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The Hidden Heroines of Chaos

May 20, 2019

Two women programmers played a pivotal role in the birth of chaos theory. Their previously untold story illustrates the changing status of computation in science.

How Feynman Diagrams Revolutionized Physics

May 14, 2019

In the late 1940s, Richard Feynman invented a visual tool for simplifying particle calculations that forever changed theoretical physics.

The Strange Numbers That Birthed Modern Algebra

September 6, 2018

The 19th-century discovery of numbers called “quaternions” gave mathematicians a way to describe rotations in space, forever changing physics and math.

How Einstein Lost His Bearings, and With Them, General Relativity

March 14, 2018

By 1913, Albert Einstein had nearly completed general relativity. But a simple mistake set him on a tortured, two-year reconsideration of his theory. Today, mathematicians still grapple with the issues he confronted.

How Feynman Diagrams Almost Saved Space

July 5, 2016

Richard Feynman's famous diagrams weren’t just a way to do calculations. They represented a deep shift in thinking about how the universe is put together.

Deep Secrets and the Thrill of Discovery

February 25, 2016

The biologist Sean B. Carroll rediscovers the scientific thrill of an unexpected revelation.

Time’s (Almost) Reversible Arrow

January 7, 2016

The irreversibility of time may be a clue as to what makes up the universe’s dark matter.

Q&A

Science’s Path From Myth to Multiverse

March 17, 2015

In his latest book, the Nobel Prize winner Steven Weinberg explores how science made the modern world, and where it might take us from here.

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