An examination of the scientific contributions of William Whewell through the early and middle parts of his career.
A link to "The Complete Collection of the English Poems which have Obtained the Chancellor's Medal at Cambridge University" in which one can find Whewell's "Boadicea"
In this episode of the Scientific Odyssey, we delve more deeply into Einstein's religious views and recap the months up to his emigration to the United States to take a position at the Institute of Advanced Study.
For A. S. Eddington, the most important thing a thinking person could do, whether they be a scientist or a person of faith, was to follow a path of inquiry that sought to uncover new insights and new truths.
In this episode, we look at how this value influenced Eddington's work in stellar structure and relativity. Additionally, we look at how his other valence values such as internationalism influenced his actions during the Great War.
In this episode we consider the question of whether a person can be both religious and a scientist by looking at the early life of the British astrophysicist and lifelong Quaker, Arthur Stanley Eddington.
Following the publication of Newton's Principia, the extended process of adoption began. In this episode, we look at what barriers there were to Newton's ideas and how they were overcome. We also look at the acceptance of heliocentricism and the reworking of Newton's mathematical formalism up through the work of Pierre-Simon Laplace. Other scientists discussed include Francois-Marie Arouet, otherwise known by his pseudonym, Voltaire, the mathematician Alexis Claude Clairaut, the polymath Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis and a pair of remarkable women: Gabrielle-Émilie Le Tonnelier de Breteuil, Marquise du Châtelet and Laura Maria Caterina Bassi.
This week we look at Isaac Newton's work in the area of alchemy and examine his heretical religious views centered on the ancient variant doctrine of Arianism.
We examine the events leading up to the heresy conviction of Galileo Galilei in 1633 including his dispute with Orazio Grassi regarding the comets of 1618, the publication of The Assayer, the deal with Pope Urban VIII and the publication of the Dialogue Concerning Two Chief World Systems.
In this episode we look at the 25 months leading up to the Congregation of the Inquisition censuring the two propositions related to the work of Copernicus; namely that the Earth moves and the Sun does not. We specifically examine the the statements regarding interpretation of Holy Scripture and Tradition by the Council of Trent and how those were expanded on by Cardinal Robert Bellarmine. We also consider Galileo's Letter to Castelli and Pauli Foscarini's Lettera as well as the role of Galileo's work and Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina in the proceedings and what follows.
In the first part of a three episode series on the emerging conflict involving Galileo Galilei, the Aristotelian natural philosophers of the Italian universities and the Catholic Church, we examine the factors that would lead to the initial confrontation of 1615 and 1616. These will include a debate that led to a fundamental revaluation of hydrology and a priority dispute on the discovery of sunspots. Finally, we discuss the piece of information that may have led to Galileo's open support of the Copernican model of the solar system.
In the final part of the part of our biography of Johannes Kepler, we look at his scientific work from 1612 to his death in 1630 including the Epitome of Copernicus, Harmonice Mundi and the Rudolphine Tables. We consider the accusations of witchcraft against his mother, Katharina, and a number of other personal tragedies. In conclusion we discuss the Somnium, Kepler's work of science fiction.
In part three of our biography of Johannes Kepler we look at his years in Prague and the scientific work he did there including Astronomiae Pars Optica, Dioptrice and Astronomia Nova. We discuss how he arrived at his first two laws of planetary motion and his description of how lenses produce images in various optical systems including the eye. We also follow the personal tragedy of the death of his son Frederick, how wife Barbara and the chaos that eventually engulfed Prague.
In part two of our biography of Johannes Kepler we look at the mathematician and astronomer's time in Graz and with Tycho Brahe in Prague. We specifically look at Kepler's role in the conflict between Brahe and Nicolas Reimars Bar (aka, Ursus).
Part 1 of our biography of of Johannes Kepler covering his early life from his seminary schooling to his time in Graz. We discuss his school in the lower seminary at Adelburg, the upper seminary at Maulbronn and at Sift at the University of Tubingen. After this we follow him to his assignment at the Protestant school in Graz and his work as the district mathematician. IN this we examine his attitudes on astrology and the publication of the Mysterium Cosmigraphicum.
This week we dock in Venice for a question and answer episode wherein I talk about podcasting, understanding quantum mechanics, the origin of the universe, and the evidence for human activity causing climate change. I also address questions about how doing the podcast has affected my teaching and where some of the strange things in academia come from. Then there's the story of the time I ran out of food but was saved by a do-it-yourself carwash in the middle of nowhere.
This week we take a break from the scientific narrative to look at the events following the Protestant Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire. We specifically discuss the Peace of Augsburg, The Inquisition, The Counter Reformation and the Thirty Years War before turning to a brief account of the life of Giordano Bruno and the German witch trials.