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The Scientific Odyssey

The Scientific Odyssey is a podcast exploration of scientific inquiry through it's history and philosophy.  New episodes weekly.

Apr 30, 2017

In this episode we look at the various methods to determine the distances to the stars including Christiaan Huygens' comparison method, Robert Hooke's zenith telescope and Wilhelm Struve's and Freidrich Bessel's telescopic measurements.  We also review the various ideas as to the distributions of these stars as advanced...


Apr 23, 2017

In this episode we examine the fates of Phaeton, Vulcan and Pluto as they were thought of by Olbers, Le Verrier and Clyde Tombaugh.  We also examine the observations of James Craig Watson, introduce William Henry Pickering and follow the work of Percival Lowell.


Apr 16, 2017

In 1782, William Herschel entered the service of his Royal Majesty, King George III of the United Kingdom.  Over the next 20 years, he, along with his brother Alexander, would build hundred of telescopes including the largest research instruments in Europe as well as create the largest catalogue of deep sky objects...


Apr 9, 2017

William Herschel was a Hanoverian musician turned British astronomer.  In this episode we look at his journey from military band oboist to the court astronomer of King George III.  Along the way we look at his work as a composer and orchestral director, his entry into the field of astronomical instrument construction...


Apr 2, 2017

This week we look at the work of William Herschel, Giuseppe Piazzi, Heinrich Olbers, Urbain Le Verrier, Alexis Bouvard and Johann Galle as they discovered new worlds in a Newtonian solar system.  We consider the mathematical frameworks of Laplace and the Titius-Bode Law as guiding physical laws for the investigation of...