Robert S. Westman describes a late 15th-century crisis about the status of astrology that led to Nicolas Copernicus’ great hypothesis that the Earth revolved around the Sun. Westman is professor of history at the University of California, San Diego, and author of the book “The Copernican Question: Prognostication, Skepticism, and Celestial Order” (2011).

Joe Palca, a science correspondent for NPR, talks about the new book he co-authored with Flora Lichtman, “Annoying: The Science of What Bugs Us.” With humor and plenty of hard data, he explains why fingernails on a chalk board make us cringe and why that guy on the cell phone drives us crazy.

Bruce Moran discusses alchemy—a subject that he says is often greatly misunderstood and one that figures significantly in early modern science. Moran is the Dibner Distinguished Fellow at The Huntington for 2010–11 and the author of “Distilling Knowledge: Alchemy, Chemistry, and the Scientific Revolution.”

Ronald L. Numbers, historian of science and medicine at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, discusses the history of the debate over evolution in America, from William Jennings Bryan’s crusade to eradicate Darwinism from schools to current efforts to promote the teaching of “intelligent design.”

The abundant water in the North European Plain was both a nemesis and an ally to early modern Prussians. Kathryn Olesko, associate professor at Georgetown University and the Dibner Distinguished Fellow for 2009-10, examines how the challenges of water management shaped Prussian attitudes about nature, politics, and technology.

The year 2009 marks the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his seminal work, "On the Origin of Species." Daniel Lewis, Dibner Senior Curator of the History of Science & Technology at The Huntington, examines the difficulties Darwin faced in publishing his evolutionary theory. Presented in conjunction with Pasadena’s Art & Ideas Festival 2009.

Donald K. Yeomans, manager of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Program, discusses the importance of comet and asteroid impacts in understanding the origin of the solar system and the evolution of life on Earth. He also addresses NASA’s current activities to prevent future Earth-threatening impact events.