The Matilda Effect

After nearly seven years and more than 200 episodes, this is where I say goodbye to Math! Science! History!. The podcast began with my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life and grew into something far bey...

30 Sep 25min

René Descartes is famous for Cogito, ergo sum and his revolutionary approach to philosophy and mathematics. But he also left behind a mysterious 16-page manuscript written in code. In this episode, we...

24 Sep 13min

Scientists have officially identified a new wild cat species in Bolivia and a new snake species from New Guinea—and one of them is named after Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash. But these discoveries are ...

22 Sep 12min

GH Hardy was a character. He had qualities that were odd, yet endearing. He was a rigorous mathematician. Yet, when he received a letter from Srinivasa Ramanujan, he changed. He learned a new way of e...

10 Sep 22min

In this episode of Math, Science, History, host Gabrielle Birchak does a repost about Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, a 19-year-old prodigy whose curiosity during a two-week sea voyage in 1930 led to a gr...

3 Sep 11min

What happens when women gather? Throughout the eighteenth century, women across Europe began creating intellectual communities where they could discuss science, mathematics, philosophy, politics, lite...

27 Aug 17min

Your job is what you do, not who you are - and that distinction could change your life. Gabrielle Birchak spotlights the astonishing story of Paul Tannery, a daytime engineer in the French tobacco adm...

21 Aug 8min

Paul Tannery didn't begin his career intending to become one of the most influential historians of mathematics. He trained as an engineer at the École Polytechnique and spent much of his professional ...

18 Aug 33min