Historical Perspective

Description of the human races: A historical perspective

The Local Limit Theorem: A Historical Perspective

The local limit theorem describes how the density of a sum of random variables follows the normal curve. However the local limit theorem is often seen as a curiosity of no particular importance when compared with the central limit theorem. Nevertheless the local limit theorem came first and is in fact associated with the foundation of probability theory by Blaise Pascal and Pierre de Fer...

Text Screening (Censorship) in Iran: A Historical Perspective

Censorship has a long history in Iran that has interfered with text production, i.e., original writing as well as translation. This phenomenon seems to have marked the borderline between the government and the ‘enlightened’ intellectuals throughout history in Iran. Different governments have delineated ‘redlines’ for authors and translators and dealt with these constructors of culture based on ...

Technology and Urban Form: A Philosophical and Historical Perspective

Urban form has undergone tremendous changes throughout history. These changes have stemmed from various causes. Technology has been one of the most influential forces in changing the face of cities, leaving different marks on the city form. In fact, technology has gained an increasingly more important and integrative role in bringing changes to the urban form. In addition, recent plethora of de...

Contribution of Women Scientists to Pharmacology: A Historical Perspective

The article highlights the contributions of a few prominent women scientists to the science of pharmacology. These women,some of whom were from other scientific fields, contributed significantly to our understanding of pharmacology. This was achieved in an era in which pharmacology was a more or less male dominated field. Even though it is easier for women to enter scientific fields nowadays, t...

Spermatozoa: A Historical Perspective

The 100,000th scientific article on the subject of spermatozoa was recently published. Many studies have evaluated the characteristics of this important cell leading to great discoveries. Since its first observation and description in 1677, many important characteristics have been described regarding this highly fascinating gamete. In this review, our objective has been to provide a historical ...