Mark Thakkar
@brunellus.com
Medieval Latinist · Postdoc in the History of Maths, Logic and Philosophy, working on Cardano, the impossible and the medievals: https://i2erc.wordpress.com
Pinned
Mark Thakkar
@brunellus.com
· Aug 27
New Wyclif polemic discovered! Only 250 words long, but not obviously detached from a larger work. It isn’t ascribed to him in the manuscript (no titulus or colophon) but the style is recognizably his. I’m posting it here because the content is eerily topical. #medievalLatin #medievalSky #genAI
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Also: Can someone clarify what they are planning to do to history at Edinburgh. Cutting intellectual history, contemporary history and medieval history looks catastrophic
September 18, 2026 at 8:18 AM
Also: Can someone clarify what they are planning to do to history at Edinburgh. Cutting intellectual history, contemporary history and medieval history looks catastrophic
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
The same MS of Aristotle's Topics, with plenty of annotations, apparently ended up in a bookbinder's workshop. Plenty of bifolia were reused as pastedowns.
(@ubleipzig.bsky.social, MS 376)
resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/HSP000518E90...
(@ubleipzig.bsky.social, MS 376)
resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/HSP000518E90...
September 16, 2026 at 7:10 AM
The same MS of Aristotle's Topics, with plenty of annotations, apparently ended up in a bookbinder's workshop. Plenty of bifolia were reused as pastedowns.
(@ubleipzig.bsky.social, MS 376)
resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/HSP000518E90...
(@ubleipzig.bsky.social, MS 376)
resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/HSP000518E90...
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
The fallacy that University leaders pushing AI are falling into is thinking that the point of undergraduate research is to find things out. It isn't. What students find out is typically already generally known. The point of undergraduate research is to learn how to find things out.
September 14, 2026 at 9:48 PM
The fallacy that University leaders pushing AI are falling into is thinking that the point of undergraduate research is to find things out. It isn't. What students find out is typically already generally known. The point of undergraduate research is to learn how to find things out.
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
I am finalizing the yearly update of my Supplementa of Aristoteles Latinus Codices. If you know (or own) manuscripts or fragments of Latin Aristotle texts that were not included before, now is the time to drop me a line!
The yearly update of the Supplementa tertia (v. 6.7) is out! Additions and corrections to the three published volumes of Aristoteles Latinus Codices, with plenty of hyperlinks to digital images! If you know or own other MSS of the medieval Latin Aristotle, please reach out!
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
September 6, 2026 at 11:49 AM
I am finalizing the yearly update of my Supplementa of Aristoteles Latinus Codices. If you know (or own) manuscripts or fragments of Latin Aristotle texts that were not included before, now is the time to drop me a line!
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
My book ‘The Making of the OED’ was published on 25 Aug 2016, so I have missed the exact 10th anniversary; but I don’t care. I am going to indulge myself by quoting from the wonderful series of reviews I was lucky enough to get ten years ago. (Yes, I kept a file of them, of course I did.) 1/
September 4, 2026 at 10:22 AM
My book ‘The Making of the OED’ was published on 25 Aug 2016, so I have missed the exact 10th anniversary; but I don’t care. I am going to indulge myself by quoting from the wonderful series of reviews I was lucky enough to get ten years ago. (Yes, I kept a file of them, of course I did.) 1/
Poe introducing his Marginalia (1844): “the chance and desultory comments of literary chit-chat … are not unfrequently “talk for talk’s sake,” … while the marginalia are deliberately penciled, because the mind of the reader wishes to unburthen itself of a thought”. 💯 www.google.co.uk/books/editio...
September 3, 2026 at 8:41 AM
Poe introducing his Marginalia (1844): “the chance and desultory comments of literary chit-chat … are not unfrequently “talk for talk’s sake,” … while the marginalia are deliberately penciled, because the mind of the reader wishes to unburthen itself of a thought”. 💯 www.google.co.uk/books/editio...
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Flashback to when I witnessed an 'eminent' Oxbridge Prof give a totally wild lecture in which they presented slides arguing that 'global history' was more popular than 'taylor swift' despite having done google searches without having put these terms in quote marks... IFYKYK.
