PODCAST · science
Science History Podcast
by Frank A. von Hippel
Monthly interviews on important moments in the history of science.
Episodes
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Episode 106. The Space Race: Leroy Chiao
Those of us who grew up during the Cold War were keenly aware of the space race between the US and USSR. With us to relive the victories and tragedies of the space race is Leroy Chiao. Leroy is a former NASA astronaut and International Space Station commander. A veteran of four space missions,...
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Episode 105. Curie's Elements: Dava Sobel
Marie Curie was one of the most remarkable scientists in history. She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, the first person to win two, and the only person ever to earn Nobel awards in separate fields of science. Today we explore the life and legacy of Marie Curie with the science writer…
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Episode 104. Pugwash: John Holdren
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...
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Episode 103. Astronomy: Sarah Alam Malik
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?...
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Episode 102. Chemicals & Children's Health: Tracey Woodruff
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...
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Episode 101. Longitude: Emily Akkermans
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...
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Episode 100. Bohr's Legacy: Tomas Bohr
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...
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Episode 99. Rapa Nui's Collapse: Mike Pitts
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...
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Episode 98. Retrospective: Tom Lehrer's Mathematics
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…
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Episode 97. Forever Chemicals: Sharon Udasin
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...
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Episode 96. The Weather: Simon Winchester
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...
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Episode 95. The River War: James Muller
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...
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Episode 94. Lead Poisoning: Bruce Lanphear
Our health, and the health of wildlife, depends on a clean environment. Since the advent of the industrial revolution, our environment has suffered from waves of pollution as different technologies came to the fore, each with its own set of practical benefits and associated chemical waste.…
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Episode 93. Attacks on University Research: Claudia Polsky
The year 2025 has seen the most aggressive moves ever by the US executive branch against scientific research as the Trump Administration has gutted federal science and regulatory agencies and cancelled billions of dollars in research grants that had already been awarded to universities. With me…
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Episode 92. ATSDR: Jaimi Dowdell
In Episode 62, I interviewed two Reuters journalists about how industry and government in the United States use conservation easements to avoid rigorous cleanup of contaminated sites. Today, one of those journalists, Jaimi Dowdell, is back to discuss how a federal agency responsible for community...
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Episode 91. Political Bias: Bill von Hippel
In prior episodes, we examined political interference and bias in science in a few contexts, including episode 3 on the history of U.S. congressional attacks on science, episode 57 on types of bias, episode 65 on ideology and science, and episode 84 on the academy's ideological march to the left...
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Episode 90. Physicists as Biologists: William Lanouette
In prior episodes, I have interviewed many people about the history of physics and physics-adjacent topics such as nuclear disarmament. Many of the physicists we have discussed also made forays into biology. Today I explore this transition of physicists working in biology with William Lanouette....
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Episode 89. Göttingen Physics: Tim Salditt, Kurt Schönhammer, & Sarah Köster
Prior to the rise of Nazism, the University of Göttingen hosted most of the top physicists in the world, either as resident or visiting scientists. With us to discuss the history of physics in Göttingen are Tim Salditt, Kurt Schönhammer, and Sarah Köster. In this conversation over tea at the...
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Episode 88. Polymerase Chain Reaction: Henry Erlich
The history of science is punctuated by moments of technological innovation that produce a paradigm shift and a subsequent flurry of discovery. A recent technological innovation that generated diverse discoveries, ranging from a profound shift in our understanding of the origin of humanity to a...
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Episode 87. Meitner's Atom: Marissa Moss
Lise Meitner was the most important female physicist of the 20th century. She made fundamental discoveries on the atom, including, most famously, being the first to discover the idea of fission. This she did as she puzzled over experimental results generated by her colleague Otto Hahn. Hahn, but...
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Episode 86. Quantum Mechanics: Jim Baggott
Humanity's understanding of the universe radically altered with the advent of quantum mechanics in the early 20th century. The theory of quantum mechanics describes how nature behaves at or below the scale of atoms, and the road to that theory was littered with seemingly insurmountable obstacles....
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Episode 85. SWOPSI: Joel Primack & Robert Jaffe
Societal problems big and small typically have a scientific element, often in a central way, yet most scientists are not directly involved in policy. My guests sought to change that in 1969 when they created the Stanford Workshops on Social and Political Issues, or SWOPSI. SWOPSI was founded by...
