Sam Kean
Sam Kean is the New York Times best-selling author of six books, including The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements; The Bastard Brigade: The True Story of the Renegade Scientists and Spies Who Sabotaged the Nazi Atomic Bomb; and The Icepick Surgeon: Murder, Fraud, Sabotage, Piracy, and Other Dastardly Deeds Perpetrated in the Name of Science.
NPR’s “Science Friday,” the Royal Society, and The Guardian have each named different titles of Kean’s among their top books of the year. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and Slate, and his work has been featured on NPR’s “Radiolab,” “All Things Considered,” and “Fresh Air.” His podcast, The Disappearing Spoon, debuted at No. 1 on the science podcasts chart on iTunes and is now hosted by the Science History Institute.
Stories from Sam Kean
The Case Against Charles Darwin
How the investigation into a grisly murder shocked 19th-century France and framed the scientist as an accomplice.
The Real Tragedy of Robert Oppenheimer
Sam Kean examines the dark, restless side of the father of the atomic bomb.
The Rotten Science Behind the MSG Scare
How one doctor’s letter and a string of dodgy studies spurred a public health panic.
Diagnosing the Dead
Can scrutinizing the ailments of historical figures really teach us anything?
Death Squared
Explore scientist John Calhoun’s mouse utopia and what it can tell us about the ways we impose lessons for society onto lab experiments.
The Debaucherous Legacy of Johnny Appleseed
Sam Kean explores how the legendary gardener’s reputation as the patron saint of the American wilderness ignores his boozy origins.