Gethin Richards

All the information is on the worksheet.

Tycho Brahe first episode now live. So much hard work - hope people enjoy.

Used to judge bad grammar, now I think we'll at least it's not ai.

Aristotle: The Philosopher as Scientist The Complete History of Science · Episode

More about Aristotle here: open.spotify.com/episode/4hyT...

This would mean Aristotle dissected an elephant over 2,000 years ago.

And this is an important point. Aristotle wasn't the type of philosopher who relied on thinking alone.

He looked, asked questions, and checked the facts. Arguably he was the first scientist.

Drawing of war elephants

Somehow, Aristotle even knew the liver of an elephant is four times bigger than an ox’s. This was pretty much right.

But how did he know? Elephants didn’t live in Greece.

The leading theory:
His former student, Alexander the Great, may have sent him one from his conquests in Asia.

He didn’t just observe — he tested what others claimed.

The historian Herodotus once wrote that hyenas were hermaphrodites: both male and female.

Aristotle, showing real dedication, checked for himself. He dissected hyenas and found clear male and female organs.

Herodotus was wrong.

Photo of the dogfish - looks like a small shark

He discovered that the dogfish — a small shark — gives birth to live young.
Not eggs, like most fish. We'd now call them ovoviviparous.

This was ahead of its time and wasn’t confirmed by scientists until the 19th century.

Bust of Aristotle

Aristotle wasn’t just a philosopher — he was also the world’s first serious zoologist.
More than 2,000 years ago, he began observing animals closely, recording their bodies, habits and behaviour.

🧵 Here are a few of his strangest and most impressive discoveries:

Was this ever mentioned again?

It's nice to hear you learned something new!

YouTube video by The Complete History of Science Podcast The Lodestone, the Compass and the Magnetic Earth

Also on YouTube (as well as most other podcast apps!)

youtu.be/vl7VNxJ6Mqs?...

The Lodestone, the Compass and the Magnetic Earth The Complete History of Science · Episode

Hope people enjoy the latest episode on the history of the science of magnetism:

open.spotify.com/episode/4b9x...

The Complete History of Science A podcast exploring the history of science from the beginning.  We will cover all of the most important scientific discoveries from Archimedes to Newton to Einstein.  The aim is to give a co...

Hi, can I be added to the science feed to post history of science content please. I have a popular podcast:

thecompletehistoryofscience.buzzsprout.com

I am also a published scientist with a PhD in physics:
scholar.google.com.au/citations?us...

Thanks!

Sounds interesting, I'll have a look.

I worked that out lol. What was his PhD?

The Origins of Astronomy The Complete History of Science · Episode

This goes beyond the MUL.APIN tablets though and is perhaps a story for another day.

Let me know if you want more!

Until then enjoy here: open.spotify.com/episode/2j0P...

Astrological predictions depended largely on observations of the planets.

Unlike the Sun, Moon and Stars, the planets paths are much harder to track. The planets ‘wander’ from the Greek word for wanderer ‘planen’.

Plating at the right time meant a good harvest but as time went on these constellations gained associations beyond agriculture.

The high priests became astrologers and used their predictions to advise kings 👑.

The tablets say things like:
“On the 1st of Nisannu, the Hired Man becomes visible.”
“On the 20th of Simanu, the Great Twins rise.”

Which tell us exactly when certain constellations will become visible. The first scientific data.

The priests broke the sky up into twelve sections, each associated with a constellation ♉.

These were not exactly our modern constellations (which derive from ancient Greece) but were forerunners.

The Babylonians timed their planting and harvesting to the risings and settings of constellations.

Like the Egyptians, the Babylonians first became interested in the night sky because of agriculture. Agriculture is all about timing. 🌾

And the stars - unlike clouds, winds, or rains are predictable.

4/
The MUL.APIN tablets were the records of the priests’ observations of the night sky.

They include observations of constellations for example, The Old Man.

This surplus meant that not everyone needed to toil in the fields.

Babylonian society included a class of educated priests with a single job - watching the stars.

Located in modern Iraq, the Babylonians were a sophisticated civilization.

They lived in a fertile river valley, so could grow a huge amount of food giving them a crucial advantage: an agricultural surplus.

MUL.APIN clay tablets

These clay tablets from 700 B.C. contain the world’s oldest set of surviving scientific data.

They are called the MUL.APIN tablets and were created in the ancient civilisation of Babylon.

Let’s talk about the first stargazers who turned sky-watching into science. 👇

One of my inspirations for the podcast. Read it at 16 and become interested in scientific history.

Yeah sorry that wasn't clear!

YouTube video by The Complete History of Science Podcast The Origins of Medicine

I was mostly just following the research from my podcast. I never really got into any earlier history except maybe in the medicine episode:

youtu.be/VYuWwvXg2OU?...

Oh and I don't have a substack!