Academics: the absolute best thing you can do with your students is show them that a search inside quote marks gives different results than one without them. Increasingly useless on Google etc, but still invaluable everywhere else. Many students simply have never, ever been shown that.
I cannot overstate how true this is. My entire first year skills programme is undoing years of absolutely broken epistemology, weak research methods and flawed ingrained instincts about how to learn. The smartest, most educationally-successful students are often the weakest methodologically.
August 20, 2026 at 11:34 AM
Flashback to when I witnessed an 'eminent' Oxbridge Prof give a totally wild lecture in which they presented slides arguing that 'global history' was more popular than 'taylor swift' despite having done google searches without having put these terms in quote marks... IFYKYK.
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Lexicographer wanted at the TLL! Deadline end of August. Somewhat surprisingly, the advert doesn’t say how good your German needs to be – the TLL is based in Munich, and it’s in the nature of the job that you need to be in the office – but of course the dictionary itself is written in Latin anyway.
The Thesaurus Linguae Latinae has a post open for a classicist (preferably with doctorate, lexicographical experience an advantage):
job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/6...
job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/6...
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter / Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin (m/w/d)
job-portal.lmu.de
July 21, 2026 at 8:43 PM
Lexicographer wanted at the TLL! Deadline end of August. Somewhat surprisingly, the advert doesn’t say how good your German needs to be – the TLL is based in Munich, and it’s in the nature of the job that you need to be in the office – but of course the dictionary itself is written in Latin anyway.
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
In my experience quite a few colleagues are simply finding it impossible to get their heads around the fact that a written coursework essay, the basis for assessment their entire lives, is no longer any guarantee of effort or engagement by students.
Around 3 in 4 UK universities are still using online, remote exams for assessments that contribute to a student’s final grade.
These are highly vulnerable to cheating via Generative AI - yet most unis have no plans to shift to more secure methods of assessment.
spectator.com/article/univ...
These are highly vulnerable to cheating via Generative AI - yet most unis have no plans to shift to more secure methods of assessment.
spectator.com/article/univ...
Universities must urgently crack down on AI exam cheating
Of course, it was always possible for a student to cheat in such exams by taking them with the aid of another person.
spectator.com
August 19, 2026 at 6:53 PM
In my experience quite a few colleagues are simply finding it impossible to get their heads around the fact that a written coursework essay, the basis for assessment their entire lives, is no longer any guarantee of effort or engagement by students.
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
I have all the “treat me like an adult” options turned on by default in my browser, but sometimes I do a search directly on the Google website by mistake, and the results are so bad that I don’t understand how people can still use it in “treat me like a fuckwit” mode. Still get offered slop though:
August 6, 2026 at 4:09 PM
I have all the “treat me like an adult” options turned on by default in my browser, but sometimes I do a search directly on the Google website by mistake, and the results are so bad that I don’t understand how people can still use it in “treat me like a fuckwit” mode. Still get offered slop though:
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
A reminder of Joshi's Workslop Postulate
June 3, 2026 at 9:59 PM
A reminder of Joshi's Workslop Postulate
As a fraudulent professor issues a resignation letter that fails to acknowledge even one single mistake, a newly-minted PhD shows the world what it *really* looks like to care about the pursuit of truth, at a level of personal risk that doesn’t bear thinking about given the state of the job market 👏
I'm incredibly honored to be one of the inaugural winners of the Ctrl-Z award. The sequence of events preceding and following this retraction were harrowing (and are honestly still stressful), but I hope this will be an opportunity for more open dialogue about mistakes + self-retraction in science.
The Center for Scientific Integrity is proud to announce the inaugural winners of the 2026 Ctrl-Z Award. Named for the universal keyboard shortcut for “undo,” the Ctrl-Z Award this year honors @cetaceanneeded.bsky.social and @katelaskowski.bsky.social for choosing transparency over reputation.
August 5, 2026 at 8:04 PM
As a fraudulent professor issues a resignation letter that fails to acknowledge even one single mistake, a newly-minted PhD shows the world what it *really* looks like to care about the pursuit of truth, at a level of personal risk that doesn’t bear thinking about given the state of the job market 👏
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
"Professor Jason Arday has resigned from the University of Cambridge and Jesus College with immediate effect, Black Current News can reveal, saying years of “relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary” have taken a profound toll on him and his loved ones."
