Stuff You Missed in History Class

Actuarial science is all about calculating risk – risk of injury, illness, death, risk of market shifts and financial outcomes. Part one covers the earliest population tables and early examples of life insurance and assurance.  Research: Bell, John. “London’s Remembrancer … “ E. Cotes. London. 1665. Accessed online: https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo2/A27350.0001.001?rgn=main;view=fulltext Bellhouse, David R. “A New Look at Halley’s Life Table.” Journal of the Royal Statistical Society.” 174, Part 3, pp. 823–832. 2011. https://www.medicine.mcgill.ca/epidemiology/hanley/c609/material/BellhouseHalleyTable2011JRSS.pdf Bennetts, N., (2019). MORGAN, WILLIAM (1750 - 1833), actuary and scientist. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 22 Dec 2023, from https://biography.wales/article/s12-MORG-WIL-1750 Boyce, Niall. “Bills of Mortality: tracking disease in early modern London.” The Lancet. April 11, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30725-X Chatfield, Michael and Vangermeersch, Richard, "History of Accounting: An International Encyclopedia" (1996). Individual and Corporate Publications. 168.https://egrove.olemiss.edu/acct_corp/168 CLARK, GEOFFREY. “Life Insurance in the Society and Culture of London, 1700-75.” Urban History, vol. 24, no. 1, 1997, pp. 17–36. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44612859 de Roover, Florence Edler. “Early Examples of Marine Insurance.” The Journal of Economic History, vol. 5, no. 2, 1945, pp. 172–200. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2114075 Fouse, L. G. “Policy Contracts in Life Insurance.” The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, vol. 26, 1905, pp. 29–48. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1011003 “James Dodson’s tables of premiums, 1756.” Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. https://www.actuaries.org.uk/learn-and-develop/research-and-knowledge/library-services/historical-collections/archive-equitable-life-assurance-society/highlights-equitable-life-archive/james-dodson-s-tables-premiums-1756 Eggen, Olin Jeuck. "Edmond Halley". Encyclopedia Britannica, 21 Dec. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmond-Halley Greenwood, Major. “The First Life Table.” Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. October 31, 1938. Volume 1, Issue 2. https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/abs/10.1098/rsnr.1938.0017 Harford, Tim. “What makes gambling wrong but insurance right ?” BBC News. March 20, 2017. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-38905963 Ivry, David A. “Historical Development of Some Basic Life Insurance Terminology.” The Journal of Insurance, vol. 28, no. 3, 1961, pp. 65–69. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/250376 Lewin, Chris. “The Creation of Actuarial Science.” ZDM – Mathematics Education. 2001. Vol. 33. https://subs.emis.de/journals/ZDM/zdm012i2.pdf Ogborn, M.E. “The Professional Name of Actuary.” Journal of the Institute of Actuaries. 1956. https://web.archive.org/web/20081217144303/http://www.actuaries.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/25382/0233-0246.pdf Rose, I. Nelson. “How Insurance Became (Mostly) Not Gambling.” Gaming Law Review and Economics.Nov 2014.864-872.http://doi.org/10.1089/glre.2014.1892 ROWELL, A. H. Journal of the Institute of Actuaries (1886-1994), vol. 88, no. 3, 1962, pp. 387–89. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41139514. Accessed 27 Dec. 2023. Thomas, R., & Chambers, Ll. G., (1959). PRICE, RICHARD (1723-1791), philosopher. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 27 Dec 2023, from https://biography.wales/article/s-PRIC-RIC-1723 “Actuary Overview.” Best Jobs. U.S. News and World Report. https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/actuary Walford, Cornelius. “History of Life Assurance in the United Kingdom.” Journal of the Institute of Actuaries and Assurance Magazine, vol. 25, no. 2, 1885, pp. 114–33. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41135809 Walford, Cornelius. “History of Life Assurance in the United Kingdom (Concluded).” Journal of the Institute of Actuaries (1886-1994), vol. 26, no. 6, 1887, pp. 436–65. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41136141 Whittle, Matt. “How To Become An Actuary: Responsibilities, Practice Areas And Certifications.” Forbes. Nov. 29, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/advisor/education/become-an-actuary/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

8 Jan 202435min

This 2019 episode covers the career Alfred Wegener had outside of his ideas around what we now understand as plate tectonics, which had both detractors and supporters. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

6 Jan 202432min

Holly and Tracy talk about the new year and the ways they use calendars. Tracy mentions the birds that often receive ire from humans.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

