Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak: Recent Episodes
Gabrielle Birchak
Math! Science! History! is a podcast about the history of people, theories, and discoveries that have moved our scientific progress forward and spurred us on to unimaginable discoveries. Join Gabrielle Birchak for a little math, a little science, and a little history. All in a little bit of time.
In this episode of Momentum Monday, I cover how the ancient mathematician Diophantus, who revolutionized problem-solving by focusing on relationships between numbers, can inspire us to rethink our own relationships. Instead of fixating on fixing others, I challenge you to observe, question, and experiment with your connections, just like solving an equation. Whether it's a coworker, family member, or friend, I share how curiosity, pattern recognition, and small changes can shift the momentum in your favor. Plus, I reference research from Albert Bandura, Daniel Kahneman, and B.F. Skinner to ground these ideas in psychology.
🔗 Sources & Further Reading:
- Diophantus and the Birth of Algebra
- Albert Bandura's Social Learning Theory
- Daniel Kahneman's Thinking, Fast and Slow
- B.F. Skinner Science and Human Behavior
3 Things You'll Learn
- How to observe relationships like a mathematician, identify patterns, not just problems.
- Why questioning your assumptions (e.g., "Are they ignoring me or overwhelmed?") prevents misunderstandings.
- How to experiment with small changes to shift the dynamic in any relationship.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast? 🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal
Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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Music: All music is Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from Violin Machine: A Deconstruction of the Bach Concerto by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
AI may verify proofs, but it can't replace curiosity. In this episode, I travel back nearly 1,800 years to meet Diophantus of Alexandria and explore how his approach to mathematics still shapes modern problem-solving, from Fermat's Last Theorem to today's AI-assisted research. Along the way, we discover why the real value of mathematics isn't finding answers. it's learning how to think.
🌐 Website: https://www.MathScienceHistory.com
☕Support the show: https://paypal.com/ncp/payment/PR7F7ST49GDNA
• Discover why Diophantus is considered one of history's most influential mathematicians. • Learn how his work inspired Fermat's Last Theorem centuries later. • Explore whether AI is changing mathematics. or simply giving mathematicians better tools.
Follow the show, subscribe wherever you listen, and leave a review to help others discover Math! Science! History!
Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Valorium – by It's Trigi – No Copyright and no rights reserved Documentary Background – by MiroMax Music – No Copyright and no rights reserved Blackbook 7/1/01 from On The Sensations of Tone – by Lloyd Rodgers – No Copyright and no rights reserved Galliard á3 in g by Orlando Gibbons - recorded, mixed, and mastered by Dr. Phillip W. Serna - licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license Cute loop [c major] [93bpm] by deadrobotmusic -- https://freesound.org/s/555708/ -- License: Creative Commons 0
Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Until next time, carpe diem! - Gabrielle
Can mathematics be patented? In this episode, I explore one of the most fascinating questions in mathematics, intellectual property, and computer science by tracing the history of patents from the ancient world to today's software and AI algorithms. Along the way, we'll discover why mathematical ideas themselves remain unpatentable while the innovative ways we apply them can change technology, and the future.
🌐 Website: https://www.MathScienceHistory.com ☕Support the show: https://paypal.com/ncp/payment/PR7F7ST49GDNA
You'll learn:
• Why mathematics itself cannot be patented but mathematical applications sometimes can. • How ancient patent and copyright ideas evolved into modern intellectual property law. • How the MP3, Fourier Series, FFT, and the Alice v. CLS Bank case shaped today's software patents.
Follow the show, subscribe on your favorite podcast platform, and leave a review to help more people discover Math! Science! History! Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform! Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!
Until next time, carpe diem!
You don't have to be a famous chemist to think like one. This week, I share three "flashcards" inspired by John Dalton that reveal how you're already using the same habits of observation, organization, and intellectual curiosity that have fueled scientific discovery for centuries.
🌐 Website: https://www.MathScienceHistory.com ☕Support the show: https://paypal.com/ncp/payment/PR7F7ST49GDNA
You'll learn: • Why noticing everyday patterns is the first step of scientific thinking. • How organizing information is one of the most powerful skills of mathematicians and scientists. • Why changing your mind when new evidence appears is a sign of wisdom—not weakness.
Follow the podcast, subscribe on your favorite platform, and leave a review to help more people discover Math, Science, and History.
Flashcard Music: Gift of the Stars from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Success doesn't begin with talent, it begins with the habits you practice when no one is watching. This week, I share three powerful life lessons from chemist John Dalton that can help you build momentum, overcome obstacles, and develop the kind of character that earns lasting respect.
🌐 Website: https://www.MathScienceHistory.com☕Support the show: https://paypal.com/ncp/payment/PR7F7ST49GDNA
You'll learn: • How to move forward even when opportunities seem out of reach. • Why consistent daily habits create extraordinary results over time. • How humility and genuine relationships build a legacy that lasts.
Follow the podcast, subscribe on your favorite platform, and leave a review to help more people discover Math, Science, and History.
Momentum Music: All music is Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from Violin Machine: A Deconstruction of the Bach Concerto by Lloyd Rodgers
Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!
Until next time, carpe diem!
I'm revisiting one of my first episodes: the story of John Dalton, the self-taught Quaker schoolteacher who never attended university yet gave modern atomic theory its first real momentum. Barred from English universities for his faith, Dalton turned stubborn curiosity into world-changing science, mapping colorblindness before anyone understood it and sketching the first table of elements in a notebook. This is how one weaver's son carried science from a Cumberland village to the Large Hadron Collider.
You'll learn:
• How a Quaker weaver's son barred from university built the foundation of atomic theory
• The stockings mix-up that led Dalton to discover, and later name, colorblindness
• Why his five-element notebook sketch from 1803 still echoes inside the Large Hadron Collider
🌐 Website: https://www.MathScienceHistory.com
☕Support the show: https://paypal.com/ncp/payment/PR7F7ST49GDNA
Follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode. Please leave a review, it helps more curious minds find the show!
Music & Closing Credits Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show!
Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!
Until next time, carpe diem! - Gabrielle
Your instinct to question evidence, challenge "the way things are," and fall in love with a hard problem isn't a personality quirk; it's the exact thinking that built modern science, anthropology, and mathematics. In this Flashcards Friday episode, I break down three quick "cards" inspired by Sir Francis Bacon, Margaret Mead, and Paul Erdős, and show how their most famous breakthroughs mirror instincts you already have. This one's a companion to last Wednesday's Pride Month special, but it stands entirely on its own.
🌐 Website: https://www.MathScienceHistory.com ☕Support the show: https://paypal.com/ncp/payment/PR7F7ST49GDNA
Three Things You'll Learn · How Francis Bacon's inductive reasoning became the foundation of the entire scientific method, and the personal risk he took living as a gay man in Elizabethan England
· Why Margaret Mead's research in Samoa proved that "normal" is often just "what we decided and forgot we decided"
· How Paul Erdős treated unsolved math problems like lifelong relationships, and why that's the key to real mathematical thinking
Subscribe so you never miss a Flashcards Friday, and if this one hit home, leave a review—it helps more curious minds find the show!
Flashcard Music: Gift of the Stars from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. All music is in the public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
IMAGES:
Bacon, Francis (1561-1626) -- Portraits Portraits Appartient à l'ensemble documentaire - By Bibliothèque nationale de France, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=161117399
Margaret Mead - By Los Angeles Daily News - https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz0002pz57, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=117411558
Coming of Age cover (1928) – Public Domain - Coming of Age in Samoa: margaret mead : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive
Paul Erdos - By Kmhkmh - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=123828932
Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform. Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Until next time, carpe diem!
The fastest way to solve your toughest problem isn't to grind harder on it, it's to rotate your focus across a few problems at once, the way legendary mathematician Paul Erdős juggled hundreds of unsolved problems at a time. In this episode, I break down the neuroscience of why this "interleaving" beats multitasking, and I hand you seven simple tools to build this Erdős Method into your work week and your home life. By the end, you'll have a system for turning stuck, vague problems into ones your brain quietly keeps solving in the background. 🌐 Website: https://www.MathScienceHistory.com ☕Support the show: https://paypal.com/ncp/payment/PR7F7ST49GDNA Three Things Listeners Will Learn
- Why interleaving deep, undivided focus on one problem at a time, rotated across several, outperforms multitasking
- How to build a personal "Erdős List" and use the 45/15 focus block to make steady progress on several problems each week
- How small habits like the Wall Log, the Thinking Walk, and an End-of-Day Briefing turn your brain's background processing into visible progress
Subscribe to Math! Science! History! on your favorite podcast app and leave a review! It really does help more people find the show!
Momentum Music: All music is Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from Violin Machine: A Deconstruction of the Bach Concerto by Lloyd Rodgers
Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Until next time, carpe diem! - Gabrielle
For Pride Month, I profile eight scientists across eight identities in the 2SLGBTQI+ community. From the equations underpinning modern physics to the brain cells once dismissed as filler tissue, these researchers shaped the world we live in, often while hiding, fighting for, or paying dearly for who they were. Today I trace the lives of Sofia Kovalevskaya, Alan Turing, Margaret Mead, Ben Barres, Christopher Strachey, Magnus Hirschfeld, Paul Erdős, and Lozen, eight stories of brilliance that history tried, and failed, to erase.
3 Things You'll Learn in This Episode 1. How a forged marriage opened the door to modern physics. Sofia Kovalevskaya couldn't attend university as a woman in Russia, so she found another way in, and ended up proving foundational theorems that every engineer and physicist still relies on today. 2. Why the man who helped win WWII was punished by the country he saved. Alan Turing's codebreaking work is credited with shortening the war by years and saving millions of lives. Decades later, that same government prosecuted him for being gay, then put him on its currency. 3. How "supporting" brain cells turned out to be running the show. Ben Barres's research overturned decades of neuroscience consensus about glial cells, and his own experience transitioning gave him a firsthand look at gender bias in science that became one of the most cited accounts of its kind.
Featured Scientists & Resources Sofia Kovalevskaya (1850–1891), Mathematician
- Cooke, R. (1984). The Mathematics of Sonya Kovalevskaya. Springer-Verlag.
- Koblitz, A. H. (1983). A Convergence of Lives: Sofia Kovalevskaia, Scientist, Writer, Revolutionary. Birkhäuser.
- MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive
Alan Turing (1912–1954), Mathematician & Computer Scientist
- Hodges, A. (1983). Alan Turing: The Enigma. Burnett Books.
- Turing, A. M. (1950). "Computing Machinery and Intelligence." Mind, 59(236), 433–460.
- The Alan Turing Institute
- Bank of England: Alan Turing £50 note
- Wellcome Sanger Institute Blog: "LGBTQ+ scientists who shaped history"
Margaret Mead (1901–1978), Anthropologist
- Mead, M. (1928). Coming of Age in Samoa. William Morrow & Company.
- Mead, M. (1975). "Bisexuality: A New Awareness." Redbook Magazine.
- Banner, L. W. (2003). Intertwined Lives: Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and Their Circle. Knopf.
- QueerBio.com: Margaret Mead
- Legacy Project Chicago: Margaret Mead
Ben Barres (1954–2017), Neurobiologist
- Barres, B. A. (2018). The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist. MIT Press.
- Barres, B. A. (2006). "Does gender matter?" Nature, 442, 133–136.
- Allen, N. J., & Barres, B. A. (2005). "Signaling between glia and neurons: focus on synaptic plasticity." Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 15(5), 542–548.
- Wellcome Sanger Institute Blog: "LGBTQ+ scientists who shaped history"
Christopher Strachey (1916–1975), Computer Scientist
- Campbell-Kelly, M. (1985). "Christopher Strachey, 1916–1975: A Biographical Note." IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, 7(1), 19–42.
- Strachey, C. (1967). "Fundamental Concepts in Programming Languages." Published posthumously in Higher-Order and Symbolic Computation, 13 (2000), 11–49.
- Computer History Museum: Christopher Strachey
Magnus Hirschfeld (1868–1935), Physician & Sexologist
- Hirschfeld, M. (1910). Die Transvestiten. Alfred Pulvermacher.
- Wolff, C. (1986). Magnus Hirschfeld: A Portrait of a Pioneer in Sexology. Quartet Books.
- Encyclopædia Britannica: Magnus Hirschfeld
- US Holocaust Memorial Museum: Magnus Hirschfeld
- Science Museum Blog: "Magnus Hirschfeld and the Institute for Sexual Science"
Paul Erdős (1913–1996), Mathematician
- Hoffman, P. (1998). The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdős and the Search for Mathematical Truth. Hyperion.
- Schechter, B. (1998). My Brain Is Open: The Mathematical Journeys of Paul Erdős. Simon & Schuster.
- ASBMB: "LGBTQ+ scientists in history"
- The Erdős Number Project, Oakland University
Lozen (c. 1840–1889), Medicine Woman & Warrior
- Ball, E. (1970). In the Days of Victorio: Recollections of a Warm Springs Apache. University of Arizona Press.
- Aleshire, P. (1998). Warrior Woman: The Story of Lozen, Apache Warrior and Shaman. St. Martin's Press.
- Multnomah County Library: "Notable Two-Spirit Figures in History"
- Legends of America: "Lozen: Apache War Woman & Prophet"
- New Mexico Historic Women Marker Program: "Little Sister Lozen"
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let's Connect!Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube 🎧 Enjoying the Podcast? ☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal
Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
Check out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd RodgersSkylight by Aidan Pinset is from Pixabay and has no copyrightDocumentary by Nikita Kondrashev is from Pixabay and has no copyrightNature Documentary by Alisia Beats is from Pixabay and has no copyrightModular Ambient by S Scheidl is from Pixabay and has no copyrightFrom Page to Practice by Brian Teoh and has no copyright Old Tolchaco by Southwest Native American Indian Flute is from Pixabay and has no copyright
Until next time, carpe diem!
What if the negotiation strategies, workplace rhythms, and relationship instincts you've relied on your whole life already had names in mathematics? In today's FLASHCARDS! episode of Math! Science! History!, I break down three foundational concepts from game theory: dominant strategy, tit for tat, and Nash equilibrium, and connect each one to the everyday decisions, compromises, and unspoken social contracts you navigate all the time. Whether you're a math enthusiast or someone who swore they "weren't a math person," this episode reveals that you've been doing game theory your entire life without even knowing it.
🃏 In This Episode, You Will Learn: * What a dominant strategy is and how to recognize when you're already using one, from sending that follow-up email to ordering your favorite dish at a restaurant. * The fascinating history of tit for tat, the surprisingly simple strategy that beat out complex algorithms in Robert Axelrod's famous 1980s tournament, and how it mirrors the unspoken rules of your closest relationships. * How a Nash equilibrium shows up in everyday conflict, and why the moment you and someone else silently agree to "stop pushing" is actually a mathematically stable outcome.
📚 Sources
- Von Neumann's 1928 minimax theorem is widely considered the founding document of modern game theory. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimax_theorem
- John Nash received the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences in 1994 for his pioneering analysis of equilibria in the theory of non-cooperative games. https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1994/nash/facts
- Robert Axelrod's landmark book The Evolution of Cooperation (1984) explored how cooperation can emerge among self-interested agents, using his famous computer tournament in which tit for tat won. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Evolution_of_Cooperation
📣 Calls to Action Subscribe & Review: If today's episode made you see your everyday decisions in a whole new light, please subscribe to Math! Science! History! and leave a review wherever you listen. It helps more curious minds find the show!
Share This Episode: Know someone who loves psychology, strategy, or really nails the follow-up email? Send them this episode; they're already game theorists and don't know it yet.
Keep Learning: Catch up on last week's full episode on the birth of game theory and Monday's episode on using these strategies in the workplace!
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast? 🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal
Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform.
Check out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this episode of Momentum Monday, I cover the unexpected power of game theory, not just for economists or chess players, but as a practical toolkit for smarter decisions in work, relationships, and personal habits. I break down three game-changing strategies: 1) Know Your "Game" (mapping players, rules, and payoffs) 2) Build Your BATNA (your secret weapon for negotiation leverage) 3) Tilt the Game in Your Favor (shaping interactions for win-win outcomes)
Whether you're negotiating a raise, handling a tough conversation, or just trying to stick to your gym routine, these tactics will help you design your environment for success. Learn more about game theory's real-world applications here and how to apply BATNA in negotiations here.
What You'll Learn:
- How to map your interactions like a game, identifying players, rules, and payoffs to make smarter decisions. (Source: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy)
- Why BATNA (Best Alternative To a Negotiated Agreement) is your negotiation superpower, and how to build one. (Source: Harvard PON)
- How to shape your environment and incentives to tilt outcomes in your favor, even in everyday situations.
Call to Action:🔹 Try it this week: Pick one interaction where you'll apply one of these power-ups. Notice how it changes your approach, and your results!🔹 Share your win: Tag me on social media @Math.Science.History with #MomentumMonday and tell me which strategy worked for you!🔹 Subscribe & Review: Help more people discover Momentum Monday by leaving a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Every review fuels the momentum!
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal
Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
Check out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
Music: All music is Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from Violin Machine: A Deconstruction of the Bach Concerto by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
In this episode, I'm covering the fascinating origin story of game theory, the mathematical framework that explains how we make decisions when our choices depend on what others do. From the chess board to the Cold War, from traffic jams to Nobel Prizes, game theory is hiding everywhere in plain sight. I explore the brilliant, sometimes tortured minds of John von Neumann and John Nash, walk you through the elegant math of the minimax theorem and Nash equilibrium, and show you how these ideas have shaped economics, artificial intelligence, biology, and even nuclear diplomacy. Whether you're a math lover or just someone who's ever wondered why traffic jams form out of nowhere, this episode will completely change the way you see strategy, competition, and cooperation in everyday life.
What You'll Learn · The historical and mathematical context of the early 20th century that made game theory possible
· What a "game" actually means in the mathematical sense, and why it's about far more than chess or poker
· Who John von Neumann was and how his 1928 minimax theorem became the cornerstone of game theory
· How John Nash, a young Princeton doctoral student, revolutionized the field with the Nash equilibrium
· Why the Prisoner's Dilemma shows that rational individuals can end up with collectively bad outcomes
Quote from the Episode "As far as I can see, there could be no theory of games without that theorem … I thought there was nothing worth publishing until the Minimax Theorem was proved." - John von Neumann
Episode Resources · von Neumann, John. "Zur Theorie der Gesellschaftsspiele" [On the Theory of Games of Strategy]. Mathematische Annalen 100 (1928): 295–320.
· Nash, John F. "Equilibrium Points in N-Person Games." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 36 (1950): 48–49.
· Nasar, Sylvia. A Beautiful Mind: The Life of Mathematical Genius and Nobel Laureate John Nash. Simon & Schuster, 1998.
· The Nobel Prize, 1994 Economics Prize Press Release: https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/1994/press-release/
· Google DeepMind, AlphaGo at 10: https://deepmind.google/blog/10-years-of-alphago/
· Springer Nature, Quantum Game Theory Review (2025): https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11128-025-04913-4
· Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Evolutionary Game Theory: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/game-evolutionary/
· MathWorld, Minimax Theorem: https://archive.lib.msu.edu/crcmath/math/math/m/m254.htm
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let's Connect!Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history Mastodon: https://mathsciencehistory@mathstodon.xyz YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory
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Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
I Love Math by Gabrielle Birchak – all rights reserved
The Secret to Growing Up by Lee Rosevere - public domain from Pixabay
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this Earth Day week special of Flashcards Friday, we explore the growing environmental impact of artificial intelligence and digital technology. While AI is revolutionizing our world, it comes with a hidden cost, massive energy consumption and increasing strain on our planet. In this episode, you'll learn how data centers contribute to global electricity use, how your everyday digital habits add to the problem, and most importantly, what you can do to help curb energy consumption. From holding tech companies accountable to making smarter personal choices, this episode empowers you to take meaningful action toward a more sustainable digital future.
What You'll Learn in This Episode * How AI and data centers contribute to global energy consumption and carbon emissions * Simple, practical ways to reduce your personal digital energy footprint * How to advocate for sustainable technology and hold companies accountable
Key Takeaways * Data centers already consume ~1% of global electricity, and demand is rising rapidly * Everyday actions like sending emails, streaming, and using AI tools all have an energy cost * Small habit changes can collectively make a significant environmental impact
Consumer pressure and policy advocacy can push tech companies toward sustainability
Call to Action * Audit your digital habits today: Clean out your inbox, reduce unnecessary emails, and limit high-energy digital activities * Support sustainable companies: Choose tech platforms committed to renewable energy and transparency * Speak up: Ask companies about their carbon footprint and share awareness on social media * Subscribe & Share: If you found this episode valuable, share it with a friend and subscribe so you never miss a Flashcards Friday
Flashcards Recap Ask & Advocate: Demand transparency and support green policies Cut Digital Waste: Reduce unnecessary digital consumption Choose Mindfully: Prioritize energy-efficient habits and technologies
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast? 🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal
Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
Check out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this Earth Day episode, I pull back the curtain on the hidden environmental cost of our digital lives. From streaming videos and sending emails to the explosive growth of artificial intelligence, I explore how the internet, often perceived as clean and intangible, is powered by massive, energy-hungry infrastructure that relies heavily on fossil fuels. I walk through the surprising math behind data centers, AI energy consumption, and e-waste, while challenging the narrative that tech is inherently sustainable. This episode isn't about guilt, it's about awareness, accountability, and asking better questions about the future we're building.
What You'll Learn * Why the internet produces 2–4% of global carbon emissions, rivaling the aviation industry * How data centers consume massive amounts of electricity, enough to power millions of homes * The hidden carbon cost of everyday actions like streaming, emailing, and searching online * The environmental trade-offs of moving our lives online * Whether AI is actually helping fight climate change, or making it worse * What policies and systemic changes could meaningfully reduce tech's environmental impact * How to think critically about digital consumption without falling into guilt-based thinking
Quote from the Podcast "The invisibility of digital pollution is not a coincidence, it's a product of very deliberate branding."
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal
Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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Music: All music from Pixabay is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this Earth Day Week episode, I explore how momentum, whether in social movements, politics, or personal relationships, starts with communication, not agreement. Drawing from the origins of the first Earth Day, I highlight how bipartisan collaboration sparked a movement that engaged 20 million Americans. You'll learn how structured dialogue reduces polarization, why understanding values is the real bridge to empathy, and how consistent communication builds trust and momentum over time. This episode reveals the math of common ground and how two perspectives together solve complex problems better than one alone.
3 Things You'll Learn
- Why communication across disagreement is a proven strategy to reduce hostility and increase empathy.
- How finding common ground works like solving simultaneous equations in math, revealing shared solutions.
- The importance of consistent, repeated dialogue in building trust and sustaining momentum for change.
Resources
- Earth Day history and 20 million participants: Earth Day History
- APA on healing political divides: Healing the Political Divide (APA)
- Stanford on empathy and polarization: Stanford Research on Empathy and Respect
- University of Rochester megastudy on reducing partisan animosity: Research-backed Ways to Bridge America's Political Divide
- UC Berkeley on limits of brief dialogue: Can Conversations Reduce Political Conflict?\u00A0
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast? 🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal
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Music: All music is Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from Violin Machine: A Deconstruction of the Bach Concerto by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
Today's episode explores how you can intentionally build a meaningful legacy by learning from Rosalind Franklin, the scientist whose meticulous work uncovered the DNA double helix. Listeners will discover why precision and patience are essential in creating lasting impact, how to stay motivated when recognition is delayed, and how legacy is less about immediate fame and more about what you enable others to achieve. Tune in to gain practical insights on crafting a legacy that endures beyond your lifetime. Three Takeaways!
- Why Precision and Patience Matter: How careful, thoughtful work creates a foundation for lasting influence.
- Staying Motivated When Recognition Is Delayed: Understanding that value isn't always immediately visible.
- Legacy as What You Make Possible for Others: How your actions today can ripple forward and empower future generations.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
What happens when the person who does the most essential work never gets the credit? In this episode of Math, Science, History, I tell the story of Rosalind Franklin, the brilliant, exacting chemist whose X-ray diffraction image, Photo 51, revealed the double helix structure of DNA. From the basement of King's College London to the Nobel Prize ceremony she never attended, this episode traces how recognition fades, gets redistributed, and sometimes takes seventy years to settle. It's a story about science, yes, but also about who gets to be remembered, and why the quiet ones doing the actual work so often disappear from history before history knows it has a debt to pay.
What You'll Learn · How Rosalind Franklin used X-ray crystallography to capture Photo 51, and what she derived from that single image
· How Watson and Crick accessed Franklin's data without her knowledge, and what it meant for the published record
· Why Franklin never shared in the 1962 Nobel Prize, and the ongoing debate about what would have happened had she lived
Quote from the Episode "Rosalind Franklin knew the shape of DNA from its shadow. We know the shape of this problem from its data. The question this podcast really asks is whether knowing is enough.", Gabrielle Birchak
Episode Resources
- Dr. Rosalind Franklin, Rosalind Franklin University
- The Story Behind Photograph 51, King's College London
- From the Archive: Rosalind Franklin's Famous Photo 51, UKRI
- Women Are Credited Less in Science Than Men, Nature
- Natalie Portman to Star as Rosalind Franklin in Photograph 51
- Science Museum of Virginia, Rosalind Franklin
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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In this episode of Monday Momentum, I tackle the silent force that stalls your week before it even starts: overthinking. Drawing on groundbreaking cognitive research, including a Princeton study that found financial stress can drop mental performance by the equivalent of a 13-point IQ loss, and Bluma Zeigarnik's landmark 1927 findings on unfinished tasks, I reveal why mental drag is the hidden tax on your time, focus, and forward motion. More importantly, I shows you exactly how to break the loop: because momentum doesn't begin with perfect clarity, it begins with initiation. Even five minutes of action can be enough to shift your entire week.
