The Art of Mathematics

Joseph Fourier, the Heat Equation and the Age of the Earth


Listen Later

Joseph Bennish, Professor Emeritus of California State University, Long Beach, joins us for an excursion into physics and some of the mathematics it inspired. Joseph Fourier straddled mathematics and physics. Here we focus on his heat equation, based on partial differential equations. Partial differential equations have broad applications. Fourier developed not only the heat equation but also a way to solve it. This equation was used to answer, among other questions, the issue of the age of the earth. Was the earth too young to make Darwin's theory credible?

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Art of MathematicsBy Carol Jacoby

  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7
  • 4.7

4.7

21 ratings


More shows like The Art of Mathematics

View all
In Our Time by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time

5,401 Listeners

Closer To Truth by Closer To Truth

Closer To Truth

242 Listeners

In Our Time: Science by BBC Radio 4

In Our Time: Science

705 Listeners

Philosophize This! by Stephen West

Philosophize This!

15,029 Listeners

Ask a Spaceman! by Paul M. Sutter

Ask a Spaceman!

806 Listeners

The Quanta Podcast by Quanta Magazine

The Quanta Podcast

483 Listeners

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating by Big Bang Productions Inc.

Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

1,047 Listeners

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas by Sean Carroll | Wondery

Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas

4,123 Listeners

Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe by iHeartPodcasts

Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe

2,307 Listeners

Fall of Civilizations Podcast by Fall of Civilizations Podcast

Fall of Civilizations Podcast

4,816 Listeners

The Supermassive Podcast by The Royal Astronomical Society

The Supermassive Podcast

283 Listeners

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal by Theories of Everything

Theories of Everything with Curt Jaimungal

456 Listeners

Why This Universe? by Dan Hooper, Shalma Wegsman

Why This Universe?

369 Listeners

The Rest Is History by Goalhanger

The Rest Is History

12,488 Listeners

The Joy of Why by Steven Strogatz, Janna Levin and Quanta Magazine

The Joy of Why

493 Listeners