Being with Jane Goodall

Barrington Irving: 30S on Flying Around the World Solo

Rudy Tanzi: A Scientist Gets Transcendent

the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers

The Planet 9 Guys

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<blockquote class="profile">
<p>
   “We’re the first people in 150 years who aren’t the crazy people.”
  </p>
</blockquote>
<h4>
  Science:
 </h4>
<p>
  Mike’s an astronomer and Konstantin’s a theorist; put ’em together and it’s like peanut butter and chocolate. Presto – a new planet discovered!
 </p>
<h4>
  Secret:
 </h4>
<p>
  Mike and Konstantin had to spend a year trying to disprove their discovery of the ninth planet in order to show that they were right; when they couldn’t disprove it, that meant they weren’t crazy… and that the other eight planets in our solar system had a new kid brother.
 </p>
<h2>
  The Planet 9 Guys
 </h2>
</section>
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 Caltech's Mike Brown and Konstantin Batygin astonish themselves and the rest of the world by discovering the 9th planet in our solar system.
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<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/mae-small-sciencesecretstill_v02_HLhxS7J.width-990_nI3hPL9.png"/>
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Simon Singh

<section class="entry-content instapaper_body clearfix" itemprop="articleBody">
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<blockquote class="profile">
<p>
   “I loved physics. Through physics, you could understand how the universe worked.”
  </p>
</blockquote>
<h4>
  Science:
 </h4>
<p>
  A trained PhD physicist, Simon realized that he felt most fulfilled getting other people as excited about science as he’d always been. He’s made films and written books and indeed gotten lots and lots of folks excited about science.
 </p>
<h4>
  Secret:
 </h4>
<p>
  Almost by accident, Simon noticed that there were many, many math jokes embedded in “The Simpsons.” After a little research, he found out why Homer is such a closet mathematician.
 </p>
<h2>
  D’oh = mc²
 </h2>
</section>
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<div class="inline-caption">
 Simon Singh moves from physics to science journalism and discovers that there is an insane amount of math in "The Simpsons."
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<h2>
 It All Started with a Big Bang
</h2>
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<div class="inline-caption">
 One of Simon Singh's books inspires the Barenaked Ladies to write a sitcom theme.
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<h2>
  Religion and Science Shake Hands
 </h2>
</div>
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<div class="inline-caption">
 Don't think it's possible? Simon Singh explains how their partnership may go all the way back to a little something called the Big Bang.
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<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/mae-small-sciencesecretstill_v02_h7fcfrk.width-990_hqnldzY.png"/>
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Mathematicians: An Outer View of the Inner World - Michèle Vergne

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<p>
<em>
   Mariana Cook’s book
   <a href="http://www.cookstudio.com/books/mathematicians">
    Mathematicians: An Outer View of the Inner World
   </a>
   was published by Princeton University Press in 2009 and is a remarkable collection of ninety-two photographic portraits featuring many of the most notable mathematicians of our time. Each photograph is accompanied by a brief personal essay either written by the mathematician or edited from an interview Cook conducted with him or her. For more information, please visit Mariana Cook’s website:
   <a href="http://www.cookstudio.com/books/mathematicians">
    www.marianacook.com
   </a>
</em>
</p>
<p>
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/vergne-michele-cook_bUED5Tb.width-990_3Fe6I7N.jpg"/>
<figcaption>Michèle Vergne - Photos and Text ©Mariana Cook “Mathematicians: An Outer View of the Inner World”
        
    </figcaption>
</figure>
</p>
<p>
  What did I do in my life as a mathematician? I could look at my list of publications and discuss some of my old results. However, the past counts for nothing. If I am not able to prove something new now, what I did before is worthless. So here I am, day after day, working for hours pursuing some infinitely distant goal.
 </p>
<p>
  I am trying to “understand.” I am not trying to discover something new, but rather see the “essential reasons” why some results are true, I return to the source, in an attempt to discover “the mother of all formulae.” Other mathematicians’ new ideas and results are irritating. I would desire very much to show that there is a simple reason why “all of that” is true (at least when I was young I had that arrogance).
 </p>
</section>

