Alexander von Humboldt – sometimes called the last Renaissance man – was born in Berlin 250 years ago. His influence on science is still felt today.
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Articles on History of science
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Alan Turing is one of the world’s best-known mathematicians, and probably the best known in the past century. This is partly for his work on cracking German codes in World War II, and partly for his arrest…
The history of science is full of episodes when a seemingly ludicrous theory is ridiculed, but then slowly gathers evidence and support to move from the fringes to the heart of the scientific consensus…
Brain-training programmes are all the rage. They are part of a growing digital brain-health industry that earned more than US$1 billion in revenue in 2012 and is estimated to reach US$6 billion by 2020…
JT Carrington, editor of the popular science magazine Science-Gossip, achieved a remarkable feat in December of 1894. He found a subject on which the Duke of Argyll, a combative anti-Darwinian, and Thomas…
In the world of sport, we remember a winner. Not many people have heard of Pierre Rolland, who finished eighth in the 2012 Tour de France. But everyone knows Bradley Wiggins, who won it. The history of…
A 13th century bishop’s theory about the formation of the universe has intriguing parallels with the theory of multiple universes. This was uncovered by the the Ordered Universe project at Durham University…
For thousands of years, people believed their future could be read in the lines etched into the palm of their hands. The ancient art of palmistry, originating in India, claimed a close examination of the…
The UK’s largest medical charity, the Wellcome Trust, has made its vast database of images freely available to all. The collection holds photos of hundreds of years worth of medicine, instruments and scientific…
It’s no secret that South Australian senator Cory Bernardi is a fan of what he calls “traditional family structures”. His views are back in the news this week with the release of his latest book, The Conservative…
There are not many professions where people routinely ask you to justify your work, but theoretical physics is one of them. In the wake of the recent Nobel Prize to Peter Higgs and François Englert for…
There was no concept of biological species before the late 17th century in natural history. So why did we get a concept of species in the first place? What is “species” needed for? The answer is that the…
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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
