Tim Peacock

A black and white photograph showing the original BMEWS mechanical radar at Thule Air Base (now known as Pituffik Space Base) in the background while in the foreground stands a warmly dressed Inuit man on the ice and snow next to his qamutit or wooden sled, his sled dogs resting to the left.

65 years ago today, the newly operational USAF Ballistic Missile Early Warning System (BMEWS) radar at Thule, Greenland, mistook the rising Moon for a huge Soviet nuclear attack—triggering a false alarm while Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev was in New York City attending the UN General Assembly.

University Of Glasgow Launches Open-Source Imaging Tool For Space Exploration | Glasgow City Of Science & Innovation A powerful software tool capable of accurately modelling how cameras capture light could help democratise the development of new imaging systems for use in space.

🚀New Glasgow Uni tool is democratising space exploration by enabling researchers to model how cameras capture light, offering advanced simulation capabilities once limited to major corporations

📍@uofglasgow.bsky.social
👇Learn more

glasgowcityofscienceandinnovation.com/university-o...

An official color photograph showing the canister containing the DIVIDER nuclear test device hanging from a crane and attached to thick diagnostic cables before being lowered into the test shaft.

A low-resolution image of the logo for the DIVIDER test, showing a caricature of the head of a bald man with one eye pinched shut while the other looks carefully at the calipers held in his left hand over the name of the test. The words “Los Alamos” are on the upper right of the image.

Today in 1992 at the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducted DIVIDER, a low-yield (less than 20 kilotons) underground nuclear weapon test. Bipartisan legislation imposing a 9-month test moratorium signed by President George H.W. Bush 9 days later made this the last full-scale US test—to date.

YouTube video by University of Glasgow Mahmoud Wagih - RX Watt: Wireless-Powered Sensing

Dr. Mahmoud Wagih, founder of RX Watt, discusses his research at @uofglasgow.bsky.social into making battery-free #wirelesstechnology a viable and more #sustainable branch of electronics, reducing the demand for electronic components and saving millions.

youtu.be/W54Q1YU_-zU?...

Recording: Unreal Pasts, Playful Presents (RSE Curious Festival 2025) | Historical Games Network On 10th September 2025, in collaboration with the Imperial War Museums Institute, the HGN hosted a panel discussion event at the Royal Society of Edinburgh‘s Curious Festival 2025, in Edinburgh, UK. ‘...

Last week we hosted a discussion panel at the @royalsoced.bsky.social Curious Festival. Our brilliant speakers (incl. @chriskempshall.bsky.social @drtimpeacock.bsky.social) explored history & fantasy in games & media. Find the recording here if you missed it!
www.historicalgames.net/recording-un...

For those who missed this wonderful event and discussion, it's now available in YouTube form! www.youtube.com/live/blXnnwc...

🗃️

Opening slide for an event. It has a colourful background with a pair of hands holding a game controller (in the top right corner). White text says: Talk Unreal pasts, playful presents: history and fantasy in games and media 10 September 2025

It's been a great day for fascinating events! Really enjoyed hearing @chriskempshall.bsky.social, @mimi-mortmain.bsky.social, @drtimpeacock.bsky.social & Fruzsina Pittner (chaired by @enwright.bsky.social) discussing history and fantasy in video games (and books) tonight!

A photo of a Team UofG logo Sticker

A photo of two UofG staff members helping at an open day stall

A photo of a member of staff from UofG Sport holding a water bottle, smiling, next to a pop up banner

A photo of the front of the main UofG campus building with UofG in big white letters sitting on the steps as a welcome to guests

Thank you to everyone who came to our Open Day today. We hope you had a fab day and enjoyed the warm UofG welcome despite the rain showers. ☔️

We look forward to welcoming you to #TeamUofG soon.

A black and white photograph circa August 1963 commemorating the establishment of the Direct Communications Link. Four white male officers are smiling and standing in what is probably a room in the National Military Command Center, two of whom are shaking hands and holding a presentation plaque on which two pieces of the undersea cable used to transmit messages between Moscow and Washington are affixed. A map in the background shows the path of the cable between the two national capitals.

