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6 episodes with Patricia Fara
6 episodes with Patricia Fara
3 episodes with Patricia Fara
2 episodes with Patricia Fara
2 episodes with Patricia Fara
4 episodes with Patricia Fara
2 episodes with Patricia Fara
2 episodes with Patricia Fara
2 episodes with Patricia Fara
Scientific discoveries can often be codified in simple laws, neatly stated in textbooks with directions on applying them. But the enterprise of science is embedded in society. It depends on individuals and economies. It is far from simple to answer the question: How did we get these laws? Patricia Fara is an Emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge. She is a former president of the British Society for the History of Science and has written Science: A Four Thousand Year History, Newton: The Making of Genius, and numerous other books. Patricia discusses the way we often mythologize individual scientists and how the notion of genius has changed over the centuries. She also highlights lesser-known figures, such as Hertha Ayrton, whose contribution should not be measured merely in scientific breakthroughs, but in how they paved the way for further women scientists.
Sir Isaac Newton became one of history's most important scientists - all thanks, as legend has it, to an apple falling from a tree. But beyond the famous anecdote is the story of a polymath who revolutionised our grasp of how the universe works, and led a life plagued by rivalries, grudges, and accusations of plagiarism. Loved by some, derided by others, why was Newton so controversial? What were his most enduring discoveries? And why did he step away from science? This is a Short History Of Sir Isaac Newton. A Noiser production, written by Fiona Ford. With thanks to Dr Patricia Fara, a historian, Fellow of Cambridge University, and author of Life After Gravity: Isaac Newton's London Career. Get every episode of Short History Of a week early with Noiser+. You'll also get ad-free listening, bonus material, and early access to shows across the Noiser network. Click the Noiser+ banner to get started. Or, if you're on Spotify or Android, go to noiser.com/subscriptions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Today, insects are seen as a vital part of our ecosystem, but in the late 17th century, they were largely overlooked by science. Today's long read, written by Patricia Fara, tells the story of a groundbreaking lepidopterist whose research provided solace from a turbulent personal life. HistoryExtra Long Reads brings you the best articles from BBC History Magazine, direct to your ears. Today's feature originally appeared in the October 2023 issue, and has been voiced in partnership with the RNIB. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In a leaky shed in Paris, Marie Curie turned two tons of pitchblende (aka special rocks) into a single test tube of radium chloride - its green glow lighting up the walls. It must have been a magic...if radioactive!...moment.Today on Patented we talk with Patricia Fara about Marie Curie. A giant in the history of science but a woman whose story has been twisted and mistold over the years.Edited and Produced by Freddy Chick. Senior Producer is Charlotte LongDiscover the past on History Hit with ad-free original podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians like Dan Snow, James Holland, Mary Beard and more.Get 50% off your first 3 months with code PATENTED. Download the app on your smart TV or in the app store or sign up at historyhit.com/subscribeYou can take part in our listener survey here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Simon Bertin looks at Mary Shelley's 1818 edition of Frankenstein with Clare College fellow Patricia Fara and discovers a comparable creature that modern technology might realise in the form of […]
Hold onto your lab coats, because the suffragette scientists are here to shake things up! Patricia Fara, author of A Lab of One's Own, joins Dallas to tell the stories of forgotten pioneers of invention during the Suffragette era.Patricia and Dallas also discuss the wider question of why there are so many more men in the history of invention than women (at least in our telling of it).You can take part in our listener survey here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
He's one of the most famous scientists ever. But who was Isaac Newton, really? Sharon Carleton presents a portrait like no other about the myths surrounding the genius.
He's one of the most famous scientists ever. But who was Isaac Newton, really? Sharon Carleton presents a portrait like no other about the myths surrounding the genius.
Have faith and science always been enemies? The story of Robert Hooke, a revolutionary working in the Scientific Revolution, exemplifies the ways in which Christianity has actually provoked scientific inquiry. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Patricia Fara, director of studies and affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge's Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. Jim Bennett, Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum, London and professor emeritus of the history of science, University of Oxford. Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Stephen Barr, professor emeritus at the University of Delaware's department of physics and astronomy. This episode was produced by Rosalind Rei and Maria Devlin McNair. Illuminations is supported by the John Templeton Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Have faith and science always been enemies? The story of Robert Hooke, a revolutionary working in the Scientific Revolution, exemplifies the ways in which Christianity has actually provoked scientific inquiry. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Patricia Fara, director of studies and affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge's Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. Jim Bennett, Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum, London and professor emeritus of the history of science, University of Oxford. Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Stephen Barr, professor emeritus at the University of Delaware's department of physics and astronomy. This episode was produced by Rosalind Rei and Maria Devlin McNair. Illuminations is supported by the John Templeton Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network
Have faith and science always been enemies? The story of Robert Hooke, a revolutionary working in the Scientific Revolution, exemplifies the ways in which Christianity has actually provoked scientific inquiry. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Patricia Fara, director of studies and affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge's Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. Jim Bennett, Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum, London and professor emeritus of the history of science, University of Oxford. Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Stephen Barr, professor emeritus at the University of Delaware's department of physics and astronomy. This episode was produced by Rosalind Rei and Maria Devlin McNair. Illuminations is supported by the John Templeton Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history
Have faith and science always been enemies? The story of Robert Hooke, a revolutionary working in the Scientific Revolution, exemplifies the ways in which Christianity has actually provoked scientific inquiry. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Patricia Fara, director of studies and affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge's Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. Jim Bennett, Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum, London and professor emeritus of the history of science, University of Oxford. Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Stephen Barr, professor emeritus at the University of Delaware's department of physics and astronomy. This episode was produced by Rosalind Rei and Maria Devlin McNair. Illuminations is supported by the John Templeton Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography
