Writing
In February 2010 I provided the lead article, "Focus on the Clyde", for Hebridean Island Cruises' customer magazine "The Hebridean Times".
'Imaging a Continent: the George Washington Wilson & Co's Lantern Slides of Australia'. Published in Early Popular Visual Culture (Routledge) in November 2009, it was awarded 2nd place in the 2008-2009 Projection Box Essay Awards.
.... immensely readable, packed with information, rich in speculation and interesting comment.
... This is a very original essay which genuinely breaks new ground.
... a well illustrated piece of research.
'Imaging The Past', Outback Magazine, RM Williams, Australia. Published in the October/November 2008 issue.You can purchase copies of the published images from www.priscus.co.uk. Details of the magazine can be found at Outback Magazine.
"The Art of Numbring by Speaking Rods", Slide Rule Gazette, Issue 10, Autumn 2009, Uk Slide Rule Collectors Circle.
‘William Ellis’, in B. Lightman (ed.), Dictionary of Nineteenth-Century British Scientists (University of Chicago Press/Thoemmes Press, 2004).
‘A Lantern Tour of Starland: the astronomer Robert Ball and his lantern lectures’, in Crangle, Heard, van Doreen (ed.), Realms of Light: Uses and Perceptions of The Magic Lantern from the 17th to the 21st Century (The Magic Lantern Society, 2005).
'Astronomical Lantern Slides' The New Magic Lantern Journal. 11 (2008).
'The Brenograph in Action' The New Magic Lantern Journal 10:2 (2006), pp. 19-22.
'Caudle's Curtain Lectures: The Story Behind the Slides' The New Magic Lantern Journal 9:3 (2006), pp. 45-46.
I write quarterly for Mercury - The Journal of The Stirling Astronomical Society. Recent articles have included:
The Astrophysicists: Herschel, Huggins, Hale, Eddington, Shapley, Hubble
The Telescope Exhibitor
The Tunguska Event
William Ellis - Astronomer at the Royal Observatory
Jodrell Bank and the Space Program
Edmund Halley and Eclipses
The Eidouranion
A Historic Book and The Owners of One Copy
Will Hay - The Actor, Comedian and Amateur Astronomer
His and Her Majesty's Astronomers at The Cape
The Astronomer Royals of England, Scotland and Ireland
Current Projects
I have recently become involved in "The Encyclopedia of Popular Optical Media to 1900", a web site project in preparation by The Projection Box. I'll post further details when they are released.
I contribute regular quarterly articles to The Newsletter of The Magic Lantern Society under the header "Web Chat". The column is about the Magic Lantern on the web.
I also write and manage the web site of The Magic Lantern Society.