A color photograph of a black and boxy ITT Intelex Teletype L015, used on the Washington end of the hotline, on display at the Lyndon Baines Johnson Library and Museum in Austin, Texas.

A black and white July 9, 1976, photograph showing the hotline terminal room at the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon. Two pairs of (black) Electronic Teleprinter Cryptographic Regenerative Repeater Mixer (ETCRRM) cipher machines, in a mirrored arrangement, are clearly visible at center. Each pair is accompanied by a teletype machine for messages in English and an East-German T-63 2 in a wooden cabinet (in the foreground) for messages in Cryllic. Barely visible, at the extreme left, are two Siemens M-190 cipher machines that had been installed and were being tested at that time. They would replace the ETCRRMs a few years later. A seated operator and standing supervisor at at the far left.

A black and white August 27, 1985, photograph of the Direct Communication Link room in the National Military Command Center in the Pentagon. The Siemens M-190 cipher machine is clearly visible in the foreground. A seated male operator is typing a message on one of the teletype machines as a male supervisor stands, looking on.

Today in 1963, the Washington-Moscow “hotline” became operational. Although commonly pictured as a red telephone, the Direct Communications Link was originally an encrypted set of teletypes in the National Military Command Center at the Pentagon and at Communist Party headquarters in Moscow.

Archaeogaming: An Introduction to Archaeology in and of Video Games | Berghahn Books Independent Publishing since 1994

Hey, kids. My eponymous #Archaeogaming book (2018) paperback is on sale for 50% off this week. I only need 12 more people to buy the book to crack 1,000 lifetime sales! www.berghahnbooks.com/title/Reinha...

The Online Safety Act is good start, but it’s time to get serious with digital literacy Much of what happens in young people’s online lives is already invisible to the adults who care for them; regulation without education risks widening that gap

"In a world of deep fakes and disinformation, critical digital literacy is no longer optional; it is essential."

As schools go back, @uofgeducation.bsky.social experts Mark Peart and Libby Nelson ask – are we doing enough to protect pupils against online content?

www.scotsman.com/news/opinion...

Members of the GU Orbit Engineering society picked up the top prize at the 2024-25 UKSEDS Olympus Rover Trials, beating out teams from 14 universities across the UK. In addition to winning the overall competition, the team also received awards for Best Critical Design Review & Best Innovation.

Where they were tasked with peace keeping duties. Witnessing the aftermath of Japanese occupation would stay with Ted for the rest of his life and like many who fought in the Far East it was not until 1947 that he finally returned home.

We often hear that #VJDay marks ‘the end of the Second World War’. It may have marked the end of hostilities but war service continued for many for years after. My Grandad, Capt Ted Syms of 44 Royal Marine Commando, was posted to Hong Kong. Here 3 Cdo Provost Detachment set up base on Lantau

"Survivors from the bomb tell horrific stories."

Eighty years ago, an American B-29 bomber dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

The bomb changed the world forever - Sky's Helen-Ann Smith explains why we need to remember it.

trib.al/CwEEiWs

Profile image for Tim Peacock

Encouraged to have been promoted to Senior Lecturer in History and War Studies at the University of Glasgow @uofglasgow.bsky.social.

Ever wondered why historic places matter to you?

Watch @imadgination03.bsky.social give a preview of her new book on emotion and place.

'Why Historic Places Matter Emotionally’ - coming soon to a bookshop near you…

AI skills are about more than a workplace technology We must get away from the exclusion, elitism, and corporate capture that has dominated AI development to date

With the promise of Google AI training for civil servants, Dr Mark Wong and Tim Davies @connectedbydata.org write for
@heraldscotland.bsky.social on why everyone should be included in AI conversations - especially under-served and marginalised communities.

www.heraldscotland.com/opinion/2533...

YouTube video by atomcentral Crossroads Baker

Right now in 1946 at Bikini Lagoon (8:35am local time, July 25), 42,000 people witnessed Shot BAKER of Operation Crossroads, the second post-war US atomic test. A 23-kiloton Mark-III Fat Man-type A-bomb was detonated 90 feet underwater to assess its effects on 95 US, Japanese, and German warships.