Have faith and science always been enemies? The story of Robert Hooke, a revolutionary working in the Scientific Revolution, exemplifies the ways in which Christianity has actually provoked scientific inquiry. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Patricia Fara, director of studies and affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge's Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. Jim Bennett, Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum, London and professor emeritus of the history of science, University of Oxford. Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Stephen Barr, professor emeritus at the University of Delaware's department of physics and astronomy. This episode was produced by Rosalind Rei and Maria Devlin McNair. Illuminations is supported by the John Templeton Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Have faith and science always been enemies? The story of Robert Hooke, a revolutionary working in the Scientific Revolution, exemplifies the ways in which Christianity has actually provoked scientific inquiry. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Patricia Fara, director of studies and affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge's Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. Jim Bennett, Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum, London and professor emeritus of the history of science, University of Oxford. Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Stephen Barr, professor emeritus at the University of Delaware's department of physics and astronomy. This episode was produced by Rosalind Rei and Maria Devlin McNair. Illuminations is supported by the John Templeton Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/science
Have faith and science always been enemies? The story of Robert Hooke, a revolutionary working in the Scientific Revolution, exemplifies the ways in which Christianity has actually provoked scientific inquiry. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Patricia Fara, director of studies and affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge's Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. Jim Bennett, Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum, London and professor emeritus of the history of science, University of Oxford. Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Stephen Barr, professor emeritus at the University of Delaware's department of physics and astronomy. This episode was produced by Rosalind Rei and Maria Devlin McNair. Illuminations is supported by the John Templeton Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Have faith and science always been enemies? The story of Robert Hooke, a revolutionary working in the Scientific Revolution, exemplifies the ways in which Christianity has actually provoked scientific inquiry. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Patricia Fara, director of studies and affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge's Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. Jim Bennett, Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum, London and professor emeritus of the history of science, University of Oxford. Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Stephen Barr, professor emeritus at the University of Delaware's department of physics and astronomy. This episode was produced by Rosalind Rei and Maria Devlin McNair. Illuminations is supported by the John Templeton Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion
Have faith and science always been enemies? The story of Robert Hooke, a revolutionary working in the Scientific Revolution, exemplifies the ways in which Christianity has actually provoked scientific inquiry. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. Patricia Fara, director of studies and affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge's Department of the History and Philosophy of Science. Jim Bennett, Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum, London and professor emeritus of the history of science, University of Oxford. Brother Guy Consolmagno, director of the Vatican Observatory and president of the Vatican Observatory Foundation. Stephen Barr, professor emeritus at the University of Delaware's department of physics and astronomy. This episode was produced by Rosalind Rei and Maria Devlin McNair. Illuminations is supported by the John Templeton Foundation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies
Have faith and science always been enemies? The story of Robert Hooke, a revolutionary working in the Scientific Revolution, exemplifies the ways in which Christianity has actually provoked scientific inquiry. Robert George, McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence and Director of the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University.Patricia Fara, director of studies and affiliated lecturer at the University of Cambridge's Department of the History and Philosophy of Science.Jim Bennett, Keeper Emeritus at the Science Museum, London and professor emeritus of the history of science, University of Oxford.Stephen Barr, professor emeritus at the University of Delaware's department of physics and astronomy.Illuminations is supported by the John Templeton Foundation.
Rosalind Franklin was born in 1920 and studied Natural Sciences. After working in Paris at the Laboratoire Central - where she became an x-ray crystallographer - she moved to King's College London. Here she helped to take the famous Photograph 51 which led to the discovery of the double helix shape of DNA. Her contribution was famously and disgracefully downplayed by the men who won the Nobel Prize. Later at Birkbeck College she undertook pioneering work of the structure of viruses before dying of ovarian cancer, aged just 37. Nominating Rosalind Franklin is Kate Bingham. She chaired the UK government's Vaccine Taskforce, and she also attended the same school as Rosalind Franklin - St Paul's Girls' School in London. Further contributions from Dr Patricia Fara of Clare College, Cambridge, and Howard Bailes, archivist of St Paul's School. Archive contributors include Francis Crick, Maurice Wilkins and Colin Franklin. The producer in Bristol is Miles Warde
Simon Bertin encounters the Art of the Samurai at Cambridge University Library's Samurai History and Legend Exhibition; award-winning author Patricia Fara talks about her book on electricity in the enlightenment […]
In this edition, Simon Bertin hears from Cambridge University scientific historian Patricia Fara about her new book on the life of Cambridge icon Sir Isaac Newton. Her husband, poet Clive […]
Linda and Suzie meet acclaimed pianist Brenda Lucas Ogdon, widow of John Ogdon. Brenda has released an album and is donating her royalties to homeless charity Shelter. And they meet […]
Dr. Patricia Fara is an historian of science whose area of interest includes the role of women in science. Jan Moore chats to her about her career. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
On this episode of Inside the War Room, Ryan Ray had the pleasure of speaking to Dr. Patricia Fara. Dr. Fara has numerous books include Science: A Four Thousand Year History, Scientists Anonymous, Fatal Attraction: Magnetic Mysteries of the Enlightenment, Pandora's breeches: women, science and power, Sex, botany and empire: the stories of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks, and Newton: the making of genius, An entertainment for angels: electricity in the Enlightenment.The War Below: The Story of Three Submarines That Battled Japan:https://amzn.to/3kItX8sSponsor:www.ryanraysr.com/bankingBuy Patrica's books:https://amzn.to/3zRLLm0Newsletter:www.ryanraysr.com/fivewide
This week Patrick covers the best in Irish and International history publications for July 2021. Books covered on the show include: 'Cary Grant: The Making of a Hollywood Legend' with Mark Glancy, 'China 1949: Year of Revolution' with Graham Hutchings, 'King Arthur's Death' with Michael Smith, 'Life after Gravity: Isaac Newton's London Career' with Patricia Fara and 'The Early Medieval Hand-Bells of Ireland and Britain' with Cormac Bourke.
