History of science

The timing of the total eclipse on April 8, 2024, will be known to within a second, thousands of years after fearful humans first started trying to anticipate these cosmic events.

A century ago, the Stern-Gerlach experiment established the truth of quantum mechanics. Now it’s being used to probe the clash of quantum theory and gravity.

Transcendental numbers include famous examples like e and π, but it took mathematicians centuries to understand them.

Minhyong Kim is leading a new initiative called Mathematics for Humanity that encourages mathematicians to apply their skills to solving social problems.

The four-color problem is simple to explain, but its complex proof continues to be both celebrated and despised.

Albert Einstein’s ideas about space-time aren’t exactly intuitive, and they aren’t exactly Einstein’s, either.

Far from being an abstract mathematical curiosity, knot theory has driven many findings in math and beyond.

Rethinking questions and chasing patterns led Newton to find the connection between curves and infinite sums.

The quest to solve cubic equations led to duels, betrayals — and modern mathematics.