RSE Curious event: Unreal pasts, playful presents: history and fantasy in games and media | Historical Games Network This September, in collaboration with the Imperial War Museums Institute and the Royal Society of Edinburgh‘s Curious Festival 2025, the Historical Games Network will be hosting a discussion panel eve...

We've got a bonus discussion panel event coming up September 10th! In collaboration with the IWM Institute, we're hosting this brilliant lineup of speakers for a hybrid discussion, as part of @royalsoced.bsky.social Curious 2025

Read more and register here!
www.historicalgames.net/rse-curious-...

If I do say so myself, a brilliant lineup of speakers to chat about video games, fantasy, history and conflict in Edinburgh this September! Online and in person (and free!!) 👇🎮 @historygamesnet.bsky.social
@chriskempshall.bsky.social @drtimpeacock.bsky.social @royalhistsoc.org

Unreal pasts, playful presents: history and fantasy in games and media Can video games help us understand history, or do they distort it? This hybrid event explores how games and media can mix real and imagined pasts to shape how we see history today.

Very much looking forwards to taking part in this panel with @enwright.bsky.social, Fruzsina Pittner, & Mimi Markham at @royalsoced.bsky.social's Curious Festival in September!

rse.org.uk/event/unreal...

Oppenheimer the actor: the curious 1946 film Atomic Power featuring the scientist as himself Atomic Power was pioneering in communicating the history behind Robert Oppenheimer’s work.

The first #Nuclear bomb detonation, #TrinityTest, occurred 80 years ago #OTD 1945. Key #ManhattanProject figures, from Robert Oppenheimer to Leslie Groves, played themselves in an often overlooked 1946 film about it, explored in my 2023 'The Conversation' article. theconversation.com/oppenheimer-...

Most Massive Black Hole Ever Detected By University Of Glasgow Team | Glasgow City Of Science & Innovation Scientists have detected the most massive black hole merger ever observed through gravitational waves—thanks in part to analysis led by an astrophysicist at the University of Glasgow.

🌌 A record-breaking black hole merger—led in part by researchers at the University of Glasgow—has been captured through gravitational waves.

📍 @uofglasgow.bsky.social
👇 Learn more

glasgowcityofscienceandinnovation.com/most-massive...

#BlackHoleDiscovery #GravitationalWaves

A graduate holding two bunches of flowers standing with another person holding gold and black balloons.

A graduate standing with their family behind big letters which spell out UofG.

A graduate holding a child with the historic tower in the background.

A graduate wearing robes and holding flowers standing the in the quad with his family.

Such an amazing atmosphere on campus! We love seeing our graduates celebrating with family & friends. 🤩

Huge congratulations to you all. Enjoy every moment, you’ve earned it! 🎉 🎓

#TeamUofG #UofGgrad25

Dr Michael Simpson wearing graduation robes and standing with his family in front of a banner which reads 'World Changing Glasgow'.

Congratulations to Dr Michael Simpson, who graduated yesterday with a PhD by Published Works at the age of 87 years young. 🎓

So proud to have you as part of #TeamUofG, Dr Simpson! ♥️

#UofGgrad25
@uofgartshums.bsky.social

Astronomers detect pulse from satellite that has been dead for decades Scientists in Australia detected a brief, powerful radio burst from NASA’s Relay-2 satellite, which has been inactive since 1967. Space experts suggest the signal may have been caused by an electrosta...

Satellites don't just die
HT @woollahra.bsky.social

Photos of the five professors awarded ERC grants - Professor Steve Brewster, Professor Adam Carter, Professor Ruth Dukes, Professor Fergus McNeill and Professor Simon Hanslmayr.

Five Professors have been awarded @erc.europa.eu Advanced Grants – the most the UofG has ever received in one round.

Congratulations @jadamcarter.bsky.social, @sabrewster.bsky.social, @fergusmcneill.bsky.social, Ruth Dukes and Simon Hanslmayr!

More: gla.ac/4lb3FIl

#ERCAdG

OTD 6 yrs ago we staged biggest 28mm tabletop wargame ever - over 24,000 figures & 120 players. Table mats formed prob biggest battle map ever printed (based on Siborne). Raised £20,000 for Waterloo Uncovered. Most insane thing l’ve ever come up with. French lost again!