Posts by Madeleine Muzdakis

Madeleine Muzdakis

Madeleine Muzdakis is a Contributing Writer at My Modern Met and a historian of early modern Britain & the Atlantic world. She holds a BA in History and Mathematics from Brown University and an MA in European & Russian Studies from Yale University. Madeleine has worked in archives and museums for years with a particular focus on photography and arts education. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys hiking, film photography, and studying law while cuddling with her cat Georgia.
History
March 12, 2023

How To Listen to 10,000 of the First Phonograph Recordings Ever Made

Want to hear history? Through the University of California Santa Barbara Cylinder Audio Archive, the tunes and voices of over a hundred years ago can be projected from your computer or phone. The internet archive compiled over 10,000 wax cylinder recordings—known as phonograph cylinders—from the earliest years of sound recordings. Invented by Thomas Edison in 1877, the phonograph became a vehicle for late 19th and very early 20th-century sound.

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Nature
March 3, 2023

3,000-Year-Old Greek Olive Tree in Greece Still Grows Olives

Trees have a certain steadfast, understated beauty. Their longevity means they see people, seasons, and even historical events come and go. Some trees have seen more than others. One twisted, magnificent olive tree in the village of Ano Vouves on the Greek island of Crete has seen millennia spanning from the fall of the Roman Empire to the return of the Olympics to Athens in 2004.

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Astronomy
February 16, 2023

Astronomers Discover Surprising Rings Around Dwarf Planet Quaoar

The Solar System is a source of constant amazement. As telescope and imaging technology improves, astronomers learn more about distant worlds we can barely see. One of these is the icy dwarf planet Quaoar, only a third of the diameter of Earth’s moon. It orbits our Sun about 4 billion miles from Earth in the Kuiper belt, a strip of frozen space debris that includes Pluto.

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My Modern Met

Celebrating creativity and promoting a positive culture by spotlighting the best sides of humanity—from the lighthearted and fun to the thought-provoking and enlightening.