They do not jest about the difficulty of acquiring the book (Airborne Contagion and Air Hygiene: An Ecological Study of Droplet Infections). It has no DOI number; Worldcat confirms it was digitized in 2009 but it must have been a weird method because it doesn’t get referenced like other old books I’ve searched for. I did find at least one review that said the book was to airborne disease as the pumphandle investigation was to waterborne disease, which is about the highest conceivable endorsement. Put the damn thing back into print, Harvard!
I have examined none of these in depth, but the publications all appear to be real and also make the reported claims. However, I notice that when you start from Firth, information about this was pretty widespread in the 2010-2019 timeframe. We had plenty of time not to screw this one up.
I feel like agencies who make recommendations to the public, either as a matter of routine or in times of crisis, should have a historian of science on staff whose job is to discover and maintain the intellectual history of these recommendations. This way we will know how to update them in light of whatever current crisis.
This article is a wild ride.
They do not jest about the difficulty of acquiring the book (Airborne Contagion and Air Hygiene: An Ecological Study of Droplet Infections). It has no DOI number; Worldcat confirms it was digitized in 2009 but it must have been a weird method because it doesn’t get referenced like other old books I’ve searched for. I did find at least one review that said the book was to airborne disease as the pumphandle investigation was to waterborne disease, which is about the highest conceivable endorsement. Put the damn thing back into print, Harvard!
Katie Randall’s historical research.
Access to a PDF versions of a few articles co-authored by Linsey Marr:
The indoors influenza article from 2011.
Letter published in Science, Oct 2020.
Minimizing indoor transmission of COVID, Sept 2020.
A review in Science from Aug, 2021.
Almost everything by Firth and co is unavailable.
A first page of Firth’s tuberculosis rabbits experiment, 1948.
The guinea pig and UV study, done by Firth’s student Richard Riley, 1962.
I have examined none of these in depth, but the publications all appear to be real and also make the reported claims. However, I notice that when you start from Firth, information about this was pretty widespread in the 2010-2019 timeframe. We had plenty of time not to screw this one up.
I feel like agencies who make recommendations to the public, either as a matter of routine or in times of crisis, should have a historian of science on staff whose job is to discover and maintain the intellectual history of these recommendations. This way we will know how to update them in light of whatever current crisis.