History of science

Radio waves, longer and less energetic than visible light, give astronomers access to some of the most obscure physics in the cosmos.

The relationships among the properties of flexible shapes have fascinated mathematicians for centuries.

Christine Darden worked at NASA for 40 years, helping make supersonic planes quieter and forging a path for women to follow in her footsteps.

Today’s information age is only possible thanks to the groundbreaking work of a lone genius.

For almost a century, the anonymous members of Nicolas Bourbaki have written books intended as pure expressions of mathematical thought.

Renormalization has become perhaps the single most important advance in theoretical physics in 50 years.

Mathematicians have long grappled with the reality that some problems just don’t have solutions.

Professional astronomers may not point their telescopes by hand anymore, but COVID-19 has still closed observatories and impeded research.

Symplectic geometry is a relatively new field with implications for much of modern mathematics. Here’s what it’s all about.