In this episode of the Judgment Call Podcast Patricia Fara and I talk about: 00:02:05 What was the most important discovery when Patricia wrote her first book about 4,000 years of scientific development.00:07:34 The surprising story how modern capitalism emerged from religion.00:09:35 Is the scientific revolution real? Was is just part of a much bigger ongoing process? Was there a specific event that spawned the ‘cult of technology’?00:16:42 Why science is less influenced by certain geniuses but byt a group of individuals making similar discoveries.00:20:06 What is the right confluences between science and religion? Should science innovate in moral terms?00:25:31 Does technology and science follow morals or is it the other way around? Is it ‘expensive’ to apply ‘higher morals’ or is it actually making society more productive?00:34:07 Are we really living in the best time ever?00:39:12 Will the age of the Polymath return?00:45:09 How should we structure Basic Research?00:50:53 What did Patrica find when researching Isaac Newton’s last 30 years of his life?00:53:45 Is a ‘tough childhood’ a necessary ingredient for success? What motivates us to take actual risks?01:02:00 Why Isaac Newton diverged from the majority opinion on the ‘Holy Trinity’?01:07:01 What will most likely be fields of scientific breakthroughs? Where will they likely happen?01:13:41 Is there an Intelligent Design for life on earth? Is suffering necessary to improve human behavior?01:16:33 How Patricia became the President of the Antiquarian Horological Society. What role does time play and how that changed over time? You may watch this episode on Youtube – Patricia Fara (What 4,000 years of scientific progress have taught us + Isaac Newton). Patricia Fara is a historian of science at the University of Cambridge. She has written 12 books so far including her most recent book Life After Gravity: Isaac Newton’s London Career. In 2016 she became President of the Antiquarian Horological Society. Find more episodes from the Judgment Call Podcast: Apple iTunesGoogle PlaySpotifyReddit
Edward St Aubyn is the award-winning author of the Patrick Melrose series. His new novel, Double Blind, also revolves around transformation and the headlong pursuit of knowledge. He tells Tom Sutcliffe that his characters range across the sciences – from genetics to ecology to psychoanalysis. And their investigations into inheritance, freedom and consciousness intertwine with their feelings of love, fear and greed. Isaac Newton is often revered as the scientific genius of the 18th century: an unworldly scholar who abandoned his intellectual life to rescue the country’s finances. But the academic Patricia Fara paints a more complicated picture in Life After Gravity. Here Newton is seen in the last 30 years of his life as he heads both the Royal Mint and the Royal Society – a scientist who revelled in the dirty worlds of money and politics. Chris van Tulleken is an infectious diseases doctor who has also forged a career presenting health and science programmes on radio and television. With his twin brother Xand he has put competing health theories to the test, and shared his own personal experience of Covid 19. In his new series for Radio 4, The Jump, he investigates the latest scientific evidence looking at how animal viruses spread to humans, and how far human behaviours are causing pandemics. Producer: Katy Hickman
Leigh Chambers’ featured guest is Susanna Gregory talking about her Matthew Bartholomew series of crime novels sent in 14th century Cambridge. Patricia Fara discusses her book, Life After Gravity, which […]
Leigh Chambers’ featured guest is Susanna Gregory talking about her Matthew Bartholomew series of crime novels sent in 14th century Cambridge. Patricia Fara discusses her book, Life After Gravity, which […]
Patricia Fara is a historian of science at Cambridge University and well-known for her writings on women in science. Her forthcoming book, Life After Gravity: Isaac Newton's London Career, details the life of the titan of the so-called Scientific Revolution after his famous (though perhaps mythological) discovery under the apple tree. Her work emphasizes science as a long, continuous process composed of incremental contributions–in which women throughout history have taken a crucial part–rather than the sole province of a few monolithic innovators. Patricia joined Tyler to discuss why Newton left Cambridge to run The Royal Mint, why he was so productive during the Great Plague, why the “Scientific Revolution” should instead be understand as a gradual process, what the Antikythera device tells us about science in the ancient world, the influence of Erasmus Darwin on his grandson, why more people should know Dorothy Hodgkin, how George Eliot inspired her to commit unhistoric acts, why she opposes any kind of sex-segregated schooling, her early experience in a startup, what modern students of science can learn from studying Renaissance art, the reasons she considers Madame Lavoisier to be the greatest female science illustrator, the unusual work habit brought to her attention by house guests, the book of caricatures she’d like to write next, and more. Follow us on Twitter and IG: @cowenconvos Email: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu Follow Tyler on Twitter Facebook Newsletter
From minting coins to digital currencies, Anne McElvoy is joined by Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, British Museum coin curator Tom Hockenhull, historian of science Patricia Fara and political economist Ann Pettifor to explore the physical and virtual life of money as we approach the fiftieth anniversary of Decimal Day in the UK. The discussion ranges from the symbolism of images we find stamped on individual coins to the cashless society, and whether or not there is a magic money tree. February 15th 1971 was the date when the old British system of pounds, shilling and pence changed, following earlier unsuccessful attempts and the founding of a Decimal Association in 1841. But what is our relationship with money at the moment in a world of bitcoin, and paying by credit cards not loose change ? Patricia Fara's books include Life after Gravity: Isaac Newton's London Career; Pandora's Breeches - Women, Science and Power; Science: A Four Thousand Year History Tom Hockenhull is Curator of Modern Money in the Coins and Medals department at the British Museum which was built upon the various collections of Hans Sloane - amongst them were 20,000 coins. His books include Making Change: The decimalisation of Britain's currency and Symbols of Power : Ten Coins That Changed the World. Kenneth Rogoff is a Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at Harvard University. From 2001-2003, he was Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund. His books include The Curse of Cash; This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly co-authored with Carmen Reinhart Ann Pettifor is the author of books including The Green New Deal, and The Production of Money. https://www.annpettifor.com/ Producer: Eliane Glaser. You might be interested in the episode of Radio 3's Words and Music broadcasting on Sunday February 21st at 5.30pm which features a series of readings and music exploring the idea of money. In the Free Thinking archives: "new money" and the wealth gap depicted in Edith Wharton's 1920 novel The Age of Innocence https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000c4ln Does Growth Matter? Anne McElvoy talks with demographer Danny Dorling and economists Richard Davies and Petr Barton https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gbtl Economics: Anne McElvoy talks to Juliet Michaelson, Liam Byrne, John Redwood and Luke Johnson https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03qbv3q Linda Yueh gives the Free Thinking Festival Lecture on Globalisation and restoring faith in the free market https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p062m7mj
Filipa Ramos is a writer, curator, and educator, who has been working on the relationships between contemporary art and cinema, and the way environmental and ecological matters of concern are tackled or manifested in and through art.She is one of the founding curators of Vdrome, a self-proclaimed online cinema. She is also the Curator of Art Basel Film. and a Lecturer in the MRes Art: Moving Image of Central Saint Martins, London and the Master’s Program of the Arts Institute in Basel. She is co-curating the symposia series, or the “interdisciplinary festival” The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish with Lucia Pietroiusti for the Serpentine Galleries, London. Ramos is currently the Head of Research and Publications for the 13th Shanghai Biennale.Filipa's writing and research on art, film, and nature have been published in magazines and catalogs worldwide. She authored "Lost and Found" (Milan: Silvana Editoriale, 2009) https://en.silvanaeditoriale.it/libro/9788836613397 and edited "Animals" (London: Whitechapel Gallery/MIT Press, 2016). https://www.whitechapelgallery.org/events/documents-contemporary-art-animals/She curated "Animalesque", a group exhibition on becoming other at the Bildmuseet Umeå (Summer 2019) http://www.bildmuseet.umu.se/en/exhibition/animalisk/35302Filipa