August 5, 2026 at 7:35 PM
"Professor Jason Arday has resigned from the University of Cambridge and Jesus College with immediate effect, Black Current News can reveal, saying years of “relentless accusations, speculation and public commentary” have taken a profound toll on him and his loved ones."
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Where should I be looking for solid coverage of AI changing conditions in translation work?
August 5, 2026 at 12:45 PM
Where should I be looking for solid coverage of AI changing conditions in translation work?
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
If you want to earn a PhD with a study of the medieval readers of the earliest MSS of Aristotle's De anima in Latin, only two days left to apply!
August 3, 2026 at 8:19 PM
If you want to earn a PhD with a study of the medieval readers of the earliest MSS of Aristotle's De anima in Latin, only two days left to apply!
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Continuing with the "someone made a horrific database of poor AI translations of early medieval letters" thing, I had a good laugh at these entirely hallucinated ones. They aren't even based on existing letters!
www.lateromanletters.org/letters/epis...
www.lateromanletters.org/letters/epis...
www.lateromanletters.org/letters/epis...
www.lateromanletters.org/letters/epis...
Arioald to Pope Honorius I (c. 627 AD) | Roman Letters
Arioald, king, to the most holy Bishop…
www.lateromanletters.org
August 3, 2026 at 12:01 PM
Continuing with the "someone made a horrific database of poor AI translations of early medieval letters" thing, I had a good laugh at these entirely hallucinated ones. They aren't even based on existing letters!
www.lateromanletters.org/letters/epis...
www.lateromanletters.org/letters/epis...
www.lateromanletters.org/letters/epis...
www.lateromanletters.org/letters/epis...
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Some notes by little me on recent, hugely damaging, shamefully shameless events at Cambridge University.
rorywaterman.substack.com/p/notes-on-a-cambridge-debacle
If you read only one article about what has happened, try the new piece by Lanre Bakare in the Guardian, linked in my blog post.
rorywaterman.substack.com/p/notes-on-a-cambridge-debacle
If you read only one article about what has happened, try the new piece by Lanre Bakare in the Guardian, linked in my blog post.
Notes on a Cambridge Debacle
I’ve written this very hastily, but there are a few things I’d like to get off my chest and the situation seems to be evolving quickly. Pleze ekscus eny leters getin in the rong plaices etc.
rorywaterman.substack.com
August 1, 2026 at 4:34 PM
Some notes by little me on recent, hugely damaging, shamefully shameless events at Cambridge University.
rorywaterman.substack.com/p/notes-on-a-cambridge-debacle
If you read only one article about what has happened, try the new piece by Lanre Bakare in the Guardian, linked in my blog post.
rorywaterman.substack.com/p/notes-on-a-cambridge-debacle
If you read only one article about what has happened, try the new piece by Lanre Bakare in the Guardian, linked in my blog post.
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Anyway, palaeography is essential to medieval studies, as is Latin, and if we lose these from our unis we leave medieval studies to the privately-educated and independently wealthy. Medieval studies is important: everyone deserves to spend their time on this floating rock doing what they love ❤️ /FIN
July 30, 2026 at 10:50 AM
Anyway, palaeography is essential to medieval studies, as is Latin, and if we lose these from our unis we leave medieval studies to the privately-educated and independently wealthy. Medieval studies is important: everyone deserves to spend their time on this floating rock doing what they love ❤️ /FIN
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Rare Book School mourns the loss of medieval manuscripts expert and RBS emeritus faculty member Albert Derolez.
"His kindness as much as his brilliance will be remembered by those who knew him," said Director Michael F. Suarez, S.J.
rarebookschool.org/resources/2026/07/rbs-mourns-albert-derolez
"His kindness as much as his brilliance will be remembered by those who knew him," said Director Michael F. Suarez, S.J.
rarebookschool.org/resources/2026/07/rbs-mourns-albert-derolez
Rare Book School Mourns Emeritus Faculty Member Albert Derolez (1934–2026) - Rare Book School
It is with profound sadness that Rare Book School announces the death of RBS emeritus faculty member Albert Derolez on 11 July 2026, at the age of 91.
rarebookschool.org
July 29, 2026 at 8:03 PM
Rare Book School mourns the loss of medieval manuscripts expert and RBS emeritus faculty member Albert Derolez.
