Science History

Ray Bradbury's "Moby Dick" Screenplay Sees The Light Of Day After 50 Years

Ray Bradbury, author of The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451 and too many great novels to list here, as Hollywood screenwriter?   Indeed he was.   And John Huston, architect of legendary John Wayne westerns (and father of Angelica, who you should be w ...

Article - News Staff - Oct 27 2008 - 12:56am

This Day In Science History: November 3rd

Scientific happenings on this day in history… But first: today’s quiz.  Not all inventions are cold and scientific… some are more on the “delicious” side of the scale.  And some inventors don’t even have to create a particular invention, yet can still be ...

Article - Kimberly Crandell - Nov 3 2008 - 12:08am

Gadflies And Geniuses

I gets weary, and sick of trying … the words almost taken from Ol' Man River.   But weary of what?  Trying to persuade the physics world from harping too much on about celebrity physicists.  This they do (at least in my reading) to an extent grossly e ...

Article - Robert H Olley - Aug 3 2009 - 3:31pm

Sunday Science Book Club

Oppenheimer: The Tragic Intellect Charles Thorpe, University of Chicago 2006 For decades, there was a dearth of comprehensive Oppenheimer biographies. As Thomas Powers noted in the New York Review of Books, biographies of other major Manhattan Project fig ...

Article - Michael White - Feb 20 2009 - 3:15pm

Sister Of Machiavelli's Prince Was Not The Lucrezia Borgia You Think

In popular legend, Lucrezia Borgia, Duchess of Ferrara (1480- 1519), stands falsely accused of poisoning her second husband. Victor Hugo portrayed her in thinly veiled fiction as a tragic femme fatale. Buffalo Bill named his gun after her.   But new resear ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 8 2009 - 3:04am

Classic Papers In Biology

One of the things I enjoyed most about my time at Yale was the history of the place. I was pleasantly surprised to discover the famous scientists that worked there, including Lederberg, Tatum, Altman, Palade, Gilman etc.  It gave me a sense of being part ...

Article - John Dennehy - Jan 18 2009 - 2:50pm

Not The Same Study Section: How The Truth Comes Out

In the latest Vanity Fair is a brilliant piece of journalism, Goodbye to All That: An Oral History of the Bush White House by Cullen Murphy and Todd Purdum. In a fun, easy-to-read format, it tells some basic truths I had never read before. Here are two ex ...

Article - Seth Roberts - Jan 24 2009 - 7:56pm

Metamorphosis In Science (but Not à La Kafka)

Recently I read on this site Massimo Pigliucci’s articles on Hard and Soft Science.  As usual, though, I at first sailed over the main theme, and picking up one or two phrases went off on one of my tangents.  The first of these phrases was:     the long in ...

Article - Robert H Olley - Feb 5 2009 - 8:08pm

Darwin's Sacred Cause- Ending Racism And Slavery

One testament to the pervasive nature of evolution is that so many varied groups, even ones in opposition to each other, found an endorsement in his work.    Proponents of eugenics, slavery and even Hitler could rationalize their views saying it was just e ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 5 2009 - 11:40am

Forbes Magazine On Evolution And Intelligent Design

This is the year of Darwin (yes, yes, it’s also the year of astronomy, I know), and especially this week-- around the date of Chuck’s birth-- we are seeing a spike of events, radio and tv pieces, and printed articles. (Expect a second peak in November, for ...

Article - Massimo Pigliucci - Feb 12 2009 - 11:50am