Bang! Goes the Universe
Bang! Goes the Universe is a walking, talking, four-dimensional tour of the history, the people, and the science behind one of the greatest discoveries of all time: the Big Bang. This podcast is an attempt to demystify the science behind big bang cosmology, by working through the developments in modern thought that slowly led us to our current state of play. I’ll hold interviews and labs to help you visualize various concepts along the way. And we’ll visit some of the people and places who are or were at the forefront of discovery in the field.
Episodes
15 episodes
Bang! Goes the Universe Interview with John Mulchaey
A 45-minutes discussion with the director of the Carnegie Observatories about his journey as an astronomy, the state of research, new technologies and the development of the Giant Magellan Telescope at Las Campanas, Chile. John is renowned for ...
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46:07
Bang! Goes the Universe Interview with Alan Friedman
Alan Friedman is an award winning amateur solar photographer whose work and techniques have been the subject of lectures, articles and interviews. He has appeared on NBC's Today Show and offered a TEDx Talk on solar photography. The...
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1:01:27
Season 1 Recap and a Preview of Season 2
A quick review of some of the names and events we discussed in season 1 and a short preview of what's coming up in season 2 of the show. It's been a hoot so far! Hope you've enjoyed it. Season 2 is coming soon!Don't forget to check out ...
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Season 1
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Episode 0
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7:06
The Bang! Goes the Universe Interview with Daniel Lewis
Daniel Lewis is the Dibner Senior Curator for the History of Science and Technology at the Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in Pasadena, California. A native of Hawaii, he's an environmental historian and author whose lates...
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50:31
Eratosthenes Measures the Earth, Sun and Moon
One of the most brilliant men of science in the ancient world, Eratosthenes was best known as a scholar and librarian in his day, But he made his greatest contribution to science in the realms of geometry and astronomy fueled by his curiosity, ...
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Season 1
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Episode 10
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14:32
Aristarchus Updates Anaxagoras
This Ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician built upon the suppositions of his predecessor creating a heliocentric model of the universe with the earth, moon and planets orbiting the Sun during the 3rd century BCE. Using an observation from...
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Season 1
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Episode 9
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14:37
Leucippus and Democritus Derive the Atom!
In this episode we discuss a pair of ancient Greek philosophers whose relationship was akin to that of Socrates and Plato, but whose insights on the microcosmic nature of nature was so prescient that it would ultimately be passed over for hundr...
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Season 1
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Episode 8
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26:10
Philolaus: Geocentrism Denier
Philolaus was a unique figure in the era of Greek metaphysics who bridged the gap between the Milesians, the Presocratics and the Pythagoreans to form a theory of universal origins that included the first suggestion that Earth was not at its ce...
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Season 1
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Episode 7
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25:22
The Rebel Anaxagoras
Anaxagoras was a maverick who lived in Ancient Greece in the 5th century BCE. He was schooled in the Milesian and Eleatic philosophical traditions and was especially interested in celestial mechanics. Chiefly, solar and lunar eclipses. His answ...
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Season 1
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Episode 6
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21:44
Bang! Goes the Universe Interview with Deborah Shapley
Deborah Shapley had a distinguished 30-year career as a journalist, serving as a reporter for the weekly journal, Science, and as the Washington Bureau Chief for Nature. She is the author of four books, the best known of which...
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46:41
Pythagoras: The Mathematics of Reason
In this episode we’ll discuss the life and work of the best known member of the Presocratics and one of the best known figures in all of antiquity. But what you may not know about him would surprise and fascinate you.
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Season 1
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Episode 5
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29:07
The Presocratics: Philosophy in the Wild West
In this episode we’ll continue our discussion of the presocratic philosophers with a group of four thinkers who interpreted the work of their predecessors, the Milesians, in very different and sometimes bizarre ways.
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Season 1
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Episode 4
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33:47
The Milesians
In this episode we’ll go back to Ancient Greece to review the lives of three members of the first Western school of thought who, through a century of discourse and debate, ushered in the age of Greek scientific philosophy.
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Season 1
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Episode 3
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22:26
Ancient Stories of Creation
Take a tour 100,000 years back in time to discover one of the great under appreciated inventions in human history: the invention of myth. In this episode we'll discuss how myth evolved and aided in the development in human culture leading to th...
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Season 1
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Episode 2
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31:17
One Mississippi, Two Mississippi...
In this series opening episode, we'll take a look at the timeline from the very beginning to the present state of play in the known universe according to the consensus within the field of cosmology. The episode includes the names of som...
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Season 1
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Episode 1
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21:37