Sam Kean is a writer in Washington, D.C., where he works as a correspondent for Science. He is the author of The Disappearing Spoon, an unconventional history of the periodic table.
How Albert Einstein became a celebrity
From cows to controversy, the smallpox vaccine triumphs.
The great man of science had more than a passing interest in alchemy.
2016 Summer
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Humboldt in the New World
Journeying through South America, Alexander von Humboldt sought nothing less than "the unity of nature."
By Anna Maria Gillis
Done with Tolstoy
Famed translators Pevear and Volokhonsky reach another milestone.
By Kevin Mahnken
A Workingman's Poet
Frankness and plain speaking made Carl Sandburg a celebrity.
By Danny Heitman
The Blue Humanities
In studying the sea, we are returning to our beginnings.
By John R. Gillis
Ralph Waldo Emerson
What accounts for Emerson's endurance as a writer?
