Best Niels Bohr Institute Podcasts (2024)

1
Bonus: Initial Conditions Off Mic 1:17:58

1+ y ago1:17:58

1:17:58

Justin, Maura, and Allison reflect on the creation of Initial Conditions and speak to some of the other staff at the Niels Bohr Library & Archives and the Center for History of Physics. They share their favorite episodes, the episodes they wish they had made, and the difficulties of making a podcast from scratch. With guests Joanna, Corinne, Audrey…

1
Bonus: Live from PhysCon! 1:05:33

2y ago1:05:33

1:05:33

In this episode, Justin and Maura interview speakers and students who attended the 2022 Society for Physics Students Physics Congress. Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell shares the story of her 1967 discovery of radio pulsars and her omission from the Nobel Prize awarded for that discovery. Nobel Laureate, Dr. John Mather explained the importance of learnin…

1
Hawai'i and the Thirty Meter Telescope 1:10:53

2y ago1:10:53

1:10:53

Featuring a discussion with experts Samantha Thompson and Kalewa Correa from the Smithsonian Institution, this episode is about the history of Hawai’i and the controversy surrounding the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT). The TMT Corporation’s Board of Directors selected Maunakea as its preferred site in 2009. The 2014 groundbreaking for the TMT site wa…

1
The Legacy of Ptolemy’s Almagest 49:03

2y ago49:03

49:03

This episode dives into the story of the oldest book in NBLA’s Wenner Collection: a 1528 Latin translation of the Almagest. Claudius Ptolemy wrote the Almagest, originally titled Mathēmatikē Syntaxis, in the 2nd century CE. In the Almagest, Ptolemy proposed a mathematical model to explain and predict the motions of celestial objects. Though his geo…

1
The Newton You Didn't Know 40:20

2y ago40:20

40:20

Apart from his publications on gravity and optics, Newton was also a biblical scholar, religious mystic, and alchemist. In fact, a great deal of his work focuses on subjects that modern audiences might not consider to be scientific. You might be surprised to know how important the study of alchemy was to Newton. More than a pet interest, alchemy wa…

1
The Unexpected Hero of Light 45:26

2y ago45:26

45:26

This is the story of how a Pittsburgh steel worker became the lensmaker behind some of the most important experiments of 19th century physics. John Brashear fell in love with the night sky as a kid in the 1840s. Though he took a job as a millwright, in his free time, he and his wife dedicated themselves to making a telescope lens so they could view…

1
An Interview with Dr. Ronald Mickens 36:35

2y ago36:35

36:35

In June, after several technical mishaps, I flew down to Atlanta, Georgia, to meet Dr. Ronald Mickens and talk about his research on the history of African American physicists. In this episode, you’ll hear my interview with Dr. Mickens. He discusses his personal and professional backgrounds, how he became interested in studying the history of Afric…

1
The African American Presence in Physics 29:25

2y ago29:25

29:25

Based on the Ronald E. Mickens collection, this episode describes the history of the community of Black physicists in the United States. In 1999 the American Physical Society celebrated its centennial. In conjunction with the celebration, Dr. Ronald Mickens and his colleagues created an exhibit on the community of African American physicists and th…

1
Historical Romance and LGBTQ+ Representation 48:04

2y ago48:04

48:04

This episode will tell the stories of Caroline Herschel and Mary Somerville. It features an interview with Olivia Waite, who combines the two historic women in the protagonist of her regency, sapphic, romance novel The Lady’s Guide to Celestial Mechanics. Caroline Herschel was the first woman to discover a comet and artfully navigated the scientifi…

1
Was Einstein Wrong?? 49:36

2y ago49:36

49:36

What is pseudoscience? The answer to that question is more difficult than you might think. In trying to answer the question, we can learn a lot more about what science is, how it is practiced, and what goes into producing new scientific knowledge. Based on the work of historian of science Michael Gordin and several collections in the Niels Bohr Lib…

1
Quantum Counterculture 49:46

2y ago49:46

49:46

Inspired by David Kaiser's 2011 book, How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival, this episode will cover the discomfort many physicists experienced while grappling with quantum mechanics and how their unconventional methods led to quantum key encryption. Like many Americans of the 1960s and 70s, some physicists…

1
Energy Crises and Climate Change in the 1970s 45:37

2y ago45:37

45:37

This episode describes efforts undertaken by the Department of Energy in the late 1970s to study the environmental, economic, and social consequences of anthropogenic climate change. In the early 1970s, President Richard Nixon confronted a series of energy crises. Blackouts in major U.S. cities, natural gas shortages, and the 1973 OPEC oil embargo …

1
Enter the Anthropocene: Climate Science in the Early 20th Century 40:42

2y ago40:42

40:42

In this episode we discuss the efforts of three scientists–Svante Arrhenius, Guy Callendar, and Charles David Keeling–to figure out exactly what fossil fuel emissions might be doing to the atmosphere and the global temperature. Surprisingly, Arrhenius and other early climate scientists didn’t necessarily think that global warming would be…such a ba…

1
Eunice Foote: A Once Forgotten Climate Science Pioneer 49:34

2y ago49:34

49:34

Perhaps because she was a woman, or perhaps because she was American, Eunice Foote did not receive credit for her 1856 discovery of the heat-absorbing properties of carbon dioxide and water vapor. In this episode, we will tell the story of the once forgotten climate scientist, activist, and inventor, Eunice Foote, with help from Sir Roland Jackson …

1
Trailer 2:23

2+ y ago2:23

2:23

By Allison

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Niels Bohr Institute Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen

1
Initial Conditions: A Physics History Podcast

Niels Bohr Library & Archives

1
Bonus: Initial Conditions Off Mic 1:17:58

1
Bonus: Live from PhysCon! 1:05:33

1
Hawai'i and the Thirty Meter Telescope 1:10:53

1
The Legacy of Ptolemy’s Almagest 49:03

1
The Newton You Didn't Know 40:20

1
The Unexpected Hero of Light 45:26

1
An Interview with Dr. Ronald Mickens 36:35

1
The African American Presence in Physics 29:25

1
Historical Romance and LGBTQ+ Representation 48:04

1
Was Einstein Wrong?? 49:36

1
Quantum Counterculture 49:46

1
Energy Crises and Climate Change in the 1970s 45:37

1
Enter the Anthropocene: Climate Science in the Early 20th Century 40:42

1
Eunice Foote: A Once Forgotten Climate Science Pioneer 49:34

1
Trailer 2:23

Quick Reference Guide