The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

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aeronautics

Scientific illustration of air traffic control reading a plane's position on an instrument panel, while radar waves bounce in graphic zig-zags off an airplane flying high over a mountain range.

Science Art: Opportunities for Design & Development Engineers…, 1966.

12 March 2025 grant 0

This is the illustration from a full-page ad from the Hughes Aircraft Company in the Jan/Feb 1966 issue of Information Display magazine.

This isn’t selling a product — at least… Read the rest “Science Art: Opportunities for Design & Development Engineers…, 1966.”

Scientific illustration, or photograph, really, of the green-and-black geometry of a WWII fighter plane cockpit, with an angled canopy above and a steering yoke in center of a small array of dials and indicators.

Science Art: Cockpit view of the Macchi MC.200 Saetta, 2009

18 November 2024 grant 0

This image came from the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force with the less-easy-to-understand name (or “designation”) “210921-F-AU145-2009.” But it’s… Read the rest “Science Art: Cockpit view of the Macchi MC.200 Saetta, 2009”

Peter Dodge’s final cyclone.

10 October 2024 grant 0

Ars Technica salutes NOAA hurricane scientist Peter Dodge, who underwent his 387th storm “penetration” aboard an airplane flying into Category 5 Hurricane Milton …… Read the rest “Peter Dodge’s final cyclone.”

Driverless cars, OK. Pilotless fighter jets? They’re flying now, too.

11 May 2024 grant 0

AP reports on a robot F16 that has just taken Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall out for a joyride courtesy of an AI fighter pilot:

Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service

… Read the rest “Driverless cars, OK. Pilotless fighter jets? They’re flying now, too.”
Scientific illustration of a supersonic rocket plane being launched from a bomber, a black-and-white photo of a shining steel dart leaving a trail of cloud beneath the massive shadow of its mothership.

Science Art: X-2 After Drop from B-50 Mothership, 1957.

6 May 2024 grant 0

Off we go….

Here’s some cutting-edge technology from 1957 which, frankly, is still pretty impressive. The Bell Labs X-2 is a rocket-plane that flew humans up into the upper… Read the rest “Science Art: X-2 After Drop from B-50 Mothership, 1957.”

Scientific illustration of the Ryan 262 Manta Ray aircraft, a remote-controlled military drone from the 1970s

Science Art: Ryan 262 Manta Ray: Program Status Report cover, 1975

10 December 2023 grant 0

This is the cover of a report on the Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical “Navy Mini-Drone (STARS),” otherwise known as the Manta Ray. It was a fiberglass remote-controlled drone; … Read the rest “Science Art: Ryan 262 Manta Ray: Program Status Report cover, 1975”

Scientific illustration of an Avrocar, a silver, disc-shaped aerial vehicle, gleaming steel and black vents, parked outside a shaded hangar.

Science Art: Avro Canada VZ-9AV Avrocar.

26 November 2023 grant 0

This is not a movie prop, but a working prototype of the Avrocar, a disc-shaped flying machine that graced the skies between 1959 and 1961.

It’s basically a giant fan sending a jet of… Read the rest “Science Art: Avro Canada VZ-9AV Avrocar.”

Scientific Illustration of the Wright Brothers' airplane in the patent application.

Science Art: 821393 – Flying Machine – Wright Brothers, May 22, 1906.

23 October 2023 grant 0

It’s an airplane. Maybe the airplane. And this is how it looked when the U.S. Patent Office made it official.
I found the illustration on Wikimedia, where it was uploaded from the National… Read the rest “Science Art: 821393 – Flying Machine – Wright Brothers, May 22, 1906.”

An AI fighter plane has taken off, engaged a simulated enemy and landed without a human pilot’s help.

22 February 2023 grant 0

DARPA reports on the Air Combat Evolution program’s newest breakthrough, which took a regular F-16 fighter jet, equipped it with an Artificial Intelligence program capable of … Read the rest “An AI fighter plane has taken off, engaged a simulated enemy and landed without a human pilot’s help.”

Airship hangar awaits new zeppelin revolution.

