Depending on who you ask, the northern lights may, very occasionally, sound like ‘rustling silk’ or ‘two planks meeting flat ways’.
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Articles on History of science
Displaying 21 - 40 of 112 articles
When people think about how AI might ‘go wrong’, most probably picture malevolent computers trying to cause harm. But what if we should be more worried about them seeking pleasure?
The results of Foote’s simple experiments were confirmed through hundreds of tests by scientists in the US and Europe. It happened more than a century ago.
A biomedical engineer explains the basic research that led to the discovery of insulin and its transformation into a lifesaving treatment for millions of people with diabetes.
More than a century after publishing major papers in theoretical mathematics, German-born Emmy Noether continues to challenge and inspire mathematicians with her story and mathematical legacy.
The history of UFOs weaves together public fascination, government secrecy and cultural phenomena. Recent news and shifts in the government’s stance on UFOs are giving new life to the mystery.
When Bostonians in 1721 faced a deadly smallpox outbreak, a new procedure called inoculation was found to help fend off the disease. Not everyone was won over, and newspapers fed the controversy.
Two tongue tips are better than one – an evolutionary biologist explains why snakes have forked tongues.
Politics always influences what questions scientists ask. Their intertwined relationship becomes a problem when politics dictates what answers science is allowed to find.
Van Leeuwenhoek, who discovered bacteria, is one of the most important figures in the history of medicine, laying the groundwork for today’s understanding of infectious disease.
Chinese American physicist Wu worked on the Manhattan Project and performed groundbreaking experiments throughout her long career.
Antarctic research has historically been a bastion of men from Europe and North America. Only now is the field opening up to women and people of colour. And there’s a way to go yet.
Smart people can have really bad ideas – like selectively breeding human beings to improve the species. Put into practice, Galton’s concept proved discriminatory, damaging, even deadly.
Driven by a desire to eliminate pain, some people have shockingly advocated taking the rest of nature with us.
Science communication succeeds when it takes community knowledge seriously, works with other belief systems, and expects researchers to contribute to society.
What do ammonium nitrate and iodine have in common? Both substances are of immense service to humankind, and the history of their discovery is closely linked to that of the production of explosives.
Is magic all about spells and hocus pocus, or is it simply another way of looking at how the universe works?
The man who explained the greenhouse effect was accidentally killed by his wife.
Online sleuthing and deductive reasoning identifies what appears to be the only existent portrait painted of the celebrated scientist during his lifetime.
Franklin was born a century ago, and her X-ray crystallography work crucially contributed to determining the structure of DNA.
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 Researcher,, 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