🎓 THREE THINGS YOU'LL LEARN 1. The neuroscience of overthinking, why financial stress and mental loops can drain your brain as much as losing an entire night of sleep, and what research says about the cognitive cost of worry. 2. The Zeigarnik and Ovsiankina effects, how unfinished tasks hijack your mental bandwidth, and why starting,even for just five minutes,is the most powerful thing you can do to build momentum. 3. Three practical steps to stop the loop this week, how to name your thought spiral, convert worry into one visible action, and use the five-minute launch to break through avoidance and build unstoppable forward motion.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from Violin Machine: A Deconstruction of the Bach Concerto by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
Tax season can feel overwhelming, even for people who enjoy working with numbers. In this Flashcards Friday episode, Gabrielle breaks down the science behind why taxes trigger stress and offers three practical, math-inspired strategies to make the process more manageable. By understanding how your brain processes complexity and anxiety, you can approach taxes with clarity, structure, and a stronger sense of control.
What You'll Learn 1. How working memory overload contributes to tax season overwhelm, and how to reduce it 2. A simple Bayesian-style approach to managing financial anxiety with real evidence 3. How reframing taxes as part of a larger historical and personal narrative can reduce stress and increase motivation
📣 Calls to Action * Subscribe to Math! Science! History! so you never miss a Flashcards Friday * Share this episode with someone who is feeling overwhelmed this tax season * Leave a review on your favorite podcast platform to help others discover the show * Visit your website for more math-meets-life insights and episode resources
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Taxes feel like a modern invention, tied to governments, elections, and April deadlines, but their story stretches back over five thousand years. In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle traces the origins of taxation from ancient Mesopotamian clay tablets and Egyptian grain levies to Roman tax farmers, medieval tithes, and the birth of the modern income tax. Along the way, she explores how taxation has always been more than economics, it is a reflection of power, fairness, and the cost of belonging to a society.
What You'll Learn * How taxation began in ancient Mesopotamia as a system tied to temples and survival * Why ancient Egypt created one of the first structured tax systems * How Athens and Rome approached taxation very differently, and what that reveals about politics * The role of feudalism and the church in shaping medieval taxation * Why the Magna Carta transformed the idea of taxation and consent * How and why the modern income tax was introduced in Britain and the United States * The origin of tax withholding and why it changed everything * What "top marginal tax rate" actually means (and why it matters) * How war, especially mass conscription, drove some of the highest tax rates in history * Why debates about "fair share" have remained unchanged for thousands of years
Quote from the Episode "Who decides what you owe, and what does it cost to belong to a society?"
Episode Resources
- History of Taxation (Britannica): https://www.britannica.com/topic/taxation/History-of-taxation
- Brief History of the IRS: IRS history timeline | Internal Revenue Service
- The 16th Amendment (U.S. National Archives): https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/16th-amendment
- UK Parliament: History of Income Tax: https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/transformingsociety/private-lives/taxation/overview/incometax/
- Historical Income Tax Rates and Brackets, 1862-2025
- Magna Carta Overview: Magna Carta - Summary, Facts & Rights | HISTORY
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd RodgersDulcimer Dance by Arizona Guide from Pixabay Beata – Dark Pagan by Claude Houde from Pixabay All the Things by Abydos_Music from Pixabay Apathias-dark-ambient by Vlad Bakutov from Pixabay
SFX – Horse Galloping – coconut shells by alanmcki on Freesound
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In this week's Monday Momentum, I explore how mentorship creates forward motion in both your career and your life. Inspired by the Maria Gaetana Agnesi episode, I discuss how seeking guidance and giving guidance in parallel acts like a flywheel, building momentum that carries projects, learning, and personal growth forward. I share actionable tips for finding a mentor, mentoring others, and observing the momentum that emerges when support flows in both directions.
Resources & Research:
- Less than half of professionals report having a mentor, yet those with mentors are much more likely to advance and feel engaged at work (Gallup)
- Mentored employees are promoted up to five times more often, and mentors themselves can see promotions up to six times more often (Mentorloop)
- Mentorship improves job satisfaction and organizational commitment
- Organizations with mentoring programs experience higher engagement and retention (Chronus)
- Long-term mentoring correlates with higher lifetime earnings, educational attainment, and leadership development (After School Alliance)
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from Violin Machine by Lloyd Rodgers
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In this episode of Flashcards Friday, I break down a powerful diagnostic framework, the Six Gates of Access, that reveals why resources like healthcare, education, legal help, and business funding can exist on paper while remaining completely out of reach for millions of women. Moving far beyond the question of whether help exists, I map each gate, Awareness, Eligibility, Friction, Capacity, Continuity, and Safety, across four real-world scenarios: maternal health, advanced education, entrepreneurship, and workplace discrimination, giving listeners a practical tool to identify exactly which barrier is blocking progress and what to do about it.
Learn about:
- The Six Gates of Access framework, a diagnostic model that explains why "a resource exists" and "a resource is reachable" are two very different things, and how any single failing gate can make an entire system inaccessible.
- How the gates show up differently depending on whether you're seeking prenatal care, a college degree, a small business loan, or legal help for workplace discrimination, same model, entirely different doorways.
- Actionable gate-opening strategies, specific, real-world workarounds for each gate so you can stop asking "what's wrong with me?" and start asking "which gate is this, and how do I push through it?"
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem! - Gabrielle
This episode of Math! Science! History! uncovers the true story of Maria Gaetana Agnesi, the 18th-century mathematician mislabeled the "Witch of Agnesi." In this episode I explore her groundbreaking textbook, the social pressures she faced, and her later life of charity.
Episode Overview
Visit Milan's intellectual salons where young Agnesi dazzled as a polyglot prodigy, only to channel her brilliance into Instituzioni analitiche, a pioneering calculus textbook for Italian youth. Discover how she rejected fame for charity, leading a hospital for the poor and dying among those she served, showing that her legacy was teaching and compassion, not witchcraft.
Three Things Listeners Will Learn
- Agnesi's "Witch" curve was a mistranslation of versiera; her real impact was systematizing calculus for students.
- Despite family ambitions and societal constraints, she authored the first advanced math text by a woman, aided by mentors like Rampinelli.
- In her later years, she ran a Milan hospital and chose to be close to the women she cared after.
🔗 Explore more on our website: https://www.MathScienceHistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Little Prelude for the Luth - by Laurent Buczek from Pixabay The Venture by aidanpinsent from Pixabay Unconditional by aidanpinsent from Pixabay
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In this Flashcard Friday episode of Math! Science! History!, we spotlight three groundbreaking scientists whose outsider perspectives didn't just add diversity to their fields, they fundamentally changed what science could discover. From Flossie Wong-Staal's molecular work that cracked the mystery of HIV and transformed AIDS treatment, to Omar Yaghi's Nobel Prize-winning invention of metal-organic frameworks that opened a new era of chemistry by design, to Mario Molina's courageous atmospheric research that led to the Montreal Protocol and the slow recovery of Earth's ozone layer, this episode reveals the powerful and undeniable connection between diverse scientific participation and world-changing progress. These aren't just inspiring stories, they're a blueprint for why inclusion isn't optional in science; it's essential.
5 Things Listeners Will Learn 1. How Flossie Wong-Staal helped clone and sequence the HIV genome, making blood screening, transmission prevention, and antiretroviral drug development possible, saving millions of lives. 2. What reticular chemistry is and why Omar Yaghi's metal-organic frameworks represent a revolutionary shift from discovering materials to deliberately designing them, with applications in carbon capture, clean energy, and water purification. 3. How Mario Molina proved that CFCs were destroying the ozone layer, and how his politically unwelcome findings directly led to the Montreal Protocol, one of the most successful environmental treaties in history. 4. Why diverse scientific perspectives accelerate discovery, including how different training, cultural backgrounds, and intellectual traditions help science identify errors faster and reach more robust solutions. 5. The real cost of discrimination in science, not just to individuals, but to the pace of discovery, the accuracy of evidence, and the problems humanity can solve.
Resources & Further Reading · 🔬 Flossie Wong-Staal
· ⚗️ Omar Yaghi & the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize Official Announcement | Yaghi Research Group, UC Berkeley
· 🌍 Mario Molina & the Montreal Protocol, UNEP: Montreal Protocol Overview
· 📚 Reticular Chemistry, Yaghi Lab Introduction to MOFs
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🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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This episode reframes the Matilda Effect not as a simple story of stolen credit, but as a mathematical and institutional process in which small biases compound over time. Drawing on sociology of science, network theory, and citation dynamics, the script explains how cumulative advantage systems, like preferential attachment and the Matthew Effect, amplify early visibility into lasting historical recognition, even without overt wrongdoing. It shows how peer review, authorship norms, invisible labor, and archival practices inherit and reinforce these dynamics, making later corrections ineffective. Ultimately, the episode argues that the Matilda Effect persists because recognition itself behaves mathematically, and that changing history requires deliberate intervention at the points where credit is first assigned, cited, preserved, and taught.
What you'll learn:
- The Matilda Effect isn't about stolen ideas, it's about systems that compound bias.
- Small disadvantages early in a career can snowball into permanent historical erasure.
- Recognition follows mathematical rules like cumulative advantage and preferential attachment.
- Peer review doesn't reset inequality, it inherits it.
- Essential scientific labor often disappears because it doesn't generate "credit."
- Archives and citations decide what history remembers, and what it forgets.
- Delayed recognition isn't neutral; in cumulative systems, timing is everything.
- Where we cite, credit, and preserve work today shapes tomorrow's history.
- Even small acts of recognition matter, because they compound.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: Shopping with Mom by Gabrielle Birchak. All other music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Until next time, carpe diem!
In this Flashcard Friday episode of Math! Science! History!®, host Gabrielle Birchak celebrates Women's History Month and Podcasthon by spotlighting Dr. Yvonne Sylvain, Haiti's first female physician. Born in 1907 into a family of intellectuals and resistance fighters, Dr. Sylvain shattered barriers to become a pioneer in obstetrics, gynecology, and cancer screening. Her story reveals a Haiti rarely seen in today's headlines: a nation rich in brilliance, where educated professionals built real systems of care, and where political instability repeatedly threatened to dismantle them.
This episode is paired with a companion interview with Angie Maldonado, founder of Espwa Means Hope, a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit working in rural Haiti to empower families through maternal health care, education, and job creation. 'What the Doctor Ordered': 3 Things You'll Learn
- Haiti Has Always Had Brilliant Builders, Not Just Crises
Dr. Sylvain's life dismantles the narrative that Haiti has always been defined by instability. She attended medical school, trained at Columbia University, became a medical professor, and introduced cervical cancer screening via the Pap smear to Haiti, all in an era when women were rarely admitted to medical schools anywhere in the world.
- Maternal Health Is the Foundation of a Functioning Society
Sylvain specialized in obstetrics and gynecology because she understood that healthy pregnancies and preventive women's health care are not extras, they are the biological and social foundation of generational continuity. Her advocacy for deep X-ray, radium treatment, and cancer screening in Haiti was ahead of her time.
- Political Disruption Doesn't Destroy Expertise, It Just Keeps Interrupting It
From the U.S. occupation of Haiti to the Duvalier dictatorship, Dr. Sylvain's career was repeatedly shaped by forces outside medicine. She worked with the WHO, consulted across Africa and Central America, and still returned to lay the groundwork for Haiti's Frères Community Hospital. Her story is a masterclass in professional persistence under adverse conditions.
Related Episodes 🎙️ Listen to Gabrielle's companion interview with Angie Maldonado, founder of Espwa Means Hope, available in your podcast feed.
To donate to Espwa Means Hope, please visit https://www.EspwaMeansHopeHaiti.org
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence by Lloyd RodgersSacred Garden by Guilherme Bernardes from Pixabay Unworthy by Guilherme Bernardes from Pixabay
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She looked at starlight and said, I can organize that, and then she did! For Women's History Month, host Gabrielle Birchak profiles Annie Jump Cannon (1863–1941), the American astronomer who took a chaotic universe and filed it into something the world could actually study. Cannon was one of the Harvard Computers, a group of women hired at Harvard College Observatory to analyze photographic glass plates of the night sky, and she became the fastest, most prolific stellar classifier in history. Over her lifetime, she manually classified over 350,000 stars, more than any person before or since.
In this episode, Gabrielle breaks down the Harvard Spectral Classification System, OBAFGKM, the sequence Cannon refined and that astronomers worldwide still use today. You'll learn what each letter means, what colors and temperatures they represent, where our own sun sits in the sequence (spoiler: it's a G2 star), and why Cannon's seemingly quiet classification work was actually one of the most powerful scientific acts of the early twentieth century. Classification, Gabrielle argues, isn't boring, it's the infrastructure that turned starlight into data and beautiful objects into the science of astrophysics.
This episode also reflects on the human side of Cannon's story: the fact that she was nearly deaf for most of her career, that she was a suffragist, that she produced one of the most monumental data catalogs in scientific history, the nine-volume Henry Draper Catalogue, and that despite her extraordinary achievements, her system was named the Harvard Classification System, not the Cannon System. Her work endured. Her system stayed. That's the real legacy.
Key Topics Covered:
- Who Annie Jump Cannon was and why she matters for Women's History Month
- The Harvard Computers and their role at Harvard College Observatory
- The OBAFGKM stellar spectral classification sequence, explained color by color and temperature by temperature
- The Henry Draper Catalogue: 225,300 stars classified across nine volumes, 1918–1924
- Why classification isn't clerical work, it's the foundation of science
- Cannon's recognition, awards, and the Annie Jump Cannon Award, still given annually by the American Astronomical Society
FEMINIST MNEMONIC (GABRIELLE'S VERSION)
Obviously Bold, A Feminist Generation Keeps Marching. O – B – A – F – G – K – M
RESOURCES & LINKS
About Annie Jump Cannon
Annie Jump Cannon Biography, National Women's History Museum
Annie Jump Cannon: Star Classifier, Sky & Telescope
Annie Jump Cannon, Space.com
The Harvard Computers
Project PHaEDRA: Transcribing the Work of the Harvard Computers, Smithsonian Digital Volunteers
The Henry Draper Catalogue
The Henry Draper Catalogue, Internet Archive (original volumes, free)
Stellar Classification
Harvard Spectral Classification, Annie Jump Cannon and the Creation of Stellar Classification (Princeton Astronomy)
The Annie Jump Cannon Award
Annie Jump Cannon Award in Astronomy, American Astronomical Society
2025 Recipient: Maya Fishbach (University of Toronto), gravitational-wave astrophysics & cosmology
2024 Recipient: Jennifer Bergner (UC Berkeley), astrochemistry and planetary formation
Recommended Reading
The Glass Universe: How the Ladies of the Harvard Observatory Took the Measure of the Stars by Dava Sobel, Penguin Random House | Amazon
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. Calm Piano - by Breakz Studios from Pixabay
Until next time, carpe diem!
It's Podcasthon Week! In this special Women's History Month and Podcasthon episode of Math! Science! History!, I Gabrielle Birchak interviews Angie Maldonado, founder of Espwa Means Hope, a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit working in rural, mountainous Haiti. Angie shares the story that sparked Espwa's mission, the stark realities behind maternal and infant mortality, and what "progress" looks like when the goal is as fundamental as keeping mothers and babies alive.
You will hear how Espwa built programs around what the community needed, from mobile prenatal education and nutrition support to job creation through a women-led sewing program, and why their "First 1,000 Days" model focuses on nutrition and learning from pregnancy through age two. Angie also explains the current barriers to sustaining healthcare and education in Haiti, especially the impact of gang violence and instability, and how people outside Haiti can make tangible differences through monthly giving.
Support Espwa Means Hope: EspwaMeansHopeHaiti.org
For more info on Podcasthon, please visit: Podcasthon.org
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
All music from Pixabay is public domain
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Science fiction does not need to predict the future to matter. It matters because it trains the mind. In this Flashcards Friday episode, Gabrielle Birchak uses four unforgettable Star Trek moments to show how stories can pressure-test ideas, preview consequences, and build shared language that helps real science move faster and more responsibly. From the chaos of "Spock's Brain" to the furry avalanche of "The Trouble with Tribbles," and a hopeful landing in "Darmok," this episode treats science fiction as a practical tool for scientific thinking, not a guilty pleasure.
Three things you will learn
1) Stress testing without the damage
You will learn how science fiction creates extreme scenarios that expose weak points in systems before those weak points show up in real life, using "Spock's Brain" as the ridiculous and memorable example.
2) Consequences that compound
You will learn why consequences often begin as "harmless" variables, and how "The Trouble with Tribbles" and "Genesis" demonstrate cascading failures in two different emotional registers.
3) Why language is scientific infrastructure
You will learn how shared metaphors and shared reference points help teams coordinate and innovate, and why "Darmok" is one of the best stories ever told about meaning, not just words.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this episode, I tell the story of Mari Wolf, who wrote sharp, unsettling science fiction in the early 1950s while also working in Computing at Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Her life sits at the intersection of math, imagination, and a Los Angeles culture that treated the future as something you could sketch, test, and argue about late into the night.
We follow her through the worlds that shaped her: the lab, the clubs, and the Mojave. We trace her connection to the Pacific Rocket Society, the fan community of the Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society, and the stories she published under her pen name, including the ones you can still read today.
This episode also pushes back on a familiar historical habit: when a woman builds a body of creative work, institutions too often describe it as a "hobby." Mari Wolf was not a hobbyist. She was an author, and her work deserves to be treated like the serious, ambitious craft that it was.
Three things you will learn
When imagination becomes engineering - You will hear how mid-century Southern California created a rare ecosystem where rockets, labs, and speculative writing fed each other.
A writer's life hidden in plain sight - You will learn how fandom, magazines, and local clubs preserved details that formal histories often skip.
Where to read her work today - You will get a practical reading list, including where to find her public-domain stories and the fanzine appearance of "Prejudice."
Links to resources
· JPL Archives feature on Mari Graham and her science fiction writing.
· Free public-domain Mari Wolf stories (Project Gutenberg author page).
· "Prejudice" in Destiny IX (Winter 1953–54) table of contents and scan access.
· The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction entry on Mari Wolf.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Forever and a Day by Playlistons from Pixabay
Leave it to Me by Brian Welbourne
Raw Vintage Rockabilly by Johnny Hoeve
Traveling and Discovering by Musinova from Pixabay
Marching to Mars SFX by Twisted Sound from Pixabay
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How does knowledge survive when libraries burn, devices are seized, and archives come under threat? In this Flashcards Friday episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak takes a closer look at what it actually means to preserve knowledge in the present moment.
Using three short flashcards, this episode explores redundancy, cloud storage, and practical threat modeling for scholars, journalists, and anyone responsible for research or records. From ancient libraries to modern reporting, this episode shows why preservation is not passive. It is an active, deliberate practice.
What You'll Learn
- Redundancy Beats Regret – Why preservation works best as a system, not a single location, and how multiple copies in multiple places reduce the risk of total loss.
- The Cloud Is Helpful, Not Magical – How cloud storage improves access while still requiring planning for outages, lockouts, and long-term durability.
- Threat Modeling for Ordinary Work – How scholars and journalists can think realistically about loss, seizure, and disruption, and reduce risk without turning research into secrecy.
Resources & Further Reading
- Freedom of the Press Foundation – Digital Security & Source Protection https://freedom.press/
- SecureDrop (for confidential submissions and journalism workflows) https://securedrop.org/
- Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press https://www.rcfp.org/
- Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
- To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let's Connect!Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history Mastodon: https://mathsciencehistory@mathstodon.xyz YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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What does it take to preserve knowledge when libraries burn, records disappear, and history itself is under threat? In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak takes a closer look at the life and work of Adolphe Rome, a meticulous Belgian historian of science whose devotion to ancient mathematics and astronomy reshaped how we understand figures like Ptolemy, Hypatia, and Theon of Alexandria.
Spanning from the destruction of the Library of Alexandria to modern data-rescue movements, this episode traces the fragile chain of scientific preservation. It is a story about persistence, philology, and the individuals who quietly ensure that knowledge survives political upheaval, war, and time itself.
What You Will Learn in This Episode
- When Knowledge Is at Risk – Understand how moments of political instability, from ancient Alexandria to the modern United States, have repeatedly threatened scientific records, and how archivists, historians, and scholars have responded.
- How Ancient Mathematics Is Reconstructed – Discover how Adolphe Rome used linguistic analysis, statistical word usage, and dialect comparison to study ancient mathematical texts like Ptolemy's Almagest, even when original sources no longer existed.
- Why One Historian Still Matters - Learn how Rome's work survived censorship, war, and the destruction of his own research, and how his methods influenced later historians such as Wilbur Knorr and continue to shape the history of science today.
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🔗 Resources & Further Reading
Ptolemy, Almagest (overview): https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/ptolemy
Hypatia of Alexandria (historical context): https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Wilbur Knorr, Textual Studies in Ancient and Medieval Geometry: https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691025979/textual-studies-in-ancient-and-medieval-geometry
History of Science Society and Osiris journal: https://hssonline.org/publications/osiris
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Jingle Synth 80s by Fabien Roch from Pixabay
Cinematic Ambient Feeling by music_for_video from Pixabay
Army Marching Steps by Alexander Jauk from Pixabay
Apathias (Dark Ambient) by Vlad Bakutov from Pixabay
Dark Hero by u_5gcdffq7mb from Pixabay From Page to Practice by Bryan Teoh – Free PD music
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A clean success story is rarely the whole story. In this Flashcard Friday episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak offers a simple method for spotting the people who made breakthroughs possible but did not become the headline.
In the Margins episode gives you three practical questions you can use on any science story to find hidden contributors in author lists, acknowledgments, lab records, and patent filings. Save this episode and use it as your listening companion heading into Women's History Month.
What you'll learn (because the footnotes have feelings)
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How to spot hidden contributors quickly by asking who touched the evidence, who did the work, and who kept the record.
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Where credit actually shows up in science writing, including author order, acknowledgments, methods sections, and contributor role statements.
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How the "simple story" gets rewarded and how that reward system can hide women's contributions.
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let's Connect!Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history Mastodon: https://mathsciencehistory@mathstodon.xyz YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak traces the paper trails behind Black women inventors whose ideas reshaped ordinary life, from laundry tools and home design to security systems and medical devices. You will hear how patents, assignments, licensing, and missing records shaped who got credit and who got paid, and why some inventions became household standards while their inventors stayed unfamiliar. This story is about engineering, documentation, and what happens when innovation meets the economics of recognition.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
Follow the Paper Trail
How patents and archives function as evidence, and why the existence of a patent does not guarantee wealth, credit, or commercialization.
How ownership can shift through assignments and intermediaries, changing who controls the rights and who benefits financially.
How inventions become "invisible" once they become normal, and how race and gender shaped which names survived in popular history.
Five Resource Links
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Smithsonian Lemelson Center, "Who Invents and Who Gets the Credit?" https://invention.si.edu/invention-stories/who-invents-and-who-gets-credit
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National Archives DocsTeach, "Sarah E. Goode's Folding Beds" https://docsteach.org/document/sarah-e-goodes-folding-beds/
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USPTO, "Sights on the Prize" (Patricia Bath) https://www.uspto.gov/learning-and-resources/journeys-innovation/historical-stories/sights-prize
-
Lemelson-MIT, "Mary Beatrice Davidson Kenner" https://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/mary-beatrice-davidson-kenner
-
The Woman Inventor - https://archive.org/details/Womaninventor1Smit
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd RodgersSarabane by Tomomi Kato from Pixabay Calm Night Jazz Music by Adi Iswanto Soft Jazz by Mircea Iancu from Pixabay Poodle Skirt Swirl by Paul Winter from Pixabay Forever and a Day by Playlist from Pixabay Groovy Getup by Jordan Garner from Pixabay Funk You (Go Funk Yoself) by Ketsa from Free Music Archive Modular Ambient 03 by sscheidl at Pixabay
Until next time, carpe diem!
Self-teaching is not only a way to collect knowledge. It is a life skill that builds self-reliance, career mobility, and mental flexibility over time. In this Flashcard Friday episode, Gabrielle explains why lifelong learning supports brain health and communication, how certificates can make your progress visible on LinkedIn, and why stepping outside your comfort zone sometimes means learning hard history, including the ways slavery shaped American systems.
Call to action: Follow the show so you do not miss future Flashcard Fridays, share this episode with a friend who loves learning, and leave a review to help more listeners find Math! Science! History!
What You'll Learn: A Brain That Stays in Training
-
How self-teaching builds self-reliance and makes you more adaptable when work and life change.
-
Why lifelong learning supports brain health and aging, including neuroplasticity and cognitive reserve.
-
How learning hard history strengthens judgment and communication, and where to start with reputable books and long-form reading.
Resources
Brain, aging, and learning
· Neuroplasticity persists across life
· Later-life learning is associated with better cognitive function over time (longitudinal study)
· Alzheimer's Association guide on keeping the brain mentally active.
LinkedIn certificates
· How to add LinkedIn Learning certificates of completion to your profile
Stepping outside your comfort zone: slavery and systems
· Edward E. Baptist, The Half Has Never Been Told
· Ira Berlin, Many Thousands Gone
· Ta-Nehisi Coates, "The Case for Reparations"
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let's Connect!Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history Mastodon: https://mathsciencehistory@mathstodon.xyz YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory
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Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
Benjamin Banneker used math, astronomy, and publication to claim space in a country that tried to deny him authority. This episode follows his path from a Maryland farm to almanacs that carried his name across the young republic, and to the 1791 boundary survey work that helped set the lines of the new federal district.
What You'll Learn
-
How Banneker became an astronomer without a formal scientific education and why an ephemeris inside an almanac mattered so much in the late 1700s.
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What Banneker actually did in 1791 during Andrew Ellicott's boundary work, and why later stories about his role in Washington's design grew beyond the record.