is also the curator of Art Basel's film sector. https://www.artbasel.com/stories/online-viewing-rooms-filipa-ramosV-drome is a perennial online program that presents films by visual artists and filmmakers. http://www.vdrome.orgLucia Pietrouisti is the head of the general ecology department of the Serpentine Galleries where she also curated the interdisciplinary festival titled "The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish" along with Filipa. https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/general-ecology/The 13th Shanghai Biennale aims to advocate for processes of planetary re-alliance relying on transspecies collectivity. https://www.powerstationofart.com/whats-on/programs/shanghai-bienniale/homeBeatriz Colomina is an architecture historian, theorist, and curator. Her text titled “Diary of a Disease” is published online as part of the "Sick Architecture", https://www.e-flux.com/architecture/sick-architecture/364166/diary-of-a-disease/Inspired by ‘Cyborg Manifesto’ by Donna Haraway, Milanese Fashion House Gucci’s AW 2018 collection titled "Paradoxical Creatures" was designed by Alessandro Michele. https://www.gucci.com/uk/en_gb/st/stories/runway/article/fall-winter-2018-detailsHannah Marriott’s detailed account of the story features how other houses such as Prada and D&G were embracing similar concepts for the 2018 fashion week. https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2018/feb/27/miquela-cyborg-handbag-drones-milan-fashion-week-weird-vision-futureDirector Gus Van Sant and Gucci's creative director Alessandro Michele's film "At Home" features a television lecture performed by writer and philosopher Paul B Preciado. https://www.gucci.com/tr/en_gb/st/stories/article/guccifest-episode-1Published in 1998, “The Power of Display: a history of exhibition installations at the Museum of Modern Art" is a seminal study of installation design as an aesthetic medium and cultural practice by Mary Anne Staniszewski."Plant Sex" is a mind-boggling public program that took place at the Serpentine galleries. Co-curated as a prelude to "The Shape of a Circle in the Mind of a Fish with Plants" by Filipa, it sought to reflect on the long and deep relationship between botany and eroticism. https://www.serpentinegalleries.org/whats-on/plantsex/Carl Linnaeus was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, and physician who formalized binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organisms. He is known as the "father of modern taxonomy" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_LinnaeusAcclaimed curator Chus Martinez was our guest at the previous episode. Make sure to dive into her ocean-like mind to make discoveries about nature, the ocean, and the sciences' potential relations with art through her dazzling array of thoughts. https://www.ahali.space/episodes/episode-10-chusmartinezOctavia Butler was a groundbreaking afro-futurist science-fiction writer. Her short essay, “The Lost Races of Science Fiction" tackled the issue of racial presentation within the field of science fiction was first published in Transmission Magazine's summer issue in 1980. https://garage.vice.com/en_us/article/d3ekbm/octavia-butler"Sex, Botany, and Empire" explores the entwined destinies of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks’ influence served both science and imperialism by Patricia Fara. http://cup.columbia.edu/book/sex-botany-and-empire/9780231134262“The Company One Keeps: Laptops, Lap Dances, Lapdogs” was published at e-flux journal #93 in 2018 https://www.e-flux.com/journal/93/215746/the-company-one-keeps-laptops-lap-dances-lapdogs/Episode recorded on Zoom on December 7th, 2020. Interview by Can Altay. Produced by Aslı Altay & Sarp Renk Özer. Music by Grup Ses.
Jerry Mikorenda tells the story of Elizabeth Jennings, a woman who fought for civil rights more than 100 years before the movement of the 1960s. Cambridge's Patricia Fara wants to redefine the legacy of Rosalind Franklin.
Patricia Fara wants to redefine the legacy of Rosalind Franklin. Georgina Ferry recounts the life of famed scientist Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin and her life's work to understand how insulin works.
In considerations of the First World War, the roles of female scientists in supporting the war effort have been shockingly under acknowledged. Dan was joined in this podcast by Patricia Fara, a historian of science at the University of Cambridge, to talk about the women who worked as scientific researchers during the First World War. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Patricia Fara of Clare College explores the flourishing of female scientists during WWI. BYU's Jarica Watts on the life of Virginia Woolf.
Cambridge's Patricia Fara on Newton's year in quarantine from the plague and how fruitful his solitude was. Geraldine Brooks explains how the English village of Eyam sacrificed themselves to stop the spread of the plague. Emory's Walter Orenstein explains what it takes to eradicate a disease.
During the last thirty years of his life, Isaac Newton lived in London, where as head of the Royal Mint he moved in wealthy aristocratic circles, exerted substantial political influence, and profited financially from imperial trade and exploitation. To illustrate these themes, this lecture examines an oil painting by William Hogarth illustrating a children's performance of John Dryden's play The Indian Emperour, a dramatized version of the tussle for power between Hernando Cortez and Montezuma. This lecture is held in conjunction with the Science Museum's Science City 1550-1800: The Linbury Gallery as part of its Science Museum Lates. N.B. 7pm starthttps://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/see-and-do/latesA lecture by Patricia Fara 26 FebruaryThe transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/newtons-londonGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege
Erasmus Darwin was a man of many talents; not only was he a successful physician, a popular poet, an ardent abolitionist and a pioneering botanist, he also worked out how organisms evolve, some 70 years before his grandson Charles's theories about this revolutionised science. He is credited with many inventions and discoveries including the steering mechanism used in modern cars, the gas laws of clouds and a document copying machine. And he knew how to live life to the full; he fathered at least 14 children and his love of food meant that his dining table had to have a chunk sawn out of it to accommodate his considerable waistline. Joining Rajan Datar to explore the life and work of this remarkable man are Dr Patricia Fara, Emeritus Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge, and biographer of Erasmus Darwin; Dr Malcolm Dick, director of the Centre for West Midlands History at the University of Birmingham; and Maurizio Valsania, professor at the University of Turin in Italy who specialises in 18th Century intellectual history. (Picture: Portrait of Erasmus Darwin by Joseph Wright of Derby. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty Images)
Philip Ball tells the story of Madame Lavoisier; translator of oxygen. At a time when science was almost a closed book to women, Madame Marie Anne Lavoisier’s skills were indispensable. A translator, illustrator and critic of scientific papers, she learnt chemistry herself and helped her husband Antoine Lavoisier develop his theory of the role played by oxygen in combustion. As modern science was taking shape it lacked any universal language, so communication in many tongues was vital to stay ahead of the game. Even today there is debate as to who can really be considered the discoverer of oxygen, but Madame Lavoisier’s gift for translation helped her husband compete against English rivals and banish their theories. Come the French Revolution however, Anton was branded a traitor to the state and sentenced to death. By a cruel twist of fate Marie lost both husband and father to the guillotine on the same day. Philip Ball talks to Patricia Fara at the University of Cambridge, about the largely unrecognised contribution that women like Marie Anne Lavoisier made to the early days of modern science, and to Michael Gordin of Princeton University about the importance of scientific translation in the past and how it features today, Picture: French chemist Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, Credit: Getty Images
