Science

Oliver Sacks

Bill Thompson
Photo: Maria Popova

A young British boys fascination with science, and with metals and chemistry in particular, led to him becoming one of the world’s foremost neurologists.

And the author of best-selling books about science.

His name was Oliver Sacks. He’s the author of books such as The Man Who mistook His Wife For a Hat, and The Island of The Color Blind. But he is perhaps best known for his 1973 book Awakenings, which became a major movie in 1990 starring Robert de Niro and Robin Williams.

In 2001, his book Uncle Tungsten told of how, as a youngster, he first became interested in science.

So here now, from 2001, Oliver Sacks.

Oliver Sacks died in 2015. He was 82.

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James Watson
Carl Sagan

Richard Leakey

Bill Thompson
Photo: Rob Bogaerts / Anefo

Where did modern humankind come from?

Scientists,, scholars, and experts have been trying to find the answer for generations.

One of the most prominent among them was Kenyan-born Richard Leakey.

His parents, Louis and Mary Leakey, we’re also renowned paleoanthropologists whose work centered on finding the origins of modern humans.

In 1977, Richard Leakey co-authored at groundbreaking book called Origins. But by 1992, he had Unearthed new material the prompted him to write a sequel, called Origins Reconsidered.

And that’s what I met him.

So here now, from 1992, Richard Leakey.

Richard Leakey died earlier this month. He was 77.

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Jane Goodall
James Watson

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Carl Sagan

Bill Thompson

You know we sometimes get so caught up in the minutiae of everyday life. Trying to protect our own little turf on this little planet that we lose sight of the big picture. I mean the really big picture.

In the 1970s and ’80s astronomer. Carl Sagan led the way in showing us the big picture with his book and TV show. Cosmos and then in 1994 his follow-up book called pale Blue.

The interview you’re about to hear was actually the second interview I had with Carl Sagan in the early ’90s and I found it hard to be in the same room with him and and not be swept up in his enthusiastic and voracious quest for more knowledge.

And as I was preparing the interview for use on this podcast, I thought how absolutely thrilled Carl Sagan would be today to learn about the James Webb telescope.

So here now from 1994 Carl Sagan

Carl Sagan died in 1996. He was 62.

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Neil de Greasse Tyson

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James Watson

Bill Thompson
Nobel laureate Dr. James D. Watson, Chancellor, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.

In 1953, an earnest and ambitious 25-year-old scientist nmaed James Watson made a groundbreaking discovery that helped revolutionize science, medicine, even the law.

Working alongside Francis Crick, Watson identified the double-helix structure of DNA.

That breakthrough earned Watson and Crick the Nobel Prize in medicine in 1962. Watson wrote a book explaining the double helix.

I met him in 2002, when he published another book, which he called “Genes, Girls, and Gamow.” That was a reference to George Gamow, a pioneering theoretical physicist who contributed to, and built on, Watson and crick’s work.
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From the moment I met him, Watson won me over with his warmth, humanity, and roll sense of humor.

So here now, from 2002, James Watson.

James Watson celebrated his 93rd birthday last week. We’re not sure if you ever got an email account.

Raymond Kurzweil

Bill Thompson

It can be fun, informative, and educational to go back and revisit the things that futurists said years ago. Just, you know, to check and see if they were right.

Kurzweil has been honored by three U.S. presidents, he has 21 honorary doctorates, and has been called the rightful heir to Thomas Edison.

In 1990, I met and interviewed legendary inventor and futurist Raymond Kurzweil. He had written a book called The Age of Tnte Intelligent Machine.

You be the judge — was he right?

So here now, from 1990, Raymond Kurzweil.

Raymond Kurzweil is now 73. Since 2012 he’s been Director of Engineering at Google.

Neil de Greasse Tyson

Bill Thompson
Photo: Norwegian University of Science and Technology

Alexa stopNot since Carl Sagan, perhaps, has there been a professional stargazer as engaging and as popular as Neil de Grasse Tyson.

A witty, Charming personality who seems to know everything about astrophysics, Tyson has become a very popular TV host, public speaker, and podcaster.

I met him in 2000, when he wrote a book for the light person, not the professional scientist. Science literacy is Tyson’s thing.

So here now, from 2000, Neil de Grasse Tyson:

Neil de Greasse Tyson celebrated his 62nd birthday last month. He is a popular TV persoanlity and podcaster. He lives in New York.

Robert Ballard

Bill Thompson

Perhaps no living human being knows more about the world’s shipwrecks than Robert Ballard.

He’s the world’s foremost authority on underwater and maritime archaeology.

Photo: Erik Charlton

Ballard led the undersea expedition that discovered the wreckage of the Titanic.

His crew discovered the Bismarck, and dozens of other famous shipwrecks.

Among my several interviews with Robert Ballard was the one you’re about to hear, from 1995. when he wrote a memoir of his work.

Here now, Robert Ballard, from 1995:

Today Robert Ballard is 77, and is a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island.