5 Jan 202422min

In the 19th century, a heated dispute arose over the house sparrow and its introduction into North America. Elliot Coues and Thomas Mayo Brewer held opposing opinions on the matter which they defended their entire lives.  Research: Mosco, Rosemary. “Meet the Little Brown Bird That Holds a Mirror Up to Humanity.” Audubon. 4/5/2023. https://www.audubon.org/news/meet-little-brown-bird-holds-mirror-humanity Wills, Matthew. “The Great Sparrow War of the 1870s.” JSTOR Daily. 6/23/2016. https://daily.jstor.org/the-great-sparrow-war-of-the-1870s/ Sterling, Keir B. et al, editors. “Thomas Mayo Brewer.” From Biographical Dictionary of American and Canadian Naturalists and Environmentalists.” Greenwood Press. 1997. https://academicworks.cuny.edu/yc_pubs/9/ Glass, Chris. “The House Sparrow in Boston, Part I.” Boston Public Library Blog. 7/28/2022. https://www.bpl.org/blogs/post/the-house-sparrow-in-boston-part-i/ Glass, Chris. “The House Sparrow in Boston, Part II.” Boston Public Library Blog. 7/28/2022. https://www.bpl.org/blogs/post/the-house-sparrow-in-boston-part-ii/ Glass, Chris. “The House Sparrow in Boston, Part III.” Boston Public Library Blog. 7/28/2022. https://www.bpl.org/blogs/post/the-house-sparrow-in-boston-part-iii/ Ashworth, William B. “Scientist of the Day – Thomas Mayo Brewer.” Linda Hall Library. 11/21/2018. https://www.lindahall.org/about/news/scientist-of-the-day/thomas-mayo-brewer/ Burton, Adrian. “Suffering sparrows.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. doi:10.1002/fee.2632. https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/fee.2632 Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Elliott Coues". Encyclopedia Britannica, 5 Sep. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elliott-Coues. Accessed 11 December 2023. Allen, J.A. “Biographical Memoir of Elliot Coues: 1842-1899.” Read before the National Academy of Sciences, April 1909. https://www.nasonline.org/publications/biographical-memoirs/memoir-pdfs/coues-elliott.pdf Evening star. [volume], July 28, 1886, Image 1. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045462/1886-07-28/ed-1/seq-1/ Coues, Elliott. “Psychic Research” and “Can Ghosts Be Investigated?” The Nation. 12/25/1884. https://books.google.com/books?id=5ixMAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA543#v=onepage&q&f=false Dearborn, Ned. “How to Destroy English Sparrows.” Government Printing Office. 1910. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc85667/m1/1/ Gurney, J.H. et al. “The House Sparrow.” London, W. Wesley and Son. 1885. https://archive.org/details/housesparrow00gurn/ Cutright, Paul Russell. “Elliott Coues : naturalist and frontier historian.” Urbana : University of Illinois Press. 1981. Thomas Mayo Brewer. Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 15 (May, 1879 -May, 1880). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25138584 Brodhead, Michael J. “Elliott Coues and the Sparrow War.” The New England Quarterly , Sep., 1971, Vol. 44, No. 3 (Sep., 1971). https://www.jstor.org/stable/364783 Anderson, Warwick. “Climates of Opinion: Acclimatization in Nineteenth-Century France and England.” Victorian Studies , Winter, 1992, Vol. 35, No. 2 (Winter, 1992). https://www.jstor.org/stable/3828004 Osborne, Michael A. “Acclimatizing the World: A History of the Paradigmatic Colonial Science.” Osiris , 2000, Vol. 15, Nature and Empire: Science and the Colonial Enterprise (2000). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/301945 Fine, Gary Allen and Lazaros Christoforides. “Dirty Birds, Filthy Immigrants, and the English Sparrow War: Metaphorical Linkage in Constructing Social Problems.” Symbolic Interaction , Vol. 14, No. 4 (Winter 1991). https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/si.1991.14.4.375 Coates, Peter. “Eastenders Go West: English Sparrows, Immigrants, and the Nature of Fear.” Journal of American Studies , Dec., 2005, Vol. 39, No. 3, British Association for American Studies 50th Anniversary (Dec., 2005). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27557692 Coues, Dr. Elliott. “The Ineligibility of the European House Sparrow in America.” The American Naturalist. Vol. XII, No. 8 August 1878. Allen, J.A. “Notes on Some of the Rarer Birds of Massachusetts (Continued).” The American Naturalist , Feb., 1870, Vol. 3, No. 12 (Feb., 1870). https://www.jstor.org/stable/2446674 Robbins, Chandler S. “Introduction, Spread, and Present Abundance of the House Sparrow in North America.” Ornithological Monographs , 1973, No. 14, A Symposium on the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) and European Tree Sparrow (P. Montanus) in North America (1973). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40168051 Coues, Elliott. “On the Present Status of Passer Domesticus in America With Special Reference to the Western States and Territories.” United States Geological Survey. Extracted from the Bulletin of the Survey Vol. V. No. 2. Barrows, Walter R. and C. Hart Merriam. “The English Sparow (Passer Domesticus) in North America, Especially in its Relations to Agriculture.” United States Department of Agriculture Division of Economic Ornithology and Mammalogy. Bulletin 1. Government Printing Office. 1889. https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=ofwYAAAAYAAJ&pg=GBS.PA1&hl=en “Thomas Mayo Brewer.” Bulletin of the Nuttall Ornithological Club, Vol. 5, No. 2 (APRIL, 1880). Via JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24723261?seq=1 Brewer, T.M. “The European House-Sparrow.” The Atlantic. May 1868. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1868/05/the-european-house-sparrow/628410/ “Zoology.” The American Naturalist, Vol. 8, No. 9 (Sep., 1874), pp. 553-565. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2448426?seq=4 “Zoology.” The American Naturalist, Vol. 8, No. 7 (Jul., 1874), pp. 425-441 (17 pages). https://www.jstor.org/stable/2447653?seq=12 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