When Thomas Sprat's The History of the Royal-Society of London appeared in 1667, it was less a history than a manifesto for the future, designed to convince Charles II that experimental research was a worthwhile investment. Focusing on experiment and travel, this lecture describes the aims and activities of the early Royal Society almost two centuries before the word 'scientist' was invented. As Sprat made clear, science, imperialism and finance were inextricably linked.A lecture by Dr Patricia Fara, Clare College Cambridge 8 October 2019The transcript and downloadable versions of the lecture are available from the Gresham College website: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-and-events/1667-royal-societyGresham College has been giving free public lectures since 1597. This tradition continues today with all of our five or so public lectures a week being made available for free download from our website. There are currently over 2,000 lectures free to access or download from the website.Website: http://www.gresham.ac.uk Twitter: http://twitter.com/GreshamCollege Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/greshamcollege Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/greshamcollege
Our latest episode of Travels Through Time explores a little-studied but revolutionary group of women at the heart of Dr Patricia Fara’s latest book, A Lab of One’s Own. Patricia takes us back to 1918 where we find them working with great skill, energy and success, against the backdrop of one of the most brutal wars in world history. They were aircraft designers, surgeons, chemical researchers, military commanders and surveillance operatives. Their work contributed significantly to the British war effort. Patricia is a Fellow of Clare College Cambridge, a prize-winning author and has recently served as President for the British Society for the History of Science. ---- Scene One: 10th Jan 1918, House of Lords. The suffragist Ray Strachey watches them approve the 1918 Representation of the People Act Scene Two: 26 March. Marie Stopes’s Married Love is published and she meets her future husband after he returns from the War with a broken ankle Scene Three: 1 November, Vranje, Serbia. Dr Isabel Emslie takes over a military hospital. She stays there long after the Armistice Memento: Dr Isabel Emslie’s Diary --- Presenter: Peter Moore Guest: Dr Patricia Fara Producers: Maria Nolan & John Hillman Editorial: Artemis Irvine Titles: Jon O. --- Discover more fascinating episodes at Travels Through Time Brought to you in partnership with History Today, the world's leading serious history magazine
Fragrance in the garden... The most fragrant blossoms include: Cheddar pinks (a member of the carnation family) Lavender Peony Gardenia Honeysuckle Hyacinth Lilac Mock Orange Daphne Bee balm Brevities #OTD On this day, in 1805, Meriwether Lewis was just one day away from reaching the Great Falls of Missouri. He wrote his own brief description of a species that was previously unknown to science. He wrote, "The narrow leafed cottonwood grows here in common with the other species of the same tree with a broad leaf." Wonder if he saw all the cottonwood seeds floating through the air... #OTD It was a little over 200 years ago today, in 1817, that a forest ranger, named Karl Freiherr von Drais,invented the first bicycle. #OTD And it's the anniversary of the death day of Edward Newman who was an English entomologist, botanist, and writer. Newman wrote, An Illustrated Natural History of the British MothsIn 1869. He also enjoyed writing poetry. Just as the butterfly, child of an hour, Flutters about in the light of the sun, Wandering wayward from flower to flower, Sipping the honey from all, one by one; So does the fanciful verse I've created Love amongst the experts in Science to roam, Drinking their spirit without being sated, Bringing the sweets of their intellect home. #OTD It was on this day, in 1948, that the Michigan Botanical Club adopted its name. It wasn't agreed upon very easily. The Board of Directors and the executive committee couldn't agree. They decided to hold a vote. The choices included: The Michigan Association for Native Plants Protection The Michigan Wildflower Association The Michigan Native Plant Society The Michigan Botanical Club Although the rest of the state voted unanimously for the Michigan Botanical Club, the strong-willed southeastern chapter had taken a poll and they wanted the name The Michigan Wildflower Association. The matter was finally settled when the general membership voted. It's been The Michigan Botanical Club ever since. #OTD And it was on this day in 1918 that the botanist Frank Nicholas Meyer was buried in Shanghai. Six days later, his family, back home in the Netherlands, learned of his death. At the beginning of June, Meyer had traveled to Shanghai by way of Japanese riverboat on the Yangtze River. He was last seen leaving his cabin on the evening of June 1; then he simply disappeared. His body was found in the river four days later. Meyer was just 43 years old when he either fell over board or was murdered. In either case, his legacy continues; not only in the plants he introduced (like the Meyer Lemon), but also, in the magnificent photographs that he took in China. Unearthed Words Here are some short sayings about June: "If a June night could talk, it would probably boast it invented romance." - Bern Williams "Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June." - Al Bernstein "What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade." - Gertrude Jekyll, On Gardening "June is bustin' out all over." - Oscar Hammerstein II, 1945 Today's book recommendation: Sex, Botany, and Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks by Patricia Fara Fara said, "Banks provided a marvelous illustration of how science and the British Empire grew rich and powerful together." Fara reveals how Enlightenment botany, under the veil of rationality, manifested a drive to conquer, subdue, and deflower―all in the name of British empire. Linnaeus trained his traveling disciples in a double mission―to bring back specimens for the benefit of the Swedish economy and to spread the gospel of Linnaean taxonomy. Based in London at the hub of an international exchange and correspondence network, Banks ensured that Linnaeus's ideas became established throughout the world. As the president of the Royal Society for more than forty years, Banks revolutionized British science, and his innovations placed science at the heart of trade and politics. He made it a policy to collect and control resources not only for the sake of knowledge but also for the advancement of the empire. Although Linnaeus is often celebrated as modern botany's true founder, Banks has had a greater long-term impact. It was Banks who ensured that science and imperialism flourished together, and it was he who first forged the interdependent relationship between scientific inquiry and the state that endures to this day. Today's Garden Chore Add perlite to your soil. Get a big bag of perlite like this oneand add it to the soil in your containers. Seasoned gardeners swear by perlite. If you want soilthat has good aeration, water retention and drainage, try adding,the mineral, perlite. A naturally occurring mineral, perlite has a neutral pH level; so it won't change the soil in that way. It's incredibly porous and it contains little pockets of space inside for air. It can also retain some amount of water while allowing excess to drain away. (I get huge bag of perlite every year from Amazon. I'll put a link to that in today's show notes.) Something Sweet Reviving the little botanic spark in your heart On this day in 2016, the Shady Acres Herb Farm closed in Chaska Minnesota after 39 years. Shady Acres was the placeto go for plants and herbs for almost 4 decades. Shady Acres was owned and operated by Theresa and Jim Mieseler since the mid 70s. Theresa has started out with the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum. She been put in charge of the herb garden she recalled telling her boss, "I don't know what an herb is..." Seven years later, Jim and Theresa started Shady Acres Herb Farm with seedlings grown in Dixie cups in their basement. Over time, they cultivated and sold over 600 varieties of culinary herbs and vegetables. Since the closing of their farm, Shady Acres has been moving in a different direction. They're now committed to teaching others about growing plants and they do that in their monthly newsletter. You can check out their website at Shadyacres.com Thanks for listening to the daily gardener, and remember: "For a happy, healthy life, garden every day."
