logo
episode-header-image
May 2019
55m 36s

Max Planck

SPOTIFY STUDIOS
About this episode
As one of the earliest pioneers in the field of quantum physics in the late 19th century, Max Planck would work with his protege, Albert Einstein, to redefine an entire field of science... just as Germany was falling under the iron fist of the Nazi Regime.  Sponsors! The Farmer’s Dog - Get 50% off your two week trial of fresh, healthy food at The Farmers Dog ... Show More
Up next
Jun 2019
Wangarĩ Muta Maathai
Born in 1940 in British-occupied Kenya, Wangarĩ Muta Maathai learned at a young age how the environment and poverty were inextricably linked. As one of Africa's first women to obtain a PhD, she dedicated over forty years of her adult life fighting to teach the people of Kenya abo ... Show More
48m 56s
Jun 2019
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Bach never knew it during his lifetime, but he revolutionized classical music. Centuries after his death in 1750, Bach is known as one of the main fathers of classical composition. Sponsors! Gabi - Take TWO MINUTES and Go to Gabi.com/HISTORICAL to see if you can save up to ... Show More
45m 26s
Jul 2019
James "Jesse" Owens
Jesse Owens broke four world records in a single day. Even after facing down the bigotry of Hitler's Germany in the 1936 Olympics, he returned to an America that was not willing to accept him. Sponsors! Simon & Schuster - The Vagabonds is available now wherever books are sold. Le ... Show More
51m 37s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2023
Albert Einstein
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the man who, in 1905, produced several papers that were to change the world of physics and whose name went on to become a byword for genius. This was Albert Einstein, then still a technical expert at a Swiss patent office, and that year of 1905 bec ... Show More
49m 29s
Apr 2024
271 | Claudia de Rham on Modifying General Relativity
<p>Einstein's theory of general relativity has been our best understanding of gravity for over a century, withstanding a variety of experimental challenges of ever-increasing precision. But we have to be open to the possibility that general relativity -- even at the classical lev ... Show More
1h 21m
Jan 2025
The Periodic Table of the Elements (Encore)
You’ve seen it in your science classroom, and there was probably a copy of it on the inside cover of your chemistry book. Maybe if you are a real nerd, you might even have your own personal copy.  Yet its very creation was a revolutionary breakthrough that helped scientists and g ... Show More
10m 3s
Jul 2025
John Hopfield: Nobel Prize Conversations
“I’ve never been part of the gang. I was a one-man band playing little tunes.” – Meet physics laureate John Hopfield in a podcast recorded at his cottage in Selborne, England. Together with host Adam Smith, he reflects on the value of interdisciplinary work and how chemists and p ... Show More
38m 34s
Jul 2024
Alan Lightman, "Einstein's Dreams" (Vintage, 1992)
Einstein’s Dreams (Vintage, 1992) by Alan Lightman, set in Albert Einstein’s “miracle year” of 1905, is a novel about the cultural interconnection of time, relativity and life. As the young genius creates his theory of relativity, in a series of dreams, he imagines other worlds, ... Show More
55m 6s
Feb 2025
Versailles: Science & Splendour
<p>The opulent halls of 17th and 18th-century Versailles were not just filled with dazzlingly dressed courtiers and royal intrigue. They also positively buzzed with scientific discovery and innovation, making the French royal court a crossroads of science and power.&nbsp;</p><br> ... Show More
33m 56s
Aug 5
Was the Nuclear Bomb Inevitable? With Frank Close
Use code SQUARED at the link below to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/squared --- How did the most powerful force in history begin with a faint smudge on a photographic plate? In this episode, Adam McCauley speaks to physicist and award-winnin ... Show More
1h 2m
May 2025
195. Nuclear Physicist or Soviet Spy? The Enigma of Bruno Pontecorvo with Dr. Frank Close
<p>Today Justin talks with Dr. Frank Close. Frank is Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics and Fellow Emeritus at Exeter College at the University of Oxford. He was formerly the head of the Theoretical Physics Division at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Vice President of ... Show More
1h 9m
Feb 2025
Antimatter (Encore)
It is the most expensive substance in the world by a wide margin. When it was first proposed, it was actually proposed in jest. However, decades later, the joke turned out to have been true.  It is a fundamental part of the universe, and by all accounts, it should be everywhere, ... Show More
14m 6s