Have you ever wondered who knew whom in Early Modern Britain ? If so , Six Degrees of Francis Bacon is the ultimate imagination for you .
inspire by the democratic movie trivia game that tie picture show stars to Kevin Bacon , theSix Degrees of Francis Bacon websitemaps out the social connections between British historical figures from the 16th through eighteenth centuries . Ever want to know who Isaac Newton liked to hang out with ? What about Oliver Cromwell , King Charles I , or William Shakespeare ? Six Degrees of Francis Bacon will tell you — in summation to evince you all of philosopher Francis Bacon ’s closest connection , of course .
Whether you ’re a student , a scholar , or a history lover , the new website is a phenomenal resource . Recently launched , and still in Beta , the database already includes info about more than 13,000 people — which adds up to over 200,000 relationships .
In hisintroduction to the internet site , historian Chris Warren explain that , as a grad educatee , he would sketch out the societal webs of diachronic figure by bridge player — but there was always a limit to the number of connection he could trace . Now , the internet has set aside him to plug into historical figures on an unprecedented scale by crowdsourcing the total project — and as more historians and history buffs lead to the site , the societal world of Early Modern Britain will come more and more into focus .
“ Are you researching Anne Boleyn to find out out if she knew Thomas More , author ofUtopia ? Now , you’re able to see that in an instant , ” Warren explained in astatement . “ But not only that , you could see all of the people they knew , thus giving you raw ways to see communities , factions , influence , and sources . It ’s critical for scholars because even expert have a hard prison term keeping so many relations in their question . Meanwhile , fledgling have virtually instantaneous access to contextual information that ’s often really difficult to get at . ”
[ h / t : Smithsonian ]
