History of Science

Reconstruction of the German reactor at Haigerloch, with cubes hanging above the experimental vessel

Uranium cubes reveal: Nazi Germany was far from an active nuclear reactor and atomic bomb

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Examinations of surviving cubes, archival documents and computer simulations show that the last experiment led by Werner Heisenberg required far more uranium and heavy water than were available for the German nuclear program.
Black and white portrait of physicist and science historian Boris Hessen

Boris Hessen: The scientist who linked Newton to society and was murdered in Stalin's purges

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A lecture he gave in London in 1931 changed the writing of the history of science; five years later, the Jewish physicist was arrested and executed.
Black and white portrait of chemist Richard Willstätter

Richard Willstätter's Chemical Discoveries and Jewish Barriers

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Nobel Prize winner who studied chlorophyll and developed filters for gas masks resigned in protest of anti-Semitism, but saw assimilation as a solution to the Jewish question
Fritz Haber and Albert Einstein standing together in Berlin in 1914

Fritz Haber and Albert Einstein: Friendship in Contradiction

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Two of the greatest scientists of the 20th century were close friends, even though one was a pacifist and opposed to nationalism while the other put science at the service of chemical warfare and the German Empire.
The Murdered History of Mark Bloch

The Murdered History of Marc Bloch – the Jewish historian murdered by the Nazis and buried in the Pantheon in Paris

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The Jewish-French historian Marc Bloch revolutionized the study of history, fought in two world wars and joined the French underground against the Nazis. In June 1944 he was tortured and murdered by the Gestapo; in June 2026 he was inducted into the Pantheon with his wife Simone
Karl Schwarzschild: The scientist who solved Einstein's equations from the front

Karl Schwarzschild: The scientist who solved Einstein's equations from the front

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A few weeks after the publication of the general theory of relativity, German-Jewish astronomer Karl Schwarzschild found the first exact solution to Einstein's equations. The solution, sent from the front lines of World War I, later laid the foundation for the mathematical description of
The rise and fall of a great physicist: Semyon Shubin

The rise and fall of a great physicist: Semyon Shubin

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Semyon Shubin graduated from university at the age of 19, made fundamental contributions to the physics of metals, and founded a school of theoretical physicists in the Urals. The Stalinist terror stopped his scientific work and sent him to his death in a labor camp.
Mathematician, physicist, inventor, religious thinker, and prominent social activist. Portrait of Blaise Pascal, circa 1690 | Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The forgotten genius – who left a deep mark

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Blaise Pascal lived only 39 years, but he had a profound influence on mathematics, physics, probability theory, calculating machines, and philosophy. His ideas continue to shape the way we calculate, measure, and make decisions in today's world.
Joseph Rapoport – Hero of War and Science

Joseph Rapoport – Hero of War and Science

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Joseph Rapoport was a decorated combat officer and pioneering geneticist. After refusing to submit to the pseudoscientific teachings of Trofim Lysenko, he was expelled from the Communist Party and from his scientific work. Years later, he returned to research and was one of the founders of the field of genetics.
A historical illustration divided into three parts: a research laboratory from the Manhattan Project era; a pecan branch and agricultural fields representing the knowledge of enslaved people; and medical and legal documents from the era of American eugenics. The illustration does not depict violence or casualties, but the institutions and documents through which scientific power was exerted.

America in Test Tube 6: The Dark Side of Scientific Progress: The Bomb, Eugenics, and Erased Knowledge

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Three chapters in American history reveal the complex relationship of science with power: the secrecy and lack of oversight of the Manhattan Project, the erasure of enslaved people's agricultural knowledge, and the use of eugenics to justify forced sterilization and discrimination.
250 years of American science. Illustration: The Science website using AI

America in Test Tube – Chapter 1 – 250 Years of Promise: American Science Born as Part of the Democratic Idea

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Portrait of the French mathematician Jacques Hadamard, one of the central figures in the history of modern mathematics

Jacques Hadamard: The Mathematician Who Connected Scientific Genius with Moral Commitment

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Jacques Hadamard was an extraordinary French mathematician who contributed to number theory, mathematical physics, and the study of mathematical thought. His life combined scientific achievements, family tragedies, and a deep commitment to justice and human rights.
A historian has discovered that a 16th-century printed edition of the Almagest — an ancient and influential astronomical treatise — includes numerous handwritten footnotes by Galileo Galilei, the astronomer who later challenged the geocentric view of the universe presented in that treatise. Courtesy of the National Central Library of Florence.

A copy of Ptolemy's Almagest with notes in Galileo's handwriting was discovered in Florence.

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Researchers have identified numerous notes attributed to Galileo in a 16th-century copy of Ptolemy's central astronomical work, a discovery that may shed new light on how he evolved from the geocentric tradition to the revolution.
Halley's Comet, supposedly in 1758.

The name “Hallie’s Comet” may belong to someone else: Study suggests 11th-century monk identified the periodicity before Edmond Halley

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According to an analysis by researchers at Leiden University in the Netherlands, evidence in medieval chronicles indicates that the monk Aylmer of Malmesbury linked observations in 989 and 1066 to the same periodic comet—hundreds of years before Halley established
He has won many awards for his scientific work, including the Israel Prize and the Wolf Prize. Meir Wilczek in the laboratory | Photo: Kobi Kalmanovich, A.M.T. Prize, Wikipedia

The scientist with a connection to life: 90th anniversary of Meir Wilczek, the Holocaust survivor who conquered the world of biochemistry

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From a hungry child who wandered through camps, exile, and kolkhozes in Kyrgyzstan – to a leading scientist at the Weizmann Institute, developer of affinity chromatography and the avidin-biotin system, winner of the Israel Prize and the Wolf Prize: Prof. Meir Wilczek celebrates 90 and continues
James Watson, discoverer of the structure of DNA. Illustration: depositphotos.com

James Watson, one of the pioneers in discovering the structure of DNA – and the controversial figure behind the “double helix” – has died

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Nobel laureate James Watson has died at the age of 97; along with his seminal contribution to uncovering the structure of DNA with Francis Crick, new historical research highlights Rosalind Franklin’s central role – and
Reconstruction of the image of the German mathematician David Hilbert. Illustration via IDOGRAM.AI

From Cultural Antisemitism to Scientific Racism: Wagner, “Aryan Physics,” and the Voice of Hilbert

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From Richard Wagner's article (1850) and Wilhelm Marr's coining of the term "anti-Semitism" (1879), through Lennard and Stark's "German physics" and Bieberbach and Jansch's psychological engineering—to Hilbert's counter-reaction: "Mathematics has no races"
The history of temperature measurement. The illustration was prepared using DALEE and is not a scientific illustration

What is temperature?

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In the upcoming series of posts, I will deal with selected chapters from the fascinating history of thermodynamics. In the first post we opened with the basic question: What is temperature?
A close-up of the Verona astrolabe shows a Hebrew inscription (top left) above Arabic inscriptions. Credit: Federica Gigante

'Incredibly rare' ancient astrolabe discovered in Italy reveals Islamic-Jewish scientific exchanges

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A scientist has discovered a unique Islamic astrolabe from the eleventh century in Verona, Italy, which includes inscriptions in Arabic and Hebrew. This find illustrates the rich scientific collaboration between Muslim, Jewish and Christian cultures in the Middle Ages, and presents the
A detailed calendar for the days. From jumpstory

Things Yorami know: Why are there seven days in a week?

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The week is not an astronomical cycle like the day or the year. How did the Jewish Sabbath, the seven celestial bodies, and Roman tradition connect to the cycle that is used today by almost the entire world?
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