10 episodes
Science Social - Conversations on History, Science, and Society Max Planck Institute for the History of Science - MPIWG
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Science Social: Conversations on History, Science, and Society
How might we think about climate change? Pandemics? Racism? Or digital culture? Then there's "fake news," biodiversity decline... all questions that concern our lives, one way or another, which science, history, and society can help us to explore.
In "Science Social," guests from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science join host Stephanie Hood with a cup of coffee to take a close-up look at what science, society, and history can tell us about the wider issues of the twenty-first century. Delving into weird and wonderful stories from the world of research, we unpack the odd new idea here and there that might just give us new perspectives. How does digitization change our lives and what researchers, or the public, know and understand? What can a simple mask—that iconic object of the coronavirus pandemic—tell us about social equality? And what does China's growing scientific and technological influence mean for all of us? Tune in to each episode as we explore the big questions of science, socially!
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09 - How Alchemy Helped Feed Early Modern Europe
In the early modern era, European agriculture was in crisis. Soils had become depleted, crops grew smaller and fewer in number, and the growing seasons were shorter and cooler. Food production could no longer keep pace with population growth. To find solutions, some to turned to a field not commonly associated with agricultural production: alchemy. From the philosopher's stone to "vegetable salt" to early attempts in fertilization and modern chemical agriculture: host Stephanie Hood is joined by historian Justin Niermeier-Dohoney as they explore how people in the past dealt with similar ecological challenges to those we are facing today—and how some of their ideas may still provide clues for how to solve them.
Learn more about agricultural uses of alchemy in early modern Europe: https://bit.ly/agriculture-and-alchemy
About Justin Niermeier-Dohoney: https://www.fit.edu/faculty-profiles/n/niermeier-dohoney-justin/ and https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/people/jniermeier
This podcast is produced by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Follow us on https://twitter.com/MPIWG
Host: Stephanie Hood
Concept and sound editing by Verena Braun
Theme song by Podington Bear, CC NY-NC 3.0 -
08 - Léon Rosenfeld and the Quest for Unification
The Belgian physicist Léon Rosenfeld conducted groundbreaking research in theoretical physics. Yet he, and his work, are barely known about. Together, podcast host Stephanie Hood and historian of physics Bernadette Lessel go on a search for clues from Rosenfeld's life: What made his research so important, during a time when the field of physics itself went through a significant shift? Might looking at its history change physics today, and if so, how? And why are some figures in science better remembered than others?
Learn more about Leon Rosenfeld and his research: https://bit.ly/maths-final-theory
About Bernadette Lessel: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/de/people/blessel
This podcast is produced by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Follow us on https://twitter.com/MPIWG
Host: Stephanie Hood
Concept and sound editing by Verena Braun
Theme song by Podington Bear, CC NY-NC 3.0
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Special Episode: There Is No One History of Science (But It’s All Interconnected)
What is truth? When does a pandemic “end”? What decisions do we want to leave to artificial intelligence… and which would we rather not?
These are some of the questions “that keep them up at night,” as science journalist Pakinam Amer puts it. “They” are researchers at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science: Adrien de Sutter, Alexander Blum, Dora Vargha, and Yishu Mao. In this special episode of Science Social, Pakinam and host Stephanie Hood sit together with them to journey through the multifaceted ideas and concepts at the intersections of science, society, and history.
In conversation, we explore how the science of the past is deeply connected to our present and future. And, we ask how diverse perspectives from these interdisciplinary spaces can help us to better understand and navigate our ever-evolving world—from devastating pandemics, to cutting-edge physics, to the dawn of AI.
