Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak

About Math Science History with Gabrielle Birchak

Why do some scientific breakthroughs look different up close than they do in our textbooks? How did math quietly shape the modern world? Math! Science! History! explores the human side of discovery, including the rivalries, the failed attempts, the bold ideas, and the marginalized voices behind the equations and experiments that changed science, technology, and everyday life. Hosted by Gabrielle Birchak, who holds degrees in mathematics and journalism, the show connects codebreaking, astronomy, probability, physics, and innovation to the world we live in today. If you enjoy science stories, historical investigations, and clear math grounded in context, clarity, and research, this show is for you. New episodes twice weekly. Visit www.MathScienceHistory.com for more information.

Publisher

Gabrielle Birchak

Category

history · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

16 Sept 2019

Latest episode

30 Sept 2026

Latest episodes

313 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   30 Sept 2026

   The Library of Alexandria: What Really Happened?

   After nearly seven years and more than 200 episodes, this is where I say goodbye to Math! Science! History!. The podcast began with my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life and grew into something far beyond what I imagined. Thank you for listening, for following me through all of these stories, and for giving me the opportunity to explore the history behind mathematics, science, and the people and ideas that changed our understanding of the world. The podcast may be ending, but the archive, the research, and the stories will remain here for you to explore. And perhaps it's fitting that our final story is about the Library of Alexandria. The Library didn't survive as an institution, but its ideas survived because people copied them, studied them, translated them, and passed them on. I hope Math! Science! History! can do something similar. As I move into whatever comes next, I'll leave you with the original meaning of carpe diem: to pluck the day, to savor what is ripe and ready, and then use that harvest to plant the seeds for the next season. Thank you for seven incredible years. Carpe diem, my friends. 3 Things You'll Learn 1. The Library of Alexandria was not necessarily destroyed by Caesar. Caesar's fire in 48 BCE certainly destroyed books, but the ancient evidence does not establish that it destroyed the entire Library. Alexandria's scholarly institutions and collections continued afterward. 2. The Library disappeared through a much longer and more complicated process. The Royal Library, Mouseion, Serapeum, and other collections existed in different forms and at different times. Political instability, changing patronage, violence, destruction, and institutional decline all played roles in the gradual disappearance of Alexandria's great scholarly institutions. 3. Knowledge can survive even when institutions disappear. The books of Alexandria did not remain together as one intact collection, but ideas survived through copying, translation, and transmission. Centuries later, scholars working across the Byzantine, Syriac, Persian, and Islamic worlds helped preserve and transmit Greek knowledge into Arabic and beyond. 🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h (https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h) 🌍 Let's Connect! Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube 🎧 Enjoying the Podcast? ☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal (https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/PR7F7ST49GDNA) Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform Check out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store (https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store) Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!

2. 

   24 Sept 2026

   Descartes' Secret Notebook: The Hidden Math Behind Topology

   René Descartes is famous for Cogito, ergo sum and his revolutionary approach to philosophy and mathematics. But he also left behind a mysterious 16-page manuscript written in code. In this episode, we uncover the story of Descartes' hidden notebook, the waterlogged manuscripts that nearly disappeared, and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz's dramatic attempt to decipher the coded pages. At the center of the mystery is a mathematical relationship involving the vertices, edges, and faces of three-dimensional shapes. Today expressed as V − E + F = 2, this relationship became associated with Leonhard Euler and is closely connected to the development of topology. We'll explore why this mathematics mattered in the seventeenth century, why Descartes may have feared revealing his ideas, and how the mathematics of shapes and connectivity eventually became relevant to our modern digital world. 3 Things You'll Learn 1. Why Descartes wrote in code The story behind Cogitata Privata, Descartes' "I proceed masked" philosophy, and the secret manuscript that disappeared after Leibniz examined it. 2. How V − E + F = 2 works Using cubes and pyramids, we'll see how vertices, edges, and faces combine to produce a remarkably consistent mathematical relationship. 3. Why this old mathematics still matters The episode connects the history of polyhedra to topology and modern applications such as 3D computer graphics and digital modeling. Sources Amir D. Aczel, Descartes's Secret Notebook: A True Tale of Mathematics, Mysticism, and the Quest to Understand the Universe David S. Richeson, Euler's Gem: The Polyhedron Formula and the Birth of Topology Peter J. Federico, Descartes on Polyhedra: A Study of the "De solidorum elementis" Matthew L. Jones, The Good Life in the Scientific Revolution Frances A. Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment Johannes Kepler, The Harmony of the World René Descartes, Discourse on the Method Full source list appears in the episode transcript at https://www.MathScienceHistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h (https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h) 🌍 Let's Connect! Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social (https://bsky.app/profile/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history LinkedIn: Gabrielle Birchak | LinkedIn YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube 🎧 Enjoying the Podcast? ☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/PR7F7ST49GDNA (https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/PR7F7ST49GDNA) Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform Check out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store (https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store) Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!!

3. 

   22 Sept 2026

   SCIENCE NEWS TUESDAY: A New Species is Discovered

   Scientists have officially identified a new wild cat species in Bolivia and a new snake species from New Guinea—and one of them is named after Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash. But these discoveries are about much more than a cute cat and a rock-star snake. In this episode of How Did We Get Here? Science News Tuesday, we look at how scientists identify new species, why some animals can remain hidden in plain sight for centuries, and how modern genetics and genomics are changing our understanding of the tree of life. From Carl Linnaeus and the origins of scientific classification to DNA analysis and museum specimens, we explore how scientists went from naming what they could see to uncovering evolutionary relationships that aren't visible to the naked eye. And there's a bigger question: How many species are still out there waiting to be recognized—and could some disappear before we even know they exist? Three Things You'll Learn 1.      How a "new" species can hide in plain sight. 2.      Why a snake was named after Slash, and how Slash rocks out for animals! 3.      How DNA changed the way we classify life 4.      Why discovering species matters for conservation Welcome to the jungle: newly-discovered snake named after Slash from Guns N' Roses - Field Museum https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/see-the-first-new-species-of-cat-discovered-in-more-than-a-century-its-adorable 🔗 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com 📚 To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h (https://a.co/d/g3OuP9h) 🌍 Let's Connect! YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@mathsciencehistory) Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/math.science.history LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/math-science-history/ 🎧 Enjoying the Podcast? ☕ Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal (https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/PR7F7ST49GDNA) Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform Check out our merch: https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store (https://www.mathsciencehistory.com/the-store) Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Black Book by Lloyd Rodgers Until next time, carpe diem!

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

57,045

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.7 / 5

14 ratings

Spotify

4.6 / 5

26 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 82 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

93

Social presence

0

YouTube

76

Engagement

98

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