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How publishing changed his life by carrying his calculations, voice, and reputation into a wider public, starting with the 1792 almanac (issued in 1791) and continuing through 1797.
Resources and further reading
· National Park Service: Benjamin Banneker and the boundary survey (Jones Point) https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/nama-notebook-benjamin-banneker.htm
· Library of Congress: Banneker's 1792 almanac record (issued 1791) https://www.loc.gov/item/98650590/
· Encyclopedia Virginia: Banneker's letter to Jefferson (Aug. 19, 1791) https://encyclopediavirginia.org/primary-documents/letter-from-benjamin-banneker-to-thomas-jefferson-august-19-1791/
· Library of Congress: Jefferson's reply to Banneker (Aug. 30, 1791) https://www.loc.gov/item/mcc.028/
· Smithsonian Libraries & Archives: context on Banneker and later myths https://blog.library.si.edu/blog/2017/02/15/americas-first-known-african-american-scientist-mathematician/
· American Philosophical Society: Ellicott, Banneker, and boundary-survey context https://www.amphilsoc.org/news/surveyors-andrew-ellicott-benjamin-banneker-and-boundaries-nation-and-knowledge
· PBS: Banneker overview (includes Ellicott lending books/tools context) https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/2p84.html
· Smithsonian Magazine: discussion of Banneker's almanacs and cultural impact https://www.smithsonianmag.com/blogs/smithsonian-books/2024/01/04/benjamin-bannekers-almanac-of-strange-dreams/
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Ambient Documentary by Vira Miller at Pixabay
Hopeful by Maarten Schellekens at Pixabay
Nature Documentary by James Carter at Pixabay
Smooth Piano by Universefield at Pixabay
Until next time, carpe diem!
Ever lose a great idea right when you need it, then wish your brain had a "save" button? This episode gives you one. In this Flashcards Friday toolkit, I share three quick prompts you can use to think more clearly, learn faster, and troubleshoot problems without spiraling. You will leave with a simple loop you can apply to school, work, and real-life conversations.
What You'll Learn
- The System Card: How to name the system, the key variables, and the constraints, so your thinking has structure.
- The Cold Recall Card: How to practice producing your message without notes, especially for presentations, interviews, and asking for a raise.
- The Fuzzy Spot Card: How to troubleshoot like an engineer by locating the exact point things break, then making the smallest repair that changes the outcome.
Resources
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16507066/
https://bjorklab.psych.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/13/2016/04/EBjork_RBjork_2011.pdf
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1529100612453266
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4713033/
https://www.wsj.com/science/biology/want-to-remember-more-make-more-mistakes-2d195a6f
https://www.lifescied.org/doi/10.1187/cbe.20-12-0289
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Until next time, carpe diem!
A camera was not always needed to "capture" a thought. In the late Victorian era, a few experimenters pressed photographic plates to foreheads and claimed the developed marks were images of the mind.
In this episode of Math! Science! History!, we trace the strange rise of "thought photography," why it sounded plausible in an age of new invisible forces, and what these experiments reveal about technology, interpretation, and scientific method.
What Develops in the Dark
What you'll learn in this episode:
-
Who tried to photograph thoughts - How Hippolyte Baraduc and Louis Darget used photographic plates as instruments, then read the resulting traces as evidence of emotion, soul, or mental imagery.
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Why the idea felt scientific at the time - How late-19th-century discoveries made invisible phenomena feel newly recordable, especially after X-rays reshaped what "photography" could mean.
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What can go wrong (and right!) when images look like proof - Why noisy signals, chemical artifacts, and human pattern-finding can produce results that feel conclusive long before they are.
Sources
"Psychicones: Visual Traces of the Soul in Late Nineteenth-Century Fluidic Photography" (Nicolas Pethes, Medical History, 2016)
"Imaging Inscape: The Human Soul (1913)" (The Public Domain Review on Baraduc's methods and plates)
"Discovery of the X-ray: A New Kind of Invisible Light" (National Museum of Health and Medicine)
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Until next time, carpe diem!
What do you say when someone doesn't trust science? In this Flashcards Friday episode, I share practical, evidence-based ways to talk about science with skeptics, without attacking, shaming, or arguing past each other.
This episode focuses on how evidence actually works, why people reject scientific claims, and how scientists and science communicators can lower defensiveness by explaining methods, uncertainty, and values clearly. If you care about public trust in science, this episode offers tools you can use immediately.
Resources & Further Reading
- National Academies of Sciences — Communicating Science Effectively
- Pew Research Center — https://www.pewresearch.org
- Alan Alda Center for Communicating Science https://aldacenter.org
- Science History Institute — Evidence, experiments, and scientific methods https://www.sciencehistory.org
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Enjoying the Podcast? 🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Episode Overview In the 1660s, two towering thinkers, Thomas Hobbes and Robert Boyle, clashed over a strange new machine: the air pump. What looked like a technical disagreement about air and vacuum quickly became something much larger.
This episode examines how Boyle's experimental approach and Hobbes's philosophical skepticism shaped the foundations of modern science, and why their dispute still echoes today in debates over expertise, public trust, and the role of scientists in public policy. From the invention of "virtual witnessing" to modern struggles with misinformation, this is a story about how facts become believable, and what happens when trust breaks down.
What You'll Learn 1. Why experiments alone do not create trust - You'll learn how Boyle's air-pump experiments required not just data, but carefully crafted descriptions and shared norms to make results credible beyond the room where they occurred. 2. What Hobbes was really worried about - This episode explains why Hobbes objected to experimental science, not because he rejected evidence, but because he feared the political and social consequences of letting small groups "certify reality." 3. How this 17th-century dispute explains modern science debates - From climate models to medical guidelines, you'll see how today's arguments over evidence, institutions, and public policy replay the same structural tensions Hobbes and Boyle exposed centuries ago.
📚 Resources & Further Reading Leviathan and the Air‑Pump - Steven Shapin & Simon Schaffer
New Experiments Physico‑Mechanicall, Touching the Spring of the Air - Robert Boyle
Royal Society - History & motto Nullius in verba
Pew Research Center - Public trust in scientists and policy debates (Nov. 2024 report)
Shapin, Steven. "Pump and Circumstance: Robert Boyle's Literary Technology." Social Studies of Science (1984)
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Smooth Piano for Documentaries by Universefield from Pixabay
Background Royalty Free Music - Emotional Piano by NotAIGenerated from Pixabay
Ambiant Clean Piano by Alfarran Basalim from Pixabay
Autumn Vibes by Clavier-Music from Pixabay
Now You Are Here by Sergey Cheremisinov from Pixabay
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The Sun Dagger on Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon is a powerful reminder that understanding is built slowly. Long before textbooks and lab reports, careful observers tracked repeating patterns in light and season, and a community carried that knowledge forward.
In today's Flashcards episode, we use the Sun Dagger as a practical thinking tool for modern life: watch first, listen second, explain last. It is a simple sequence that improves scientific judgment, reduces snap conclusions, and makes our relationships more accurate and humane.
Three Flashcards from a Stone Calendar
Watch first: patterns beat snapshots. - You will learn how to train yourself to notice what repeats over time, instead of overreacting to one data point, one headline, or one tense moment.
Listen second: knowledge is a group project. - You will learn why strong conclusions often require other perspectives, conflicting results, and context you cannot access alone.
Explain last: meaning should emerge, not be forced. - You will learn how delaying your explanation can reduce error, lower arrogance, and prevent real harm in science and everyday decisions.
Links to Resources
National Park Service overview of Fajada Butte and the Sun Dagger
NPS article on archeoastronomy and the Sun Dagger concept
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
More than a thousand years ago, the Ancestral Puebloans built a working solar calendar without clocks, written mathematics, or mechanical instruments. Etched into stone at Fajada Butte in Chaco Canyon, the Sun Dagger used light and shadow to track solstices and equinoxes with remarkable precision.
In this episode, we explore how the Sun Dagger worked, why its spiral design mattered, and what it reveals about community, long-term observation, and scientific thinking before modern technology. This is a story about astronomy, patience, and the shared human effort to understand time by watching the natural world carefully and collectively.
Three Take-aways
- Watching the Sky: How the Sun Dagger Actually Worked – Learn how shifting sunlight, stone slabs, and spiral petroglyphs combined to create a precise solar calendar that could show not only when a solstice arrived, but how close the community was to it.
- Science Before Equations: Observation as Knowledge – Discover why the Sun Dagger is an example of observational science, built through repeated watching, long-term pattern recognition, and intergenerational knowledge rather than written formulas or instruments.
- Time as Community: Why Calendars Were Shared, Not Personal – Understand how tracking time was not an individual activity but a communal one, guiding ceremonies, gatherings, and social coordination while reinforcing shared responsibility and connection to the land.
Resources & Further Reading
- National Park Service – Chaco Culture National Historical Park https://www.nps.gov/chcu
- High Altitude Observatory (NCAR) – The Sun Dagger of Fajada Butte https://www2.hao.ucar.edu/education/prehistoric-southwest/sun-dagger
- Sofaer, Anna, David H. Sinclair, and Ray A. Doggett. "A Unique Solar Marking Construct." Science 206, no. 4416 (1979): 283–291. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1749388
- Aveni, Anthony F. Skywatchers. University of Texas Press.
- Krupp, E. C. Echoes of the Ancient Skies. Oxford University Press.
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Old Tolchaco by Arizona Guide from Pixabay
A Tribute to Native Americans by Andrea Good from Pixabay
Until next time, carpe diem!
If you enjoy the hidden science behind everyday life, leave a review, subscribe to the podcast and share this episode with someone who is shoveling snow this winter.
Shoveling snow looks simple, but it is one of the most punishing everyday tasks your body can perform. In this Flashcard Friday episode, we explore the physics hiding in plain sight every winter, from why lifting snow feels brutal to why wet snow seems impossibly heavy and why shovel design matters more than most people realize.
This is not about grit or toughness. It is about gravity, force vectors, density, and torque, all acting on a human spine that was never designed to move heavy loads at arm's length.
By the end of the episode, you will understand exactly why your back complains so loudly, and why physics is to blame.
Three big scoops:
- Why Gravity Is Not Your Friend - Why lifting snow is far harder than pushing it, and how vertical forces and spinal torque make even small loads feel overwhelming.
- Why Wet Snow Is a Secret Weightlifter - How density transforms harmless-looking snow into a back-breaking mass, and why the same shovel can weigh several times more depending on snow type.
- Why Your Shovel Is Working Against You - How short shovels increase lever arms, magnify torque, and place unnecessary strain on your lower back, and why ergonomic designs actually make physical sense.
Helpful Resources
· NASA: Forces and Motion Basics – https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/newtons-laws-of-motion/
- Khan Academy: Torque and Rotational Motion – https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/torque-angular-momentum
- NIH: Back Injury Risk and Lifting Mechanics - https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8720246
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
Before Isaac Newton's ideas reshaped Europe, his work struggled to gain traction in Italy. This episode revisits the remarkable life of Laura Bassi, the first woman in history to hold an academic chair, and the physicist who championed Newtonian physics against fierce intellectual and social resistance.
In 1776, Laura Bassi achieved a historic milestone, becoming the first woman in the world to hold a chair of experimental physics and the highest-paid lecturer at the University of Bologna. Her advocacy accelerated the acceptance of Newtonian physics in Italy and paved the way for future generations of women in science.
This episode explores how intellect, persistence, and scientific curiosity allowed Laura Bassi to reshape physics education and secure her legacy as one of the most important figures in the history of women in STEM.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
A viral multiplication spiral once attributed to Nikola Tesla opens the door to a much older mathematical story, one rooted in ancient Sumerian and Babylonian base-60 mathematics. In this episode, we explore how sexagesimal counting shaped everything from clocks and geometry to modern science, and how ideas are often misnamed after the most famous figure rather than the original innovator. Along the way, we unpack eponymy, the Matthew Effect, and why credit in science and math is rarely distributed fairly.
Learn:
🌀 Why Base-60 Still Runs Our World How the Sumerian sexagesimal system underpins timekeeping, angles, geography, and trigonometry, and why it survived for thousands of years.
📐 The Truth Behind "Tesla's" Multiplication Map Where the multiplication spiral actually comes from, how it visually encodes multiples of 12 and 60, and why attributing it to Tesla is mathematically unnecessary.
📚 Eponymy, the Matthew Effect, and Who Gets Credit From Fibonacci to Pythagoras, Rosalind Franklin to Vera Rubin, we examine how scientific ideas are routinely named after the wrong people and what that reveals about power, prestige, and history.
Featured Concepts & Figures
· Sexagesimal (base-60) number systems
· Sumerian and Babylonian mathematics
· Tesla's Multiplication Map vs. the Sumerian Sexagesimal Spiral
· Eponymy and Stigler's Law
· The Matthew Effect and the Matilda Effect
· Pythagorean triples and Plimpton-322
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this repost episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak speaks with Professor Gillen D'Arcy Wood, author of The Wake of the HMS Challenger: How a Legendary Victorian Voyage Tells the Story of Our Ocean's Decline. Together, they uncover how a nineteenth-century Royal Navy warship transformed into a floating laboratory and gave humanity its first global snapshot of the oceans. From discovering thousands of new species to inspiring NASA's Challenger shuttle, the expedition shaped modern oceanography and continues to inform today's conservation science.
Wood's biocentric storytelling reminds us that to save our planet, we must first fall in love with it again, to be, as he says, re-enchanted by the living ocean that sustains us all.
Three Things Listeners Will Learn
How the HMS Challenger (1872–1876) became the first global oceanographic expedition, collecting temperature, depth, and biological data still used today.
Why Gillen D'Arcy Wood's "biocentric" approach reframes history through the perspective of marine life rather than human explorers.
What the voyage teaches us about modern ocean crises: from overfishing and warming seas to microplastics—and how species like the green turtle show that recovery is possible.
Resources and Further Reading
The Wake of the HMS Challenger by Gillen D'Arcy Wood - HarperCollins Publishers
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Smooth Piano by Universefield
Musinova - Travelling And Discovering (Marimba World Percussion)
Documentary-Nikita Kondrashev
Audio Editor: Podcast mixed by David Aviles
Until next time, carpe diem!
Set in the year 2220, this holiday puzzle episode blends science fiction, real scientific legacies, and mathematical reasoning into an immersive problem-solving adventure. The United Nations Time-Travel Division recruits four brilliant scientists, each descended from historically significant scientific families, and sends them back to 2019 with a radical mission: erase the year 2020 from the timeline.
What follows is a multi-step logic and distance puzzle involving self-driving hover cars, state capitals, precise velocity calculations, and a final anagram that reveals what humanity might have gained if an entire year of global disruption never happened. This episode invites listeners to actively engage with math, geography, and history, using real tools like Google Maps to solve a futuristic mystery.
What You'll Learn in This Episode
-
How Scientific Lineage Shapes Discovery Across Centuries - Meet four fictional descendants of real Nobel-winning scientists, including the Curie family, the Mosers, Isabella and Jerome Karle, and Jane and Alexander Marcet. This episode highlights how scientific knowledge, curiosity, and impact can echo across generations, shaping both history and imagined futures.
-
How Distance, Speed, and Direction Combine in Real-World Math - Using detailed velocity changes, directional turns, and travel times, listeners calculate the total linear distance each hover car travels to reach Niagara Falls. The puzzle reinforces applied math concepts, including unit conversion, cumulative distance, and approximation, all grounded in real geographic constraints.
-
How Geography and Logic Reveal Hidden Patterns - By tracing each scientist's route from an unknown state capital to Niagara Falls, listeners identify likely originating cities. The first letters of each capital form an anagram, encouraging pattern recognition and synthesis, and leading to a final conceptual answer tied to life without a pandemic.
How the Puzzle Works
- Each scientist begins in a different U.S. state capital in 2019.
- Their hover cars follow a non-optimal, directional path at varying speeds and durations.
- The cars never travel over oceans, and all distances are measured in kilometers.
- Listeners are encouraged to use Google Maps' Measure Distance tool to approximate routes.
- Once the four starting capitals are identified, their initials form an anagram.
- Solving the anagram reveals a concept symbolizing a world without the disruptions of 2020.
Questions the Episode Asks You to Solve
- How many kilometers did each scientist travel to reach Niagara Falls?
- Which U.S. state capital did each scientist originate from?
- What word or phrase emerges from the anagram of those capitals?
This episode rewards careful listening, note-taking, and methodical reasoning, making it ideal for puzzle lovers, educators, and anyone who enjoys thoughtful holiday challenges.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rogers. We Wish You a Merry Christmas by the U.S. Naval Academy. Ambient 03 by Sscheidl at Pixabay. A Journey Beyond by Christian Bodhi.
This episode marks the very first Math! Science! History! holiday puzzle, a tradition built around logic, problem-solving, and a little historical mischief. Rather than a standard narrative episode, this one invites listeners to actively participate, following clues, working through puzzles, and engaging with science and history in a hands-on way.
Designed as a holiday "party for the brain," the episode blends reasoning, curiosity, and playful challenge. You can listen straight through or pause along the way to work out the puzzles yourself. There's no rush, no trick answers, and no prior episodes required.
How to listen:
· Grab a notebook or open a notes app.
· Pause when you need time to think.
· Enjoy the process more than the finish line.
This archive re-release is part of our seasonal tradition of resurfacing listener-favorite puzzles for new audiences and longtime listeners alike.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
As the year draws to a close, people across cultures have long turned to riddles, puzzles, and quiet forms of reflection. From lantern riddles in China to communal riddles in Africa and contemplative winter traditions in Europe, these practices were never just games. They were tools for slowing down, thinking together, and preparing for change.
In this season-ending Flashcard episode, we explore why riddles emerge during moments of transition, how puzzles shape empathy and shared intelligence, and why one enduring answer continues to matter across centuries and cultures.
Discover!
- Why the Year's End Invites Riddles - Discover why anthropologists and historians consistently find riddles clustered around seasonal transitions, especially the turning of the year, and how puzzles help the brain tolerate uncertainty and seek closure.
- How Cultures Solved Problems Together - Explore how riddles functioned across societies not as competitions, but as collaborative practices that taught listening, metaphor, patience, and shared understanding.
- The Oldest Answer We Keep Relearning - Learn why the most enduring riddle traditions point toward empathy, altruism, and love, not as abstract ideals, but as practical tools for resolving conflict, finding forgiveness, and living without fear.
📚 Resources & Further Reading · Ruth Finnegan, Oral Literature in Africa
· Bruce Mannheim, The Language of the Inka since the European Invasion
· Annikki Kaivola-Bregenhøj, Riddles: Their Cultural Context and Disappearing Reasons
· Victor Turner, The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure
· Carolyne Larrington (trans.), The Poetic Edda
· Wolfram Eberhard, A Dictionary of Chinese Symbols
(Full citations and additional sources are available on the Math! Science! History! website.)
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
Jigsaw puzzles may seem like quiet, domestic pastimes, but their history tells a much bigger story. In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak traces the surprising evolution of the jigsaw puzzle, from its origins as an Enlightenment-era teaching tool to its role as a psychological stabilizer during the Great Depression, and finally to its modern use in cognitive science and brain health. Along the way, we explore how puzzles reflect changes in technology, culture, economics, and how humans think and learn.
This episode uncovers how something as simple as fitting pieces together connects directly to spatial reasoning, problem-solving, collaboration, and the joy of making sense of the world.
What You'll Learn in This Episode 🧩 Cutting the World Apart How an 18th-century British mapmaker unintentionally created the first jigsaw puzzles by slicing maps into wooden pieces, turning geography into a hands-on learning experience.
🧠 When the Pieces Click Why puzzles are so deeply satisfying, from the psychology of self-efficacy and flow to the way cooperative puzzling strengthens social bonds without competition.
🏠 From Parlors to Brain Health How jigsaw puzzles moved from elite Victorian parlors to Depression-era kitchens, post-war family tables, and modern research labs studying aging, spatial reasoning, and cognitive resilience.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
All The Things by Abydos Music from Pixabay
Steampunk Victorian Orchestra by Luis Humanoide from Pixabay
Retro Pop by Alana Jordan from Pixabay
Until next time, carpe diem!
If you enjoyed today's Flashcard Friday deep dive, make sure to subscribe, leave a review, and share the episode with a fellow puzzle lover. And don't forget, this last Tuesday was the big Holiday Time-Travel Puzzle Episode, so keep grab your notebook and check it out for prizes and a gift card! You can listen to it here: https://mathsciencehistory.libsyn.com/its-the-math-science-history-holiday-puzzle-2025
Episode Overview
Solving puzzles feels good, but why? In this Flashcard Friday episode, Gabrielle explores the neuroscience behind puzzles, how your brain lights up during problem-solving, and how you can train yourself to love puzzles even more. From dopamine pathways to the power of short, consistent practice, this episode uncovers the brain's secret recipe for curiosity, insight, and reward.
Three Things You'll Learn: "Mind Games, Literally"
- What Parts of Your Brain Activate When You Solve Puzzles - Learn how the prefrontal cortex, parietal lobes, hippocampus, default mode network, and reward circuitry work together every time you crack a clue.
- Why Puzzle Solving Triggers a Dopamine Boost - Discover how dopamine fuels motivation, anticipation, and the satisfaction of every "Aha!" moment.
- How to Train Your Brain to Love Puzzles - Explore evidence-based strategies to build puzzle habits, increase cognitive resilience, and reinforce your natural problem-solving instincts.
Resources
- Aarts, Esther, et al. "Dopamine and the Cognitive Motivation to Exert Mental Effort." Journal of Neuroscience, 2012.
- Beeman, Mark, and John Kounios. "The Cognitive Neuroscience of Insight." Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2004.
- Dehaene, Stanislas, et al. "Sources of Mathematical Thinking." Science, 1999.
- Yin, Henry H., and Bernard Balleine. "Habit Formation and the Basal Ganglia." Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 2006.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
It's finally here. The annual math science history holiday puzzle. It's a long one but it is a fun one. When you solve it be sure to send all of your work, handwritten, and your answers too hello at math sciencehistory.com by midnight on December 16th. Be in the top three to get it in first and correct and you will have a chance to win some prizes. All of those in the top three can choose to be interviewed on the podcast to tell us all about their love for math, science and history!
First place wins a $25 Amazon gift card and a choice of a Math! Science! History! baseball cap or our latest "Powered by Curiosity" t-shirt
Second place wins a "Powered by Curiosity" t-shit
Third place wins our newest computer sticker "Because Time Machines Don't Exist Yet!"
You can find the transcripts at mathsciencehistory.com – just click on the link The Transcriptorium There, you will find the equations and explanations for each of the puzzles!
📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Sci fi transition – Rescopic Sound – from Pixabay
Futuristic atmo Hangar by Samuel F. Johanns from Pixabay
Air transition Sound Effect by storegraphic from Pixabay
The Stella Princess Can Dance Waltz Prince Edward the Twin by The-Vampires-Monster Soundtrack from Pixabay
Whoosh Sound Effect by floraphonic from Pixabay
Power Up Sparkle by floraphonic from Pixabay Ground Impact SFX by universefield from Pixabay
Punch a rock SFX by LordSonny from Pixabay
Bubble FX by Jurij from Pixabay
Landing Spacecraft by Fronbondi_Skegs from Pixabay
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this Flashcards Friday episode, we take the science of light bulbs out of the hardware aisle and into everyday life. Most people assume a bulb is just a bulb, but the truth is that the type you choose affects your energy bill, eye comfort, the way your rooms feel, and even the safety of your fixtures. From LEDs to incandescent filaments, from color temperature to socket fit, this episode breaks down the science behind the glow. You'll walk away with practical knowledge you can use immediately, all through the lens of curiosity and real-world physics.
If you enjoy episodes that help you understand the science hidden in everyday objects, please leave a review, subscribe on your favorite platform, and share this episode with someone who's still trying to figure out why their lamp keeps flickering.
Three Enlightening Takeaways 1. The science behind the most common types of light bulbs - You'll explore how incandescent, halogen, CFL, and LED bulbs actually produce light, why some run hot while others stay cool, and what those differences mean for your home and energy use. 2. Why color temperature matters more than most people realize - You'll learn how warm, neutral, and cool tones affect visibility, mood, and comfort, and how to choose the right color temperature for different rooms in your home. 3. How to choose a bulb that safely fits your fixture - You'll understand why the right socket base, wattage rating, and fixture requirements matter, and how picking the correct bulb prevents overheating, flickering, or damaged lamps.
Episode Resources Understanding LED vs. Incandescent Bulbs (Energy.gov) https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/lighting-choices-save-you-money
Guide to Bulb Bases and Fixture Compatibility https://www.gelighting.com/inform/guide-light-bulb-sizes-types-shapes-and-codes
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
Step into a silent museum after closing hours, where moonlight washes over long corridors and the hum of unseen forces seems to guide your every step. In this immersive narrative puzzle episode, four historical artifacts awaken in the darkness to share their stories. Each object reveals a piece of a much larger scientific legacy, one that begins with ancient reverence for a thunderous waterfall and continues through centuries of experimentation, rivalry, and extraordinary imagination. By following the clues, listeners uncover the lineage of ideas that shaped the power system we depend on every day. The final answer emerges only after connecting the voices of the artifacts, the rhythm of innovation, and the history of electricity itself.
Three Enlightening Moments:
- The scientific breakthroughs that paved the way for modern power systems - Listeners discover how early experiments in magnetism, induction, and natural energy set the foundation for the electricity that powers our lives today.
- The cultural and industrial significance of a legendary waterfall - The episode explores the Indigenous reverence for this natural wonder, its role in early milling and industry, and its eventual transformation into a symbol of scientific ambition.