Learn more about the researchers mentioned in the episode:
Adrien de Sutter: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/de/people/adesutter
Alexander Blum: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/de/people/ablum
Dora Vargha: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/de/people/dvargha
Yishu Mao: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/de/people/ymao
Rocco Gaudenzi: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/de/people/rgaudenzi
Benjamin Johnson: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/de/people/bjohnson
Karolina Sobecka: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/de/people/kasobecka
This podcast is produced by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Follow us on https://twitter.com/MPIWG
Hosted and written by: Pakinam Amer and Stephanie Hood
Produced by: Pakinam Amer, Verena Braun, and Stephanie Hood
Sound editing by: Verena Braun
Theme song by: Podington Bear - Pretty and Cruddy Beat, CC NY-NC 3.0
Transition Music by: Podington Bear - Flutterbee, CC NY-NC 3.0
Audio Quote Joe Biden: President Biden: "The pandemic is over" | 60 Minutes -
07 - Leonardo's Intellectual Cosmos
Leonardo da Vinci is commonly known as the great inventor of creative machines, the artist of the famous drawing of the Vitruvian Man. But Leonardo was also an avid reader: his personal library contained nearly 200 books on science and technology, literature, and religion. The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science (MPIWG), with the Museo Galileo and the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, has reconstructed the lost book collection for the exhibition "Leonardo's Intellectual Cosmos," where visitors can now marvel at many of these outstanding old works.
What can his books and codices tell us about this world-renowned artist, scientist, and intellectual, who continuously crossed boundaries between disciplines? How did the Renaissance era in which he lived influence his thinking and ideas? And what can we learn from him about science and public trust in science today? In this podcast episode, host Stephanie Hood welcomes Jürgen Renn, MPIWG Director and one of the curators of the exhibition, which is now open to visitors at the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. Due to the current pandemic situation, Jürgen Renn joins the podcast remotely.
About Jürgen Renn: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/users/renn
Learn more about the exhibition: http://bit.ly/leonardo-exhibition
Visitor information: http://bit.ly/Leonardo-visitors
Go to the virtual exhibition: https://leonardo-online.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/de/
This podcast is produced by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Follow us on https://twitter.com/MPIWG
Host: Stephanie Hood
Concept and sound editing by Verena Braun
Theme song by Podington Bear, CC NY-NC 3.0
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06 - Grasping the Invisible
Analogies have been used throughout history as a means of explaining the world, and of grasping phenomena that could not otherwise be understood. In this episode of the "Science Social" podcast series, host Stephanie Hood and Postdoctoral Fellow Hannah Erlwein visit the "Islamic Golden Age," a period of cultural, theological, and scientific flourishing where analogies were central to understanding how the world was made and how science and religion connected.
From the art of debating to Newton's shoot for the moon, from Aristotle to Avicenna, from mind-boggling "What Ifs?" to current advances in artificial intelligence, we explore how people are, and always have been, analogical beings.
Learn more about Analogies in Premodern Islamic Theology: http://bit.ly/knowing-the-unobservable
Listen to Hannah Erlwein's Podcast Kalamopod: https://anchor.fm/kalamopod
About Hannah Erlwein: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/users/herlwein
This podcast is produced by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Follow us on https://twitter.com/MPIWG
Host: Stephanie Hood
Concept and sound editing by Verena Braun
Theme song by Podington Bear, CC NY-NC 3.0 -
05 - The Discovery of Black Holes
Over the past century, physicists and astronomers have brought to light one of the most elusive and powerful phenomena in our universe: black holes. Unobservable to the human eye, even their sheer existence has been contested until recently. The breathtaking first-ever image of a black hole, taken by the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) in 2019, marks just one step in a complex ongoing history of revealing and understanding them. Further recent discoveries, including telescope pictures of a black hole in polarized light, continue to amaze and captivate not only scientists but the world at large.
So what did it take for black holes to go from theoretical construct to observed reality? How did Einstein's theory of general relativity play a role in their discovery and elucidation? And how do we continue to discover and "see" black holes, even in our own galaxy?
Join "Science Social" podcast host Stephanie Hood on a journey through history-in-the-making with scholars Alexander Blum and Juan Andres Leon Gomez, who weave together 100 years of fascinating human stories and scientific insights that have shed light on the existence of these fields of spacetime where gravity is so strong that nothing—no particles, or even light—can escape.
Learn more about General Relativity and the Discovery of Black Holes: http://bit.ly/GeneralRelativity-BlackHoles
About Alexander Blum: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/users/ablum
About Juan-Andres Leon Gomez: https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/users/jaleon
This podcast is produced by the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de
Follow us on https://twitter.com/MPIWG
Host: Stephanie Hood
Concept and sound editing by Verena Braun
Theme song by Podington Bear, CC NY-NC 3.0