21 August 2022 grant 0

BBC is waiting patiently for Google co-founder Sergey Brin to create another world-changing revolution. They’re hanging out in an enormous hangar, the Goodyear Airdock in Akron,… Read the rest “Airship hangar awaits new zeppelin revolution.”

Exploring alien planets (and Earth) by balloon

11 August 2022 grant 0

Science News looks at the recent breakthroughs in planetary research using an often-overlooked kind of vehicle, a lighter-than-air balloon, as a research platform in alien skies:

“Venus

… Read the rest “Exploring alien planets (and Earth) by balloon”
Scieintific illustration of a rocket from the 1950s.

Science Art: Fig 2.1: Powder Rocket Projectile, 1956.

26 June 2022 grant 0

This is one of the first illustrations in V. I. Feodosiev’s and G. B. Siniarev’s Introduction to Rocketry, an English translation of a Russian text from 1956 done by the US Air… Read the rest “Science Art: Fig 2.1: Powder Rocket Projectile, 1956.”

SONG: A Pseudo-Satellite

24 June 2022 grant 0

SONG: “A Pseudo-Satellite”.

ARTIST: grant.

SOURCE: CNN 5 May 2022, “This solar-powered plane could stay in the air for months,” as used in the post Solar plane… Read the rest “SONG: A Pseudo-Satellite”

Solar plane can do the job of a satellite without going into space.

8 May 2022 grant 0

CNN is covering the Skydweller, a plane powered by more than 17,000 solar panels, enabling it to stay aloft for month, doing the same work a satellite would do at a slightly lower altitude … Read the rest “Solar plane can do the job of a satellite without going into space.”

Scientific illustration of an amphibious aircraft from the 1800s.

Science Art: Pénaud’s first sketch of an amphibian aeroplane, 1873

17 April 2022 grant 0

CW: Ends in despair.

French aviation pioneer Alphonse Pénaud designed this, with engineer Paul Gauchot, as an aeroplane that could land on water or on land. That was quite an ambition in … Read the rest “Science Art: Pénaud’s first sketch of an amphibian aeroplane, 1873”

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acoustics aeronautics agronomy anatomy anthropology archaeology astronomy biochemistry biology botany chemistry climatology computer science ecology economics electrical engineering electronics engineering entomology epidemiology evolution genetics geology linguistics marine biology mathematics medicine meteorology microbiology microscopy nanotechnology neurology oceanography optics paleontology pharmacology physics psychology quantum physics research robotics sociology space exploration theremin zoology
RSS Help Wanted: ScienceCareers
  • Johns Hopkins University: Postdoctoral fellow in RNA biology at Johns Hopkins University
  • The University of Hong Kong: Tenure-track Assistant Professor in Computational Chemistry and/or AI for Chemistry
  • Baylor College of Medicine: Biostatistician
  • Baylor College of Medicine: Postdoctoral Associate- Cancer Immunotherapy
  • University of North Carolina at Charlotte: Assistant Professor, Department of Bioinformatics and Genomics
  • Arizona State University: Director, School of Earth and Space Exploration
Honorary Troubadours
  • Jonathan Coulton, Contributing Troubadour for Popular Science.
  • Laura Veirs, who knows her way around a polysyllable.
  • Thomas Dolby, godfather of scientific pop.
  • Squeaky, fact-based rock about fusion containment & rocket science.
  • Cosmos II, a.k.a. Boston University astronomer Alan Marscher.
  • Dr. Fiorella Terenzi, astrophysicist who makes music from cosmic radio sources.
  • Dr. Jim Webb, astronomy professor and acoustic guitarist.
  • Artichoke, the band behind 26 Scientists, Vols. I and II.
  • They Might Be Giants, unrelenting proponents of scientific popular song.
  • Symphonies of Science, the people who make Carl Sagan and others sing.
  • Giant Squid, doom metal about the sublime horrors of marine biology.
  • Gethan Dick,6 scientists, 6 musicians, 1 great album
Related Projects
  • Squid Pro Crow
  • Grant Bandcamp
  • Grant Soundcloud
  • Penitential Originals Playlist
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"Is it a fact—or have I dreamt it—that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?"
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, 1851

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