The Scientific Odyssey

In this episode we take a look at the Scientific Revolution through the lens of David Wooten' thesis that the most important trigger for the rapid scientific development of the 16th and 17th centuries was Christopher Columbus' discovery of the New World.

In the final part of the part of our biography of Johannes Kepler, we look at his scientific work from 1612 to his death in 1630 including the Epitome of Copernicus, Harmonice Mundi and the Rudolphine Tables.  We consider the accusations of witchcraft against his mother, Katharina, and a number of other personal tragedies.  In conclusion we discuss the Somnium, Kepler's work of science fiction.

In part three of our biography of Johannes Kepler we look at his years in Prague and the scientific work he did there including Astronomiae Pars Optica, Dioptrice and Astronomia Nova.  We discuss how he arrived at his first two laws of planetary motion and his description of how lenses produce images in various optical systems including the eye.  We also follow the personal tragedy of the death of his son Frederick, how wife Barbara and the chaos that eventually engulfed Prague.

In part 2 of our biography of Johannes Kepler we look at the mathematician and astronomer's time in Graz and with Tycho Brahe in Prague.  We specifically look at Kepler's role in the conflict between Brahe and Nicolas Reimars Bar (aka, Ursus).

Part 1 of our biography of of Johannes Kepler covering his early life from his seminary schooling to his time in Graz.

This week we dock in Venice for a questions and answers episode wherein I talk about podcasting, understanding quantum mechanics, the origin of the universe, and the evidence for human activity causing climate change.  Also address questions about how doing the podcast has affected my teaching and where some of the strange things in academia come from.  I also tell the story of the time I ran out of food but was saved by a do-it-yourself carwash in the middle of nowhere. 

A discussion of the astronomical observation of Galileo Galilei and the escalating conflict with the Aristotelian Scholastics that dominated the Italian universities in the late 16th and early 17th centuries.  Specifically, we discuss the 1604 nova and Galileo's telescopic observations of 1609 including those of the Moon, Jupiter and the phases of Venus.

This week we take a look at the early life and work of Tuscan natural philosopher and engineer, Galileo Galilee.  We examine his investigations on motion, specifically falling bodies, that will lead him into the initial stages of conflict with the Aristotelian natural philosophers of the Scholastic universities of Italy.  We will also examine the steps of scientific inquiry he developed as a part of his work.

This week we take a break from the scientific narrative to look at the events following the Protestant Reformation in the Holy Roman Empire.  We specifically discuss the Peace of Augsburg, The Inquisition, The Counter Reformation and the Thirty Years War before turning to a brief account of the life of Giordano Bruno and the German witch trials. 

In this episode we look at the work of Johannes Kepler and his three Laws of Planetary Motion.  We discuss the principles that motivated his work and his idea that forces were responsible for the motion of the planets around the Sun.