[Other] The Voynich Garden

[asteckley]

I've  just completed the largest single expansion of the site's historical research coverage since it launched.

What's new:

• Historical proposals reconciled and expanded, bringing the current total to 542 plant identification proposals, cross-checked across multiple independent historical research sources
  
• New reference photos attached to over 320 proposals that never had one before — so instead of just a name, you can now actually see the plant being proposed for a given folio, side by side with the manuscript
  
• A new historical researcher joins the roster: J.K. Petersen, an independent Voynich researcher active primarily in the 2010s and later, who examined and proposed identifications for individual botanical drawings
  
• A pass through every external reference link on the site to catch and repair broken citations, so the sourcing behind each proposal stays trustworthy over time
  
• Meet the historical researchers. Every proposal on the site is credited to one of these voices — sometimes decades apart, using totally different methods, all trying to answer the same question: what plant is this?
  

Historical Researchers:

• Arthur O. Tucker / Rexford Talbert -- Modern researchers who, primarily in the 2010s, proposed identifications of numerous Voynich plants as species native to Mexico and the Americas.
  
• Dana Scott -- Voynich researcher active in online research communities from at least the late 1990s–2000s, who proposed numerous identifications for the manuscript's botanical illustrations.
  
• Edith Sherwood -- Modern Voynich researcher, active especially from the late 2000s onward, who — with her daughter Erica — attempted to identify nearly all of the manuscript's large plant drawings as Old World species.
  
• Ethel Voynich -- Widow of Wilfrid Voynich and custodian of the manuscript, active in Voynich research during the mid-20th century, who compiled tentative plant identifications drawing partly on Petersen and other early researchers.
  
• Theodor Holm -- Danish botanist involved in the earliest systematic attempts to identify Voynich plants, principally during the first half of the 20th century.
  
• Hugh O'Neill -- Botanist and early Voynich researcher whose plant identifications date mainly to the 1940s, including his published 1944 botanical study of the manuscript.
  
• J.K. Petersen -- Modern independent Voynich researcher, active primarily in the 2010s and later, who has examined and proposed identifications for individual botanical drawings.
  
• Stephen Bax -- Linguist and Voynich researcher active in this area particularly during the 2010s, who used proposed plant identifications as evidence in attempts to identify readings of Voynich words.
  
• Theodore C. Petersen -- Early Voynich researcher active principally in the mid-20th century, whose extensive handwritten transcription and notes recorded numerous tentative plant identifications.
  
• Ellie Velinska -- Modern independent Voynich researcher active mainly in the 2010s, who has proposed numerous botanical identifications based on visual and geographic comparisons.
  
• Anonymous (Finland) -- An unidentified Finnish biologist active through Stephen Bax's online Voynich discussions in the 2010s, who proposed identifications for a number of manuscript plants.
  

As always, if you spot something interesting — or want to add your own proposal — we'd love to have you weigh in.

You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login to view.