- The story behind a historic rivalry that shaped the future of electricity - Listeners learn how competing visions for electrical power sparked debate, innovation, and ultimately the system we use today.
Resources:
History of the Legendary Waterfall https://www.nps.gov/nifa/index.htm
Haudenosaunee Confederacy & Indigenous Histories https://www.haudenosauneeconfederacy.com
General Overview of Early Electrical Inventions https://www.britannica.com/science/electricity
The Baggage Podcast is a collection of compelling, unique, and sometimes traumatic stories from people of all walks of life. These stories typically only get heard by the storyteller's friends, family, or coworkers. This podcast is a platform for everyday individuals to share their experiences with a larger audience as well as how they cope with the emotional and mental baggage that sometimes follows those events.
www.thebaggagepodcast.com
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let's Connect!Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history Mastodon: https://mathsciencehistory@mathstodon.xyz YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory 🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
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Music: All music and SFX are public domain and have no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd RodgersHowling wind Effect by Darina Evstafeva from Pixabay
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Waterfall by John Tramp from Pixabay
Until next time, carpe diem!
Your nose is more powerful than you think. In this episode of Math! Science! History!, we explore the hidden biology behind your sense of smell, how it connects directly to memory and emotion, and why scent has shaped human evolution for more than 500 million years. From safety and attraction to learning and emotional balance, your olfactory system is a biological superpower hiding in plain sight.
THREE INSIGHTS THAT PASS THE SNIFF TEST
- Why Smell Is the Fastest Path to Emotion - Smell bypasses the thalamus and goes straight to the limbic system, which explains instant emotional memories triggered by scent.
- How Humans Detect Over a Trillion Odors - With about 400 types of receptors combining in complex patterns, your nose functions like a biological symphony conductor.
- How Scent Improves Memory, Focus & Emotional Well-Being - From cognitive scent-pairing to olfactory training, smell can sharpen memory, improve concentration, and reinforce emotional grounding
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
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LINKS TO RESOURCES
Scientific References (from episode): • Axel & Buck (1995): https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican1095-154 • Buck (2000): https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-8674(00)80698-4 • Bushdid et al. (2014): https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1249168 • Herz & Engen (1996): https://doi.org/10.3758/BF03210754 • Hummel et al. (2009): https://doi.org/10.1002/lary.20101 • Larson et al. (2007): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2007.03.064 • Moss et al. (2003): https://doi.org/10.1080/00207450390161903 • Stevenson (2010): https://doi.org/10.1093/chemse/bjp083 • Wysocki & Beauchamp (1984): https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.81.15.4899
Further Reading: • The Scent of Desire — Rachel Herz • What the Nose Knows — Avery Gilbert • Harvard Gazette — "Why Smell Triggers Powerful Memories" • American Academy of Otolaryngology — https://www.entnet.org
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
In this episode of Math! Science! History!, I explore the extraordinary life and legacy of Carl Friedrich Gauss, often called the Prince of Mathematics. From a childhood marked by brilliance to contributions that underpin GPS, machine learning, astronomy, electromagnetism, and modern geometry, Gauss reshaped the scientific world with humility and unwavering precision.
You'll learn where the myths end, where the history begins, and why Gauss's work remains foundational in virtually every field touched by numbers today.
A Trio of Gaussian Insights 1. The Myth and the Mind Behind the Child Prodigy - Why the famous "1 to 100" story is partly folklore. But it still reveals Gauss's unbelievable early intuition. 2. How Gauss Found a Lost Planet - A clear explanation of his orbit-reconstruction breakthrough that forever changed astronomy. 3. The Mathematical Tools That Power Today's Technology - From least squares to the Gaussian curve, learn how his ideas fuel GPS, machine learning, physics, and more.
📚 Resources & References
· Bell, Eric Temple. Men of Mathematics. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1937.
· Dunnington, G. Waldo. Gauss: Titan of Science. New York: Mathematical Association of America, 2004.
· Gauss, Carl Friedrich. Disquisitiones Arithmeticae. Trans. Arthur A. Clarke. Yale University Press, 1966.
· Kline, Morris. Mathematical Thought from Ancient to Modern Times. Oxford University Press, 1972.
· Kurtz, David C. "Gauss' Determination of the Orbit of Ceres." Archive for History of Exact Sciences 30, no. 3 (1984): 231–244.
· Schär, Bernhard. "Carl Friedrich Gauss and the First Electromagnetic Telegraph." Isis 102, no. 3 (2011): 501–524.
· Schneider, Carl. "Carl Friedrich Gauss." In Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. 5. New York: Scribner's, 1972.
· Teets, Donald, and Karen Whitehead. "The Discovery of Ceres: How Gauss Became Famous." Mathematics Magazine 72, no. 2 (1999): 83–93.
VISIT US!! mathsciencehistory.com
The Baggage Podcast is a collection of compelling, unique, and sometimes traumatic stories from people of all walks of life. These stories typically only get heard by the storyteller's friends, family, or coworkers. This podcast is a platform for everyday individuals to share their experiences with a larger audience as well as how they cope with the emotional and mental baggage that sometimes follows those events.
www.thebaggagepodcast.com
📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain 0.0 or 1.0 and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers,
Mirecourt Trio composed by Lloyd Rodgers CC1.0
From Page to Practice by Bryan Teoh from Pixabay
Smooth Piano by Universefield from Pixabay
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Until next time, carpe diem!
If you enjoy learning how chemistry, math, and history shape everyday life, follow Math! Science! History! and share this episode with someone still blaming the turkey!
Why does tryptophan always get accused of making everyone sleepy after Thanksgiving? Today's Flashcards Friday takes a closer look at the real science behind this famous amino acid , including how it works in the body, why carbohydrates change everything, and how tryptophan connects to your mood and even your sense of gratitude. Whether your plate had turkey or tofu, this tiny molecule has a much bigger story to tell.
Three Things You'll Learn in This Episode: The Tryptophan Edition 1. How tryptophan actually enters the brain and why the carb-insulin ratio determines whether it succeeds. 2. Why vegetarian foods often contain more tryptophan than turkey, and how plant-based meals create the same post-meal calm. 3. How serotonin and tryptophan connect to emotional resilience and gratitude, especially after warm, shared meals.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
I'm diving deep into the chemistry of flavor, the history of spices, and the math behind crafting the perfect pumpkin spice latte. So go grab your cup of pumpkin spice whatever, get cozy, and let's explore!
To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
You can buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon at https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
The Baggage Podcast is a collection of compelling, unique, and sometimes traumatic stories from people of all walks of life. These stories typically only get heard by the storyteller's friends, family, or coworkers. This podcast is a platform for everyday individuals to share their experiences with a larger audience as well as how they cope with the emotional and mental baggage that sometimes follows those events.
www.thebaggagepodcast.com
Show music by Lloyd Rodgers has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
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Georgetown Cafe, George Popoi, Free Music Archive, CC 4.0 https://popoi.bandcamp.com/track/georgetown-cafe
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🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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In this Flashcard Friday follow-up to Tuesday's interview with theoretical physicist Dr. Ronald L. Mallett, Gabrielle explores Einstein's famous claim that imagination is more important than knowledge. From Marie Curie's invisible rays to Johannes Kepler's celestial harmonies, this episode traces how imagination transforms human emotion, grief, wonder, curiosity, into world-changing discovery.
Listeners will hear how Dr. Mallett's childhood heartbreak became the seed for his groundbreaking work on time travel, and how imagination continues to link science and humanity.
Three Takeaways 1. How imagination transforms emotion into discovery—Dr. Mallett's story shows how grief became a lifelong scientific pursuit. 2. Why creativity drives scientific progress—Curie, Kepler, Hypatia, and Einstein used imagination as their most vital research tool. 3. How "What if?" questions ignite innovation—Every major discovery begins as an imaginative hypothesis.
Resources * Dr. Ronald L. Mallett, Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality (Basic Books, 2006) * H. G. Wells, The Time Machine (1895) * Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and the General Theory (1916)
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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In this fascinating conversation, I interview theoretical physicist Dr. Ronald Mallett to explore one of humanity's most extraordinary scientific pursuits: time travel. From the influence of Einstein's general theory of relativity to quantum mechanics and parallel universes, Dr. Mallett shares the story of how his personal loss inspired a lifetime of discovery.
Listeners will hear how his work connects the geometry of spacetime, wormholes, and cosmic strings to the real mathematics of time loops, and how time travel to the past is theoretically possible. The discussion also takes an emotional and philosophical turn, as Dr. Mallett reflects on his book Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality and the hopes of seeing his father's memory brought to life on the big screen.
Three Things You'll Learn: 1. Einstein's Relativity and the Mechanics of Time Loops: How frame dragging, rotation, and gravity could allow time to twist back on itself. 2. Quantum Mechanics and the Multiverse Solution: Why physicists like Hugh Everett and David Deutsch believe time travel could avoid paradoxes through parallel universes. 3. Real-World Implications of Time Travel: From predicting natural disasters to advancing communication and transportation, Dr. Mallett explains how this science could one day reshape our future.
Resources and Further Reading: * Dr. Ronald Mallett's Book: Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality * University of Connecticut Physics Profile: Ronald L. Mallett, Ph.D. * Einstein's General Theory of Relativity (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy): SEP – General Relativity
If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with your fellow science enthusiasts and leave a review wherever you listen. - Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Treasure – no drums by BreakzStudios Pixabay
Documentary Soundscapes by Music by Valentina López – Pixabay
Classic Documentary Piano by Mikhail Smusev from Pixabay
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For Documentary by Alisia Beatz from Pixabay
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Until next time, carpe diem!
Subscribe to Math! Science! History! wherever you listen to podcasts, and if you love learning how math and science make everyday life better, leave a review and share this episode with a friend who's always running out of time!
In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak explores how mathematics and science can help us master the one resource we can't manufacture, time. From the Shortest Path Problem in geometry to the Pareto Principle in physics and productivity, Gabrielle uncovers how optimization, energy management, and practical habits can transform the way we work, think, and live. This five-minute Flashcard episode blends logic, science, and real-world wisdom for anyone who wants to save time, and maybe feel a little like a time traveler.
Three Time Saving Techniques:
- How the math of optimization teaches us to find the smartest, most efficient route.
- How physics and the 80/20 rule show us to manage energy instead of just minutes.
- How real-world strategies like the Two-Minute Rule, Time Blocking, and Habit Stacking turn theory into daily success.
Links & Resources:
- Atomic Habits by James Clear, https://jamesclear.com/atomic-habits
- Learn more about the Pareto Principle, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pareto_principle
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
What if you could bend time like taffy, stretching moments, collapsing centuries, and stepping through the folds of history itself? In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle explores the myths, literature, and scientific breakthroughs that brought time travel from ancient dreams to modern equations.
From the Mahabharata to H.G. Wells, from Einstein's relativity to Ronald Mallett's laser loop, we uncover how humanity's yearning to rewrite the past or glimpse the future evolved into one of science's most mind-bending pursuits.
Join Gabrielle for a journey through paradoxes, wormholes, and the minds who dared to ask: Can we really travel through time?
Three Key Points
-
How ancient myths from India and Japan foreshadowed the physics of time dilation centuries before Einstein.
-
Why Einstein's relativity transformed time from a constant into a flexible dimension, and what experiments proved it.
-
How real physicists like Ronald Mallett are working to turn theoretical equations into the first tangible steps toward time travel.
Resources & References
· Einstein, Albert. Relativity: The Special and General Theory. 1916.
· Kip Thorne. Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein's Outrageous Legacy. W.W. Norton, 1994.
· Ronald L. Mallett. Time Traveler: A Scientist's Personal Mission to Make Time Travel a Reality. Basic Books, 2006.
· Gödel, Kurt. "An Example of a New Type of Cosmological Solutions of Einstein's Field Equations." Reviews of Modern Physics, 1949.
· Hafele, J. C., & Keating, R. E. "Around-the-World Atomic Clocks: Predicted Relativistic Time Gains." Science, 1972.
· NASA: Time Dilation Explained (FYI: NASA hasn't been able to update this page due to lack of government funding
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Remainder of music and sounds from Pixabay – CC0
Until next time, carpe diem!
Raise your glass, and your curiosity. In this Math! Science! History! Flashcard Friday, Gabrielle Birchak takes you into a haunted pub where chemistry and folklore share the same barstool. You'll uncover how distillation mirrors transformation, why vapor behaves like a ghost, and how the energy that fuels both whiskey and legend never truly disappears.
This is science told by firelight, a story of matter, energy, and the invisible bonds that tie us to everything that changes form.
Three Ponderable Things
- How spirits are born: The chemistry of distillation, evaporation, condensation, and the poetic process of capturing a "spirit."
- Why nothing truly disappears: The physics of latent heat and energy conservation that mirror our fascination with ghost stories.
- How aroma tells a story: The role of volatile compounds that give whiskey its scent, and make chemistry feel almost supernatural.
Resources & References
- Hornsey, Ian S. A History of Beer and Brewing. Royal Society of Chemistry, 2003.
- Forbes, R. J. Short History of the Art of Distillation. Brill, 1970.
- Atkins, P. W., and Julio de Paula. Atkins' Physical Chemistry. Oxford University Press, 2018.
- Royal Society of Chemistry – The Chemistry of Distilling Spirits
- American Chemical Society – How Distillation Works
If this episode left you thinking differently about what lingers after a toast, follow Math! Science! History! wherever you listen to podcasts, and share it with a friend who loves science, storytelling, or a good glass of whiskey.
For transcripts, references, and more stories that mix curiosity with chemistry, visit MathScienceHistory.com.
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this Halloween-special episode of Math! Science! History!, your host Gabrielle Birchak explores the strange world where superstition meets science. We dive into why machines sometimes bow to the mere presence of an engineer (the "Engineer Proximity Effect") and how one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, Wolfgang Pauli, became the subject of an odd legend: wherever he went, lab equipment failed (the "Pauli Effect"). Join us for a spooky, fun, and surprisingly rational journey into the magical aura of tech support and haunted machines.
Three Take-aways 1. Why machines seem to fix themselves when the engineer enters the room, and the psychological and procedural forces behind the so-called Engineer Proximity Effect. 2. The story behind the Pauli Effect, the absurd, amusing, and true folklore of Wolfgang Pauli and failing lab apparatus when he was nearby. 3. How you can use a "spellbook for engineers" to break the cycle of tech gremlins, practical, science-based "spells" you can actually use to feel like you're doing a bit of Halloween magic while being perfectly logical.
Useful Links & Resources * The Pauli Effect: Institute of Physics Spark overview iop.org * ETH Library: Wolfgang Pauli & the Pauli Effect anecdotes library.ethz.ch * WIRED article: "The Strange, Totally Not-True Story of a Cursed Physicist" wired.com
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Mystical Music Box by Vira Miller
Cinematic Suspense Mystery by Luis Humanoide
🎵 Audio Editor: Podcast mixed by David Aviles and Gabrielle Birchak
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this Flashcard Friday episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle explores how everyday choices can make a real difference for our oceans. From reducing single-use plastics to supporting sustainable seafood and climate-friendly habits, this episode uncovers the math, science, and history behind ocean conservation, and the powerful impact of small changes.
Plastic pollution isn't just a problem for sea turtles and coral reefs, it's a problem for us. Every year, about 11 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean, leaching chemicals and breaking down into microplastics that end up in fish, sea salt, and even human blood. But with awareness, advocacy, and action, we can help turn the tide.
Three Things You'll Learn:
- The science behind ocean resilience , how oceans regulate Earth's climate and what happens when that balance is disrupted.
- What plastic really does to marine life , and the startling evidence of microplastics in fish and even in human systems.
- Practical steps you can take today , from rethinking single-use plastics to supporting legislation and sustainable brands.
Resources:
- Pew Charitable Trusts, Breaking the Plastic Wave: pewtrusts.org
- United Nations Environment Programme, Why Are Coral Reefs Dying?: unep.org
- WWF UK, Coral Reefs and Climate Change: wwf.org.uk
- Ocean Conservancy, Plastics in the Ocean: oceanconservancy.org
- NCBI / ScienceDirect, Microplastics in Seafood and Human Exposure Studies: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov | sciencedirect.com
Call to Action:
If today's episode inspired you, take a minute to make one change, carry a reusable bottle, skip the plastic bag, or share this episode with a friend who loves the ocean. Together, we can protect the blue heart of our planet.
Subscribe to Math! Science! History! on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen, and leave a review to help more curious minds find the show!
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak speaks with Professor Gillen D'Arcy Wood, author of The Wake of the HMS Challenger: How a Legendary Victorian Voyage Tells the Story of Our Ocean's Decline. Together, they uncover how a nineteenth-century Royal Navy warship transformed into a floating laboratory and gave humanity its first global snapshot of the oceans. From discovering thousands of new species to inspiring NASA's Challenger shuttle, the expedition shaped modern oceanography and continues to inform today's conservation science.
Wood's biocentric storytelling reminds us that to save our planet, we must first fall in love with it again, to be, as he says, re-enchanted by the living ocean that sustains us all.
Three Things Listeners Will Learn
- How the HMS Challenger (1872–1876) became the first global oceanographic expedition, collecting temperature, depth, and biological data still used today.
- Why Gillen D'Arcy Wood's "biocentric" approach reframes history through the perspective of marine life rather than human explorers.
- What the voyage teaches us about modern ocean crises: from overfishing and warming seas to microplastics—and how species like the green turtle show that recovery is possible.
BUY THE BOOK!
The Wake of the HMS Challenger by Gillen D'Arcy Wood - HarperCollins Publishers
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Smooth Piano by Universefield Musinova - Travelling And Discovering (Marimba World Percussion) Documentary-Nikita Kondrashev
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Publish or Purrish: The Cat Who Co-Authored Physics
Episode Overview:
In this episode of Math! Science! History!, we uncover the remarkable story of F.D.C. Willard, the Siamese cat who became a published co-author in a world-renowned physics journal. What began as a workaround for rigid authorship conventions turned into a beloved legend in science history. But Willard wasn't alone. We also take a closer look at other non-human co-authors, from a dog in immunology, to a hamster in physics, and even bonobos in language research, while exploring what these unusual stories reveal about the culture of scientific publishing and the pressures of the "publish or perish" system.
Three Takeaways: 1. The real physics behind Willard's paper and why the study of helium-3 was serious science, not just a playful prank. 2. Other cases of animals as authors—including a dog, a hamster, and three bonobos—and what those choices meant. 3. The bigger issue of authorship in science and how conventions and pressures shape who gets credit, and why.
Resources and Further Reading:
- Wikipedia: F.D.C. Willard
- Hetherington, J.H. & Willard, F.D.C. (1975). Two-, Three-, and Four-Atom Exchange Effects in bcc ³He. Physical Review Letters, 35(21), 1442–1444.
- Matzinger, Polly & Galadriel Mirkwood. (1978). In a fully H-2 incompatible chimera, T cells of donor origin can respond to minor histocompatibility antigens in association with either donor or host H-2 type. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 148(1), 84–92.
- Geim, A.K. & H.A.M.S. ter Tisha. (2001). Detection of Earth rotation with a diamagnetically levitating gyroscope. Physica B: Condensed Matter, 294–295, 736–739.
- Savage-Rumbaugh, S., Kanzi, Panbanisha, & Nyota. (2007). Welfare of Apes in Captive Environments: Comments on, and by, a Specific Group of Apes. Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 10(1), 7–19.
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Let's Connect!Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history Mastodon: https://mathsciencehistory@mathstodon.xyz YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory Enjoying the Podcast?
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers🎵 Sound Editor: David Aviles
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From tallying goats to launching rockets, this episode takes you on a fast-paced, lighthearted journey through the complete history of mathematics. Inspired by D.E. Smith's The History of Mathematics, this is the espresso version — goats, Greeks, calculus cage matches, infinity, and beyond.
3 Things Listeners Will Learn:
- How early humans counted goats, stars, and time with sticks, pebbles, and sky-watching.
- Why Newton and Leibniz's feud over calculus was the most brutal "cage match" in math history.
- How modern math evolved into the language of infinity, chaos, quantum physics, and AI.
Resources Mentioned:
- The History of Mathematics by David Eugene Smith
- Euclid's Elements
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Dionisio Aguado by Trygve Larsen from Pixabay
Sneaky by Emmraan from Pixabay
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Audio Editor: Podcast mixed by David Aviles
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In this Flashcard Friday follow-up to Tuesday’s interview with Dr. Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai of the Massachusetts Historical Society, we revisit the numbers that changed the course of history. During the Revolutionary War, smallpox was more dangerous to the Continental Army than the British. By comparing mortality rates, George Washington made a bold, science-driven choice: inoculate his troops. The math was simple but profound, 30% risk of death without inoculation versus just 2% with it. This decision helped save the Revolution.
In this episode, we reiterate Dr. Wongsrichanalai’s quote: “do the math, believe the science, and learn your history.” From spotting misleading anecdotes to recognizing reliable sources, and from Washington’s decision to Edward Jenner’s breakthrough, today’s lesson is that evidence and history are our best guides when confronting fear and misinformation.
Three Things You’ll Learn
- How arithmetic saved an army — Why the difference between 30% and 2% mortality mattered more than opinions.
- How to vet science today — Which sources are reliable and why consensus matters more than a single flashy headline.
- What history teaches us about vaccines — From smallpox inoculation to global eradication, the past shows us how trust in evidence safeguards survival.
Resources Mentioned
- Massachusetts Historical Society
- World Health Organization (WHO)
- European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
- Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC)
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak speaks with Dr. Kanisorn Wongsrichanalai of the Massachusetts Historical Society about the hidden epidemic that shaped the American Revolution. While battles raged, smallpox quietly threatened to destroy the Continental Army and colonial communities. From George Washington’s controversial order to inoculate his soldiers to Abigail Adams’s letters describing her family’s ordeal, this conversation reveals how trust in science, courage, and collective action helped secure America’s future.
Three Things Listeners Will Learn:
- How smallpox ravaged North America during the Revolutionary War and why it was considered more dangerous than the battlefield.
- Why George Washington’s decision to inoculate the Continental Army may have saved the Revolution.
- How Abigail and John Adams’s letters reveal the fears, risks, and resilience of ordinary families facing inoculation.
Resources & Further Reading:
- Massachusetts Historical Society
- Massachusetts Historical Society – Adams Family Papers
- Mount Vernon – George Washington and Smallpox Inoculation
- Centers for Disease Control (CDC) – History of Smallpox
- WHO – Eradication of Smallpox
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect! Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history Mastodon: https://mathsciencehistory@mathstodon.xyz YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory 🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
🎵 Audio Editor: Podcast mixed by David Aviles
Until next time, carpe diem!
Think physics only lives in textbooks and science labs? Think again. In this episode, we break down how physics is baked into your everyday life, from the way you walk and sip your coffee to how your phone works and why doors are designed the way they are.
No jargon, no equations, just real-world science you already use, without realizing it.
If you've ever opened a faucet, turned a steering wheel, or spilled your latte, congratulations: you're a physicist in disguise. Tune in and learn how the universe is quietly working with you, every step of the way.
🔍 In This Episode, You’ll Learn: 1. Why walking without falling is a physics masterpiece, and what inverted pendulums have to do with it. 2. The science behind everyday things like sloshing coffee, door handles, and boiling water. 3. How your smartphone uses physics every time you swipe, tilt, or tap.
🔗 Resources Mentioned: * Physics Classroom – Real-World Applications of Newton's Laws * How Stuff Works – How Touchscreens Work * Veritasium: Why It’s Hard to Walk on Ice (YouTube) * MinutePhysics: The Physics of Sloshing Coffee
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers🎵 Sound Editor: David Aviles
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What does it cost to carry a brilliant idea? Ludwig Boltzmann gave us the statistical foundations of entropy and the famous S = k log W, yet his life was marked by relentless skepticism, isolation, and personal struggle. In this episode, we weave Boltzmann’s story with the modern mental health crisis in academia, where anxiety, depression, and burnout affect scientists at alarming rates. We’ll explore how probability explains not only the arrow of time, but also why community, resilience, and care are essential for science to thrive.
3 Things Listeners Will Learn:
- How Ludwig Boltzmann’s statistical mechanics shaped modern physics and why his ideas met fierce resistance.
- The scale of today’s mental health crisis in academia — from graduate students to faculty.
- Practical tools like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and community support that can help foster resilience in science.
Resources & Further Reading:
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (U.S.)
- International Association for Suicide Prevention Global Helpline Directory
- Evans, T. M., et al. “Evidence for a mental health crisis in graduate education.” Nature Biotechnology (2018).
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Boltzmann’s Work in Statistical Physics
- Nobel Prize: Jean Perrin’s Nobel Lecture (1926)
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Until next time, carpe diem!
What if you could watch molecules move in real time? Nobel Prize-winning chemist Ahmed Zewail made that possible by pioneering femtochemistry, capturing chemical reactions in quadrillionths of a second.
In this Flashcards Friday episode, Gabrielle Birchak uncovers Zewail’s remarkable journey: from his modest childhood in Egypt, to facing challenges as an immigrant scientist in the U.S., to transforming the very foundations of chemistry. Along the way, we explore how his resilience, persistence, and vision helped him rise above obstacles and leave a legacy that continues to inspire scientists across the globe.
Three Things You’ll Learn
- How Ahmed Zewail invented femtochemistry and why it transformed our understanding of chemical reactions.
- What adversities Zewail overcame as a Sunni Muslim scientist from Egypt working in the U.S. and navigating skepticism.
- Why resilience matters in science — and how Zewail’s persistence can inspire your own path.
