The “Witch of Agnesi” is one of the most misleading labels in the history of mathematics.
In today’s episode, I give a historical account of the life of Haiti’s first female physician, Dr. Yvonne Sylvain, who fought for maternal care, cancer screening, and modern medical practice in the twentieth century.
Podcast transcripts Welcome to Math! Science! History! I’m Gabrielle Birchak, your host. For Women’s History Month, I wanted to feature one brilliant thing, one clean win, and one woman whose work still quietly runs the world, even if most of us do not realize it. Today’s “one brilliant thing” was a sorting system. A classification scheme. A way to take the universe,
Today, while we are still celebrating Women’s History Month, Math! Science! History! is taking part in the the charity drive through Podcasthon, as we interview Angie Maldonado, the founder of Espwa Means Hope! https://youtu.be/VUKcnqnZWA4 Please help to make a difference by donating to EspwaMeansHopeHaiti.org — every penny you donate goes to building a community with women’s health care, education for children,
It’s Flashcards Friday! This podcast is a follow-up to Tuesday’s episode about Benjamin Banneker. This brilliant individual was predominantly self-taught. I found his story very inspiring because he was self-educated. In other words, he learned everything he knew about astronomy and surveying without being in a classroom. And today, when people say they are self-taught, that means so more than
It’s Flashcards Fridays. I’m Gabrielle Birchak, your host, and today I’m going to do a callback to Tuesday’s episode, which was about capturing thoughts. Last Tuesday’s episode was about photographing thoughts. Today I’m going to talk about those moments where you wish you could have just thought about the subject better, especially when you’re trying to learn something new. But
Before calendars were printed, before clocks ticked, and before numbers were written, humans looked up. We looked up at the sky not just to admire the beauty of the stars and celestial bodies, but also to predict the best times for planting and harvesting crops. So stargazing was not just an enjoyable endeavor; it was a method of survival. In
It’s Flashcards Fridays, and today I’m going to talk about something quietly universal about what humans do when the year begins to slow down. Across cultures, across centuries, when the days grow shorter and the nights stretch long, people gather. They sit closer together. They talk more. They tell stories. And again and again, they pose questions that do not
You might not think of jigsaw puzzles as scientific objects. They seem soothing, domestic, almost meditative. But behind every little cardboard piece is a surprisingly rich story, one that spans global exploration, technological innovation, Victorian parlor culture, economic upheaval, wartime material shortages, cognitive science, and the digital age. And it all begins with an English cartographer who wanted to teach children
Is there a science behind spirits? What about the chemistry of ghosts and whiskey? Learn more …