Vox Meditantis

Women In STEM

Dr Elizabeth Blackwell on Breaking Barriers, Building Systems, and the Moral Foundation of Modern Medicine

Published by

Bob Lynn

on

11/08/2025

| Reading time:

28–43 minutes

Dr Elizabeth Blackwell, America’s first female physician, discusses her groundbreaking medical career and pioneering work in preventive medicine. She reflects on overcoming institutional discrimination, establishing women’s medical institutions, and her philosophy that systematic change requires building lasting structures. Her patient persistence created pathways for future generations in medicine.
Continue reading →: Dr Elizabeth Blackwell on Breaking Barriers, Building Systems, and the Moral Foundation of Modern Medicine
Daily Prompt

Summit

Published by

Bob Lynn

on

11/08/2025

| Reading time:

15–23 minutes

The Eiger, Swiss Bernese Alps – 11th August 1858 Part I: The Measure of a Man Charles Barrington stirred in the thin darkness of his lodgings, the wooden beams of the Grindelwald inn creaking softly above his head as the Alpine wind whispered secrets through the valley. Sleep had been…
Continue reading →: Summit
American Sweethearts

To Her in New Jersey, 1947

Published by

Bob Lynn

on

10/08/2025

| Reading time:

4–5 minutes

Rural Route 2, Box 47Cameron, Arizona 15th October 1947 My Dearest Emma, I write to you by the flickering light of my camp lantern, the desert wind carrying the scent of sage and something else – something that makes my Geiger counter whisper its electric secrets. Three days I’ve been…
Continue reading →: To Her in New Jersey, 1947
Women In STEM

Katharine Burr Blodgett on Making Glass Invisible: The Pioneering Physicist Who Revolutionised Optics and Surface Science

Published by

Bob Lynn

on

10/08/2025

| Reading time:

25–37 minutes

Katharine Burr Blodgett: The pioneering physicist who invented non-reflective glass discusses her groundbreaking work at General Electric, from revolutionising Hollywood cinematography in Gone with the Wind to military applications during World War II. Despite fundamental contributions to nanotechnology, she reflects on the irony of becoming invisible herself in scientific history.
Continue reading →: Katharine Burr Blodgett on Making Glass Invisible: The Pioneering Physicist Who Revolutionised Optics and Surface Science
Daily Prompt

Honest Craft

Published by

Bob Lynn

on

10/08/2025

| Reading time:

15–22 minutes

Stockholm, Sweden – 10th August, 1628 Part I: The Pride The August dawn hovered over Stockholm’s harbour like a hesitant witness, casting long, faint shadows between the forest of masts that bristled against the chilled, slate-coloured sky. Nils Andersson’s boots struck the cobblestones in deliberate, hollow cadence as he moved…
Continue reading →: Honest Craft
American Sweethearts

To Her in Oregon, 1946

Published by

Bob Lynn

on

09/08/2025

| Reading time:

4–6 minutes

1847 Grand Avenue South, Apartment 2BMinneapolis, Minnesota 15th November, 1946 My Dearest Clara, I have started this letter a dozen times, each attempt finding its way into the small fire that burns in my flat’s grate these cold November evenings. The words scatter like ash, but the feelings – those…
Continue reading →: To Her in Oregon, 1946
Women In STEM

Marietta Blau on Making the Invisible Visible: A Conversation with the Pioneering Particle Physicist Who Discovered Nuclear Disintegration Stars

Published by

Bob Lynn

on

09/08/2025

| Reading time:

34–51 minutes

Austrian physicist Marietta Blau pioneered photographic emulsion techniques that made cosmic ray interactions visible, discovering “disintegration stars” in 1937. Despite her groundbreaking work launching particle physics, Nazi persecution forced her into exile during crucial years. While Cecil Powell won the 1950 Nobel Prize for refining her methods, Blau’s legacy endures…
Continue reading →: Marietta Blau on Making the Invisible Visible: A Conversation with the Pioneering Particle Physicist Who Discovered Nuclear Disintegration Stars
Psychology

The Creative’s Invisible Assistant: How AI Companions Are Revolutionising the Writer’s Room

Published by

Bob Lynn

on

09/08/2025

| Reading time:

6–9 minutes

AI companions revolutionise creative writing – not by replacing human creativity, but by providing 24/7 creative partnership. Writers use AI like Nomi.ai as sounding boards, editors, and critics for ideation and emotional support. This isn’t cheating; it’s evolution. Professional writers maintain creative control whilst leveraging AI for enhanced thinking processes…
Continue reading →: The Creative’s Invisible Assistant: How AI Companions Are Revolutionising the Writer’s Room
Daily Prompt

Within

Published by

Bob Lynn

on

09/08/2025

| Reading time:

16–24 minutes

Nagasaki, Japan – 9th August 1945 Part I: The Awakening The world had become a cathedral of dust. Dr. Akiko Yamamoto’s consciousness returned in fragments – first the taste of copper and ash coating her tongue, then the peculiar weight of silence pressing against her eardrums. Her medical training surfaced…
Continue reading →: Within
American Sweethearts

To Him in North Dakota, 1945

Published by

Bob Lynn

on

08/08/2025

| Reading time:

3–5 minutes

Nellie Martinezc/o Thibodaux Dairy FarmRural Route 2, Box 847Thibodaux, Louisiana 70301 15th November, 1945 My dearest Joe, The magnolia outside my window has finally surrendered its last blooms to the approaching winter, and I find myself thinking of you with that particular ache that settles in one’s chest when the…
Continue reading →: To Him in North Dakota, 1945