Highlights - The Sculptor’s Art Episode #112 Host: Theo Mayer 100 Years Ago This Week - Host | @02:10 Mission to Moscow - Mike Shuster | @09:35 A “Y” girl sets up a library - Dr. Edward Lengel | @13:20 Announcing WWI Themed “Fleet Week” in NYC - Host | @20:20 “Digital Technology and the Sculptor’s Art” Part 1 - Host | @21:10Courtesy of the author: Traci Slatton Historians Corner: Women’s Suffrage in the UK - Dr. Patricia Fara | @27:35 Remembering Veterans: Choctaw Code talkers in WWI - Sarah Sawyer | @34:55 Speaking WWI: Scrounge - Host | @42:50 Dispatch Newsletter Highlights - Host | @44:50----more---- World War I - THEN 100 Years Ago This Week The Headlines of Early March, 1919 - Host https://timesmachine.nytimes.com The Great War Mission to Moscow - Mike Schuster http://greatwarproject.org/2019/02/24/mission-to-moscow/ Stories of Service Books for Soldiers: A YMCA Library in Action, 1919 - Dr. Edward Lengel http://www.edwardlengel.com/books-for-soldiers-a-y-m-c-a-library-in-action-1919/ http://www.edwardlengel.com/about/ http://bit.ly/2tILSQI World War I - NOW Commission News Fleet Week 2019 WWI Theme Announcement https://rove.me/to/new-york/fleet-week-nyc A Century in the Making “Digital Technology and the Sculptor’s Art” Part 1 - Host | @21:10Courtesy of the author: Traci Slatton www.tracilslatton.com https://www.amazon.com/Traci-L.-Slatton/e/B001JRTKYU?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1551552276&sr=8-1 https://www.sabinhoward.com/WW1cc/ Remembering Veterans Anumpa Warriors: Choctaw Code Talkers in WW1 - Sarah Elisabeth Sawyer https://www.sarahelisabethwrites.com/code-talkers https://www.facebook.com/SarahElisabethSawyer https://amzn.to/2XszwKD Historian’s Corner A Lab of One’s Own: Science & Suffrage in WW1 - Dr. Patricia Fara http://www.clare.cam.ac.uk/Fellows-and-Staff-Directory/pf10006/ https://global.oup.com/academic/product/a-lab-of-ones-own-9780198794981?cc=us&lang=en& Speaking WW1 Scrounge - Host https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scrounge https://notoneoffbritishisms.com/2018/11/13/scrounge/ Articles & Posts This Week in the Dispatch Newsletter - Host http://www.ww1cc.org/dispatch Sponsors: The U.S. World War One Centennial Commission The Pritzker Military Museum & Library The Starr Foundation the Diana Davis Spencer Foundation The Richard Lounsbery Foundation Production: Executive Producer: Dan Dayton Producer & Host: Theo Mayer Line Producer: Katalin Laszlo Written by: Theo Mayer Special segment host: Mike Shuster Dr. Edward Lengel Researcher and writing support: JL Michaud Dave Kramer
What's a Glottolog, you ask, and what does it have in common with a llama? Galactic Suburbia tells you how... WHAT’S NEW ON THE INTERNET? Tansy on Skiffy & Fanty talking Mother of Invention Mother of Invention paperback now on sale. HOW TO SUPPRESS WOMEN'S WRITING The Prologue “We have always fought,” Kameron Hurley CULTURE CONSUMED Alisa: world news, PhD report Alex: Shakespeare and Hathaway; a lot of Terry Pratchett; Pandora’s Breeches: Women, Science, Power in the Enlightenment, Patricia Fara; Counterpart Tansy: The Governess Game, Tessa Dare; The Crown S2, Triquetra by Kirstyn McDermott on Tor.com, Jacqueline Pearce Please send feedback to us at galacticsuburbia@gmail.com, follow us on Twitter at @galacticsuburbs, check out Galactic Suburbia Podcast on Facebook, support us at Patreon - which now includes access to the ever so exclusive GS Slack - and don't forget to leave a review on iTunes if you love us!
Historian of science Patricia Fara discusses her new book A Lab of One’s Own, which explores the challenges facing women scientists in the First World War era See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Philip Ball reveals the dramatic tale of Lise Meitner, the humanitarian physicist of Jewish descent, who unlocked the science of the atom bomb after a terrifying escape from Hitler's Germany. One of the most brilliant nuclear scientists working in Germany her flight from terror cost Hitler’s regime dearly. In the early 20th Century it was barely possible for women to work in science at all and yet Einstein once called Meitner Germany’s own Marie Curie. It was Meitner’s insight that began the nuclear age and her story remains ever relevant, as the threat of nuclear conflict lies once again over the world. Philip Ball talks to historian Dr Patricia Fara about Lise Meitner and her research and to Patricia Lewis of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons or ICAN, based in Geneva, which this year was awarded the Nobel Peace prize for its work in trying to reverse nuclear proliferation, about Meitner’s legacy today. Picture: Lise Meitner, Credit: Central Press/Getty Images
The Polish physicist and chemist Marie Curie was the first woman to receive a Nobel Prize, and the first person to be awarded twice in two different fields. Her discoveries in the field of radioactivity – adding polonium and radium to the table of elements – changed the course of scientific history and led to huge advances in the treatment of cancer. Quentin Cooper traces Marie Curie's extraordinary life story with Patricia Fara, president of the British Society for the History of Science; Maciej Dunajski, mathematician and theoretical physicist at Cambridge University; and Susan Quinn, author of Marie Curie: A Life. (Photo: Marie Curie. Credit: Hulton Archive/ Getty Images)
As recently as 1939, a London woman made her living by setting her watch precisely at the Greenwich observatory and "carrying the time" to her customers in the city. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll meet Ruth Belville, London's last time carrier, who conducted her strange occupation for 50 years. We'll also sample the colorful history of bicycle races and puzzle over a stymied prizewinner. Sources for our feature on Ruth Belville: David Rooney, Ruth Belville: The Greenwich Time Lady, 2008. Ian R. Bartky, Selling the True Time, 2000. Patricia Fara, "Modest Heroines of Time and Space," Nature, Oct. 30, 2008. Stephen Battersby, "The Lady Who Sold Time," New Scientist, Feb. 25, 2006. Carlene E. Stephens, "Ruth Belville: The Greenwich Time Lady," Technology and Culture 51:1 (January 2010), 248-249. Michael R. Matthews, Colin Gauld, and Arthur Stinner, "The Pendulum: Its Place in Science, Culture and Pedagogy," in Michael R. Matthews, Colin F. Gauld, and Arthur Stinner, eds., The Pendulum: Scientific, Historical, Philosophical and Educational Perspectives, 2005. Listener mail: Eric Niiler, "Tour de France: Top 10 Ways the Race Has Changed," Seeker, June 29, 2013. Julian Barnes, "The Hardest Test: Drugs and the Tour de France," New Yorker, Aug. 21, 2000. Race Across America. Wikipedia, "Race Across America" (accessed June 3, 2016). Wikipedia, "Trans Am Bike Race" (accessed June 3, 2016). Neil Beltchenko, "2014 Trans Am Race," Bikepackers Magazine, June 6, 2014. Trans Am Bike Race 2016. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Tommy Honton, who sent this corroborating link (warning -- this spoils the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and all contributions are greatly appreciated. You can change or cancel your pledge at any time, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!
