The Scientific Odyssey

In this episode we consider additional solutions to the Problem of Induction include those which rest on determining the certainty of inductively acquired knowledge.

In this episode we consider several possible solutions to Hume's Problem of Induction including William Whewell's description of scientific inquiry, the hypothetico-deductive methods and Karl Popper's falsifiability criterion.

In our new Science and Certainty mini-series, we take a look at what is known as the Problem of Induction in the junction between epistemology and philosophy of science.  We review what induction is and then look at various historical statements of the problem culminating with the work of Scottish philosopher, David Hume.

Wherein we reach the end of our journey.

In our final episode of the biographical series on Albert Einstein, we look at the last twenty years of his life in the United States.  We consider his conversations with the mathematician Kurt Godel, the letters to Franklin Delano Roosevelt that helped initiate what would become the Manhattan Project, his post-war efforts to promote peace and his principled defiance of McCarthyism.

In this episode of the Scientific Odyssey, we delve more deeply into Einstein's religious views and recap the months up to his emigration to the United States to take a position at the Institute of Advanced Study.

In 1930, Albert Einstein wrote,  “I believe that the most important mission of the state is to protect the individual and to make it possible for him to develop into a creative personality.” This concise statement of his political philosophy would guide his actions through much of the 1920's and early 30's as he used his fame and celebrity to advance causes important to him.   In this episode, we'll examine those actions and causes.

In the words of physicist John Wheeler,  “In all the history of human thought, there is no greater dialogue than that which took place over the years between Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein about the meaning of the quantum.” In this episode of the Scientific Odyssey we explore the relationship between the two men that began through journal articles on light quantum and the atom, was further entwined through Nobel Prizes awarded together and continued through debates shared in letters, papers and at scientific meetings.  

In this episode we look at Einstein's rise to international fame and what it cost him.

When Einstein moved to Berlin in 1914, he entered into a period of intense turmoil, both in his scientific work and in his personal life.  In this episode, we take a look at the factors that led him to Berlin and what transpired once he got there.