Forget partridges in a pear tree or lords a-leaping. The British Royal Society, the world's oldest scientific society, is celebrating the 12 days of Christmas with gorgeous science illustrations from its picture library.
From a monkey cuddling a kitten to 12 stunning (no pun intended) jellies, the images explore different facets of biology, ornithology and geology. In place of five golden rings are five pink rings surrounding a portrait of Sir Tim Berners-Lee, an Internet visionary and professor at MIT. (The rings represent a "map" of the Web.)
Some of the illustrations portray more fantasy than science. Instead of eight maids a-milking, a woodcut from 1582 portrays "eight beasts in battle" — actually four panels of an imagined (and unlikely) showdown between a rhinoceros and an elephant. And the winner is: "the Rhinoceros ... enemy of the Elephant, sharpens his horn against a rock, and valiantly goes into battle against him ... killing the Elephant." [ See All 12 Science Images ]
Other images explore human nature. On the ninth day of Christmas, The Royal Society celebrates "nine fireman leaping" with an 1825 illustration of Russian firefighters practicing rescue techniques on a spindly looking scaffolding. On the third day comes an illustration of three Inuit in a group portrait sketched by Capt. James Clark Ross, who was icebound in the Canadian Arctic for four winters.
The illustrations are available year-round at The Royal Society picture library and will be highlighted day-by-day, starting on Christmas Day, on The Royal Society Facebook page. Traditionally, the 12 days of Christmas start on Christmas Day or the day after and extend to the day before the Feast of Epiphany, or Three Kings' Day, a Christian holiday that celebrates the manifestation of Jesus as a divine being.
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