Scientists Who Got In Trouble for Being Right, with Matt Kaplan

T-Mobile 5G Home Internet. https://T-Mobile.com/HomeInternet What happens when scientists are right and nobody wants to hear it? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, and Gary O’Reilly explore the frustrating history of brilliant minds who were ignored, mocked, and punished for telling the truth with Matt Kaplan, science correspondent at The Economist and author of Told You So: Scientists Who Were Ridiculed for Being Right. They start in the 1600s, with Galileo and the Church that insisted Earth was the center of the universe and trace how scientific rigor slowly, painfully emerged from institutions that weren't always ready for it. Learn about Pierre Charles Alexandre Louis who dared to question whether leeches were actually helping patients, published data that showed they weren't. Was the leech lobby too powerful? Discover Ignaz Semmelweis, the Hungarian doctor who figured out that doctors themselves were spreading childbed fever only to be fired, exiled, and committed to an asylum. Not every scientist was a martyr, though. Louis Pasteur knew how to work a room, command the spotlight, and stay on the right side of politics. The contrast between Semmelweis and Pasteur raises an uncomfortable question: should scientific genius require a publicist? The episode closes with Katalin Karikó, the mRNA pioneer who was stripped of funding, threatened with deportation, and dismissed by academia all before her work became the backbone of the COVID-19 vaccine and earned her a Nobel Prize. Matt and Neil reflect on what her story, and all these stories, reveal about science's necessary conservatism, the dangers of anti-science sentiment, and why getting better at communicating how science actually works has never mattered more. Thanks to our Patrons William D A, JK Smith, k c, Jim Worke, ufuk mevlevioglu, discount, Mark Snow, scott.hraha@gmail . con, Daren Covington, alex fricke, Alistair Gray, Jordi Estevez, Jeppe Blomgren, Kal McCloud, James Hale, Olivia Ruffe, Barbara, Tyler Dirkse, Bupkis Null, Tamajai Parrotte, Ebony Davis, Hailey Drake, Josh Whalen, SomethingWonderful, Ms.Yi, Luke Williams, L M, DP, Noah Golden, Courtney Minick, Megs, Jake, Terry Kirk, Joe G, Kip Kerley, Alec Walters, Alex Brown, Baxter, Austin Garcia, Sam W, Ladie Charette, Patrick Laverdière, juno brown, John Gary, Lucidious Flow, Leticia Farrar, Chu88, Fatima, Adrienne Bennett, David Labas, David Presnell, BLUE TIGER, Theresa Anoskey, Jahkenan Lloyd, Sambath Kumar Balasubramanian, Michelle Hester, Tatjana Gall, bandofspartans, Scarlet_Bukur92, LeopaldChaos, Mark Schwerin, Jack, Andrew, Edward Landry, Roland, Daniel Peter, Dan, Derek C, Erik Mardiste, Samuel Young, Keith McCredie, Dom, Ulq, Israel Soto, Q/Aurora Phoenix, JeanieZee, Terry Carr, Todd Bergmann, meteor guy, Patrick Congdon, Jeremiah Lewis, Janet Staples-Edwards, Eric Mensah, Chris Morales, Timothy Stanford, Dean Lasseter, Daniel Hays, Madhur Behl, Professor Grumbly Gut, Max Wolters, Jeremy Lewis, José Ikamba, Ian Ravenshaw Bland, Ron Spee, Brandon Smith, Richard Lord, Cody Avery Campbell (codesuniverse), Shawn Shields, M.R. Saar, and Nicole Elizabeth for supporting us this week. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction: Matt Kaplan 03:12 - Science and Religious Institutions 07:18 - Holding Onto Leeches 11:51 - Deadly Childbed Fever 18:22 - The Simple Cure No One Thought of 24:44 - Louis Pasteur’s Path to Vaccines 32:39 - Why Did People Think the Stars Influenced Health? 35:41 - Galileo & Science Diplomacy 41:20 - From Fired to the Nobel Prize 46:21 - Skepticism in Science 52:38 - Democratizing Science Funding 58:32 - Resolving Anti-Science & The Conservatism of Science 01:07:05 - Our Evolving Science Climate Check out our second channel, @StarTalkPlus Get the NEW StarTalk book, 'To Infinity and Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery' on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3PL0NFn Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/startalkradio FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE to StarTalk: Twitter: http://twitter.com/startalkradio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StarTalk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startalk About StarTalk: Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up! #StarTalk #NeildeGrasseTyson