Yesterday, we took a wander down memory lane to look at the first posts of our two longest-serving bloggers: Anna Kushnir and Bronwen Dekker. It was like X-men Origins, only with fewer loud sound effects and no Hugh Jackman.

Today, we turn to Henry Gee and Jennifer Rohn, inarguably two of the most distinct voices on Nature Network.

Henry, a long suffering serving Editor at Nature, was unleashed, Balrog-like, unto an unsuspecting blogosphere on 26 February 2007. Contrary to the proclivities of most new bloggers, who provide a little background information about themselves before setting the scene for their future scribblings, Henry immediately launched into a 1200-word essay on the roots of the English language. This tendency to sail by his own star charts has made Henry’s blog one of the most illuminating, entertaining and fruitfully bemusing anywhere on the Internet. Over the years, we’ve followed the trials and tribulations of the Gee menagerie, learned to love the small Norfolk town of Cromer, dabbled in Tolkeinalia and the joys of the blues organ, and, of course, pondered the locomotive properties of unicycling girrafes. Henry’s surreal wit is matched only by his trenchant and learned polemics concerning his scientific areas of expertise, which include zoology and palaeontology.

Almost exactly a month later (27 March 2007), Jenny Rohn twirled her débutante’s dress at the Nature Network soiree (although she’d previously wowed as host of the Lablit ball). Her first post recounted a night spent at a speed-networking evening for scientists. Here she is fanning her cache of wine-stained business cards acquired at the event. Jenny’s Mind the Gap blog maintains a consistent ‘house style’ of beginning nearly every post title with ‘In which I…’. She’s certainly had plenty of adventures to convey. After a few months of blogging on Nature Network, Jenny made what some would consider a radical career shift, moving back to the lab after several years working in publishing. She also celebrated the release of her first novel, sang in a rock band and launched her own science-themed book group, among many other achievements. But Jenny is perhaps best known for her elegant, even poetic, descriptions of every day life in a laboratory. In her hands, the most workaday procedure can sound bewitching. It’s no wonder that so many of her posts have been voted as favourites by Nature Network readers on several occasions.