Using stories from science's past to understand our world
How the First American Science Writer Found (Then Lost) God in the Cosmic Ray
In the 1930s a pride- and faith-fueled dispute between two Nobel Prize–winning physicists spilled onto the front page of the
New York Times
.
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Hunting the Nazi Nuclear Hoard
In the last years of World War II a group of American scientists and soldiers raced to capture enemy physicists, sabotage Hitler’s nuclear ambitions, and do it all before their Soviet allies were any the wiser.
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Marie Curie, Marie Meloney, and the Significance of a Gram of Radium
In the 1920s a pioneering journalist summoned the might of American women to revive a Nobelist’s career.
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Smith Griswold Sells the War against Smog
To defeat air pollution, officials first had to convince Californians that carmakers were the enemy, not cars.
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RECOMMENDED
Rediscover some old favorites from our archives.
Whatever Happened to the Ozone Hole?
An environmental success story.
Listen to the podcast >>
Virtual Reality in the
19th Century
Meet the stereoscope, precursor to the View-Master and virtual reality.
Watch the video >>
Produced by the Science History Institute,
Distillations
reveals science’s role in a complicated, ever-changing, and often strange world.
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