Resources & Further Reading
- Ahmed Zewail – Facts - NobelPrize.org
- Laser femtochemistry - PubMed – By Ahmed Zewail
- Ahmed Zewail, 1946–2016 - www.caltech.edu
- Ahmed Hassan Zewail. 26 February 1946—2 August 2016 | Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle uncovers the fascinating story of quasicrystals, once thought impossible, now proven to exist both in the lab and in meteorites from space. Listeners will learn how quasicrystals challenged centuries of crystallography, the math that explains their strange patterns, and the surprising ways they’re used today, from non‑stick coatings to futuristic photonics.
Three Things You’ll Learn
- Why quasicrystals broke the old definition of crystals and forced scientists to rewrite the rules.
- How Penrose tilings and higher‑dimensional geometry reveal the math behind quasiperiodic order.
- Where quasicrystals are used today in technology, industry, and even planetary science.
Resources & Links
- Dan Shechtman’s Nobel Lecture: Nobel Prize 2011 in Chemistry
- Paul J. Steinhardt, The Second Kind of Impossible (2019)
- Marjorie Senechal, Quasicrystals and Geometry (1995)
- Luca Bindi et al., “Natural Quasicrystals,” Science (2009): https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1170827
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Audio Editor: Podcast mixed by David Aviles Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Pulses by P Richmond from Pixabay
Marimba Ambient Music by Mircea Iancu from Pixabay
A choir of fairies by Music by Alban_Gogh from Pixabay
Chocolate Galaxy Waltz Music by aidanpinsent from Pixabay
Alien Atmosphere Music by Musinova from Pixabay
SFX:
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In this episode of Math Science History, we journey back to 8th-century England to uncover the story of Alcuin of York, a quiet but powerful force behind the Carolingian Renaissance. From his beginnings in the cathedral school of York to his influential role as Charlemagne’s advisor, Alcuin shaped the future of Western education, preserved ancient texts, and helped revive a culture of learning in a world on the brink of intellectual collapse. Discover how this humble teacher from northern England helped build the foundations for modern classrooms and script systems—and even shared a few brain-teasing puzzles along the way.
Three Things You’ll Learn
How Alcuin’s work at the Palace School of Charlemagne helped ignite the Carolingian Renaissance
Why the trivium and quadrivium became the foundation for medieval education—and how they still echo in modern curricula
The surprising origins of the wolf, goat, and cabbage river-crossing puzzle and its connection to Alcuin’s teaching style
Resources and Further Reading Bullough, Donald A. Alcuin: Achievement and Reputation. Brill, 2004.
McKitterick, Rosamond. Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
Folkerts, Menso. “Alcuin's Propositiones ad acuendos juvenes.” Historia Mathematica 5, no. 4 (1978): 385–404.
The Alcuin Club: www.alcuinclub.org.uk
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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🎵Audio mixed by David Aviles
🎵 Music: On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers CC0 Farseer, from Vindsvept CC 4.0Until next time, carpe diem!
In this urgent episode of Math! Science! History, Gabrielle Birchak exposes how the United States is dismantling its scientific foundation through lawsuits, defunding, censorship, and intimidation. From shuttered labs to banned books and silenced climate scientists, Gabrielle connects today’s attacks on knowledge to historical examples of authoritarian suppression—from Galileo’s house arrest to the German Reich’s university purges and Stalin’s pseudoscience.
This is more than a culture war; it’s a battle for truth itself. If science falls, society falters. History has shown us the red flags—will we recognize them before it’s too late?
Three key takeaways
Historical Warnings – How past regimes like Germany's Third Reich, Stalin’s Soviet Union, and Mao’s China crippled their own futures by silencing science.
Present-Day Threats – The U.S. government’s defunding of universities, dismantling of climate research, and politicization of curricula.
How to Act – Practical ways to defend truth, support at-risk scholars, protect data, and safeguard scientific integrity globally.
Resources & References
· Scholars at Risk
· IIE Scholar Rescue Fund
· Union of Concerned Scientists
· American Association for the Advancement of Science
· Climate Mirror
· Internet Archive
· WHO Foundation
· iNaturalist
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
🎵 Audio Editor: Podcast mixed by David Aviles
Sound Effect by Amy from Pixabay
MMM Ominous Music by Max from Pixabay
Radio static by Sound Effect by DRAGON-STUDIO from Pixabay
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Trains, telegraphs, and global trade turned local solar time into a worldwide system, yet the story didn’t stop at 24 neat slices. In this Flashcards! episode, we explore why there are more than 24 time zones, how half-hour and 45-minute offsets came to be, how the International Date Line adds extra zones, why the North Pole has no official time, and how you’d pick a clock for a polar meeting (with a nod to Nunavut coffee culture near the top of the world).
G.M.T.- Great Mini Takeaways
- Prime Time: Why the “24-zone” model grew to include half-hour and 45-minute offsets.
- Date Line Design: How zigzags in the Pacific create “tomorrow” (and even UTC+14).
- Polar Protocol: No time zone at the North Pole, so teams pick one and sync.
Links & Resources
- What is Greenwich Mean Time? Royal Museums Greenwich. Royal Museums Greenwich
- The International Date Line explained. Timeanddate.com. Time and Date
- Time in Kiribati (GILT/PHOT/LINT; includes UTC+14) Overview. Time and Date
- Samoa’s 2011 “skipped day” (time-zone shift) Wired magazine. WIRED
- Alert, Nunavut (northernmost continuously inhabited place) Background. Wikipedia
- Tim Hortons locations in Nunavut (Iqaluit listings) Official directory. locations.timhortons.ca
(Note: You’ll hear a shout-out to coffee “near the top of the world” in Nunavut; official Tim Hortons locations are listed for Iqaluit. Alert is the northernmost inhabited place, but it’s a military station without a public Tim’s listing.)
(OTHER NOTE! Collaborate with us! Add to our Nerd Party Playlist! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7hIpM6G5lrW2HzksRb3BhH?si=306ba7a9f7034f74&pt=8125ceb04b19d9a9d2132be18a5abbb2
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
Time feels natural, but the way we measure it is entirely human-made. From Mesopotamian star charts and Egyptian solar calendars to Roman reforms, medieval clock towers, and modern atomic precision, this episode explores how we constructed the framework of time itself.
3 Timeless Takeaways:
- How ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt laid the foundations for calendars and timekeeping.
- Why the Babylonians chose base-60 and how it still shapes our clocks today.
- How mechanical clocks, trains, and atomic physics transformed time into the precise system we live by.
Resources & Links Mentioned:
- More on the Sexagesimal System: My eponymic contribution to Sexagesimal math - Math! Science! History!™
- Leap Year, Caesar’s Propaganda, and a New Calendar: Leap Year, Caesar's propaganda, and a new calendar - Math! Science! History!™
- National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) on Atomic Time: https://www.nist.gov/pml/time-and-frequency-division
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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- Music: All music is public domain and has no copyright and rights reserved.
- Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
- Travelling and Discovering by Musinova from Pixabay
- Lake of Light by Vinsvept from Pixabay
- Orlando Gibbons (bap.1583-1625) - Galliard à3, for Treble & Bass Viols with Great Bass,
- Dr. Phillip W. Serna, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Deafening Bounce Groove by Rockot from Pixabay
Until next time, carpe diem!
We use maps all day, including Google Maps, Waze, Apple Maps. We use them without even noticing that every one of them distorts reality. In this episode, Gabrielle explains why flattening a round Earth always bends the truth, how classic projections (like Mercator) live inside today’s apps, and why those distortions shape our mental picture of the world. Practical, visual, and myth-busting, this is cartography you can feel on your daily commute.
To hear the podcast on Marie Tharp, visit: Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak
Three Coordinates to Remember
- Why distortion is unavoidable when projecting a 3D globe onto a flat screen (thanks, Gauss).
- How Web Mercator powers Google Maps/Waze, great for street-level navigation, misleading at global scales.
- How projection choices shape perception, from Greenland vs. Africa to who appears “big” or “central” on a map.
Resources & Visuals
- Gall–Peters (equal-area) projection: Peters Projection Map: Everything Your Ever Wanted To Know
- Compare Map Projections: https://map-projections.net/compare.php
- Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion map (unfolded globe): https://www.bfi.org/about-fuller/dymaxion-map
- “The True Size Of…” (drag countries to compare real sizes): https://thetruesize.com
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect! Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
Geologist-cartographer Marie Tharp turned echo-sounding numbers into the first global seafloor maps—revealing the Mid-Atlantic Ridge’s rift valley and helping vindicate Alfred Wegener’s once-dismissed theory of continental drift. This episode traces Tharp’s path from wartime classrooms to world-changing maps, the resistance she faced, and the recognition that finally followed.
Three Key Points:
- How Tharp and Bruce Heezen transformed sonar data into the physiographic maps that visualized seafloor spreading.
- Why the Mid-Atlantic Ridge’s rift valley was a “smoking gun” for plate tectonics.
- How gender bias delayed credit for one of geology’s most consequential discoveries.
Resources & Further Reading (links)
- World / Ocean Floors and Land Relief (Heezen–Tharp map) at the David Rumsey Collection. David Rumsey Map Collection
- Browse all Tharp items in the David Rumsey Historical Map Collection. David Rumsey Map Collection
- Library of Congress Heezen–Tharp Collection (finding aid & digitized items). Library of Congress Handle Resolver
- About Marie Tharp (Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory mini-site). marietharp.ldeo.columbia.edu
- Marie Tharp biography (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution). Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
- SECNAV press release renaming USNS Marie Tharp (T-AGS-66), Mar 8, 2023. Navy+1
- Google Doodle celebrating Marie Tharp (interactive). Google Doodleslamont.columbia.edu
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. From Page to Practice by Brian Teoh. Nature Documentary by Alisia Beats. Slow Tide by u_98673jp94.
Sound effects from Pixabay: Thank you Dragon Studio and Solarmusic
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this Flashcards Friday, Gabrielle shows how you already think like a scientist. Using three simple ideas from microscopy: magnification, illumination, and focus, she connects everyday phone habits (zooming, finding good light, tapping to focus) to centuries of scientific practice.
Three Flashcards
Magnification: How “zooming in” reveals hidden detail, and why that mindset matters in science and daily life.
Illumination: How changing the light transforms what you can see, from selfies to specimens.
Focus: Why patience and fine-tuning bring true clarity (on your phone and under a lens).
Links to Resources
· Microscope Basics (Britannica): https://www.britannica.com/technology/microscope
· Illumination & Contrast (Nikon MicroscopyU): https://www.microscopyu.com/techniques
· Optics Primer: Lenses & Light (HyperPhysics): http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/geoopt/lenscon.html
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
First crafted in the late 16th century, the microscope forever changed science by revealing worlds hidden from the naked eye. In this special repost from 2020, Gabrielle takes you through centuries of innovation—from glass lenses to high-tech marvels—and explores how this transformative tool shaped medicine, biology, and our understanding of life itself.
Three key topics
The origins of the microscope, including its earliest inventors and the coining of its name in 1625.
How microscopes evolved from simple lenses to electron and cryo-electron imaging.
The ways microscopes continue to impact scientific discovery today.
Links to Resources
Luke Jerram’s Glass Microbe Sculptures: https://www.lukejerram.com/
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – COVID-19 Images: https://www.niaid.nih.gov/news-events/novel-coronavirus-sarscov2-images
History of Microscopy – Encyclopedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/technology/microscope
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this episode of Math! Science! History!, we explore the ethics of exploration through three lenses: the protests over modern overtourism, the historical insights of early scientific explorers, and the fictional moral compass of Star Trek’s Prime Directive. From 18th-century expeditions to the 23rd-century starship Enterprise, we examine how curiosity, respect, and humility can guide how we move through the world, whether on cobblestone streets or alien worlds.
Three Things Listeners Will Learn
The origins and real-world inspiration behind Star Trek’s Prime Directive.
How early scientific explorers approached discovery with respect for cultures and environments.
Practical ways to travel ethically in an age of overtourism.
Links to Resources
Louvre Museum staff strike over overcrowding: Louvre shut down by spontaneous staff strike over 'untenable' working conditions
Venice overtourism measures: Venice Doubles Last-Minute 'Tourist Tax' , Other Cities Watch Closely - Business Insider
Star Trek “The Return of the Archons” episode summary: The Return of the Archons (episode) | Memory Alpha | Fandom
Star Trek Prime Directive overview: https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Prime_Directive
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
This episode bridges the ancient and the cutting-edge, tracing the legacy of 7th-century mathematician Brahmagupta, who formalized the concept of zero, to today’s quantum computing revolution. We explore how his foundational work in numerical systems underpins binary logic and, ultimately, the qubits powering modern quantum processors like Microsoft’s Majorana 1 and Google’s Willow. From historical insight to the promise of quantum-driven solutions for climate change, medicine, and cybersecurity, this episode is a testament to how human innovation builds across centuries.
The key points include
How Brahmagupta’s introduction of zero and rules for numbers shaped the foundation of binary and quantum logic.
The latest breakthroughs in quantum computing, including Microsoft’s Majorana 1 and Google’s Willow processor.
Why quantum computing could transform fields from medicine and climate modeling to global logistics and encryption.
🏛 Links & Resources: · Microsoft unveils Majorana 1 chip
· Google’s Willow Processor Overview
· History of Brahmagupta
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!!
Construction noise outside Gabrielle’s studio becomes the perfect backdrop to this week’s Flashcard Friday episode. From ancient geometry and Pythagorean ropes to Brunelleschi’s Renaissance dome and today’s AI-assisted architecture, this episode explores how math and science have always been at the heart of building human civilization. Whether it's the silent symmetry of Islamic domes or the loud clatter of skyscrapers rising, construction is the sound of applied mathematics — past and present.
Three take-aways: 1. How ancient builders used geometry, Pythagorean triples, and astronomy to align massive structures like the pyramids. 2. The mathematical innovations behind historical architectural marvels like Brunelleschi’s dome and the Roman Pantheon. 3. How modern construction relies on physics, calculus, AI, and computer simulations — and what those sounds mean today.
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Let’s Connect! Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show!Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle explores the unexpected origin story of the word scientist. It all started with Mary Somerville’s 1834 book On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences, which sparked a humorous yet historic review by William Whewell. From ridicule to resistance, the term evolved amid fierce linguistic debate, public mockery, and eventual global adoption. Discover how one word came to define a profession, and why that battle still matters today.
Key topics:
- The origin of the word "scientist," and why it was initially mocked by 19th-century intellectuals.
- How Mary Somerville’s work unified the physical sciences and inspired a linguistic revolution.
- Why scientists still face resistance, and why naming, truth, and peer-reviewed research matter more than ever.
Primary Resources & Recommended Reading: Ross, Sydney. “Scientist: The Story of a Word.” Annals of Science, Vol. 18, No. 2, June 1964.
Mary Somerville, On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences (1834). On the Connexion of the Physical Sciences by Mary Somerville | Project Gutenberg
William Whewell, The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences (1840)
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
On this Flashcards Friday episode, Gabrielle serves up a tasty blend of chemistry, humor, and history. Coinciding with National Avocado Day, this episode dives into the life and legacy of Amedeo Avogadro, the 19th-century chemist behind the foundational theorem of gas volumes, and how his name unexpectedly became linked with everyone's favorite green fruit. From moles to molecules to memes, Gabrielle brings the science home, one chip at a time.
🌱 3 Things You'll Learn in This Episode:
-
Who Amedeo Avogadro was and what his theorem states about gas volumes.
-
How the mole (6.022 × 10²³) became a central concept in chemistry.
-
Why Avogadro’s legacy lives on in both labs and lunchrooms (thanks to Avocado Day puns!).
🔗 Resources Mentioned:
National Avocado Day Info – National Today
Avogadro’s Law – LibreTexts
History of the Mole Concept – American Chemical Society
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
Lise Meitner changed the world, and the world nearly forgot her. In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak explores Meitner’s brilliant mind, her escape from Nazi Germany, her critical role in discovering nuclear fission, and why the Nobel Committee turned a blind eye. Join us as we honor a scientist who refused to let science become a weapon.
3 Things Listeners Will Learn:
Why Lise Meitner was central to the discovery of nuclear fission, and how her contribution was overlooked by the Nobel Committee.
How the rise of Nazi Germany forced her to flee her lab and live as a stateless refugee.
Why Meitner refused to join the Manhattan Project and what that choice cost her legacy.
Links to Resources:
Some of the following resources contain affiliate links, which I may receive compensation at no cost to you.
Ruth Lewin Sime’s biography: Lise Meitner: A Life in Physics
Original 1939 paper by Meitner and Frisch: “Disintegration of Uranium by Neutrons” (Nature)
Physics Today: A Nobel Tale of Postwar Injustice
Max Planck Society's profile on Meitner: Lise Meitner Archives
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd RodgersSmooth Piano for Documentaries, Universfield, Free Music Archive, CC by 4.0 Hopeful, Maarten Schellekens, Free Music Archive, CC by 4.0Mourning Song, Kevin MacLeod, Free Music Archive, CC by 4.0 Snowflakes Falling - Warren City, MI - Winter Snow Storm 1-25-23 at 1:20pm by Ambient-X -- https://freesound.org/s/671357/ -- License: Attribution 4.0Walk snow and pond forage.WAV by donhill -- https://freesound.org/s/255672/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Until next time, carpe diem!
In this Flashcard Friday episode of Math, Science, History, host Gabrielle Birchak takes you into the steamy jungles of the 19th-century Malay Archipelago, where a fever-stricken explorer had a revelation that would change biology forever. Meet Alfred Russel Wallace, the naturalist whose fieldwork and tropical travels led to the theory of natural selection, at the same time as Darwin.
From his challenging journey to his humility in the face of discovery, Wallace’s story reminds us that science doesn’t always happen in a lab. It sometimes happens in a mosquito-filled hut, guided by sheer determination and a passion for nature.
Do you know?!
-
How Alfred Russel Wallace independently developed the theory of natural selection during his expedition?
-
The significance of the "Wallace Line" and its impact on biogeography?
-
Why Wallace’s collaboration with Darwin remains a model of scientific integrity and humility?
Resources:
The Malay Archipelago by Alfred Russel Wallace on Project Gutenberg
Short Documentary on Wallace's Life (NHM London)
Visit us! Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect! Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory 🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!
In this special podcast swap episode, Math Science History teams up with History Daily to bring you one of the most enduring mysteries in modern folklore — the legend of the Loch Ness Monster. From ancient Scottish lore to one of the most infamous photographic hoaxes of the 20th century, this captivating narrative blends history, myth, and media manipulation.
Gabrielle Birchak, host of Math Science History, also shares a brief reflection on Hypatia of Alexandria and her latest book Hypatia, The Sum of Her Life, now available on Amazon.
Enjoy this rich collaboration with History Daily, and discover how a blend of mystery, myth, and media shaped the global fascination with Nessie.
Three things you will learn:
-
How a 1933 eyewitness account sparked worldwide interest in the Loch Ness Monster.
-
The shocking truth behind the famous “Surgeon’s Photograph” and the man who staged it.
-
How hoaxes, headlines, and history intersected to build a lasting legend.
Resources & Links:
Listen to History Daily on your favorite podcast platform.
History Daily on Apple
History Daily on Spotify
History Daily is a coproduction of Airship and Noiser
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect! Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mathsciencehistory LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ Threads: https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mathsciencehistory 🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this episode of Flashcards Friday at Math! Science! History! Gabrielle Birchak unzips the fascinating world of packing problems, the mathematical puzzles behind fitting everything into your suitcase. Discover how optimization theory and combinatorial math are at play every time you pack, ship, or store something efficiently. Whether you're prepping for vacation or running a tech company, the same mathematical rules apply.
3 Take-aways! (Pun intended!)
-
What packing problems are and why they matter in math, logistics, and data storage.
-
Why packing problems are so difficult, and why your perfect suitcase is more impressive than it seems.
-
How optimization techniques like sorting, rotating, and greedy filling are used in real-world applications, and how to apply them to your next trip.
Resources & Further Reading
Math for Liberal Studies: Bin-Packing Algorithms
Solving Hard Problems with Heuristics: A Beginner’s Guide
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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In this episode of Math! Science! History! we take a walk through the Scottish Highlands with Peter Higgs, figuratively and historically, to uncover the quiet moment in 1964 when a simple hike sparked a revolutionary idea in physics.
Discover how the weak nuclear force and electromagnetism are deeply connected by symmetry, why mass was such a mystery to physicists in the 20th century, and how the Higgs field changed everything.
From the elegance of theoretical predictions to the drama of the 48-year search for the Higgs boson, this story is not just about particles, it's about patience, creativity, and discovery.
3 Things You’ll Learn in This Episode:
How symmetry connects the weak nuclear force to electromagnetism and why that connection broke down.
What the Higgs field is and how it gives mass to particles like W and Z bosons.
Why Peter Higgs's quiet walk in the mountains became one of the most important moments in modern physics.
Resources & References:
CERN: The Higgs boson: What makes it special?
University of Edinburgh: Brief History of the Higgs Mechanism
Physics World: Peter Higgs on CERN and his career
Retrospect Journal: The Peter Higgs Plaque and Its Background
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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✈️ Episode Overview
Have you ever searched for a flight, left the tab open, and then gasped when the price jumped just a few hours later? In this Flashcards Friday episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak explores the mystery behind fluctuating airline prices—and reveals that it’s not magic, but a powerful blend of mathematics, algorithms, behavioral psychology, and dynamic pricing strategies.
From fare buckets and revenue management to the cookies on your browser, Gabrielle breaks down how airlines control pricing and what you can do to outsmart the system and save money.
🎓 3 Things You'll Learn in This Episode
-
How airline pricing algorithms use math and historical data to determine real-time ticket prices.
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Why flight prices often increase after multiple searches and how your browser behavior influences fares.
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Proven strategies and tools for booking smarter and avoiding price spikes.
🔗 Resources Mentioned
Google Flights – Great for tracking price history and alerts
Hopper – App that predicts the best times to buy flights
Skyscanner – Fare comparison across airlines and booking sites
ITA Matrix Airfare Search – Advanced search tool used by travel agents
The Discipline of Revenue Management – For those interested in the math and economics behind pricing algorithms
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Long before telescopes and satellites, Hipparchus of Nicaea looked to the skies and changed the course of scientific history. In this fascinating episode of Math Science History, Gabrielle revisits the life and legacy of the ancient astronomer whose innovations in trigonometry, geography, and star mapping still resonate today. From discovering axial precession to laying the groundwork for the astrolabe, Hipparchus helped humanity understand our place in the cosmos: mathematically, geographically, and philosophically.
Three Key Take-Aways
How Hipparchus measured the Earth's axial precession and why this was a monumental scientific discovery.
The mathematical brilliance behind his trigonometric tables and how they informed tools like the astrolabe.
How ancient astronomy evolved into cartography, influencing how we view geography and time today.
Resources & References
Griffith Observatory Astronomers Monument: https://griffithobservatory.org
Ptolemy's Almagest: Loeb Classical Library
Hipparchus in The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://iep.utm.edu/hipparchus/
Cosimo Bartoli’s Del modo di misurare: https://archive.org/details/delmododimisurar00bart
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history 🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Episode Overview:
What do black holes, a teenage genius, and a long ocean voyage have in common? In this Flashcard Friday episode of Math, Science, History, Gabrielle tells the incredible story of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who, at just 19 years old, sailed from India to England and made a discovery that would transform astrophysics forever.
Armed only with a notebook and fresh ideas from quantum mechanics, Chandrasekhar calculated the limit of stellar collapse, now called the Chandrasekhar Limit, which revealed when a star collapses into a black hole. This isn't just a story about equations; it's a story about persistence, quiet genius, and the power of taking a break.
3 Things You'll Learn in This Episode:
-
What the Chandrasekhar Limit is and why it's essential for understanding black holes
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How quantum mechanics, relativity, and statistical math came together to predict the death of stars
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Why slowing down and giving your mind time to wander can lead to world-changing discoveries
Resources:
NASA: Black Holes Explained
Biography of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar – NobelPrize.org
A. S. Eddington and Chandrasekhar Controversy – arXiv
Chandrasekhar’s Original 1931 Paper (PDF)
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Let’s Connect!
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Episode Overview
Once dismissed as mathematical absurdities, black holes are now recognized as real, powerful features of our universe—cosmic wells where space, time, and even light collapse. In this episode of Math! Science! History!, we explore the astonishing story of how black holes evolved from a rejected theory to an accepted reality. From Einstein’s reluctance and Oppenheimer’s overlooked models, to John Wheeler’s advocacy and Stephen Hawking’s revolutionary radiation theory, this episode traces the full arc of scientific discovery—and what black holes reveal about our own place in the cosmos.
Three Key Take-Aways
Why Karl Schwarzschild’s World War I-era math predicted black holes decades before anyone took them seriously
How John Wheeler changed the game by naming—and championing—the black hole
What modern observations like Cygnus X-1, Hawking radiation, and LIGO’s gravitational wave detection tell us about collapsed stars and spacetime
Resources & References (the books include affiliate links)
Oppenheimer & Snyder (1939): On Continued Gravitational Contraction
David Finkelstein (1958): Past-Future Asymmetry of the Gravitational Field
Kip Thorne’s book: Black Holes and Time Warps: Einstein’s Outrageous Legacy
Marcia Bartusiak’s book: Black Hole: How an Idea Abandoned by Newtonians, Hated by Einstein, and Gambled on by Hawking Became Loved
LIGO and gravitational wave discovery (2015)
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers 🎵 Audio: Podcast mixed by David Aviles
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In this Flashcard Friday episode, Gabrielle dives into the surprising history and science of sunblock. From ancient Egypt’s jasmine oils to modern SPF 50 sprays, discover how sunscreen evolved and why it’s one of the best defenses against deadly melanoma. Gabrielle shares the statistics on skin cancer, explains how sunblock works, and gives you simple tips to stay protected. With her favorite motto, “Just say NO to melanoma,” she’ll leave you ready to face the sun smartly.
