Anna Blackburne (1726–1793) was an English botanist and collector. She was born at Orford Hall in Lancashire into a family of landowners and after her mother's death she remained there with her father, John Blackburne, who had hothouses for exotic plants and an extensive library. Blackburne taught herself Latin so she could read the Systema Naturae of Carl Linnaeus, and created a natural history museum where she collected insects, shells, minerals and birds. She knew the naturalist Johann Reinhold Forster, who instructed her in entomology, and corresponded with other naturalists including Linnaeus. Her brother Ashton, who lived in New York, sent her specimens of North American birds, which were described by the naturalist Thomas Pennant in his Arctic Zoology. After her father's death, Blackburne and her museum moved to nearby Fairfield Hall. After her death, her nephew John Blackburne inherited her collection. Several species are named for her, including the Blackburnian warbler. (Full article...)
NASA announces that the Voyager 1space probe is sending readable data for the first time in five months.
Did you know...
Editors Building
... that new employees of a business headquartered in the Editors Building(pictured) chose their office decorations from a 7,000-piece collection of historic memorabilia of Washington, D.C.?
... that the fossil insect Allenbya holmesae was named after its finder's mother's maiden name?
... that the 2023 drama film Fly Me to the Moon was Sasha Chuk's debut as a director, screenwriter and lead actress, making it her first feature film in all three categories?
... that the perpetrator of the 2017 Aztec High School shooting had previously been investigated by the FBI, but the investigation was closed after he convinced them that he was simply "trolling"?
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