Jim al-Khalili was sitting in a physics lecture at the University of Surrey when he suddenly understood the power of equations to describe and predict the physical world. He recalls that sadly his enthusiasm was lost on many of his fellow students. Jim wants to persuade the listeners that equations have a beauty. In conversation with fellow scientists he reveals the surprising emotions they feel when describing the behaviour of matter in the universe in mathematical terms. For Carlos Frenk, professor of Computational Cosmology at Durham University, one of the most beautiful equations is the one that is at the heart of Einstein's theory of general relativity. A century ago, Einstein wrote down his now famous field equations that linked the shape of the universe to the matter in it. Jim and Graham Farmelo, the author of a biography of Paul Dirac called The Strangest Man, discuss why the Dirac equation is not as well known as Einstein's but, in their opinion, should be. Dr Patricia Fara of Cambridge University, and Vice-President of the British Society for the History of Science, explains that although mathematics goes back centuries it was only in the 17th Century that it was applied to the real world. Jeff Forshaw, Professor of Particle Physics at the University of Manchester, talks about when he first realised the power of equations and about why, surprisngly, maths is so effective at describing the real world. Science writer Philip Ball questions whether the beauty that scientists see in equations is really the same as we see in art. And physics A Level students in Dr White's class at Hammersmith Academy in London reveal that they already appreciate equations. (Photo: Jim al-Khalili)
rasmus Darwin – Charles’s grandfather – was well-known among his eighteenth- century contemporaries, highly respected by many but reviled by others. Energetic and sociable, this corpulent tee-totaller wrote best-selling poems on plants, technology and evolution. He also ran a successful medical practice, was a Fellow of the Royal Society and promoted industrialization by sponsoring science, innovation and entrepreneurship in the Midlands. In her research, Patricia Fara has explored fresh ways of thinking about this champion of Enlightenment thought. More than fifty years before his famous grandson, Erasmus Darwin dared to publish controversial ideas about evolution that put his medical text on the Vatican’s banned list. Politically radical, he campaigned for the abolition of slavery, supported the French Revolution, promoted education for women, and challenged Christian orthodoxy.
Patricia Fara, historian of science at the University of Cambridge, talks about Emilie du Chatelet (1706 - 1749), mathematician, translator and populariser of Newton's work in France. We learn about: du Chatelet's background and education (time 0:28) her interest in Newtonian ideas (0:52) her relationship with Voltaire (1:32) her attitude to life and science (2:11) the book Elements of the Philosophy of Newton (2:49) her translation of Newton's Principia (4:19) what was behind du Chatelet's achievement (6:11) her context: differences between French and English society in her time (6:51) a parallel with Mary Somerville (8:15) du Chatelet as a woman in science (9:42) More information, worksheets and other resources for the undergraduate mathematics curriculum: www.beingamathematician.org
Dr Patricia Fara, Fellow in History and Philosophy of Science at Clare College, introduces the life and thought of Sir Isaac Newton, placing his great 'Principia Mathematica' in context.
Melvyn Bragg discusses the epic feud between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over who invented an astonishingly powerful new mathematical tool - calculus. Both claimed to have conceived it independently, but the argument soon descended into a bitter battle over priority, plagiarism and philosophy. Set against the backdrop of the Hanoverian succession to the English throne and the formation of the Royal Society, the fight pitted England against Europe, geometric notation against algebra. It was fundamental to the grounding of a mathematical system which is one of the keys to the modern world, allowing us to do everything from predicting the pressure building behind a dam to tracking the position of a space shuttle.Melvyn is joined by Simon Schaffer, Professor of History of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College; Patricia Fara, Senior Tutor at Clare College, University of Cambridge; and Jackie Stedall, Departmental Lecturer in History of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.
Melvyn Bragg discusses the epic feud between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over who invented an astonishingly powerful new mathematical tool - calculus. Both claimed to have conceived it independently, but the argument soon descended into a bitter battle over priority, plagiarism and philosophy. Set against the backdrop of the Hanoverian succession to the English throne and the formation of the Royal Society, the fight pitted England against Europe, geometric notation against algebra. It was fundamental to the grounding of a mathematical system which is one of the keys to the modern world, allowing us to do everything from predicting the pressure building behind a dam to tracking the position of a space shuttle.Melvyn is joined by Simon Schaffer, Professor of History of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College; Patricia Fara, Senior Tutor at Clare College, University of Cambridge; and Jackie Stedall, Departmental Lecturer in History of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.
Patricia Fara, Stephen Pumfrey and Rhodri Lewis join Melvyn Bragg to discuss the Jacobean lawyer, political fixer and alleged founder of modern science Francis Bacon.In the introduction to Thomas Spratt's History of the Royal Society, there is a poem about man called Francis Bacon which declares 'Bacon, like Moses, led us forth at last, The barren wilderness he past, Did on the very border stand Of the blest promis'd land, And from the mountain's top of his exalted wit, Saw it himself, and shew'd us it'.Francis Bacon was a lawyer and political schemer who climbed the greasy pole of Jacobean politics and then fell down it again. But he is most famous for developing an idea of how science should be done - a method that he hoped would slough off the husk of ancient thinking and usher in a new age. It is called Baconian Method and it has influenced and inspired scientists from Bacon's own time to the present day.
Patricia Fara, Stephen Pumfrey and Rhodri Lewis join Melvyn Bragg to discuss the Jacobean lawyer, political fixer and alleged founder of modern science Francis Bacon.In the introduction to Thomas Spratt's History of the Royal Society, there is a poem about man called Francis Bacon which declares 'Bacon, like Moses, led us forth at last, The barren wilderness he past, Did on the very border stand Of the blest promis'd land, And from the mountain's top of his exalted wit, Saw it himself, and shew'd us it'.Francis Bacon was a lawyer and political schemer who climbed the greasy pole of Jacobean politics and then fell down it again. But he is most famous for developing an idea of how science should be done - a method that he hoped would slough off the husk of ancient thinking and usher in a new age. It is called Baconian Method and it has influenced and inspired scientists from Bacon's own time to the present day.