3 Things Listeners Will Learn:
-
The fascinating history of sunblock, from ancient remedies to modern formulations.
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How sunscreen protects the skin and how to use it correctly for maximum safety.
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Eye-opening facts about melanoma risk, survival rates, and prevention through sun protection.
Resource Links
American Cancer Society: Melanoma Skin Cancer Overview
All About Sunscreen: Why You Need It. How it Works for You
Melanoma Treatment (PDQ®)–Patient Version
Visit us!
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
Episode Overview
In this special re-release, we revisit the life and mind of Blaise Pascal, a mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and theologian who left a lasting impact on multiple disciplines. From his early genius in geometry to his pioneering work in probability theory, Pascal was a thinker who never stopped exploring the boundaries between logic and faith. In this episode, Gabrielle Birchak explores how Pascal’s scientific brilliance intersected with his spiritual journey, shedding light on the man who helped shape modern science, mathematics, and religious philosophy.
Whether you're hearing this episode for the first time or giving it a second listen, Pascal's story continues to resonate through the centuries.
3 Things You Will Learn
How Pascal’s early work in conic sections and projective geometry led to “Pascal’s Theorem.”
Why his collaboration with Fermat on probability theory is considered the foundation of modern decision science.
How Pascal reconciled science and religion through his writings, including Pensées and Pascal’s Wager.
Resources & References
Read the blog: Pascal’s Higher Power
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Blaise Pascal
Khan Academy – Pascal’s Triangle and Applications
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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In this Flashcard Fridays episode of Math! Science! History! Gabrielle Birchak takes listeners on a journey aboard the HMS Beagle with a young, seasick Charles Darwin. This wasn’t just a travel story, it was a five-year working holiday that would ultimately change the course of science. Through field observations, curiosity, and a bit of chaos, Darwin unknowingly gathered the seeds of his future theory of evolution.
From the Galápagos Islands to fossil beds in South America, Gabrielle uncovers how a break from academia became one of the most pivotal moments in scientific history. Perfect for summer listening, this episode is a reminder that the best ideas sometimes come when we step away from the desk. THREE KEY TAKEAWAYS
Why Darwin’s voyage aboard the HMS Beagle was never meant to be a scientific breakthrough—but became one anyway.
How observation, curiosity, and a break from routine led to one of the most powerful theories in science.
What Darwin’s journey teaches us about creativity, fieldwork, and the value of stepping outside your comfort zone.
Resources & Further Reading: * Darwin Online – The Complete Works of Charles Darwin * Smithsonian Magazine: Darwin’s Life on the Beagle * Galápagos Conservancy – Science and Conservation
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
Leonardo da Vinci is often remembered for the Mona Lisa and The Last Supper—but he was so much more than a painter. In this episode, we uncover the Renaissance icon’s groundbreaking work in engineering, anatomy, and invention, as well as explore the quieter truths of his personal identity.
We ask a powerful question: What might the world look like if everyone—regardless of gender or sexuality—could live and create as freely as Leonardo did, without fear of judgment?
Join us as we journey through Leonardo’s notebooks, his unconventional relationships, and the brilliance he left behind—not just in paint, but in thought.
THREE KEY TAKE-AWAYS
How Leonardo’s engineering and scientific contributions shaped modern innovations—from anatomy to flight.
Insight into Leonardo’s personal life, including his relationships with Salaì and Melzi, and what modern historians believe about his sexuality.
A broader question of what happens when people are allowed to live and create authentically—without fear of shame or suppression.
Resources & References
Walter Isaacson’s biography of Leonardo da Vinci: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Leonardo-da-Vinci/Walter-Isaacson/9781501139154
Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks (Codex Atlanticus): https://www.leonardodigitale.com
Museum of Science, Leonardo DaVinci
Leonardo da Vinci’s mother was a slave, according to new research
Da Vinci's mother was an enslaved teenager trafficked to Italy, new documents suggest
Leonardo’s letter to Ludovico Sforza
10 of Leonardo da Vinci’s Most Important Inventions
Leonardo daVinci – by Walter Isaacson
The Victoria and Albert Museum – Leonardo daVinci’s Codices
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
🎵 Audio: Mixed by David Aviles Until next time, carpe diem!
Episode Overview: Did people in antiquity ever go on vacation? The short answer is yes—and the long answer is a fascinating journey through Roman villas, Greek festivals, Byzantine retreats, Tang dynasty poetry, and sacred pilgrimages. In this Flashcard Friday episode, Gabrielle Birchak uncovers how the privileged, the pious, and the poetic found ways to take breaks, explore new places, and seek leisure across 1,400 years of ancient history. From Pliny the Younger’s coastal villa to early travel writing in Baghdad, we’ll explore how the idea of “getting away” is as old as civilization itself.
Three Things Listeners Will Learn:
-
How ancient Romans and Greeks viewed leisure and travel.
-
How pilgrimage functioned as early tourism across Christian and Islamic worlds.
-
What writings from antiquity reveal about humanity’s timeless desire to escape daily routines.
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Let’s Connect!
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
In this special Pride Month episode, Gabrielle explores the fascinating world of queerness in nature. From same-sex penguin pairs in New York to gender-changing clownfish in coral reefs, nature has always been more diverse, adaptable, and surprising than human categories suggest. Drawing on over 600 years of scientific observation, this episode takes listeners on a global journey through the history of animal research, challenges long-held myths, and reflects on what science teaches us about identity and diversity today.
3 Things Listeners Will Learn:
How scientists from Aristotle to today have observed same-sex and gender-diverse behaviors in animals.
Why queerness in nature offers evolutionary advantages, from social bonding to population resilience.
How modern research is reshaping our understanding of sexual and gender diversity across species.
Resources & References
Evolution's Rainbow by Joan Roughgarden
Biological Exuberance by Bruce Bagemihl
Sexual Selections: What We Can and Can’t Learn About Sex from Animals by Marlene Zuk
Scientific American: “Bisexual Species: Unorthodox Sex in the Animal Kingdom”
National Wildlife Federation: "Same-Sex Behavior Among Animals Isn’t New. Science Is Finally Catching Up"
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from: The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Now You Are Here by Sergey Cheremisiniv Eternal Love by Kris Keypovsky A Journey Beyond by Christian Bodhi
Until next time, carpe diem!
Episode Overview:
In this Flashcard Friday episode of Math! Science! History!TM Gabrielle breaks down the powerful numbers behind the misinformation and legislative attacks targeting LGBTQ+ and especially transgender communities in the United States. With over 550 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced across 49 states in 2023 alone, it's time to ask: What does the data actually say?
From the percentage of Americans who identify as LGBTQ+ to the hard truth about who actually commits acts of harm, this episode unpacks the math that shatters the myths. Because when fear leads, facts must speak louder.
3 Things You'll Learn in This Episode:
-
What percentage of the U.S. population identifies as LGBTQ+ and how small the transgender community actually is.
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Who is statistically responsible for most sexual violence—and how trans people are often the victims, not perpetrators.
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Which states introduced the most anti-LGBTQ+ bills in 2023, and what types of legislation are being proposed.
Resources
Gallup: LGBTQ+ Identification Rises to 7.6% in U.S.
UCLA Williams Institute: Transgender Population Estimates
The Trevor Project: 2023 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health
ACLU: Legislative Attacks on LGBTQ Rights
Trans Murder Monitoring Report (TGEU)
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
Episode Overview: Long before Europe adopted the concept of zero, the ancient Maya had already created one of the most sophisticated mathematical systems in the world. In this episode of Math Science History, host Gabrielle Birkjak uncovers the secrets of Mayan mathematics, from the elegance of their base-20 number system, to their revolutionary use of zero, to the celestial precision encoded in the Dresden Codex.
We explore how the Maya embedded math into everything from pyramids to calendars, and how European scholars like Ernst Förstemann helped rediscover their brilliance centuries later. This isn’t just a story about numbers, it’s a story about worldview, time, astronomy, and one of the most advanced mathematical traditions of the ancient world.
Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode:How the ancient Maya independently invented and used zero in a positional number system.
Why their base-20 (vigesimal) system was uniquely suited for astronomy and calendar cycles.
How the Dresden Codex survived colonialism and war to become a key to understanding Mayan math and astronomy.
Resources and Further Reading:
SLUB Dresden Digital Archive: View the Dresden Codex: https://digital.slub-dresden.de/werkansicht/dlf/29691/1
Förstemann, Ernst. Commentary on the Maya Manuscript in the Royal Public Library of Dresden (1901): https://archive.org/details/commentarymaya00fruoft
Coe, Michael D., and Stephen Houston. The Maya, 9th ed. Thames & Hudson, 2015.
Ifrah, Georges. The Universal History of Numbers. Wiley, 2000.
British Museum, Maya Mathematics Learning Resource: https://www.britishmuseum.org/learn/schools/ages-7-11/maths/maya-mathematics
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers 🎵 Audio mixed by David Aviles
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Ever find yourself squinting at a metric label, trying to figure out how much a liter is in cups—or how heavy your suitcase is in pounds? In this episode of Math! Science! History!, host Gabrielle Birchak shares fast, intuitive tricks to help you convert metric units, without numbers, calculators, or charts.
Through rhythm, storytelling, and everyday comparisons, you’ll learn how to feel conversions in your head, whether you’re driving, walking, or cooking. From chocolate bars and milk jugs to cat weights and yoga mats, we’re turning complex conversions into simple, memorable cues. This episode is perfect for anyone who wants to sharpen their mental math, and sound like a genius without pulling out their phone.
3 Things You'll Learn in This Episode:
- How to mentally visualize metric conversions using sensory and familiar objects—no math required.- Real-world reference points for converting volume, weight, distance, and temperature.- Simple memory tricks to help internalize metric vs. imperial conversions while on the go.
Resources Mentioned:Metric System Overview – National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) Quick Conversion Tables – Metric Conversions 3 Simple Tricks For Converting Metric Units In Your Head Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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Episode Overview
How did a bold Enlightenment vision become the universal language of science and technology? In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle takes you on a journey through the revolutionary origins, global adoption, and modern significance of the metric system. Discover how a chaotic world of local measurements gave way to an elegant, decimal-based system designed to unify not just France—but the entire planet. From the daring expedition of Delambre and Méchain to today's atomic-clock-calibrated definitions, this story reveals how the metric system continues to shape spaceflight, AI, and even cryptocurrency.
3 Things You Will Learn
Why the French Revolution called for a measurement system “for all people, for all time.”
How the metric system evolved from platinum prototypes to quantum-based constants.
Why the metric system is essential in today’s world, from Mars missions to microchips.
Resources & References
BIPM – International System of Units (SI)
NIST – Redefinition of the Kilogram
Alder, Ken. The Measure of All Things
Quinn, Terry. From Artefacts to Atoms
O’Connor, Anahad. “Why the U.S. Doesn't Use the Metric System” – The New York Times
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Audio: Mixed by David Aviles
Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Waltz with Me by Beat Mekanik Camille Saint-Saëns, Danse Macabre by Kevin MacLeod
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Episode Overview:
In this episode of Math, Science, History, host Gabrielle Birchak explores the extraordinary life and legacy of Alan Turing, the brilliant mathematician, codebreaker, and father of artificial intelligence. From cracking the German Enigma code in World War II to laying the theoretical foundations for modern computing, Turing’s story is one of genius, perseverance, and tragic injustice. This episode examines not only his scientific contributions but also the deeply personal journey of a man whose work continues to shape our world.
3 Things You'll Learn in This Episode:- How Alan Turing’s theoretical "Turing Machine" became the foundation of computer science. - How Turing’s work at Bletchley Park helped end WWII and save millions of lives. - How his tragic treatment after the war led to a powerful legacy of recognition, apology, and progress in both science and human rights.
Click here to listen to my interview with Daniel Shiu: https://sites.libsyn.com/212183/the-codebreakers-who-reshaped-uk-mathematics-daniel-shiu-on-bletchley-parks-lasting-impact
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Let’s Connect!
www.Instagram.com/math.science.history
https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social
https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/
https://www.threads.com/@math.science.history Resources!
Bletchley Park Museum: https://bletchleypark.org.uk
The Turing Institute: https://www.turing.ac.uk
Hodges, Andrew. Alan Turing: The Enigma.
National Museum of Computing: https://www.tnmoc.org
Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help: Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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In this episode of Math, Science, History, host Gabrielle Birchak sits down with Daniel Shiu to discuss his recent article in Cryptologia, “The Influence of Bletchley Park on UK Mathematics.”
What began as a top-secret wartime codebreaking operation became a powerful incubator for intellectual exchange and mathematical innovation. Dr. Shiu unpacks how the intense collaboration and problem-solving culture at Bletchley Park spilled over into British academic institutions, shaping research directions, creating new career paths, and forging a generation of mathematical minds.
Together, we explore:
How cryptographic work at Bletchley Park sparked post-war mathematical advancements
The role of camaraderie, innovation, and shared urgency in building lasting academic communities
Why this hidden history still matters in today’s mathematical and cybersecurity landscapes
Whether you're a WWII history buff, a mathematician, or a fan of untold stories, this episode will uncover a rarely discussed legacy of Bletchley Park.
Listen now and explore the crossroads of history, math, and memory.
Read the full article: “The Influence of Bletchley Park on UK Mathematics” Published in Cryptologia: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01611194.2025.2457086
🌍 Let’s Connect!
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Episode Overview:
In this episode of Math, Science, History, we hop into a fictional electric vehicle—Einstein's EV—and cruise through space and time to uncover the fascinating world of relativity. What is the theory of relativity, and how did a curious young patent clerk change our understanding of the universe forever?
Using simple language and a fun driving analogy, we break down the core ideas behind both Special and General Relativity, explore Einstein’s thought experiments, and show how his discoveries shape your daily life—yes, even your GPS.
Whether you're a physics newbie or a science buff, this episode offers a friendly, accessible introduction to one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs in history.
3 Things You'll Learn in This Episode:
How Einstein's thought experiments led to the discovery of relativity.
What “time dilation” and “space-time curvature” actually mean—and how they affect your everyday life.
Why your GPS wouldn’t work without Einstein’s theory.
Resources & Further Reading:
Einstein’s 1905 Papers on Special Relativity (English Translation)
NASA: General Relativity - Theory and Tests
PBS Space Time: How GPS Relies on Relativity
Einstein Online - Max Planck Institute
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Episode Overview
In this episode of Math, Science, History, host Gabrielle dives deep into the extraordinary—yet often overlooked—life and legacy of Mileva Marić, Albert Einstein’s first wife and intellectual companion. Far more than a footnote in Einstein’s story, Mileva was a brilliant physicist and mathematician in her own right. Together, the couple studied, collaborated, and may have laid the foundation for some of the most revolutionary scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century.
Gabrielle uncovers newly re-examined letters, analyzes quotes from Einstein’s professors and contemporaries, and presents biographical findings that shed light on Marić’s intellectual contributions to Einstein’s early work—especially during the years leading up to his famous 1905 Annus Mirabilis.
3 Things You'll Learn in This Episode:
How Mileva Marić helped shape Einstein’s early scientific thinking—and what letters and biographies reveal about their collaboration.
What Einstein’s professors and colleagues really thought about his student days—and why Minkowski called him a “lazybones.”
Why historians now believe Mileva Marić’s role in Einstein’s 1905 papers may have been more significant than previously acknowledged.
Resources Mentioned:
The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein – Vol. 1: The Early Years, 1879–1902
Albert Einstein and Mileva Marić: The Love Letters (Princeton University Press)
Senta Troemel-Ploetz, “Mileva Einstein-Marić: The Woman Who Did Einstein’s Mathematics”
Desanka Trbuhović-Gjurić, Im Schatten Albert Einsteins (German)
Einstein’s letters at Christie's Auction House
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Episode Overview: In this Flashcard Friday episode of Math! Science! History! host Gabrielle Birchak shines a light on the incredible story of Jacoba van den Brande, a seventeenth-century Dutch visionary who dared to imagine a world where women could be educated in mathematics, philosophy, and the sciences. Long before women had access to formal education, Jacoba not only excelled in math herself but also proposed the radical idea of an all-female academy. Join us as we explore her life, her bold vision, and how her ideas still echo through the halls of academia today.
Three Things You’ll Learn in This Episode: The life and legacy of Jacoba van den Brande and her place in the history of mathematics.
The barriers women faced in 17th-century Europe when pursuing intellectual and academic opportunities.
Why Jacoba’s vision of an all-female academy remains relevant to ongoing conversations about equity and access in education.
Resources & Further Reading: Wikipedia entry on Jacoba van den Brande
Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World by Rachel Ignotofsky
“Women and Science Before the Enlightenment” - Journal Article via JSTOR
Simon Stevin: Biography & Contributions
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Episode Overview: In this special time-travel episode of Math, Science, History, Gabrielle steps back into the Enlightenment to interview legendary French mathematician and philosopher Pierre-Simon Laplace. Together, they explore the bold ideas behind his famed thought experiment, Laplace’s Demon, a being capable of predicting the entire past and future of the universe. But how does that vision hold up in the age of quantum mechanics and artificial intelligence?
Through immersive storytelling, direct quotes from Laplace’s writings, and modern scientific context, this episode invites listeners to examine the nature of certainty, probability, free will, and machine intelligence, and ask the ultimate question: Is AI today the digital version of Laplace’s Demon? In This Episode, You'll Learn:
How Laplace envisioned a fully deterministic universe—and why he believed uncertainty was only a matter of ignorance.
How chaos theory and quantum mechanics challenged that deterministic view.
Why today’s artificial intelligence reflects both the dreams and the limits of Laplace’s Demon.
Resources and Laplace’s Writings: 📘 A Philosophical Essay on Probabilities (English translation): https://archive.org/embed/aphilosophicale00laplgoog
🌐 Brief biography and overview from Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/laplace/
AI voices by ElevenLabs. Try it out for your projects! My affiliate link is here: https://try.elevenlabs.io/qhh6dk0ikse6
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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Episode Overview
In this episode of Math, Science, History, host Gabrielle Birchak unpacks the deep connection between math and logic. From the foundations of reasoning to Euclid’s cookie-themed proof of infinite primes and the mind-bending Russell's Paradox, you’ll explore how logic shapes the very core of mathematics. Whether you're a math lover, teacher, or curious thinker, this episode will challenge the way you see numbers and arguments.
What You’ll Learn:
-
Why logic is the foundation of all mathematical proof and reasoning.
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The clever logic behind Euclid’s timeless proof of infinite prime numbers.
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How paradoxes like Russell’s exposed the limits of early set theory and reshaped modern math.
Links & Resources:
An Introduction to Mathematical Logic by Richard E. Hodel This book offers a comprehensive introduction to the fundamental concepts of mathematical logic, making it suitable for beginners and those looking to solidify their understanding.
Proofs and Refutations by Imre Lakatos Presented as a series of dialogues, this classic work explores the philosophy of mathematics and the process of mathematical discovery, challenging readers to think critically about proofs and the evolution of mathematical ideas.
The Laws of Thought by George Boole This seminal work lays the foundation for Boolean algebra, delving into the relationship between logic and mathematics, and is essential reading for those interested in the logical structures underpinning mathematical reasoning.
Introduction to Mathematical Logic by Elliott Mendelson Renowned for its clarity and depth, this text covers various aspects of mathematical logic, including set theory and computability, and is highly recommended for those seeking a rigorous exploration of the subject.
Logic: A Very Short Introduction by Graham Priest This concise guide provides an engaging overview of logic, touching upon its philosophical implications and practical applications, making it a great starting point for listeners new to the topic.
Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Let’s Connect!
Enjoying the Podcast?
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If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
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Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview
In this episode I explore the fascinating world of Boolean logic, from its 19th-century origins with George Boole to its modern-day applications in artificial intelligence, search engines, and even board games. Learn how simple logical operators like AND, OR, and NOT have shaped computer science—and how you can use these same tools to win at the classic mystery game Clue.
Visit us at MathScienceHistory.com to get a ClueLogic Tracking Sheet and Cheat Sheet to help you play smarter, faster, and more strategically. Whether you're a logic lover, a game-night champion, or just curious about how abstract math became the language of machines, this episode is for you.
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
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The history and evolution of Boolean logic
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How Claude Shannon brought Boolean logic into circuit design
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How logic gates led to the rise of computers
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How to apply Boolean logic to everyday thinking and decision-making
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Boolean-based strategies to win at Clue (yes, including XOR and IF-THEN!)
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
🎙️ Episode Overview:
In this Earth Day special of Math Science History, host Gabrielle explores global solutions to climate change that are both practical and inspiring. From wind-powered Denmark to composting in India, this episode offers easy-to-adopt, science-backed tips from around the world that prove you don’t need a big budget to make a big impact.
With insights drawn from behavior science, environmental math, and everyday habits, Gabrielle breaks down how small local actions — like using LED lights, planting pollinator gardens, or reducing food waste — can have exponential global effects. Whether you're in a high-rise apartment or a rural village, this episode is filled with accessible ideas to help you live more sustainably and think globally.
🌱 3 Things You'll Learn in This Episode:
How people around the world — from Denmark to South Korea — are tackling environmental issues in innovative, everyday ways.
Practical sustainability habits you can implement immediately, no matter where you live.
The math and behavioral science behind why your small eco-friendly actions matter more than you think.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview
Step into the future for a special Earth Day broadcast unlike any other. From rising seas in Bangladesh to the climate-solidarity corridors of Cascadia, this immersive episode of Math, Science, History explores the realities of our changing planet, told as if the year is 2050.
You’ll hear breaking climate reports from around the globe, fictional interviews with future experts, and a closing message that brings us back to the present, reminding us that the future is not yet written, and that there’s still time to shape it.
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
Climate migration is already happening—by 2050, hundreds of millions may be displaced, but how we respond now determines what kind of world they move into.
Not all nations will follow the same path—Canada, in this imagined future, became a global beacon of justice, cooperation, and climate leadership. It's a reminder that bold, humane action is possible.
Your voice matters—climate change isn’t only about science. It’s about justice, storytelling, memory, and imagination. The future will reflect the values we fight for today.
🏛 Links & Resources:
Climate Reality Project – Global climate leadership training
Indigenous Climate Action – Land-centered climate justice
350.org – Campaigns to end fossil fuels
David Suzuki Foundation – Canadian science + policy advocacy
AI voices by ElevenLabs. Try it out for your projects! My affiliate link is here: https://try.elevenlabs.io/qhh6dk0ikse6
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music and Sounds: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Positive Ambient music at Freesound by Muyo5438 Horror Piano Sound at Freesound by ZHR0 unloading fishing vessel 150521_08.flac by klankbeeld -- https://freesound.org/s/274842/ -- License: Attribution 4.0 Vrhloga - Mono - In the middle of a grove.wav by dibko -- https://freesound.org/s/686632/ -- License: Attribution 4.0
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview In this episode of Math, Science, History, we explore one of the most quietly powerful forces in American democracy: gerrymandering. From its origin over 200 years ago to its impact on today’s elections, gerrymandering is both a political weapon and a mathematical puzzle.
We break down the mathematical principles used to detect gerrymandering, explore real court cases in Southern states, and examine how computer science and voter data are used to both draw and fight unfair districts. You’ll also learn how other countries handle redistricting—and what the U.S. can learn from them.
Whether you're a math geek, a science lover, or just a concerned citizen, this episode gives you practical tools and knowledge to take action against one of the most manipulative practices in modern politics.
✅ 3 Things You Can Do to Stop Gerrymandering - Support Independent Redistricting Commissions Advocate for fair districting in your state by supporting or starting initiatives to create nonpartisan redistricting commissions.
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Use Data Tools to Analyze Your District Explore your voting maps using free tools like Dave’s Redistricting App or PlanScore to see if your district is gerrymandered—and share your findings with your community.
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Vote in State and Local Elections Remember, state legislators often control the redistricting process. Voting in state and judicial elections is one of the most powerful ways to influence how future maps are drawn.
📚 Resources to Learn More About Gerrymandering 🧠 Educational & Research-Based Brennan Center for Justice – Redistricting & Gerrymandering In-depth articles, research, and legal updates on redistricting and voting rights.
Princeton Gerrymandering Project Offers tools, research, and nonpartisan analysis for creating and evaluating fair district maps.
FiveThirtyEight’s Gerrymandering Explainers Data journalism and interactive pieces exploring how gerrymandering affects elections.
🛠️ Tools for Public Use Dave’s Redistricting App A powerful tool for citizens to draw, analyze, and compare congressional and state maps.
PlanScore Provides a scoring system to evaluate gerrymandering in district maps based on real election data.
📖 Books Ratfked: The True Story Behind the Secret Plan to Steal America's Democracy by David Daley An investigative look into how gerrymandering has shaped U.S. politics post-2010.
Drawing the Lines: Constraints on Partisan Gerrymandering in U.S. Politics by Nicholas R. Seabrook A deeper academic and legal dive into how redistricting works and how it's abused.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
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🎧 Episode Overview
Have you ever felt like you're stuck in time—waiting for change that never comes? In this episode of Math Science History, Gabrielle dives into the fascinating world of Zeno’s Paradoxes, unraveling the ancient Greek puzzles that continue to influence modern science and mathematics. From Achilles and the tortoise to the Quantum Zeno Effect, this episode draws powerful connections between ancient philosophy, motion, and quantum physics.
Whether you're a student, philosopher, or someone who just loves a good paradox, you’ll walk away from this episode with fresh insights and a whole new appreciation for how math, science, and history are intertwined.
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
The logic behind Zeno's paradoxes and how they challenge our understanding of motion, time, and infinity.
The surprising connection between ancient philosophy and modern quantum physics, specifically through the Quantum Zeno Effect.
How Zeno's ideas laid a philosophical foundation for calculus, set theory, and even the concept of instantaneous velocity.
