The History of Physics Podcast

In this episode we follow Enrico Fermi and his team as they create the first self‑sustaining nuclear chain reaction in a Chicago basement in 1942, exploring how their calculations, uncertainties, and political urgency converged to unleash atomic energy. We examine why the experiment succeeded against expectations, its implications for weapons development, and the broader shift it triggered in physics and society.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Charles Du Fay’s split‐electricity theory to Alessandro Volta’s stacked zinc–copper pile, this episode traces how the first steady electric current reshaped charge conservation, Maxwell’s equations, and battery technology. We follow Volta’s experiment, its ripple through Faraday, Maxwell, and 20th‑century quantum theory, and why his humble stack still underpins today’s lithium‑ion cells.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode explores Alessandro Volta’s creation of the voltaic pile, the first practical battery, and how a series of deliberate missteps and contested ideas led to a breakthrough that powered electric technology. We trace the scientific debate between Galvani and Volta, the early failures of the Leyden jar, and the ripple effects on telegraphy, motors, and modern energy storage.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

James Chadwick’s simple alpha‑bombardment experiment on beryllium revealed a neutral particle that would become the neutron, reshaping atomic theory and paving the way for nuclear reactors. This episode traces the experiment, its reception by contemporaries like Rutherford, and its lasting impact on physics.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explore how Nicolaus Copernicus’s heliocentric model shifted our view of motion and set the stage for modern physics. From the lack of observable parallax to Galileo’s telescopic proofs, learn why this 16th‑century idea still influences GPS, cosmology, and experimental design today.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sadi Carnot’s 1824 reflection on heat engines introduced a universal efficiency limit that reshaped engineering and physics. The episode traces his use of caloric theory, the rise of entropy, and how modern power plants, refrigerators, and even quantum information still echo his insight.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1935 Schrödinger crafted a paradoxical cat scenario that challenged the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics, sparking fierce debate with Einstein and Bohr. The episode traces how this thought experiment exposed the measurement problem, led to decoherence theory, and ultimately shaped modern quantum technologies such as computing and cryptography.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explore how Thales of Miletus challenged ancient Greek myth with his water hypothesis, laying the groundwork for naturalistic explanations in physics. From geometry‑based measurements to a shift toward empirical reasoning, this episode traces the ripple effects that inspired Aristotle, Pythagoras, and later scientific revolutions.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Explore James Chadwick’s quiet experiment that revealed the neutron and how this discovery reshaped nuclear physics, enabled reactor technology, and opened new frontiers in materials science and astrophysics.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode we trace how Isaac Newton in England and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in Germany independently discovered calculus yet framed it differently, sparking a fierce rivalry that reshaped mathematics and scientific culture. We examine their notebooks, publications, the Royal Society’s investigation, and how the dispute influenced later computational tools and publishing norms.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices