Show cover of The Scientific Odyssey

The Scientific Odyssey

An examination of scientific inquiry through a discussion of the history and philosophy of the scientific endeavor.

Tracks

This is the beginning, the pushing off, the setting out.  It is here that the voyage commences and we set our sights on new horizons and far off vistas. This podcast is where I tell you what this whole thing's about: who your guide is, the vehicle we'll be traveling in and where we might be going.  It's a journey with a thousand or more steps and this is the first one.

10/13/14 • 24:08

A discussion of why studying science is not only useful but necessary in today's world along with an explanation of inquiry and a brief tour of different fields and types of scientific research.

10/19/14 • 23:44

A discussion of three attributes that characterize scientific inquiry and distinguish it from from other types of research.  This includes a discussion of of the three levels of information gathering and methods of scientific communication.

10/26/14 • 27:14

A discussion of the progress of scientific ideas from hypotheses to laws to theories.  What makes each one different from the others and how does an idea start as a hypothesis and end up as a theory.

11/2/14 • 29:30

Tools and structures scientists use to move ideas forward and do scientific reasoning.  Models and organizing principles are discussed as is serendipity.  Basic reasoning structure is explained through deductive, inductive and abductive methods.

11/9/14 • 38:11

Unscripted thoughts on the landing of the Philae probe on comet 67P.

11/12/14 • 26:53

A discussion about some of the misconceptions people have about scientific inquiry and those who pursue it.  Topics include creativity in science, the moral obligation of science and scientism.

11/16/14 • 35:21

This podcast introduces a new series on the history of the atom and begins the discussion with the ideas of the earliest Greek philosophers beginning with Thales and culminating with the atomism of Democritus.

11/23/14 • 26:41

Here we work through the responses to Democritus' atomism by Plato, Aristotle and Epicurus.

11/30/14 • 32:27

In this episode, we look at how atomism survives 1500 years of opposition and neglect to reemerge after The Great Mortality.

12/8/14 • 28:59

In this supplemental episode we look at the scholarly work of the first of the great Arabic "hakim" and the foundations of developing a scientific method.

12/11/14 • 19:30

From Bruno to Boscovitch, this episode of the podcast suveys the development of the intellectual and experimental lanscape of Renaissance Europe as it moves closer to answer the question of the nature of matter.

12/14/14 • 30:00

An examination of the work in pneumatic chemistry from Black to Lavoisier that established chemistry as an fully experimental science.  A discussion of the rise and fall of the phlogiston hypothesis as a scientific case study is included.

12/22/14 • 39:09

A discussion of Carl Scheele, Joseph Priestly, Antoine Lavoisier and the discovery of oxygen.

12/25/14 • 29:07

Reflections on chemistry by Michel Eugene Chevreul on the occasion of his 100th birthday.

12/28/14 • 23:14

This episode discusses the life and contributions of John Dalton with particular focus on his development of the Billard Ball model of the atom.

1/4/15 • 29:22

A discussion of the development of the periodic table beginning with Prout's protyle and ending with Mendeleev.  Much of the material for this episode has been developed from Eric Scerri's, "The Periodic Table, Its Story and Its Significance."

1/12/15 • 44:21

In this episode, developments in electrochemistry by Berzelius, Faraday, Arrhenius, Oswald, van't Hoft and Werner are discussed.

1/18/15 • 44:21

In parallel with the chemical research being done to provide support for an atomic theory of matter, there was also work being done in the discipline of physics.  In this episode we discuss developments in the fields of thermodynamics and kinetic theory that supported the idea of atoms moving through a void. Also, please leave a comment or review for the podcast on any of the sites or services you use to access it.  Your support is deeply appreciated.

1/25/15 • 44:21

This episode begins a multipart series discussing the discoveries at the turn of the 20th century that led to the downfall of Dalton's atom and a new understanding of the nature of matter. This episode focuses on the work of JJ Thomson at the Cavendish laboratory that led to the discovery of the electron.

2/1/15 • 44:21

In this episode, the work of first Rontgen and Becquerel is discussed followed by the discoveries of the Curies and Ernest Rutherford.

2/8/15 • 29:02

In this supplemental episode we cover the life of Marie Curie.

2/15/15 • 32:45

In this episode, we develop the atomic models of Hantaro Nagaoka (Saturnian Model), J.J. Thomson (Plum Pudding Model) and Ernest Rutherford (Nuclear Model).  We also consider the theoretical work of Perrin and Anton van den Broek along with the experimental contributions for Hans Geiger, Ernest Marsden, Charles Barkla and Henry Moseley.

2/22/15 • 40:07

A biographical sketch of the life of Ernest Rutherford from his birth in New Zealand to the outbreak of the Great War.

3/1/15 • 37:30

A look at the life of Ernest Rutherford after the Great War, including the first transmutation of an element, the discovery of the neutron and the splitting of the atom.

3/8/15 • 40:57

In this episode, we look at the development of a theoretical model of electron behavior for Rutherford's nuclear model of the atom by Niels Bohr.  We begin with a brief introduction to light and spectra before considering the groundbreaking work of Max Planck and Albert Einstein and then finally to Bohr's radical solution to electron behavior around a nucleus.  This is the first episode in the series where things get really strange.

3/15/15 • 36:52

A discussion of the life and influence of Niels Bohr.

3/23/15 • 39:14

In this episode, we discuss the contributions of Gilbert Newton Lewis, Irvine Langmuir and Arnold Sommerfeld and push the Bohr Model of the Atom to the breaking point.

3/29/15 • 30:55

In this episode we address the crisis in atomic physics, the work of Louis de Broglie and the matrix mechanics of Werner Heisenberg.

4/5/15 • 32:35

We begin with the wave mechanics approach of Erwin Schrodinger and work through the Fifth Solvay Conference held in October of 1927.

4/13/15 • 39:52

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