Patricia Fara, Stephen Pumfrey and Rhodri Lewis join Melvyn Bragg to discuss the Jacobean lawyer, political fixer and alleged founder of modern science Francis Bacon.In the introduction to Thomas Spratt's History of the Royal Society, there is a poem about man called Francis Bacon which declares 'Bacon, like Moses, led us forth at last, The barren wilderness he past, Did on the very border stand Of the blest promis'd land, And from the mountain's top of his exalted wit, Saw it himself, and shew'd us it'.Francis Bacon was a lawyer and political schemer who climbed the greasy pole of Jacobean politics and then fell down it again. But he is most famous for developing an idea of how science should be done - a method that he hoped would slough off the husk of ancient thinking and usher in a new age. It is called Baconian Method and it has influenced and inspired scientists from Bacon's own time to the present day.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Prussian naturalist and explorer Alexander Von Humboldt. He was possibly the greatest and certainly one of the most famous scientists of the 19th century. Darwin described him as 'the greatest scientific traveller who ever lived'. Goethe declared that one learned more from an hour in his company than eight days of studying books and even Napoleon was reputed to be envious of his celebrity.A friend of Goethe and an influence on Coleridge and Shelly, when Darwin went voyaging on the Beagle it was Humboldt's works he took for inspiration and guidance. At the time of his death in 1859, the year Darwin published On the Origin of Species, Humboldt was probably the most famous scientist in Europe. Add to this shipwrecks, homosexuality and Spanish American revolutionary politics and you have the ingredients for one of the more extraordinary lives lived in Europe (and elsewhere) in the 18th and 19th centuries. But what is Humboldt's true position in the history of science? How did he lose the fame and celebrity he once enjoyed and why is he now, perhaps, more important than he has ever been? With Jason Wilson, Professor of Latin American Literature at University College London, Patricia Fara, Affiliated Lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, Jim Secord, Professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the Prussian naturalist and explorer Alexander Von Humboldt. He was possibly the greatest and certainly one of the most famous scientists of the 19th century. Darwin described him as 'the greatest scientific traveller who ever lived'. Goethe declared that one learned more from an hour in his company than eight days of studying books and even Napoleon was reputed to be envious of his celebrity.A friend of Goethe and an influence on Coleridge and Shelly, when Darwin went voyaging on the Beagle it was Humboldt's works he took for inspiration and guidance. At the time of his death in 1859, the year Darwin published On the Origin of Species, Humboldt was probably the most famous scientist in Europe. Add to this shipwrecks, homosexuality and Spanish American revolutionary politics and you have the ingredients for one of the more extraordinary lives lived in Europe (and elsewhere) in the 18th and 19th centuries. But what is Humboldt's true position in the history of science? How did he lose the fame and celebrity he once enjoyed and why is he now, perhaps, more important than he has ever been? With Jason Wilson, Professor of Latin American Literature at University College London, Patricia Fara, Affiliated Lecturer in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge, Jim Secord, Professor in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and Director of the Darwin Correspondence Project.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the dawn of the age of electricity. In Gulliver's Travels, published in 1726, Jonathan Swift satirised natural philosophers as trying to extract sunbeams from cucumbers. Perhaps he would have been surprised, or even horrified, by the sheer force of what these seemingly obscure experimentalists were about to unleash on society. Electricity soon reached into all areas of 18th century life, as Royal Society Fellows vied with showmen and charlatans to reveal its wonders to the world. It was, claimed one commentator, 'an entertainment for Angels rather than for Men'. Electricity also posed deep questions about the nature of life. For some it was the divine spark that animated all things, for others it represented a dangerous materialism that reduced humans to mere machines.But how did electricity develop in the 18th and 19th centuries? Why was it so politically contentious and how was it understood during the age in which it changed the world forever?With Simon Schaffer, Professor in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Darwin College; Patricia Fara, historian of science and a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge; Iwan Morus, Lecturer in the History of Science at Queen's University Belfast.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the dawn of the age of electricity. In Gulliver's Travels, published in 1726, Jonathan Swift satirised natural philosophers as trying to extract sunbeams from cucumbers. Perhaps he would have been surprised, or even horrified, by the sheer force of what these seemingly obscure experimentalists were about to unleash on society. Electricity soon reached into all areas of 18th century life, as Royal Society Fellows vied with showmen and charlatans to reveal its wonders to the world. It was, claimed one commentator, 'an entertainment for Angels rather than for Men'. Electricity also posed deep questions about the nature of life. For some it was the divine spark that animated all things, for others it represented a dangerous materialism that reduced humans to mere machines.But how did electricity develop in the 18th and 19th centuries? Why was it so politically contentious and how was it understood during the age in which it changed the world forever?With Simon Schaffer, Professor in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Darwin College; Patricia Fara, historian of science and a Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge; Iwan Morus, Lecturer in the History of Science at Queen's University Belfast.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Ernest Rutherford. He was the father of nuclear science, a great charismatic figure who mapped the landscape of the sub-atomic world. He identified the atom's constituent parts, discovered that elemental decay was the cause of radiation and became the first true alchemist in the history of science when he forced platinum to change into gold. He was born at the edge of the Empire in 1871, the son of Scottish immigrant farmers and was working the fields when a telegram came from the great British physicist J J Thomson asking him to come to Cambridge. Rutherford immediately laid down his spade saying "that's the last potato I ever dig". It was. He went on to found a science, win a Nobel Prize and pioneer the ‘big science' of the twentieth century. With Simon Schaffer, Professor in the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge; Jim Al–Khalili, Senior Lecturer in Physics at the University of Surrey; Patricia Fara, Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Ernest Rutherford. He was the father of nuclear science, a great charismatic figure who mapped the landscape of the sub-atomic world. He identified the atom’s constituent parts, discovered that elemental decay was the cause of radiation and became the first true alchemist in the history of science when he forced platinum to change into gold. He was born at the edge of the Empire in 1871, the son of Scottish immigrant farmers and was working the fields when a telegram came from the great British physicist J J Thomson asking him to come to Cambridge. Rutherford immediately laid down his spade saying "that’s the last potato I ever dig". It was. He went on to found a science, win a Nobel Prize and pioneer the ‘big science’ of the twentieth century. With Simon Schaffer, Professor in the History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge; Jim Al–Khalili, Senior Lecturer in Physics at the University of Surrey; Patricia Fara, Fellow of Clare College, Cambridge.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origin of the concept and historical role of the scientist. The word "science" first appeared in the English language in 1340 and ever since its meaning has been in a state of flux. The notion of "the scientist" has had a similarly evolving history. For some, "the scientist" does not truly appear until after the Renaissance, others put its emergence much later than that. When did the words and concepts we recognise today take on their contemporary meaning? How has the role of the scientist, and our understanding of it, changed? Has science always been a rival to religion, or was it once an ally? And how has the scientist been perceived by the wider world – as a modern saint, the "priest of reason", or as a terrifying and amoral menace - the "mad scientist" of film and literature? With John Gribbin, Visiting Fellow in Astronomy, University of Sussex; Patricia Fara, Lecturer on the History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University; Hugh Pennington, Head of the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Aberdeen.
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origin of the concept and historical role of the scientist. The word "science" first appeared in the English language in 1340 and ever since its meaning has been in a state of flux. The notion of "the scientist" has had a similarly evolving history. For some, "the scientist" does not truly appear until after the Renaissance, others put its emergence much later than that. When did the words and concepts we recognise today take on their contemporary meaning? How has the role of the scientist, and our understanding of it, changed? Has science always been a rival to religion, or was it once an ally? And how has the scientist been perceived by the wider world – as a modern saint, the "priest of reason", or as a terrifying and amoral menace - the "mad scientist" of film and literature? With John Gribbin, Visiting Fellow in Astronomy, University of Sussex; Patricia Fara, Lecturer on the History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University; Hugh Pennington, Head of the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Aberdeen.
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