Science History Podcast

On July 9, 1955, mathematician and philosopher Bertrand Russell announced the Russell-Einstein manifesto, which warned the world of the dangers posed by nuclear weapons. The 11 signatories included Albert Einstein, who signed it just before his death. Physicist Joseph Rotblat stated that the manifesto was "the last message from the man who was the symbol of the great heights the human intellect...

What did the ancient world discover about the cosmos? What were the contributions of Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo? How did the science of astronomy advance under Newton? And how did everything change again with the discoveries of special relativity, general relativity, and quantum mechanics? With us to answer these questions is Sarah Alam Malik. Sarah is an expert on dark matter, and her work...

Chemical exposures in the womb can lead to what biologists call organizational effects - that is, impacts on the developing child that are irreversible. How were developmental problems associated with chemical exposures during pregnancy first discovered? And how did these discoveries influence policy? With me to discuss chemicals and child development is Tracey Woodruff. Tracey is a professor in...

The age of exploration altered the course of human history, but how did early explorers find their way? Calculating their latitude at sea was a relatively straightforward proposition, but calculating longitude presented a vexing problem. Given the big power competition for colonies, conquest, and riches, the search to discover an accurate means of assessing longitude became a scramble. A major...

Today we explore the life and legacy of the physicist Niels Bohr through the reflections of his grandson Tomas Bohr. Tomas is an Emeritus Professor at the Technical University of Denmark. He studies fluid dynamics, biophysics, chaos, turbulence and statistical mechanics, and he has a long and distinguished career publishing in these fields. He is a member of the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences...

Often in the history of science, myths overrun scientific findings and take hold with such force that they are difficult or nearly impossible to dislodge from public understanding. Perhaps no example of this phenomenon is more pronounced than that of the societal collapse of Easter Island, also known as Rapa Nui. With us to unravel the myth from the science is Mike Pitts. Mike is a writer and...

The Science History Podcast, now in its 9th year, has spanned Trump's first term in office, four years of the Biden Administration, and a year of the second Trump Administration, not to mention a global pandemic, horrific wars around the world, and the emergence of AI. So now seems like the perfect moment for some levity. The master of musical satire, Tom Lehrer, passed away in 2025. Here is my...

Today's episode is a discussion on the history of PFAS, or forever chemicals, including their accidental development, incorporation into commercial products, concerns about health effects, and environmental contamination and remediation. My guest is Sharon Udasin. Sharon is a Colorado-based environmental journalist and author of Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America. She...

The weather has always been a critical element of the human experience - deadly during storms and droughts, sustaining when aligned with the harvest schedule, beautiful and frightening, and integrated into the myths and religions of all societies. How did a scientific understanding of the weather come about? Here to guide us on this question is Simon Winchester. Simon's articles and approximately...

In Episodes 10 and 11 of the Science History Podcast, I interviewed James Muller on the role that Winston Churchill played in the unparalleled advancement of science and technology during the first half of the 20th Century, particularly as it related to the two world wars. In today's episode, Jim returns to discuss Churchill and an earlier war fought in the Sudan at the end of the 19th Century....