The Stephen Wolfram Podcast Storytelling with Stephen Wolfram: Stories From My Life Part 1
Sep 22, 2025
Dive into the colorful tapestry of Stephen's life as he shares captivating family stories that trace his roots back to Germany and England. Discover anecdotes from his childhood, filled with early curiosities about dinosaurs and spacecraft. Enjoy tales of family travels to exotic locations and encounters with Oxford's philosophical elite that shaped his intellectual journey. Stephen reflects on how these early experiences connect to his later work, leaving listeners eager for more stories in the next installment.
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Name Origins And Tungsten Confusion
- Stephen Wolfram traces his surname to an early saint and explains its link to the element tungsten and continental naming differences.
- He mentions receiving irrelevant spam from tungsten sellers because of the company name Wolfram Research.
Grandfather's Vet Career And Family Myths
- Stephen recounts his paternal grandfather Max Wolfram's academic veterinary background, war service with cavalry horses, and later life as a local veterinarian and gardener.
- He notes family stories may mix fact and fictionalized elements because his father loved storytelling and novels.
Maternal Line And A Tragic Loss
- Stephen describes his father's mother Edith Nathan as an English concert pianist with Rothschild ancestry and notes she died from an infection after childbirth.
- He shares how these family tragedies influenced later dedications and stories in his father's novels.