"His kindness as much as his brilliance will be remembered by those who knew him," said Director Michael F. Suarez, S.J.
rarebookschool.org/resources/2026/07/rbs-mourns-albert-derolez
"His kindness as much as his brilliance will be remembered by those who knew him," said Director Michael F. Suarez, S.J.
rarebookschool.org/resources/2026/07/rbs-mourns-albert-derolez
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Martyn Hammersley's comments at the end of this article that Cambridge could have dealt with this from the outset are spot on - it will now be a field day for the right
After Arday enlisted Carter-Ruck, one of the United Kingdom’s leading defamation law firms, to send @timeshighered.bsky.social a letter, the publication spiked the story, according to three sources who spoke to Retraction Watch.
Exclusive: News outlet killed story on plagiarism allegations after Cambridge prof hired law firm
Jason Arday In September 2025, Times Higher Education had a bombshell story in the works: A star sociology professor at the University of Cambridge had allegedly plagiarized parts of his Ph.D. thes…
retractionwatch.com
July 27, 2026 at 9:45 PM
Martyn Hammersley's comments at the end of this article that Cambridge could have dealt with this from the outset are spot on - it will now be a field day for the right
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
We finished work on the R volume of the Thesaurus months ago. The last two parts are now in print and reached us today.
July 28, 2026 at 7:50 AM
We finished work on the R volume of the Thesaurus months ago. The last two parts are now in print and reached us today.
“The actual epistemological crisis [is] better exemplified by the Vanderbilt report’s AI-generated analyses: automated data collection, sloppy analysis, and a growing sprawl of LLM-generated pseudo-evidence. Meanwhile the AI ensloppification of [academic publishing] continues apace” archive.is/6qf0b
July 27, 2026 at 7:43 PM
“The actual epistemological crisis [is] better exemplified by the Vanderbilt report’s AI-generated analyses: automated data collection, sloppy analysis, and a growing sprawl of LLM-generated pseudo-evidence. Meanwhile the AI ensloppification of [academic publishing] continues apace” archive.is/6qf0b
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
Academics who discreetly email journals to inform them of academic malpractice are doing those journals such a big favour. To see those journals shrug their shoulders in response is mystifying and unacceptable. I fear the only solution might be to call those journals out publicly
From the LinkedIn of an academic I have a lot of respect for.
July 25, 2026 at 10:39 AM
Academics who discreetly email journals to inform them of academic malpractice are doing those journals such a big favour. To see those journals shrug their shoulders in response is mystifying and unacceptable. I fear the only solution might be to call those journals out publicly
Reposted by Mark Thakkar
I don't suppose there's anyone here doing some work in the Archives nationales (Paris, not Pierrefitte) right now who wouldn't mind grabbing a couple of photos for me...?
July 22, 2026 at 6:25 AM
I don't suppose there's anyone here doing some work in the Archives nationales (Paris, not Pierrefitte) right now who wouldn't mind grabbing a couple of photos for me...?
Lexicographer wanted at the TLL! Deadline end of August. Somewhat surprisingly, the advert doesn’t say how good your German needs to be – the TLL is based in Munich, and it’s in the nature of the job that you need to be in the office – but of course the dictionary itself is written in Latin anyway.
The Thesaurus Linguae Latinae has a post open for a classicist (preferably with doctorate, lexicographical experience an advantage):
job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/6...
job-portal.lmu.de/jobposting/6...
Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter / Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin (m/w/d)
job-portal.lmu.de
July 21, 2026 at 8:43 PM
Lexicographer wanted at the TLL! Deadline end of August. Somewhat surprisingly, the advert doesn’t say how good your German needs to be – the TLL is based in Munich, and it’s in the nature of the job that you need to be in the office – but of course the dictionary itself is written in Latin anyway.