🏛 Links & Resources:
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – Zeno's Paradoxes https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/paradox-zeno/
Khan Academy – Introduction to Limits (helps with understanding infinite division) https://www.khanacademy.org/math/calculus-1/cs1-limits-and-continuity
Numberphile – Achilles and the Tortoise (Video) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7FbM6_4u1I
More Resources At Mathsciencehistory.Com
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
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🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
Welcome to Flashcard Friday on Math Science History! In today’s bite-sized episode, we shift focus, literally and figuratively, onto photography. Whether you're using a smartphone or a professional camera, this quick guide reveals how simple mathematical concepts can dramatically improve your photo compositions. From the rule of thirds to the golden ratio and the exposure triangle, discover how math isn't just behind the lens, it is the lens.
Packed with practical tips and examples, this episode shows you how math and creativity go hand in hand when capturing the perfect shot.
Three Things You’ll Learn: How to use math-based composition tools like the rule of thirds, leading lines, symmetry, and the golden ratio to frame beautiful photographs. The Exposure Triangle explained — how shutter speed, ISO, and aperture work together mathematically to create the perfect lighting and depth. How focal length and depth of field are measured and manipulated using math, helping you control space, distance, and clarity in your photos.
🏛 Links & Resources: Some of the links in the show notes are affiliate links, which means if you make a purchase through them, I may earn a small commission—at no extra cost to you. It helps support the podcast and keeps Math Science History going!
Photography Books Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson A foundational guide for mastering shutter speed, aperture, and ISO.
Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs by Henry Carroll A visually engaging book with essential tips on composition and style.
The Photographer’s Eye by Michael FreemanDeep dive into design, composition, and storytelling through images.
The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby Packed with hands-on tips, tricks, and gear suggestions for everyday photographers.
Mastering Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO and Exposure by Al Judge Easy-to-follow guide for controlling manual settings to capture perfect images.
Photography Tools & Accessories UBeesize 50” Extendable Tripod with Bluetooth Remote Lightweight and portable tripod perfect for phones or compact cameras.
Neewer 58-In-1 Camera Accessory KitA great starter bundle with lens filters, cleaning tools, and tripod adapters.
Aureday Ring Light with Tripod Stand Bright, adjustable lighting perfect for portraits or indoor shoots.
ColorChecker Passport Photo 2 by CalibriteProfessional color calibration tool to perfect your tones in post-production.
SanDisk Extreme PRO SD Memory Card (128GB) High-speed memory card built for RAW shooting and HD video recording.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
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☕ Support the Show
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🎙 Sponsored By: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview:
In this episode of Math, Science, History, we dive into the fascinating life and work of Gérard Desargues, the 17th-century mathematician, engineer, and architect whose groundbreaking ideas in projective geometry laid the foundation for modern mathematical thought. Despite his contributions, Desargues’ work was largely ignored during his lifetime, overshadowed by more well-known figures like René Descartes. However, his theorem and insights into perspective have since become essential in fields ranging from architecture to computer graphics. Join us as we explore how Desargues’ ideas helped shape the way we understand space, depth, and geometry today!
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
The Birth of Projective Geometry – How Desargues developed the mathematical principles behind perspective and why his theorem remains crucial in geometry.
His Overlooked Legacy – Why Desargues’ work was ignored for centuries and how it was rediscovered in the 19th century.
Modern Applications – How his ideas are used today in architecture, engineering, computer graphics, and even virtual reality.
🏛 Links & Resources:
Oeuvres de Desargues (Cambridge Library Collection - Mathematics) (French Edition) https://amzn.to/4inV9Ve
History of Projective Geometry – Encyclopedia Britannica.
Marin Mersenne and the Mathematical Circle – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:💡 Becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/mathsciencehistory/gift
🛍 Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
FLASHCARDS: Hot and Cold Hacks for Temp Conversion
🔎 Episode Overview
In this episode of Flashcard Friday on Math, Science, History, we dive into the fascinating history of temperature measurement and introduce an easy mental trick for converting between Fahrenheit and Celsius. Learn how Gabriel Fahrenheit and Anders Celsius developed their temperature scales, why different countries use different systems, and how a simple formula can help you quickly convert between them—so you’ll never pack the wrong clothes for your trip again!
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
✔️ The History of Temperature Scales ✔️ Quick Mental Conversion Trick ✔️ Why Different Countries Use Different Scales
🏛 Links & Resources:
Thermometers! Round Galileo Thermometer https://amzn.to/43vRe4r
Analog Weather Station https://amzn.to/4bisRJa
Galileo Thermometer with Glass Globe Barometer https://amzn.to/4igK5sA
Retro Indoor Outdoor Thermometer https://amzn.to/3QybgmP 🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
☕ Support the Show
If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:💡 Becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/mathsciencehistory/gift
🛍 Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
🎙 Sponsored By: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview
In this shocking episode of Math! Science! History!, I uncover groundbreaking new research that challenges everything we thought we knew about the shape of our world. Are NASA and world governments hiding the truth? Could the moon landing have been staged? And what about gravity—is it even real? Buckle up as the podcast takes off into the most explosive scientific revelation of our time… or is it?
Prepare to have your mind blown, your worldview questioned, and, by the end of the episode, your skepticism sharpened, as we celebrate April Fools' Day with a lesson in critical thinking and the power of scientific inquiry.
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
The "new evidence" that “proves” the Earth is flat. Learn about the ultra-secret Institute of Geospatial Realignments and its shocking findings on Earth's curvature (or lack thereof).
How conspiracy theories manipulate data. Discover how selective evidence, out-of-context images, and logical fallacies can be used to build a compelling but completely false argument.
The importance of real scientific research. Understand why peer review, repeatability, and critical thinking are essential to separating fact from fiction.
🏛 Links & Resources:
https://www.landoverbaptist.net/forum/church-forums/creation-science/37168-scientific-proof-the-earth-is-flat
https://theonion.com/flat-earthers-explain-why-the-earth-is-flat-1850548548/
https://clickhole.com/
https://wiki.tfes.org/The_Flat_Earth_Wiki
https://www.reddit.com/r/FlatEarth/ Look for posts tagged with "Satire" or "Shtposting."*
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:💡 Becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/mathsciencehistory/gift
🛍 Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
FLASHCARDS: Agnodice and the Fight for Women in Medicine
Episode Overview:
In this powerful episode of Math, Science, History, we journey back to ancient Athens to uncover the legendary story of Agnodice, a woman who risked everything to practice medicine in a world where women weren’t even allowed to learn it.
Disguised as a man, trained by one of the greatest physicians of the time, and beloved by her patients, Agnodike became a symbol of resistance and compassion. But was she a real person, or a myth meant to inspire change? Gabrielle Birchak explores the history, controversy, and legacy of the world’s first known female doctor.
Whether fact or fiction, Agnodike's story resonates today in ongoing conversations about gender equality in medicine and science.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How Agnodike challenged the norms of ancient Athenian society and risked her life to provide healthcare for women.
- Why her trial became a pivotal moment for the rights of women in medicine—and what it reveals about ancient gender dynamics.
- What historians debate about her existence and how her story still influences discussions about gender equity in science and healthcare today.
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
☕ Support the Show
If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:💡 Becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/mathsciencehistory/gift
🛍 Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
🎙 Sponsored By: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview
In this episode of Math! Science! History!, I sit down with the brilliant and engaging Kate Ertmann, the mathematician and storyteller behind Kate Loves Math. We discuss her fascinating journey from professional actress to 3D animation entrepreneur to organizational designer—ultimately landing in the world of math communication. Kate shares how math is embedded in everything, from human relationships to business structures, and how she embraces the power of chaos in life. Plus, we brainstorm a new podcast idea?!
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
-
How math is a universal language that connects tech, business, and creative minds.
-
The surprising truth about chaos—why it isn’t randomness, but a structured system with patterns.
-
How embracing imposter syndrome and finding your unique voice can empower you in any field.
🏛 Links & Resources:
🔗 Website: KateLovesMath.com 📩 Sign up for her Mathnificent Words newsletter for inspiring math insights! 📚 Get her top 10 recommended math books when you subscribe. 📱 Follow Kate on:
LinkedIn: Kate Ertmann
BlueSky: @katelovesmath (subject to change)
Instagram & Facebook (when she feels like it!)
🌍 Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:💡 Becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/mathsciencehistory/gift
🛍 Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview
In this episode of Math, Science, History, we explore emergency plumbing fixes using simple math and physics principles. Learn quick tricks to stop leaks under your kitchen sink, whether it's a pipe joint, crack, or hole, until a plumber arrives. Discover why these methods work and how you can use everyday materials like rubber, tape, and even coins to minimize water damage. Plus, get valuable preventative tips to avoid future plumbing issues.
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
✔️ How to temporarily fix leaks in pipe joints, cracks, and holes using household items. ✔️ The science behind water pressure, vacuum effects, and compression sealing that makes these fixes effective. ✔️ Essential preventative measures to reduce the risk of plumbing leaks in the future.
📢 📢 📢 Check out the podcast Etymoleon –Word History, the etymology podcast: https://etymoleon.com
🏛 Links & Resources:
Women in Plumbing & Piping (WiPP) – wipp.org (A network supporting women in the plumbing industry)
The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) – nawic.org (Support and scholarships for women in construction and trades)
The United Association (UA) – Plumbers & Pipefitters Apprenticeships – uanet.org
Fix a Leak Week Resources – epa.gov/watersense (EPA resources for water conservation and leak repair)
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
☕ Support the Show
If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:💡 Becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/mathsciencehistory/gift
🛍 Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
🎙 Sponsored By: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview
In this special Podcasthon Week episode of Math Science History, I sit down with Irene Duah-Kessie, the founder and executive director of Rise In STEM (RiseinSTEM.ca). Rise In STEM is a nonprofit dedicated to creating opportunities for underrepresented students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Irene shares her inspiring journey, the impact of mentorship, and how her organization is breaking barriers in STEM education.
As part of Podcasthon (Podcasthon.org), this episode highlights an incredible organization making a difference. If you’re passionate about supporting diversity in STEM, tune in and learn how you can contribute!
Support Rise In STEM: You can donate to Rise In STEM by visiting their website at RiseinSTEM.ca. Your support helps fund mentorship programs, scholarships, and STEM education initiatives for students who need them most.
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
The Importance of Representation in STEM: Why mentorship and visibility matter for young students from underrepresented backgrounds.
The Challenges and Triumphs of Running a Nonprofit: Irene shares the behind-the-scenes efforts to provide resources and mentorship.
How You Can Make a Difference: Ways to support Rise In STEM through volunteering, donations, and community outreach.
🏛 Links & Resources:
Rise In STEM https://RiseinSTEM.ca
Podcasthon https://www.Podcasthon.org
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
🌍 Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:💡 Becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/mathsciencehistory/gift
🛍 Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview
In this Flashcards episode of Math! Science! History!, we celebrate the life and legacy of Lillian Baumbach Jacobs, the first female master plumber in the U.S. Just in time for next week’s Fix a Leak Week, we explore how Lillian defied societal norms, mastered a trade dominated by men, and became an unexpected icon, even receiving fan mail from soldiers during the Korean War. From her early days learning plumbing alongside her father to becoming the head of Baumbach Plumbers, Lillian’s journey was one of perseverance, skill, and leadership. Her legacy not only paved the way for women in the trades but also serves as a powerful reminder that passion and expertise matter more than outdated stereotypes. In this episode, we discuss three major lessons we can take from her story—breaking barriers, following passion over stereotypes, and creating opportunities by challenging norms. Whether you’re pursuing a career in STEM, trades, business, or leadership, Lillian’s journey proves that no field is off-limits.
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
✔️ Break Barriers in Any Industry ✔️ Follow Passion Over Stereotypes ✔️ Create Opportunities by Challenging Norms
🏛 Links & Resources:
Women in Plumbing & Piping (WiPP) – wipp.org (A network supporting women in the plumbing industry)
The National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) – nawic.org (Support and scholarships for women in construction and trades)
The United Association (UA) – Plumbers & Pipefitters Apprenticeships – uanet.org
Fix a Leak Week Resources – epa.gov/watersense (EPA resources for water conservation and leak repair)
📢 📢 📢 Check out the podcast Etymoleon –Word History, the etymology podcast: https://etymoleon.com
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
☕ Support the Show Sponsored By: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:💡 Becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/mathsciencehistory/gift
🛍 Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. On Matters of Consequence from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview
In this episode of Math! Science! History!, we celebrate Women's History Month by highlighting two remarkable transgender figures in STEM: Dr. James Barry and Angela Clayton. Dr. Barry, a pioneering 19th-century surgeon, challenged societal norms to advance medical science and improve healthcare. Angela Clayton, a nuclear physicist, broke barriers in radiation safety and transgender advocacy. Their lives exemplify courage, innovation, and the pursuit of truth in both science and identity.
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
-
The groundbreaking medical achievements of Dr. James Barry, including one of the first successful cesarean sections where both mother and child survived.
-
How Angela Clayton revolutionized radiation protection and nuclear safety while advocating for transgender rights in the United Kingdom.
-
The historical and ongoing challenges faced by transgender individuals in STEM and how both Barry and Clayton navigated them.
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The importance of advocacy, acceptance, and inclusion in both scientific communities and society at large.
🏛 Links & Resources:
International LGBTQ+ Rights Organizations:
· Amnesty International - https://www.amnesty.org/en/what-we-do/discrimination/lgbt-rights/
· Human Rights Watch - https://www.hrw.org/topic/lgbt-rights
· OutRight Action International - https://outrightinternational.org/
United Kingdom LGBTQ+ Rights Organizations:
· Stonewall UK - https://www.stonewall.org.uk/
· Mermaids UK (supporting transgender youth) - https://mermaidsuk.org.uk/
· Press for Change (legal rights for transgender individuals) - http://www.pfc.org.uk/
United States LGBTQ+ Rights Organizations:
· Human Rights Campaign - https://www.hrc.org/
· National Center for Transgender Equality - https://transequality.org/
· Lambda Legal - https://www.lambdalegal.org/
· The Trevor Project (supporting LGBTQ+ youth) - https://www.thetrevorproject.org/
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:💡 Becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/mathsciencehistory/gift
🛍 Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers My Nuclear World of Perfection by Gabrielle Birchak
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview In this special Women’s History Month episode of Math! Science! History! Flashcards, we explore the significance of women in leadership and why recognizing their contributions is more important than ever. We dive into the historic 1893 Congress of Women at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where brilliant women like Ellen Swallow Richards, Mary Putnam Jacobi, and Christine Ladd-Franklin made their mark in science, medicine, and mathematics. Their pioneering work laid the foundation for gender equality in academia and beyond.
🧠 What You’ll Learn: ✅ The role of the 1893 Congress of Women in advancing gender equality in science and academia. ✅ The groundbreaking contributions of Ellen Swallow Richards in environmental science and sanitation. ✅ How Mary Putnam Jacobi shattered myths about women in medicine and advocated for medical education. ✅ Christine Ladd-Franklin’s revolutionary work in mathematical logic and color vision. ✅ Why Women’s History Month is essential for acknowledging and continuing the legacy of women’s contributions.
📚 Books to Read: The Science and Art of Home Sanitation – Ellen Swallow Richards
Mary Putnam Jacobi and the Politics of Medicine in Nineteenth-Century America – Carla Bittel
Women in Science: 50 Fearless Pioneers Who Changed the World – Rachel Ignotofsky
The Madame Curie Complex: The Hidden History of Women in Science – Julie Des Jardins
🔗 Additional Resources: Smithsonian Women’s History Initiative – https://womenshistory.si.edu
National Women’s History Museum – https://www.womenshistory.org
The Association for Women in Science (AWIS) – https://www.awis.org
🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
☕ Support the Show
If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:💡 Becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/mathsciencehistory/gift
🛍 Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
🎙 Sponsored By: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview
In this episode of Math, Science, History, we explore the incredible journey of Marjorie Rice—a homemaker who defied expectations and made a lasting impact on the world of mathematics. With nothing more than curiosity, determination, and a pencil, she discovered new classes of pentagonal tilings that had eluded professional mathematicians for decades. We’ll dive into her early life, the moment that sparked her fascination with tessellations, and the innovative methods she used to uncover patterns that changed mathematical history.
How did an amateur mathematician working from her kitchen table revolutionize an entire field? And what can we learn from her perseverance and unconventional approach to discovery? Join me as we uncover the remarkable story of Marjorie Rice and her legacy in the world of mathematics.
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
✔️ How Marjorie Rice discovered four new types of pentagonal tilings; something experts believed was impossible.
✔️ The importance of independent curiosity in mathematical discovery and how self-taught mathematicians have made major contributions throughout history.
✔️ How pentagonal tilings apply to real-world structures, from architecture to art and even natural patterns.
🏛 Links & Resources:📖 Read more: Tilings of the Plane by Ehrhard Behrends https://amzn.to/4bcNdUf 📖 Read more: Tessellations: Mathematics, Art and Recreation https://amzn.to/416rkRC 🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
🌍 Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
☕ Support the Show
If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:💡 Becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/mathsciencehistory/gift
🛍 Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
🎙 Sponsored By: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
🎵 Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers From Page to Practice by Bryan Teoh Shopping with Mom by Gabrielle Birchak
Until next time, carpe diem!
🔎 Episode Overview
In this Flashcard Friday episode of Math! Science! History!, we’re diving into a simple yet powerful math trick: The Rule of 72. Have you ever wondered how long it takes for your investment to double? Or how quickly inflation can cut your purchasing power in half? The Rule of 72 offers a quick mental shortcut to estimate these changes without needing a calculator.
Join host Gabrielle Birchak as she breaks down the math behind this rule, explains why it works, and explores real-world applications in investing, savings, and inflation. Learn how small percentage changes can significantly impact your financial future, and discover why savvy investors use this rule to guide their decisions.
Whether you're new to finance or just love a good math hack, this episode is packed with valuable insights! Tune in, get smarter, and impress your friends with this easy mental math trick.
🧠 What You’ll Learn:
✔️ The Rule of 72 is a Quick Way to Estimate Doubling Time ✔️ It Works for Both Investments and Inflation ✔️ Could be a great party trick, if you’re feeling nerdy
🏛 Links & Resources:📖 Read more: 33 SMALL BUSINESS CALCULATIONS: https://amzn.to/4ic87Fb 🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com
🌍 Let’s Connect!
Website: mathsciencehistory.com Bluesky: @mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: @math.science.history
🎧 Enjoying the Podcast?
If you love Math, Science, History, here’s how you can help:🌟 Leave a review – It helps more people discover the show!📢 Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs!🔔 Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform
☕ Support the Show
If you’d like to support Math, Science, History, consider:💡 Becoming a patron: https://www.patreon.com/mathsciencehistory/gift
🛍 Checking out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store
🎙 Sponsored By: Coffee!! https://shorturl.at/bHIsc
In this episode of Math! Science! History! we explore the life and legacy of Bob Moses, a pioneering activist and math educator. Discover how Moses used mathematics as a tool for social justice, empowering underserved communities with the freedom to learn and create change. We will delve into his work with the algebra project, his impact on civil rights, and how his unique approach to teaching math has influenced generations. Tune in for a deeper look at the role of education in shaping history.
If you are interested in reading more about Bob Moses, as well as the history of math and science, please visit me on my blog at www.MathScienceHistory.com !
Links and resources:
The Algebra Project Bob Moses Biography
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
MUSIC:
Gift of the Stars is by Lloyd Rodgers and is public domain. www.LloydRodgers.com Delta and Mississippi Tyranny is by Gabrielle Birchak. Vocals by Anthony Williams. Music is copyrighted (2025) and not for public use.
It's Flashcard Friday! Have you ever made a mistake, and then realized it was the best mistake you've ever made?! Today's Flashcard is about a vacation, a petri dish and a mistake. For the transcripts, come visit us at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy us a cup of coffee!
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
It's Black History Month! This week is a repost from season one about Dr. Roger Arliner Young. She was America's first black, female zoologist to get her doctorate. This month I'll be honoring the black, noble goddesses in STEM who inspire, motivate, and forge paths for those who have been marginalized. She is, no doubt, one of my favorite sheroes who succeeded despite our structural racism and antiquated gender bias.
If you are interested in reading more about the history of math and science, please visit me on my blog at www.MathScienceHistory.com !
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
It's Flashcard Friday! Have you ever been stuck trying to memorize a phone number, and address, or something even longer like your credit card? Try chunking it out. The tips are all in the podcast!
Visit us at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy us a cup of coffee!
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
It's February and in Canada, Germany and the United States it's Black History Month! Today's episode celebrates three prominent Black Canadian scientists whose contributions to science made significant impacts not only in Canada, but around the world; they are William Allen Jones, Anderson Ruffin Abbott, and Sophia Bethena Jones.
To read the podcast's transcripts, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
No. 12 in F Major - Antonin Dvořák - Musopen String Quartet
Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers
You may have never heard of Claude Mydorge, but in the seventeenth century he made a difference in the world of science. Sometimes even the smallest contributions to knowledge can have a lasting impact!
Visit us at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy us a cup of coffee!
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
This is a repost about Dr. Charles Drew from spring of 2020, and it is still timely, especially today. Even after Dr. Drew’s passing, his name lived on. His home was designated as a National Historic Landmark. The United States Postal Service honored him, schools have been named after him, and a United States Navy ship has been named after him. Also, in 2002, he was listed as one of the 100 greatest African Americans. The details are all in the podcast! Visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee!
To purchase Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life, visit https://a.co/d/eU41Uun
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
Rabbits are known for their breeding expertise. And the mathematician Fibonacci utilized that knowledge to create a thought experiment that led to a sequence of numbers that we refer to as the Fibonacci Sequence. This sequence can also be drawn into a curve that we see in nature and within our DNA. Yes, we are all mathematically connected!
To read the podcast's transcripts, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
The Gift of Stars by Lloyd Rogers
The Secret to Growing Up by Lee Rosevere
I Need You by Holizna
From Page to Practice by Bryan Teoh
Due to the L.A. fires, I am reposting an older podcast about the history of Earth Day. It is sad to note that in my intro, you will hear alarming sirens in the background, which juxtaposes the beautiful sound of the birds chirping in the reposted podcast I recorded five years ago.
If you want to donate to help those affected by the L.A. fires, I have several links on my Website at www.MathScienceHistory.com. Thank you so much for your contribution and help!
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
In 1916, Elizebeth Smith Friedman's, a budding literary analyst, was visiting Chicago when her career took an unexpected turn. Taking a job at Riverbank Laboratories analyzing Shakespeare, she eventually went on to be one of our most prominent codebreakers.
To read the podcast's transcripts, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
Spy Zone by Pablo Perez
The Secret to Growing Up by Lee Rosevere
Now You Are Here by Sergey Cheremisinov
Dances and Dames by Kevin MacLeod
Gifts of the Stars by Lloyd Rodgers
François Viète was a lawyer and a cryptanalyst. As Spain was encroaching on France, his cryptography skills revealed how Spain would take down his beloved country. He did more than just alert the King.
To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
You can buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon at https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
Show music by Lloyd Rodgers has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
I'm diving deep into the chemistry of flavor, the history of spices, and the math behind crafting the perfect pumpkin spice latte. So go grab your cup of pumpkin spice whatever, get cozy, and let's explore!
To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
You can buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon at https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
Show music by Lloyd Rodgers has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
Other music by
Georgetown Cafe, George Popoi, Free Music Archive, CC 4.0 https://popoi.bandcamp.com/track/georgetown-cafe
Solace Acoustic, Mark Wilson, Free Music Archive, CC 4.0 https://freemusicarchive.org/music/mark-wilson-x/
This Halloween season at Math! Science! History!, we continue with the spookiness and I share with you my own ghost story! Was it what I thought I saw? Was it real? Or was it science playing tricks on me? Because science can often debunk what we think we see!
To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
You can buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon at https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers and has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
It's Halloween season! Our obsession with spooky stories goes back over 2,000 years! Today's podcast tells of an ancient haunting, as well as some recent ones! And, you will hear about some scientists who honor the paranormal. It's going to get spooooooky!!
To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
You can buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon at https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers and has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
The term Tribology was presented in a landmark report by the brilliant engineer Peter Jost in 1966. The primary components of tribology include friction, wear, and lubrication. Since the Jost Report, this field study has altered the trajectory of engineering in spaceflight, aerospace, healthcare and green energy.
To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
You can buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon at https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers and has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
In 1943, Euphemia Lofton Haynes was the first African American woman to earn a PhD in Mathematics. Her work in math was as profound as her commitment to education and civil rights. She worked tirelessly to ensure that every child, regardless of race, had the opportunity to learn and thrive.
To read the podcast's transcripts, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
Helicopters have a rich history that began with the falling leaves from the Tree of Heaven. Today, we have NASA's Ingenuity helicopter flying on Mars. It's a beautiful history that has pushed the boundaries of what is possible and provided promising new horizons in aviation and beyond.
To read the podcast's transcripts, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
Omar Khayyam was a brilliant mathematician in Iran in the 11th century. But, he was also an interdisciplinary thinker, which means that he was also an astronomer, a philosopher, a political advisor, and a poet. Even today his poems are read and revered around the world. To read the podcast's transcripts and to see the noted math equations, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
To learn more about the physics of roller coasters and read the podcast's transcripts, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, please feel free to click on that coffee button and buy me a cup of coffee!
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers has no Copyright and no rights reserved.
Momentum! It's a term used in wide variety of contexts, but in Physics it is defined as "mass in motion." It is the product of an objects mass times its velocity. In this podcast I go into its history...and it's future! To read the podcast's transcripts and to see the noted math equations, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers has no Copyright and no rights reserved
My brain got away from me and I found myself going down a rabbit hole. While there, I revisited the math of Evariste Galois and his foundations to Abstract Algebra. I also ventured into the game Rummikub, the Olympics and swimming. Welcome to my brain.
