Since ancient times, the stars have been set to music. Modern technology now enables scientists to convert images of space into real compositions.
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Articles on History of science
Displaying 1 - 20 of 112 articles
Astrology and astronomy were once practiced side by side by scientists like Galileo and Kepler. And they’re more similar than you might think.
Lovelace was a prodigious math talent who learned from the giants of her time, but her linguistic and creative abilities were also important in her invention of computer programming.
Often thought of as eternal, mountains are vulnerable to climate change and tourism. To protect them, they should be recognised for their cultural values, not just their natural characteristics.
Crises are no longer something to fix but situations to manage.
From electricity to X-rays, the Doppler Effect and even quantum theory, Proust’s writing is littered with physics references.
Two simple rules can help us identify future-proof science.
Since antiquity people have harnessed sound as a weapon, and the practice continues – in new high-tech ways – today.
The son of a formerly enslaved mother, Charles Henry Turner was the first to discover that bees and other insects have the ability to modify their behavior based on experience.
As genetic engineering and DNA manipulation tools like CRISPR continue to advance, the distinction between what science ‘could’ and ‘should’ do becomes murkier.
One species of eel can discharge 860 volts of electricity – that’s 200-fold higher than the top voltage of a single lithium-ion battery.
Khorana rose from humble beginnings in India to decipher the genetic code. But his enormous contribution to science has been largely overlooked.
Albert Alexander was the first known person treated with penicillin. While his ultimately fatal case is well known in medical histories, the cause of his illness has been misattributed for decades.
Discover the stories of five trailblazing women – Tharp, Nice, Tu, Noether and Wu – who worked in STEM during the 20th century.
None of our authors can see the future, but many do have expertise that offers insights about what’s reasonable to expect.
A total eclipse that travelled the full width of Australia in 1922 offered astronomers the chance to confirm Einstein’s theory of general relativity - and for the community to enjoy a rare spectacle.
After six decades during which it tracked lunar missions, spotted distant pulsars and quasars, and even expanded our concept of the size of the Universe, the Parkes telescope is still going strong.
Public health experts know that schools are likely sites for the spread of disease, and laws tying school attendance to vaccination go back to the 1800s.
A survey of 251 women engineers who graduated from college in the 1970s sheds light on the experiences of these professional pioneers.
On Oct. 1, 1971, Godfrey Hounsfield’s invention took its first pictures of a human brain, using X-rays and an ingenious algorithm to identify a woman’s tumor from outside of her skull.
Top contributors
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Chancellor's Professor of Medicine, Liberal Arts, and Philanthropy, Indiana University
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Professor of Natural Philosophy in the Department of Physics, University of York
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Associate Professor in Astronomy, Monash University
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Professor of Science Communication and Chemistry, University of Hull
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Professor in High Medieval History, Durham University
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Associate Professor in Experimental Psychology (Perception), University of Oxford
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Timothy J. Jorgensen is a Friend of The Conversation.
Director of the Health Physics and Radiation Protection Graduate Program and Professor of Radiation Medicine, Georgetown University
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Professeur émérite, chercheur en physique des particules, spécialiste des neutrinos, Université Paris Cité
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Lecturer in South Asian History, University of Reading
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Associate Professor of Science, Technology and Society, Rochester Institute of Technology
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Professor in Philosophy of Science, Durham University
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Visiting Research Associate in History, St Benet's College, University of Oxford
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Visiting Lecturer of History, Georgia State University
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Assistant Professor of Physics, Rutgers University - Newark
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PhD Candidate in Mathematics, Rutgers University