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Episode 84. Antisemitism and the Academy: Bret Stephens
Institutions of higher education, especially in the United States, have received a great deal of attention over the past two generations regarding their ideological march to the left, and the impacts, real or imagined, on society at large. Criticism of American universities has sharpened since…
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Episode 83. Hebrew: Shalom Goldman
What was the Western World's understanding of the origins of humanity prior to the Enlightenment? Why did Christopher Columbus have a Hebrew speaker on his voyages of exploration? Why did the American universities founded before the Revolution have Hebrew in their curriculum? What role did...
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Episode 82. Jerusalem Archeology: Jodi Magness
Archeology is the science that most directly connects us with our past, and no city in the world has been subject to more archeological interest than Jerusalem. With us to explore the archeology of Jerusalem is Jodi Magness. Jodi is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Since…
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Episode 81. Nuclear Disarmament: Steve Fetter
Today I speak with Steve Fetter about his work on a variety of nuclear disarmament efforts, including the Black Sea Experiment, nuclear archeology, the risks associated with a single person having the ability to start a nuclear war, ballistic missile defense, the weaponization of space, nuclear...
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Episode 80. Soviet Nuclear Program: Thomas Cochran
Today we focus on the Soviet nuclear program with Thomas Cochran. Tom directed nuclear disarmament projects at the Natural Resources Defense Council from 1973 until his retirement in 2016. He has received numerous awards for his work on nuclear disarmament, including the public service award from...
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Episode 79. Endocrine Disruption: Patricia Hunt
Today we explore the history of the field of endocrine disruption with Patricia Hunt. Pat is a Regents Professor in the School of Molecular Biosciences at Washington State University. She is a distinguished researcher and the recipient of many awards; additionally, she works at the forefront of...
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Episode 78. Szilard After The War: William Lanouette
In episode 77, I interviewed William Lanouette about Leo Szilard's work on the atom bomb, with a discussion of the roles that Szilard played until the end of World War II. Today, in part two of my interview with Bill, we focus on Szilard's achievements after the war. Bill is a writer and public...
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Episode 77. Szilard's Chain Reaction: William Lanouette
Perhaps the most overlooked scientist who played critical roles in the development of the atomic bomb was Leo Szilard. With us to explore Szilard's numerous contributions to science and society is William Lanouette. Bill is a writer and public policy analyst who has specialized in the history of...
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Episode 76. Malaria & Reminiscences: Nobel Laureate Peter Agre
Peter Agre received the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of aquaporins. Peter is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and he also directed the Johns Hopkins Malaria Research Institute until...
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Episode 75. Retrospective: Oliver Sacks
In 1994, while attending graduate school at the University of California, Berkeley, I had the pleasure of seeing a lecture by Oliver Sacks in which he discussed his work on sleeping sickness and various other neurological disorders. He also discussed his thoughts on the economy of a life. Today's...
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Episode 74. Novichok: Vil Mirzayanov
Novichok is the most deadly chemical weapon ever developed. With us to discuss the history of Novichok is Vil Mirzayanov. Vil worked in the secret Soviet chemical weapons laboratory that developed Novichok. He revealed its existence to the world in 1991 and was then arrested by the Russian...
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Episode 73. Pascual Jordan's Duplicity: Ryan Dahn
How could a brilliant scientist and mathematician, an innovator in quantum theory, who worked closely with Jewish colleagues, become an ardent Nazi? How did this man, who has a field of mathematics named after him, escape the scrutiny of his colleagues? And what happened to him upon the collapse…
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Episode 72. Scientific Espionage: Eli Lake
Many of the most important secrets held in international contests are technological or scientific in nature, and wars are often settled due to technological superiority of one side over the other. This leads spy agencies to employ all manner of trickery and tools to obtain those secrets. With us…
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Episode 71. Retrospective: The Franck-Hertz Experiment
A retrospective on the Franck-Hertz experiment, which resulted in James Franck and Gustav Hertz receiving the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics. Image credit: By Infoczo - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=35281920
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Episode 70. Retrospective: James Franck
A retrospective on James Franck, recipient of the 1925 Nobel Prize in Physics.
