Episode 29: The Science of Shakespeare with Dan Falk

William Shakespeare’s life overlapped some of the most extraordinary scientific discoveries in human history. Modern thought was developing the idea of a round Earth, the sun being the center of the universe, and scientific minds like Galileo, Thomas Digges, and Tycho Brahe, were utilizing then cutting edge technology like the telescope to transform the way we thought about the universe and our place in it. This swirl of scientific thought, imagination, and theory was buzzing around William Shakespeare right at the same time he was penning some of the plays so famous for asking many of the same human questions scientists were raising about the universe, and in the case of Thomas Digges, these questions were being raised literally right down the street from William Shakespeare himself as Digges lived in Shakespeare’s own neighborhood.

Here to help us unpack some of the realities about scientific thought in the 16th century, and what an understanding of that culture can help us learn about William Shakespeare, is the man who literally wrote the book on The Science of Shakespeare, our special guest Dan Falk.

Dan Falk is an award winning freelance writer and broadcaster specializing in science stories  He was the 2011/12 Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT. His has written numerous publications for Smithsonian, New Scientist, Scientific American, the Globe and Mail, The Walrus, Astronomy, Sky & Telescope, Quanta, Nautilus, NBCnews.com, Mental Floss, and many other newspapers, magazines, and websites. In addition to being an accomplished science writer, Dan is also a successful science radio broadcaster, having  written and produced dozens of radio documentaries, primarily for the CBC Radio program Ideas. Several of these documentaries have won prestigious international awards. He is the co-host a podcast called BookLab with science journalist Amanda Gefter. The podcast reviews the latest in popular science books.

Dan he joins us today to discuss his most recent book, The Science of Shakespeare, which was published in April 2014 by St. Martin's Press in the U.S. and by Goose Lane in Canada. His book explores the time period of Shakespeare’s life and specifically massive upheaval of scientific thought that was happening in the very same neighborhood where Shakespeare lived and worked. We are delighted to have Dan here with us today to take us behind the curtain and into the science life of William Shakespeare.