From the double-helix to the expansion of the universe, great scientific discoveries reshape our understanding of who we are and how things work. But great discoveries require more than just a great mind. We tour brainy breakthroughs from Archimedes to Darwin, and find out what made their revolutionary insights possible.
Also, why you need more than a stratospheric I.Q. to be a super-achiever. And how the invention of reading re-directed the course of civilization and re-wired our brains in the process.
Guests:
- Alan Hirshfeld – Professor of physics at the University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, and author of Eureka Man: The Life and Legacy of Archimedes
- Richard Holmes – Author of The Age of Wonder: How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science
- Angela Duckworth – Psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania. Her grit study can be found here
- Stanislas Dehaene – Cognitive neruoscientist at the the Collège de France in Paris, and author of Reading in the Brain: The Science and Evolution of a Human Invention
