and the Palestinian Territories, as well as the status of international treaties on human rights, the environment, and labor. Each year, the report opens with an extensive analysis of a key international development issue, and this year’s focus is climate change and the responses, projected outcomes, and potential impact on human development around the world. Both cautionary and hopeful, this is a useful and fascinating read.

HELPFUL FOR: Leadership for Social Justice, Topics in Global Events

FUN FOR: global citizens, Eco-Action members, debaters, future pundits and policy wonks, tree huggers, activists, voters

Deb Baker – Interim Reference Librarian

The Facts on File Dictionary of Environmental Science by Bruce C. Wyman and L. Harold Stevenson, Facts On File, 3rd ed., 2007.

Find it in Ohrstrom at: REF REF 363.7 W98

Over 4,000 terms are defined, including: nuclear winter, silviculture, and ethanol.

Several appendixes conclude the volume, including: environmental acronyms, plastic recycling codes & earth, atmosphere and water statistics.

Helpful for: Ecology, Eco-Action, Earth Day.

Lura Sanborn- Reference Librarian

Periodical Picks: Earth Day 2009

Lisa Laughy — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 14:16:02 +0000

Patti Lynn - Library Assistant, Periodicals

In honor of the upcoming Earth Day Celebration Ohrstrom Library would like to highlight two environmental magazines in the periodicals collection. First up is The Ecologist, a magazine that proclaims itself to be “The world’s leading environmental magazine”. The Ecologist is published in London, but it features articles that are universally relevant. In the April issue, “Sick as a pig” focuses on the rise in antibiotic resistance that is being transferred from farm animals to humans. Another article, “Possum or polar bear” cautions that polar bears are not the only species facing threats from global warming. In fact, there are many tropical species suffering from rising global temperatures. The Ecologist is published ten times a year, and an online version is available at www.theecologist.org.

Wildlife Conservation published by the Wildlife Conservation Society is another interesting environmental magazine available in the Library. Published six times a year, it features articles detailing on-going research and conservation efforts worldwide. Articles from the most recent issue include “The Great Barranquero City of El Condor” which details efforts to save the nesting area of the world’s largest parrot colony along the South Atlantic shore in Argentina. In “The secret family life of cougars” you can read about scientists who are using GPS technology and DNA analysis to track the movements of cougar “families”.

Take a moment and browse the back issues of these two journals. Both are filled with thought provoking articles and stunning photography.

The Physics of . . .

Lisa Laughy — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 20:57:34 +0000

Lisa Laughy – Archives Assistant

. . . just about everything!

A new book display in the Baker Reading Room brings together over a dozen books from the Ohrstrom Library collection that share a common thread: They all have “The Physics of” as part of their titles. Beyond that connection it is a very diverse selection, covering topics that range from sports, music and sailing, to NASCAR, Star Trek, Superheros, and even James Bond movies.

Did you know that:

A baseball compresses from a round shape to an elliptical one when the bat-ball impact approaches 140 MPH?
When a hockey puck is tilted at a positive angle relative to the ice there is a lift force directed upward?
The idea behind the deflector shield on the Enterprise originated with the concept of a coherent gravitational field that creates a curvature of space?
Spiderman swinging on his web from building to building is a good illustration for the principle of conservation of energy?
Having the ideal tire slip angle on a NASCAR race car can mean the difference between spinning off the race track or speeding across the finish line?
The first watch camera was made in 1886, but James Bond’s ring camera worn in the film A View to a Kill is too small to actually function?

Come check out one of these interesting titles and find out some of the different ways that physics functions in your day-to-day world.

Periodical Picks: Earth Day 2009

Schlesinger Visitor: Jonah Lehrer

Lisa Laughy — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:38:02 +0000

This evening at 6:15 Schlesinger Visitor Jonah Lehrer will be giving a lecture in Hargate. Here is what he says about himself on his blog:

“I’m an editor-at-large for Seed Magazine. I graduated from Columbia University in 2003, and spent the next two years studying at Oxford University on a Rhodes Scholarship. My first book, “Proust Was A Neuroscientist,” is about artists who anticipated the discoveries of modern neuroscience. My second book, “How We Decide,” is about the neuroscience of decision-making. I’ve written for The New Yorker, Nature, Wired, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. I’m also a contributing editor at Scientific American Mind and National Public Radio’s Radio Lab. “

Humanities teacher Ann Jones describes his visit to St. Paul’s:

“On Monday we are having a Schlesinger visit by the writer Jonah Lehrer, the author of Proust was a Neuroscientist and How we Decide, which comes out next year. His blog – The Frontal Cortex at http://scienceblogs.com/cortex/ is terrific. He tackles every aspect of human life, memory, art, literature, the invention of classic French sauces, happiness, and relates them to neuroscience. It’s amazing stuff. It has fascinating implications for how we might teach to encourage breakthrough thinking. There are many other articles at: http://www.jonahlehrer.com/articles.”

There is a great deal of interesting writing by Lehrer available online through the links above, or you can check out his book, Proust Was A Neuroscientist from Ohrstrom Library (call #: 700.1 L52). Be sure to attend the Schlesinger program this evening, and then leave a comment here to let us know your thoughts.