Matt Denton

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</div>
<blockquote class="profile">
<p>
   “I don’t exactly know why it is that everyone finds BB-8 so cute and lovable.”
  </p>
</blockquote>
<h4>
  Science:
 </h4>
<p>
  Matt has used his studies of electronics and computer engineering to build a stellar career as the animatronics and robotics wizard behind some of the biggest movie blockbusters of all time.
 </p>
<h4>
  Secret:
 </h4>
<p>
  It’s not exactly a secret, but Matt’s the guy who brings the plucky robot BB-8 to life in the movies and on the red carpet. Oh, and Matt’s working on the next Star Wars too… but he couldn’t tell us anything about it ahead of release… because then he would have had to kill us.
 </p>
<h2>
  BB-8: A Star Wars Droid’s Seven Secrets
 </h2>
</section>
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<div class="inline-caption">
 If a cat is supposed to have nine lives, Matt Denton explains, BB-8 has at least seven... and counting.
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<h2>
 An Amazing Journey…to a Galaxy Far, Far Away
</h2>
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<div class="inline-caption">
 Matt Denton uses his electronics expertise to engineer a bit of work with Harry Potter and a cute little robot named BB-8.
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<h2>
 Cinema 101: The Uses of Deodorant
</h2>
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<div class="inline-caption">
 Matt Denton stays dry and smells fine with deodorant in his toolkit of cinematic wizardry.
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<h2>
 How to Make a Lovable Robot
</h2>
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</div>
<div class="inline-caption">
 Matt Denton makes BB-8 so lovable that they both wind up on the red carpet.
</div>
<div style="padding-top: 40px;padding-bottom: 70px">
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/mae-small-sciencesecretstill_v02_YZiAIRG.width-990_xwdqYhi.png"/>
<figcaption>
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

Mathematicians: An Outer View of the Inner World - John Horton Conway

<section class="entry-content instapaper_body clearfix" itemprop="articleBody">
<div class="add-container clearfix" id="add-block-placer">
</div>
<p>
<em>
   Mariana Cook’s book
   <a href="http://www.cookstudio.com/books/mathematicians">
    Mathematicians: An Outer View of the Inner World
   </a>
   was published by Princeton University Press in 2009 and is a remarkable collection of ninety-two photographic portraits featuring many of the most notable mathematicians of our time. Each photograph is accompanied by a brief personal essay either written by the mathematician or edited from an interview Cook conducted with him or her. For more information, please visit Mariana Cook’s website:
   <a href="http://www.cookstudio.com/books/mathematicians">
    www.marianacook.com
   </a>
</em>
</p>
<p>
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/conway-john-cook_XQd3Dve.width-990_DIc9jD9.jpg"/>
<figcaption>John Horton Conway - Photos and Text ©Mariana Cook “Mathematicians: An Outer View of the Inner World”
        
    </figcaption>
</figure>
</p>
<p>
  More than a century ago, a great German mathematician by the name of Cantor discovered the theory of infinite numbers. Two thousand years ago, Archimedes founded the theory of real numbers that we normally use. The “surreal numbers” include both. When I discovered them, I went around in a permanent daydream for six weeks thinking about how the explorer Cortez looked out over the Pacific and saw a world that no Westerner had ever seen before. Nobody had ever seen what I saw before. Although it was totally abstract, it was very real. Abstract things can be real. Numbers can be realer than physical objects. It was an amazing new world of numbers that I discovered, more than numbers.
 </p>
<p>
</p>
</section>

Kathy Reichs

<section class="entry-content instapaper_body clearfix" itemprop="articleBody">
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</div>
<blockquote class="profile">
<p>
   “I’m not a violent person.”
  </p>
</blockquote>
<h4>
  Science:
 </h4>
<p>
  Kathy is one of only about 100 certified Forensic Anthropologists in the U.S. and Canada. She uses science to solve real-life crime mysteries and to identify remains. But she doesn’t carry a gun.
 </p>
<h4>
  Secret:
 </h4>
<p>
  How can you be involved in solving serial murders and not share that kind of magic with the world? You can’t! Kathy is the author of the best-selling Temperance Brennan mystery novels and is a producer/writer for the series, “Bones,” which is based on her novels.
 </p>
<h2>
  Digging Up ‘Bones’
 </h2>
</section>
<div class="cove-video">
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<div class="inline-caption">
 Kathy Reichs goes from solving mysteries as a forensic anthropologist to creating mysteries in her Temperance Brennan novels and the TV series "Bones".
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<h2>
 She Couldn’t Even Dissect a Frog
</h2>
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<div class="inline-caption">
 Kathy Reichs couldn't dissect a frog in high school, but her favorite "Bones" episode is "gross and disgusting".
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<h2>
 Only for David Duchovny
</h2>
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<div class="inline-caption">
 Kathy Reichs gets bamboozled into appearing on an episode of "Bones"... because David Duchovny.
</div>
<div style="padding-top: 40px;padding-bottom: 70px">
<figure class="richtext-image full-width">
<img alt="" class="richtext-image full-width" src="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/media/images/mae-small-sciencesecretstill_v02_Ba0rUw9.width-990_888Me7P.png"/>
<figcaption>
</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>

Brand: The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers

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Being with Jane Goodall

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Barrington Irving: 30S on Flying Around the World Solo

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The Planet 9 Guys

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Mathematicians: An Outer View of the Inner World - Michèle Vergne

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Mathematicians: An Outer View of the Inner World - John Horton Conway

Kathy Reichs