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Episode 69. Ancient DNA: Maanasa Raghavan
The ability to extract DNA from ancient fragments of biological material has revolutionized our understanding of recent evolutionary history, including human evolution and phylogeography. Analysis of ancient DNA in tandem with radiocarbon dating, along with traditional archeological techniques…
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Episode 68. Pandemics: Leslie Reperant
The world just experienced a devastating pandemic, yet in the context of historical pandemics, COVID-19 was a relatively minor event in the history of disease. What do we know about the history of pandemics, including before written records, and what can we learn from this history? With us to...
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Episode 67. Lazaretto: David Barnes
Before the advent of the germ theory of disease in the 1870s, quarantine provided one of the few effective means to prevent or alleviate epidemics. The Lazaretto quarantine station in Philadelphia illustrates the history of quarantine both before and after the discovery of pathogenic microbes.…
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Episode 66. Climbing, Chemistry & Policy: Arlene Blum
What are the commonalities between scaling the world's highest peaks and tackling the most challenging pollution problems? What was it like to enter the worlds of climbing and chemistry as a woman in the 1960s and 70s? With us to answer these questions is Arlene Blum. Arlene completed a…
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Episode 65. Ideology & Science: Lee Jussim
Any intellectual endeavor runs the risk of bias. Today we explore ways in which political ideology interferes with scholarship, particularly in the social sciences, with a focus on social psychology. My guest is Lee Jussim, a distinguished professor of social psychology and the leader of the…
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Episode 64. Environmental Diplomacy: Mark Lytle
The world's environmental problems demand solutions for the common good, which in turn necessitate environmental diplomacy. With us to untangle the messy history of environmental diplomacy is Mark Lytle. In addition to his long tenure as a professor at Bard College, Mark has taught at Yale…
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Episode 63. Paleoanthropology: Evan Hadingham
Certain fields of science attract broad interest because of what they tell us about humanity, and no field does this more directly than paleoanthropology. Today we explore the history of paleoanthropology with a focus on Louis and Mary Leakey, who made key discoveries at an inflection point of…
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Episode 62. Conservation Easement or Easy Pollution? Jaimi Dowdell and Andrea Januta
How could a conservation easement be anything other than a great thing? With us to answer this question are Jaimi Dowdell and Andrea Januta, both of whom are investigative reporters and data journalists with Reuters. Jaimi and Andrea were part of the Reuters team that won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize…
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Episode 61. Foresight: Thomas Suddendorf
For thousands of years, scholars have struggled with what it means to be human. One critical dimension of humanity is foresight, and with us to decipher the evolution of foresight is Thomas Suddendorf. Thomas is a professor at the University of Queensland, where he investigates mental capacities…
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Episode 60. Planetary Boundary Threats: Bethanie Carney Almroth
Johan Rockström and colleagues first proposed the concept in 2009 of planetary boundary threats and a safe operating space for humanity. This conceptual framework clarifies environmental problems that are of planetary significance, such as biodiversity loss, climate change, and stratospheric…
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Episode 59. The Civilian Conservation Corps: Neil Maher
The Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the ensuing worldwide Great Depression left families in economic shock and despair. International trade collapsed to less than half of its previous levels and unemployment skyrocketed. Into this devastating mess stepped Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who began his…
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Episode 58. Subtraction: Leidy Klotz
The ways people think about matters both big and small, from climate change to daily tasks, impact the outcomes. Throughout the history of science and society, key insights arose through a thought process of simplification and subtraction, though the human tendency leans towards complication and...
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Episode 57. Bias: Jim Zimring
No matter our claims to the contrary, we are all biased in our perceptions and beliefs. But bias is not random and its directions relate to our evolutionary history and culture, especially to how these interface with human sociality. With us to decipher bias is Jim Zimring. Jim is the author of...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Science History Podcast have?
Science History Podcast currently has 100 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Science History Podcast about?
Monthly interviews on important moments in the history of science.
How often does Science History Podcast release new episodes?
Science History Podcast has 100 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Science History Podcast?
You can listen to Science History Podcast on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Science History Podcast?
Science History Podcast is created and hosted by Frank A. von Hippel.
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