Van piratendokters tot wetenschappelijke instituten. Drie eeuwen Nederlandse en Belgische tropische geneeskunde

Wantin

Quiescent X-ray variability in the neutron star Be/X-ray transient GRO J1750-27

The Be/X-ray transient GRO J1750-27 exhibited a type-II (giant) outburst in 2015. After the source transited to quiescence, we triggered our multi-year Chandra monitoring programme to study its quiescent behaviour. The programme was designed to follow the cooling of a potentially heated neutron-star crust due to accretion of matter during the preceding outburst, similar to what we potentially have observed before in two other Be/X-ray transients, namely 4U 0115+63 and V 0332+53. However, unlike for these other two systems, we do not find any strong evidence that the neutron-star crust in GRO J1750-27 was indeed heated during the accretion phase. We detected the source at a rather low X-ray luminosity (~10^33 erg/s) during only three of our five observations. When the source was not detected it had very low-luminosity upper limits (<10^32 erg/s; depending on assumed spectral model). We interpret these detections and the variability observed as emission likely due to very low-level accretion onto the neutron star. We also discuss why the neutron-star crust in GRO J1750-27 might not have been heated while the ones in 4U 0115+63 and V 0332+53 possibly were.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for A&

Kapers van kennis. De rol van een boekaniersgeleerde in de circulatie van kennis over ziekten en geneesmiddelen in de tropen.

‘Piracy of kowledge’ – the role of a buccaneer-scientist in the knowledge circulation around diseases and drugs in the tropics Knowledge circulation in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was not only stimulated by the mutual interaction of trade and science. In the context of territorial expansion, war, and the activities of privateers and pirates, knowledge of diseases and drugs in the tropics was increased as well. An important part in this process was performed by so-called 'buccaneer- scientists': adventurers with medical and scientific backgrounds and/or interest who operated on the cultural borders in different parts of the hemisphere. The characteristics of this type of contributor to Early Modern knowledge circulation are explored and analyzed in the example of Scottish surgeon and pirate Lionel Wafer (c. 1660 - c. 1705). The buccaneer scientist had to share the passions of other scientists, resulting in accurate and detailed empirical observation; be able to judge the relevance of observations and 'facts'; be part of a context that stimulates these observations; be capable of describing of these observations; and be part of a network of dissemination of observations. His activities should have an important practical and pragmatic component stimulating trade, expansion and even piracy. And he should possess personal characteristics such as perseverance, a healthy constitution, and ruthlessness, to work and survive in a violent and traumatic environment. Wafer is typical for other 'buccaneer-scientists' of this period – not only pirates and privateers, but also physicians and natural explorers operating in other and more 'respectable' areas of the European overseas expansion

Normalisation and Ambivalence: Tobacco in the Seventeenth-Century Dutch Republic

This article questions the normalisation of tobacco use in the seventeenth-century Dutch Republic. The investigation shows that our present cultural ambivalence towards the intoxicant goes back to tobacco’s early introduction. The integration of tobacco use as an essential element in social rituals was situated on a line from general acceptance to social deviance. Tobacco use was successfully integrated in existing settings of alcohol use. However, because of the origins of tobacco use among specific social groups such as seamen, associations with deviance and marginality remained an inseparable element of the Dutch landscape of tobacco use. 

Identity and Christian-Muslim interaction : medieval art of the Syrian Orthodox from the Mosul area

As elsewhere in the Middle East, the Mosul area witnessed a flourishing of Christian art during the thirteenth century. Discussing both art-historical and written sources, this book examines the role of art in expressing the identity of Mosul’s Syrian Orthodox community, and explores the relationship between Christian and Islamic art. Christian-Muslim relations in the Middle East during the medieval period have often been seen in terms of conflict and violent opposition, a presumed dichotomy which focuses almost exclusively on theological differences and fails to take account of the social complexities of daily life. The present study challenges these simplistic views of division along religious lines, seeing the boundaries between the Christian and Muslim communities as areas of intermingling rather than separation. A detailed comparative analysis between Christian and Islamic art provides a far more nuanced picture of extensive cultural interaction, in which the Christians were fully integrated into their environment while still retaining their own exclusive religious and communal identity.LEI Universiteit LeidenNWOAntiquity (Religious Texts and Tradition in Antiquity