Science History

I have a secret; as much as I enjoy reading about the latest advancements in biology and physics, I sometimes like reading about the darker side of experimentation. Most scientists have a fundamental basis for experimentation and results but then there were (and are - we'll get to them in future installments) others who ran with their own rules and avoided opposition by keeping the results mostly secret. These are the people I am referring to as 'Mad Scientists' rather than using the more colloquial 'crazy' meaning of the term. We all know most doctors are around to help patients, for…

Whatever your political views, this is an example to follow: Ezra Klein on Paul Krugman: Nobel prize winner. And Krugman won it his way: He never retreated into the academy, never jealously insulated his expertise and insight from controversy because that would be safest for his reputation. Lots of folks seem to think that engagement with the public sphere puts a ceiling on academic achievement, and some had even said to me that Krugman had made himself too controversial to ever win a Nobel prize. They were wrong, and I hope more economists and assorted academics now follow Krugman's model of…

In the day to day hustle of our busy lives full of research, formulae, vats of coffee, etc. we often forget to think about those who walked this road before us and created many of the techniques we use. Without their contributions, it's difficult to imagine where we would be. With that said, here's my way of giving thanks and showing appreciation to all those who came before us in the field of science and to help inspire other people out there trying to do great things now; famous words from famous scientists.  ***** 1. Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-American physicist, often…

Razib at Gene Expression and Andrew Sullivan at the Daily Dish discuss science vs. scientists. Razib: I bring this up because many scientists believe that because science is such a superior method of extracting information about the world around us, and constructing predictive models which have been shown to have great utility, that that means that they as scientists can simply transfer their godlike powers to other domains with the greatest of ease. But as the above should make clear I believe this is a false perception, because the power of science arises from the intersection of the…

The mediaeval western European church had hitched its wagon very tightly to the philosophy of Aristotle, and by extension to the astronomical model of Ptolemy. This caused Galileo no small amount of aggro. One of the greatest mathematicians and physicists of Mediaeval Islam, namely Abu Ali al-Hasan ibn al-Haytham, (965-1040) encountered a similar problem. I won't woffle, but take you straight to a reply of his to an anonymous scholar who had criticized his treatise The Winding Motion: From the statements made by the noble Shaykh, it is clear that he believes in Ptolemy’s words in…

Don't think you have time for science? Cracked.com ("America's Only Humor & Video Site, since 1958" - we've got humor and video here at Scientific Blogging, but we haven't been around since 1958), has a quick summary of 5 scientific theories that will make your head explode. One of those theories is evolution: We’re all familiar with the basics of evolution: that a munificent monkey-goddess birthed us all from Her banana-scented womb. But there are some lesser-discussed implications of natural selection that are just plain weird... Among the implications of evolution is that "you can rest…

Scientific happenings, big and small, on this day in history But first, today’s quiz: What famous inventor, born on this day in 1871, will forever be famous for something he did for only 12 seconds? Think you know…? You might be right. To be sure check out the answer at the end of the article. EVENTS 1856 Condensed milk patented In 1856, Gail Borden of Brooklyn, NY, was issued a U.S. patent his process for condensed milk (No. 15,553). Condensed milk could be preserved for long periods of storage, and in this form milk became more readily available in large cities than had been possible…

Every day is a historic day, as this column will attest. In the world of science, what has happened on this day? Here’s just a glimpse of some of the milestones, big and small, that have occurred on this date. To start things off, here’s a little quiz: What common item found in any toolbox, was patented by Solymon Merrick on August 17 in 1835? Don’t let it drive you “nuts”, the answer will appear at the end of the article. In the meantime, here are some other happenings from this day in science history: Events 1877 Asaph Hall discovers Mars’ moon Phobos Phobos is the larger and closer…

An academic from Swansea University’s History Department has received a research grant of £101,000 from the Wellcome Trust to investigate the history of medicine in Joseph Stalin’s concentration camps of the mid-twentieth century. Dr Dan Healey’s project, entitled Medicine in the Gulag Archipelago, will be done in collaboration with Dr Kirill Rossianov of the Moscow Institute of the History of Natural Sciences and Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences and focus on the history of medicine in the Soviet Union’s Gulag network of labor camps and will show how doctors and medicine were…

Brian May CBE, PhD, ARCS, FRAS, and a founding member of Queen, is a world-renowned guitarist, songwriter, producer and performer. May abandoned his PhD studies at Imperial College London in 1974 when Queen’s popularity first exploded but always retained a keen interest in astronomy, and has been a regular contributor to “The Sky at Night,” BBC TV’s monthly astronomy program hosted by Sir Patrick Moore. Returning to astrophysical research in 2006, he was awarded his PhD and is now Chancellor of John Moores University, and a patron to a number of charities, including the Mercury Phoenix…