Paracelsus – The Episodic Table of Elements

92. Uranium: Two Untold Tales (Live At Harvard)

May 29, 2023

6:00 am

19 Comments on 92. Uranium: Two Untold Tales (Live At Harvard)

Alsos, Belgium, Church Rock, Congo, Edwin Kemble, Espionage, France, Frédéric Joliot-Curie, George Kistiakowsky, Georgius Agricola, Germany, Harvard, Indigenous Americans, Italy, Leslie Groves, Mining, Moe Berg, Navajo Nation, Nazis, Nobel Prizes, Nuclear Accidents, Nuclear Power, Nuclear Weapons, Otto Hahn, Paracelsus, Radioactivity, Samuel Goudsmit, Shinkolobwe, The Manhattan Project, Three Mile Island, United States, Werner Heisenberg, World War II

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America’s worst radioactive accident isn’t Three Mile Island, and the Nazi nuclear physicist wasn’t assassinated by the famous baseball player.

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51. Antimony: Can You Return An Inheritance?

December 16, 2019

6:00 am

10 Comments on 51. Antimony: Can You Return An Inheritance?

Alchemy, Basilius Valentinus, China, Dioscorides, Egypt, Etymology, Jons Jacob Berzelius, Medicine, Mozart, Murder, Numismatics, Paracelsus, Pliny the Elder, Poisons, William J. Robinson

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It’s like an Everlasting Gobstopper, but Willy Wonka is a fratricidal German monk.

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34. Selenium: A Fit Of Heat And Light

March 25, 2019

6:00 am

1 Comment on 34. Selenium: A Fit Of Heat And Light

Alexander Graham Bell, Chester Carlson, Communications, Daniel Ellsberg, Electronics, Johannes Trithemius, Jons Jacob Berzelius, Martin Luther, Paracelsus, Pentagon Papers, Pharmaceuticals, Photography, Photophone, Printing Press, Telephone, Xerox

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Throughout history, copying information has been arduous, messy, and even dangerous — until one bored, depressed man figured out the secrets of selenium.

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33. Arsenic: It’s Not Easy Being Green

March 11, 2019

6:00 am

2 Comments on 33. Arsenic: It’s Not Easy Being Green

Adenosine Triphosphate, Agatha Christie, Aqua Tofana, Botox, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Crime, Giulia Tofana, Italy, Literature, Napoleon, Paracelsus, Pharmaceuticals, Poisons, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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Considering how synonymous this episode’s element is with “poison,” it’s astounding how eager people have historically been to ingest the stuff.

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