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Science, Technology, and Society
March 6, 2020
Fieldwork of Empire, 1840-1900
Intercultural Dynamics in the Production of British Expeditionary Literature
Adrian Wisnicki
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Adrian Wisnicki talks about the British expeditionary literature of the late 1800s. Reading between the lines of Victorian travel accounts, Wisnicki sees outlines of a bigger story — local peoples …
Historical Fiction
February 28, 2020
Starvation Shore
Laura Waterman
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Laura Waterman talks about her novel, Starvation Shore (University of Wisconsin Press, 2019), which relies upon memoirs, letters, and diaries to reconstruct the life of the Greely Party as it …
Science, Technology, and Society
February 21, 2020
Breaking the Chains of Gravity
The Story of Spaceflight Before NASA
Amy Shira Teitel
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Amy Shira Teitel talks about Apollo and the community of people who are deeply attached to space history. Teitel is a spaceflight historian and the creator of the YouTube Channel …
Science, Technology, and Society
February 14, 2020
Darwin’s Evolving Identity
Adventure, Ambition, and the Sin of Speculation
Alistair Sponsel
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Dr. Alistair Sponsel talks about Darwin’s experiences on HMS Beagle and his early career as a naturalist. His close reading of Darwin’s journals and letters reveals insights about the man …
Science, Technology, and Society
February 7, 2020
The Coldest Crucible
Arctic Exploration and American Culture
Michael Robinson
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Radio host Kevin Fox interviews Michael F. Robinson about the history of American Arctic exploration, the subject of his book, The Coldest Crucible: Arctic Exploration and American Culture (University of …
Science, Technology, and Society
January 31, 2020
Destined for the Stars
Faith, the Future, and America’s Final Frontier
Catherine Newell
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Catherine Newell talks about the religious roots of the final frontier, focusing on the collaboration of artist Chesley Bonestell, science writer Willy Ley, and the NASA rocket engineer Wernher von …
Science, Technology, and Society
January 24, 2020
Apollo in the Age of Aquarius
Neil Maher
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Neil Maher talks about the social forces that shaped NASA in the 1960s and 70s, connecting the space race with the radical upheavals of the counterculture. Maher is a professor …
Science, Technology, and Society
January 17, 2020
No Shadow of a Doubt
The 1919 Eclipse that Confirmed Einstein’s Theory of Relativity
Daniel Kennefick
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Daniel Kennefick talks about resistance to relativity theory in the early twentieth century and the huge challenges that faced British astronomers who wanted to test the theory during the solar …
Gender Studies
January 10, 2020
Women Wanderers and the Writing of Mobility, 1784–1814
Ingrid Horrocks
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Ingrid Horrocks talks about the way women travelers, specifically women wanderers, are represented in late-eighteenth century literature, particularly in the work of women writers. Horrocks in an associate professor in …
Science, Technology, and Society
January 3, 2020
Nature, Empire, And Nation
Explorations of the History of Science in the Iberian World
Jorge Canizares-Esguerra
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
In the late 1500s, the mines of Potosí –a mountain in southern Bolivia — produced 60% of the world’s silver. It was a place of great wealth and terrible suffering …
Science, Technology, and Society
December 27, 2019
NASA in the World
Fifty Years of International Collaboration in Space
Angelina Callahan
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Angelina Callahan talks about the Naval Research Laboratory’s Vanguard Project. While the launch of Vanguard 1 in 1958 was part of the Cold War “Space Race,” it also represented something …
Poetry
December 20, 2019
A Basket of Flaming Ashes
Joyce Ashuntantang
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Joyce Ashuntantang talks about her experiences as a traveler and a poet, from her childhood Cameroon to her years studying in Great Britain and the United States. Ashuntantang is a …
Art
December 13, 2019
Sacramental Theology and the Decoration of Baptismal Fonts
Fran Altvater
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Fran Altvater talks about the Medieval Pilgrimage, a practice that became central to Christian Europe in the early Middle Ages and evolved into the military pilgrimages of the Crusades in …
General History
December 6, 2019
To Master the Boundless Sea
The US Navy, the Marine Environment, and the Cartography of Empire
Jason Smith
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Jason Smith discusses the US Navy’s role in exploring and charting the ocean world. Smith is an assistant professor of history at Southern Connecticut State University. He’s the author of …
General History
November 29, 2019
The Life of Margaret Alice Murray
A Woman’s Work in Archaeology
Kathleen Sheppard
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
After Napoleon occupied Egypt, Europeans became obsessed with the ancient cultures of the Nile. In Britain, the center of Egyptology research was University College London (UCL). At the heart of …
General History
November 15, 2019
Vast Expanses
A History of the Oceans
Helen Rozwadowski
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Helen Rozwadowski talks about the history of the oceans and how these oceans have shaped human history in profound ways. Rozwadowski is a professor of history at the University of …
General History
November 8, 2019
Do You See Ice?
Inuit and Americans at Home and Away
Karen Routledge
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
In the 1800s, explorers and whalers returning home from the Arctic described a cold, desolate world, one that could swallow up expeditions without leaving a trace. But this did not …
General History
November 1, 2019
Finding Franklin
The Untold Story of a 165-year Search
Russell Potter
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
In 1845, two British naval ships left England with 129 men in search of the Northwest Passage. They were never heard from again. The disappearance of the Franklin Expedition shocked …
General History
October 25, 2019
One Long Night
A Global History of Concentration Camps
Andrea Pitzer
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Andrea Pitzer talks about her book One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps (Little, Brown and Company, 2017), one of Smithsonian Magazine’s Ten Best History Books for 2017 …
Anthropology
October 18, 2019
Into the Extreme
U.S. Environmental Systems and Politics Beyond Earth
Valerie Olson
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Valerie Olson talks about why the idea of outer space as a “frontier” is giving way to one that frames it as a cosmic ecosystem. Olson is an associate professor …
General History
October 11, 2019
Captain Cook Was Here
Maria Nugent
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Maria Nugent talks about Aboriginal Australians' first encounter with Captain Cook at Botany Bay, a violent meeting that has come to represent the origin story of Australia’s colonization by Europeans …
General History
October 4, 2019
Creatures of Cain
The Hunt for Human Nature in Cold War America
Erika Milam
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Erika Milam talks about the scientific search for human nature, a project that captured the attention of paleontologists, anthropologists, and primatologists in the years after World War II. Milam is …
General History
September 13, 2019
Wild Sea
A History of the Southern Ocean
Joy McCann
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Joy McCann discusses the great circumpolar ocean that surrounds Antarctica. McCann is the author of Wild Sea: A History of the Southern Ocean (University of New South Wales Press, 2018) …
General History
September 6, 2019
The Medieval Invention of Travel
Shayne Legassie
Hosted by
Michael F. Robinson
Shayne Legassie talks about medieval travel, especially long distance travel, and the way it was feared, praised, and sometimes treated with suspicion. He also talks about the role the Middle …
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