To read the podcast's transcripts, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. While you are there, feel free to donate to the podcast through that cup of coffee button.
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
Evariste Galois was a brilliant mathematician with a passion for justice. He was only 22 when he was murdered. To this day, his murderers remain unknown. But his insightful mathematical theories are known throughout the world. This is his story.
To read the podcast's transcripts, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. While you are there, feel free to donate to the podcast through that cup of coffee button.
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
You know that little app you use on your phone to do your calculations? It has a fun, clunky history full of interesting inventions! The history of the calculator goes as far back as 300 CE with the Salamis Tablet. Today, we can graph in 3-D and solve even the most complex abstract algebraic equations!
To read the podcast's transcripts, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. While you are there, feel free to donate to the podcast through that cup of coffee button.
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
During the month of Earth Day, it is justifiable and poignant that we while we honor Mother Earth, we also honor Eunice Newton Foote, the world's first female climate scientist. Foote perfectly exemplified how women contribute to more than just the places that society wants us to remain.
To read the podcast's transcripts, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. While you are there, feel free to donate to the podcast through that cup of coffee button.
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life visit me at https://mathsciencehistory.com/hypatia-the-sum-of-her-life/
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
As Women's History Month ends, I want to introduce you to Catherine Macaulay, an eighteenth-century British historian who called for equality in education. She believed that by providing education to young girls and women, we could let go of social opinions and develop human potential.
To read the podcast's transcripts, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. While you are there, feel free to donate to the podcast through that cup of coffee button.
To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life visit me at https://mathsciencehistory.com/hypatia-the-sum-of-her-life/
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
Hypatia was one of the first female mathematicians that we know of. Her accomplishments were many. She was a valued Alexandrian teacher who taught mathematics, astronomy, and philosophy. She was a government advisor and was respected by leader all across the Roman Empire. Unfortunately, her death overshadows the sum of her incredible life. In this podcast, I read the first chapter of my book titled Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life! If you are interested in reading my book, please visit us at https://mathsciencehistory.com/hypatia-the-sum-of-her-life/
To read the podcast's transcripts, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
Until next time, carpe diem!
Music created by Studio Kora3000. The license has been made available for commercial use through Pond5.
Hipparchus was one of the first mathematicians who trigonometrically defined his astronomical observations through stereographic projection, which is incredibly awe-inspiring!
To read the podcast's transcripts and to see a visual description of stereographic projection, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. For more information about my sponsor, Athletic Greens, visit www.athleticgreens.com/emerging
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
In June 2022, Emma Haruka Iwao and her team at Google computed pi to 100 trillion digits! But this number 3.1415, first determined by Archimedes, only had three digits. Archimedes left a huge impression on the world of math!
To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. For more information about podcasting through Libsyn, visit www.Libsyn.com and use the promo code FRIEND to get the first month free! For more information about Athletic Greens, visit www.athleticgreens.com/emerging
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
Many people think that Emilie du Chatelet's one true love was Voltaire, but it was not! Who (or what) did she love more?!
To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. For more information about podcasting through Libsyn, visit www.Libsyn.com and use the promo code FRIEND to get the first month free! For more information about Athletic Greens, visit www.athleticgreens.com/emerging
Finally, to read the works of du Chatelet, visit www.ProjectVOX.org
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
Yes! Time Travel has a past! The history of time travel goes as far back as 400 BCE! Time travel stories empower us with insight into how we could have corrected the past or how we can change the future! Where would you like to travel to?!
To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. To hear an early-release, ad-free version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier! For more information about Athletic Greens, visit www.athleticgreens.com/emerging
For more information about podcasting through Libsyn, visit www.Libsyn.com and use the promo code FRIEND to get the first month free!
Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
We have many female contemporaries of women in science today. Believe it or not, even in ancient history, Rome had a few exceptional female contemporaries in science as well! For more information on Hypatia, you can listen here: https://mathsciencehistory.libsyn.com/ep-15-hypatia-of-alexandria
To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. To hear an early-release, ad-free version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier! For more information about Athletic Greens, visit www.athleticgreens.com/emerging Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
This is part three of my series about the diabolical world of math in Renaissance Italy! In my last episode, Tartaglia became a mathematical celebrity. In this episode, Tartaglia meets Ferrari, then Ferrari is found murdered! Who murdered Ferrari?! To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. To hear an early-release, ad-free version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier! For more information about Athletic Greens, visit www.athleticgreens.com/emerging Until next time, carpe diem!
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
In my last podcast, I note that in 1494 Fra Luca Pacioli published his book the Summa. In the conclusion of his book, Pacioli posited an impossible problem! This roused curiosity and diabolical activity! To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. If you would like to hear an early-release, ad-free version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier! For more information about Athletic Greens, visit www.athleticgreens.com/emerging Until next time, carpe diem! Gabrielle
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserve
Taxes and magic. Yes, the two go together in this story about Fra Luca Pacioli, who wrote one of the first textbooks on accounting - and magic! To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. For more info on Lock Paper Scissors, please visit https://www.LockPaperScissors.co Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music by Lloyd Rodgers is in the Public Domain and has no copyright and no rights reserved
Fifty years ago Dr. Edward Lorenz coined the term the Butterfly Effect and validated Poincaré's findings on Chaos Theory. To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. If you would like to hear an early-release, ad-free version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier! Until next time, carpe diem! Gabrielle
All music by Lloyd Rodgers is in the Public Domain and has no copyright and no rights reserved
In eighteenth-century Europe, there was an increase in women entering the field of science, more so than in the seventeenth century. What inspired this incredible movement for women in STEM? To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. If you would like to hear an early-release, ad-free version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier! Until next time, carpe diem! Gabrielle
All music by Lloyd Rodgers is in the Public Domain and has no copyright and no rights reserved
I have mentioned before that the Pythagorean Theorem was not Pythagoras's discovery. This podcast looks at the tangible proof of the theorem, and where it might have come from! To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. If you would like to hear an early-release, ad-free version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier! Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
When we last left off, Saint Thomas Aquinas was determined to join the Dominican order. However, it didn’t go well with the family, and his mother was not happy. What follows are the details of his effect on the Galileo Affair. To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. If you would like to hear an early-release, ad-free version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
The Greek philosopher Aristotle was born in 384 BCE. The Italian philosopher St. Thomas Aquinas was born in 1225. Galileo Galilei was born on February 15, 1564. Between the three of them, there is a story that spans almost 2000 years. That story is known as the Galileo Affair. To read the podcast's transcripts, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. If you would like to hear an early-release, ad-free version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
Is mathematics invented or discovered? And if it is invented, can it be patented? Has it ever been patented? To read about the history of patents, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. If you would like to hear an ad-free version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier! Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
Gender disparity is still evident in STEM. But, how hard was it in the 19th century? Sofya Kovalevskaya's efforts to become a full professor show just how hard it was. To read about Kovalevskaya, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. If you would like to hear an add-free version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier! Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
Many of us have heard about pseudoscience, which is a system of theories that are wrongly considered to be scientific. But have you ever heard of pseudomathematics? How about mathematical crankery? If you want to read more about pseudomathematics, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. If you would like to hear the extended version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier! Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
Math is part of our genetic makeup, and history proves it to be true! From 30,000 years ago to today, math has guided us, inspired us, and fueled our scientific progress.
For more information on the ancient Mesopotamian clay tablet, you can see them up close on Dr. Bill Casselman's website at http://www.math.ubc.ca/~cass/Euclid/ybc/ybc.html.
You can also read more about the tablet at Mathematical Association of America at https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/the-best-known-old-babylonian-tablet
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
It's that time of year! It's time for my Annual Holiday Puzzle! And it's my THIRD Annual Puzzle! (I can't believe the podcast is going on three years!)
This year I am upping the ante! If you can solve the puzzles, and be the first person to email me the correct answers to Gabrielle@MathScienceHistory.com, you will win a $40 Amazon gift card and a dye-cut Math! Science! History! sticker!
To see a written version, the transcripts are at https://www.MathScienceHistory.com
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
Have you ever been in a moment in your life where you wished something would change, but it doesn't? Time passes by and nothing changes. In physics and mathematics, this is known as the Quantum Zeno Effect. If you want to read more about this effect, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. If you would like to hear the extended version of this podcast, come on over to www.Patreon.com/MathScienceHistory and sign up for a tier!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music by Lloyd Rodgers - No Copyright - No rights reserved
The history of the decimal is fairly new! Before the decimal, mathematicians just listed either values or fractions. And the best part about the decimal is that it's nothing like a period.
If you want to read more about the history of math and science, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com. No copyright - No rights reserved - Royalty Free - 1. The Little Prince - Gift of the Stars 2. Catastrophe of Meaning 3. On the Sensations of Tone - Urban Toys
Agree to disagree. This was the foundation of two ancient philosophers and friends, Archytas and Plato. Plato was a philosophical mathematician, and Archytas was a mechanical engineer. But, the friendship was strong enough to save Plato's life.
If you want to read more about the history of math and science, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com.
This is my special tribute to Black History Month, to love, to African-American men and women, and to all of those who have worked tirelessly on the front lines fighting COVID. This story has remained hidden for over a century. It is one of the most awe-inspiring, heart-moving stories that I have researched in quite a while.
For more Math, Science and History, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com - and while you're there, help fund the podcast by clicking on the coffee button and donating to the podcast!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music by Lloyd Rodgers Cartesian Reunion Memorial Orchestra: the little prince-a ballet in two acts, Gifts of the Stars (Act II), On Things Invisible, On Questions of Discipline - Catastrophe of Meaning
On February 11 the United Nations honors the International Day of Women and Girls in Science. Science and gender equality are essential for the development of science. This day is a reminder to us all that women deserve to be part of the world of science.
For more history of about math and science, please come visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All Music by Lloyd Rodgers - Public Domain - http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lloyd_Rodgers - http://lloydrodgers.com/
Even though there is a Multiplication Map attributed to Tesla, I've taken liberties to call it Birchak's Sumerian Sexagesimal Spiral, because of eponymy. If none of this makes sense, it will once you listen to my latest podcast on eponymy.
For more pictures and descriptions of the sexagesimal spiral, along with other stories about the history of math and science, please come visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All Music by Lloyd Rodgers - Public Domain - http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lloyd_Rodgers - http://lloydrodgers.com/
This is a reposted podcast about Hypatia. The story of Hypatia of Alexandria is almost 2,000 years old. She was one of our earliest female mathematicians, astronomers, philosophers, and professors. But above all of that, she was loved by Alexandria! So why was she murdered?! The answer is in the podcast!
If you are interested in reading more about the history of math and science, please visit me on my blog at www.MathScienceHistory.com !
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All Music by Lloyd Rodgers - Public Domain - http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lloyd_Rodgers - http://lloydrodgers.com/
The annual 2020 Math Science History Holiday Puzzle is UP!! This year the first person to respond with the correct answer receives a $25 Amazon gift card! The details are in the podcast and at MathScienceHistory.com. Thank you for a wonderful year! Until 2021, carpe diem!
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com. We Wish You a Merry Christmas by the U.S. Naval Academy. Ambient 03 by Sscheidl at Pixabay. A Journey Beyond by Christian Bodhi.
If there is one word to describe Nikola Tesla, it would be brilliant! His inventions, ideas, and patents changed the world. One of his greatest inventions, the AC power motor, enabled us with the ability to power our homes with electricity.
For more pictures and descriptions of Tesla's AC motor, along with other stories about the history of math and science, please come visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com.
And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Creative Commons Royalty Free Music - The Little Prince by Lloyd Rogers
No, Napoleon Bonaparte was not short. This historical misconception is often cited as fact. In math there are many misconceptions like boys are smarter at math than girls. But, that is not true! The details are all in the podcast!
For more information about some of these celebrities, including their works in science, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Creative Commons Royalty Free Music - The Little Prince by Lloyd Rogers - A Journey Beyond by Christian Bodhi on Pixabay
Some celebrities are tremendous actors and musicians, and some actors and musicians are also tremendous scientists and mathematicians. Who are these brainiacs?! You might be surprised!
For more information about some of these celebrities, including their works in science, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com.
The toys of the industrial revolution have contributed a great deal to science. This is no accident. Sometimes our greatest moments of discovery happen when our minds are curious and at play.
If you want to read more about the history of math and science, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com.
Today, some of our fastest electric hypercars produce almost 2,000 horsepower. But what does horsepower mean? And what do sports cars have to do with the industrial revolution? It's all in the podcast Math! Science! History!
If you want to read more about the history of math and science, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com.
Pascal's triangle is a triangular pattern of binomial coefficients. If that makes no sense, in real life, you can use Pascal's triangle to figure out combinations of things, like pizza! The incredible story of Blaise Pascal is all in the podcast!
If you want to read more about Pascal's triangle as well as the history of math and science, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com.
Imaginary boyfriends are nice. But imaginary numbers are better! Where did they come from? And who decided to name them imaginary? The answers are all in the podcast!
If you want to read more about the history of math and science, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com.
Infinity has been around for forever! (Pun intended) But, ever since it's conception, it has evolved and changed by the power of Georg Cantor who proved that infinity comes in different sizes!
For more information on infinity, as well as additional math not mentioned in the podcast, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com.
Just recently the National Science Foundation awarded UC Berkeley $25 million to create a multi-university institute to create quantum computers. This will take math to a whole new level, much like Brahmagupta did in 628 CE!
If you want to see more details about Brahmagupta's math, as well as other posts about the history of math and science, visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, feel free to buy me a cup of coffee to support the podcast and the blog!
Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com.
Statistics are awesome! If you know the data, stats can get you out of any argument. The history of statistics goes back over 5,000 years. And get this, one of the most prominent statisticians was not an academic mathematician. And all the details are in the podcast!
If you are interested in learning more about the history of math and science, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee, because every cup of coffee keeps my podcast up and running!
Until next week, Carpe Diem!!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com.
The history of beer goes way back to Mesopotamia in 6000 BCE, when it was fermented in clay pots. Since then the evolution of beer has provided us a delicious brew that hits the spot!
If you are interested in hearing more about the future of cryptography, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee, because every cup of coffee keeps my podcast up and running!
Until next week, Carpe Diem!!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com.
Despite his multiple honorary doctorates and being named Chicagoan of the Year, Chemist Dr. Percy Julian found himself up a tree with a shotgun defending his property because he was black and couldn't get help from the police to protect his property.
You can find the transcripts as well as blogs on the history of math and science on my Website at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee, because every cup of coffee keeps my podcast up and running!
Until next week, Carpe Diem!!
Gabrielle
Thomas Fuller was 14 when he was taken from Africa in 1724. As an American slave who became an international genius, he proved to the world that skin color does not determine one's intelligence.
You can find the transcripts as well as blogs on the history of math and science on my Website at www.MathScienceHistory.com. And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee, because every cup of coffee keeps my podcast up and running!
Until next week, Carpe Diem!!
Gabrielle
I've got another secret! And I thought I had hidden it well. That is until someone broke my code and told on me!
If you are interested in hearing more about the future of cryptography, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee, because every cup of coffee keeps my podcast up and running!
Until next week, Carpe Diem!!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
On the early morning of May 5, Halley's Comet will help to light up our night sky to let us see the Eta Aquarid Meteor Shower! The shower will be viewable all week!
If you are interested in seeing how Halley's Comet travels through our galaxy, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee, because every cup of coffee keeps my podcast up and running!
Until next week, Carpe Diem!!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
How does one get a haircut during a pandemic? It's almost as puzzling as Georg Cantor's Barber Puzzle!
If you are interested in reading more about the set theory behind the Barber Puzzle, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee, because every cup of coffee keeps my podcast up and running!
Until next week, Carpe Diem!!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
Wednesday, April 22, 2020, is Earth Day! Inspired by one woman, the history of Earth Day is fairly recent but so meaningful! This beautiful blue ball that we live on has given us so much! Isn't it time we give back?
If you are interested in reading more about the history of math and science, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee, because every cup of coffee keeps my podcast up and running!
Until next week, Carpe Diem!!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
On April 13, 1625, Giovanni Faber coined the term microscope when Galileo was possibly plagiarizing Drebbel's design for this amazing tool that could see tiny things on a large scale! The details are all in the podcast!
If you are interested in reading more about the evolution of the microscope and seeing the links mentioned in this podcast, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee, because every cup of coffee keeps my podcast up and running!
Until next week, Carpe Diem!!
Gabrielle
All music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
In 1942, almost 80 years ago, Dr. Charles Drew resigned from his role as Director of the first American Red Cross Blood Bank. As an African American, he knew that prejudice could kill when the Army and Navy wouldn't stop segregating blood donations. His medical expertise saved lives and changed the landscape of blood banking, and it's all in the podcast!
If you are interested in reading more about the history of math and science, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee, because every cup of coffee keeps my podcast up and running!
Until next week, Carpe Diem!!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
We are living in chaotic times! But the mathematical laws of nature tell us that, even in chaos there is order! Chaos Theory is a beautiful theory that helps us find that order.
If you are interested in seeing images of the beautiful fractals that I mention, as well as seeing Lorenz's Attractor, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee, because every cup of coffee keeps my podcast up and running!
Until next week, Carpe Diem!!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
Emmy Noether was born on March 23, 1882. In her lifetime, she changed the landscape of algebra and physics. Einstein referred to her as a significant creative mathematical genius! Her mathematics and the story of her life are astounding!
If you are interested in learning more about Noether's Theorem, I have videos on my Website at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! So please, visit me! And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee!
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
In 1834 the scientist William Whewell proposed a term that would combine the activities of physicists, chemists, philosophers, philologists, and mathematicians. That word was Scientist! But, there was push back and entertaining infighting in Britain about the absurdity of the word and it's all in the podcast!
If you are interested in reading more about the word scientist, I have links on my Website at www.MathScienceHistory.com ! So please, visit me! And while you're there, please feel free to buy me a cup of coffee!
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
This year, February 28 is not the last day of the month! Happy Leap Year! If you aren't familiar with the origins of Leap Year, have I got a story for you!! I also explain how Leap Year is organized!
If you are interested in reading stories about the history of math and science, please feel free to visit me at my blog at www.MathScienceHistory.com !
Thank you so much for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle Birchak
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
It's Black History Month! Dr. Angie Turner King left a huge legacy in the world of black academia in STEM. She didn't just forge a path, she built a highway for African Americans in STEM. Her legacy includes Katherine Johnson and Jasper Brown, just to name a couple. She was voted as a favorite professor and she helped to change the landscape of academic diversity.
If you are interested in reading more about the history of math and science, please visit me on my blog at www.MathScienceHistory.com !
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
It's Black History Month! This week, I talk about Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson. She is America's first black, female physicist to earn her doctorate.
This month I am honoring the black, noble goddesses in STEM who inspire, motivate, and forge paths for those who have been marginalized. Each week I talk about one of my favorite sheroes who succeeded despite our structural racism and antiquated gender bias.
If you are interested in reading more about the history of math and science, please visit me on my blog at www.MathScienceHistory.com !
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
It's Black History Month! This week, I introduce Dr. Roger Arliner Young. She was America's first black, female zoologist to get her doctorate.
This month I'll be honoring the black, noble goddesses in STEM who inspire, motivate, and forge paths for those who have been marginalized. Each week I'll talk about one of my favorite sheroes who succeeded despite our structural racism and antiquated gender bias.
If you are interested in reading more about the history of math and science, please visit me on my blog at www.MathScienceHistory.com !
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
January 27 marks the 188th anniversary of Lewis Carrol's birthday. Many people know him as the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Many don't know that he was also a mathematician, who wove logic into his story.
If you are interested in seeing diagrams and an explanation of the logic that he used in the Mad Hatter Tea Party dialogue, or are interested in reading literature by scientists and mathematicians, www.MathScienceHistory.com !
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
In the 19th century, rollercoasters were new and exciting. Sometimes too exciting. Like, a 12 G-force, break your neck exciting! How was this even possible in 1895?!
If you are interested in reading more about the physics and math of these early rollercoasters, or are interested in learning more about the history of math and science, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com !
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
The story about Hypatia of Alexandria is almost 2,000 years old. She was one of our earliest female mathematicians, astronomers, philosophers, and professors. But above all of that, she was loved by Alexandria! So why was she murdered?! The answer is in the podcast!
If you are interested in reading more about the history of math and science, please visit me on my blog at www.MathScienceHistory.com !
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
The 2020s are upon us!! One hundred years ago, the 1920s produced a wealth of technology and discoveries! But, did you know that the other 20s since the first century brought us some amazing math, science, and technology?!
If you are interested in reading more about the history of math and science, please visit me on my blog at www.MathScienceHistory.com !
Thank you for listening! Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
The holidays are upon us! What better way to celebrate than sharing a fun logic puzzle about five weird scientists and their holiday celebration. For the sake of the puzzle, let us just assume that these scientists are neighbors, and all exist in the same era. They include William Buckland, Tycho Brahe, Ilya Ivanovich Ivanov, Stubbins Ffirth, and Pythagoras.
I will post my answers next week on my blog at MathScienceHistory.com - Play along!!
Carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
Admiral Grace Murray Hopper was born on December 9, 1906, in New York, New York. The story of her brilliance and her life is inspiring. She exemplified perseverance. From college to the Navy to her work with compilers, she never gave up!
I have a video on my Website of her interview on 60 Minutes, which is one of my favorites. www.MathScienceHistory.com
Thank you for listening! Until next week, Carpe Diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
When Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE, it destroyed yet preserved the ancient world of Herculaneum, along with the Villa de Papyri. In 1752, excavators discovered almost 1,800 scrolls, that today we are finally able to "unwrap" and read thanks to Artificial Intelligence.
You can find more video, images, and more details about these ancient papyri at my Website www.MathScienceHistory.com
Thanks for listening!
- Gabrielle Birchak
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
Euclid's Elements is considered one of the most foundational bodies of work in the field of mathematics. Written around 300 BCE (over 2,000 YEARS AGO!), it was a textbook that provided students the opportunity to learn most of the theories and propositions written at that time. However, even though it was groundbreaking, there was already a history of math that preceded this book, as you will find out.
If you are interested in learning more about the history of math and science, please feel free to visit me at my website, www.mathsciencehistory.com!
Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
Happy 11-11! t's Nigel Tufnel Day! If you've seen Spinal Tap, you know that D-minor is the saddest of all keys. You also know that Nigel didn't know the difference between inches and feet, much like the ancient Delians didn't know the difference between length and volume. The Delian Problem, also known as Doubling the Cube, provides a problem that is impossible to solve. This fun problem is definitely worth tackling and learning more about!
If you want to learn more about the Delian Problem, please visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com where I provide links to a more thorough explanation, as well as to the infamous Stonehenge scene that I'm talking about.
Until next week, Happy Nigel Tufnel Day!
Thanks for listening!
- Gabrielle Birchak
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
If you think that you need a telescope to enjoy our gorgeous November night skies, think again! In 300 BCE Hipparchus invented the astrolabe. It was an all-purpose handy tool used to find the constellations in the night sky, as well as to measure rivers and buildings.
If you are interested in learning more about the astrolabe, please come visit me at www.MathScienceHistory.com. I'll have links to resources that can even assist you in building your own astrolabe!
Carpe diem!
- Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
On October 29, 1969 two letters were sent from UCLA to Stanford, and Lo! The Internet was Born! From there, the information freeway evolved into a speedway, and now, here we are! Downloading podcasts, watching movies, watching cat videos!
If you are interested in reading about its history and seeing photos of 3420 Boelter Hall, where it all began, come visit me at www.mathsciencehistory.com !
Thanks for listening! Carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
I have a secret about my celebrity crush. But we must be discrete about it!
If you are interested in learning more about discrete math and my favorite Die Hard puzzle, please feel free to visit me at www.mathsciencehistory.com and read more about it (there are visuals too).
Also, while you are at my Website, please feel free to click on the coffee link and buy me a cup of coffee!
Until next week, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
In 1870 Matilda Joslyn Gage published her tract "Woman as Inventor." This pamphlet listed many women in science who went unnoticed while their male counterparts received accolades. Even this year, not one woman received a Nobel in science or medicine. This podcast names the many women who deserved scientific accolades for their contributions to science. And, it lists several things we can do to fix the Matilda Effect!
If you would like to read more about the Matilda Effect and several tremendous women in science, you can read more at https://www.mathsciencehistory.com
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
Laura Maria Caterina Bassi received her Ph.D. at 21 years of age. She was the first woman to earn a professorship in physics at a university. As a trailblazer for women in STEM, she was one of the first women in science to accomplish so much! Her story is truly memorable.
If you are interested in reading more about the history of math and science, please visit my website, https://www.mathsciencehistory.com - and while you are there, please feel free to click on that coffee button and buy me a cup of coffee!
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
Pi is a wonderful, magical number. Pi is a mathematical constant that has over a trillion digits. But, in 250 BCE, it was only accurate to two digits. Around 250 BCE Archimedes wrote his treatise Dimension of the Circle, which is a brief body of work that describes the measurements of a circle, including his approximation of the value of pi. After that, the number went on and on and on.....
If you are interested in visuals and reading more about the evolution of the digits of pi, please visit my Web site at https://www.mathsciencehistory.com
Until next time, carpe diem!
Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com
John Dalton helped to usher in atomic research. Our current subatomic research has evolved from his very beginnings when he began to identify his elemental theories in chemical reactions in his first five elements. These five simple notations opened up a whole world of elemental calculations for future generations to discover.
If you are interested in reading more about his work and theories, you can visit my blog at https://www.mathsciencehistory.com
Thanks for listening! Carpe diem!
- Gabrielle
Music is public domain. Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers. www.LloydRodgers.com