3 Jan 202439min

People have kept diaries and recorded notes since writing was invented. But planners as we think of them today have their roots in almanacs.  Research: Atkins, Samuel. “Kalendarium Pennsilvaniense.” W. Bradford. 1685. https://books.google.com/books/about/Kalendarium_Pennsilvaniense_Or_America_s.html?id=wT0wAAAAYAAJ Nichols, Charles L. “Notes on the Almanacs of Massachusetts.” American Antiquarian Society. 1912. https://www.americanantiquarian.org/proceedings/45647891.pdf Railton, Stephen. “Anti-Slavery Almanacs.” University of Virginia. https://utc.iath.virginia.edu/abolitn/gallaaaf.html Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "almanac". Encyclopedia Britannica, 9 Oct. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/topic/almanac Badian, E.. "fasti". Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Dec. 2021, https://www.britannica.com/topic/fasti-Roman-calendar Winlock, H. E. “The Origin of the Ancient Egyptian Calendar.” Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, vol. 83, no. 3, 1940, pp. 447–64. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/985113 Smith, William, et a. “A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities.” Albemarle Street, London. John Murray. 1890. Accessed online: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.04.0063:entry=fasti-cn Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Richard Pynson". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Richard-Pynson Driver, Martha W. “When Is a Miscellany Not Miscellaneous? Making Sense of the ‘Kalender of Shepherds.’” The Yearbook of English Studies, vol. 33, 2003, pp. 199–214. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/3509026 Hockey, Thomas et al. (eds.). “The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers.” Springer Reference. New York: Springer, 2007, pp. 1258-1260 https://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Zarqali_BEA.htm “Diaries and Planners Market Size, Share, Growth, and Industry Analysis by Type (Diaries and Planners) By Application (Premium, and Mass), Latest Trends, Regional Insights, and Forecast From 2024 to 2031.” Business Research Insights. April 2023. https://www.businessresearchinsights.com/market-reports/diaries-and-planners-market-102040 Hubrigh, Joachim. “An almanacke, and prognostication, for the yeare of our Lorde God. 1565. : seruing for all Europia, and also most necessary for all students, marchantes, mariners and trauellers, both by sea and lande, composed and gathered by Ioakim Hubrigh, Doctor in Phisick. Also the most principall fayres in Englande, very necessary for people that doe resorte to the same.” Imprinted by Henry Denham for William Pickring. 1565. Accessed online: https://catalog.folger.edu/record/170062?ln=en Shank, Michael. "Regiomontanus". Encyclopedia Britannica, 2 Jul. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Regiomontanus Danforth, Samuel and Royster, Paul (transcriber & editor), "Samuel Danforth's Almanack Poems and Chronological Tables 1647-1649" (1649). Faculty Publications, UNL Libraries. 36. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libraryscience/36 “History of The Nautical Almanac.” Astronomical Applications Department, U.S. Government. https://aa.usno.navy.mil/publications/na_history “William Pierce.” Town Memorials, Winthrop, Massachusetts.” https://winthropmemorials.org/great-allotment/pages/william-pierce.html See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

1 Jan 202433min

For New Year's Eve, we're resharing our Sept 2021 episode on the history of gin. Happy New Year to all our listeners, and cheers to you no matter your drink of choice!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

31 Des 202343min

In 2014, the show covered the 1903 fire at the new Iroquois Theater. The horrible, incredibly tragic incident was the result of multiple code violations and wrongdoings.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

30 Des 202321min

Differing points of view regarding the Stone of Scone are discussed. Tracy also shares thoughts on "Assassins' Creed," its mixed reviews, and the most interesting historical elements in it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

29 Des 202315min