Matt Kaplan

Matt Kaplan

From Better Known by Ivan Wise

March 1, 2026 · 30 min

About this episode

Matt Kaplan discusses six things that should be better known, focusing on significant figures and events in science and medicine.

Matt Kaplan discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known. Matt Kaplan is a science correspondent at the Economist. He is the author of The Science of Monsters and Science of the Magical, and co-author of David Attenborough’s First Life: A Journey Through Time. His new book is I Told You So! Scientists who were Ridiculed, Exiled and Imprisoned for Being Right, which is available at https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250372284/itoldyouso/ . The few doctors who worked out that handwashing was essential for preventing the spread of disease were attacked by their peers https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/ignaz-semmelweis-doctor-prescribed-hand-washing George Washington disobeyed direct orders from the Continental Congress and inoculated his troops against smallpox during the Revolutionary War https://historyofvaccines.org/blog/washingtons-war-against-smallpox-revolutionary-inoculation-campaign/ Louis Pasteur was a vicious fellow who engaged in academic fraud. https://cms.viroliegy.com/2022/02/25/louis-pasteurs-unethical-rabies-fraud/ The mild mannered French physician Pierre Alexandre Louis worked out that the common practice of blood-letting was terrible for patients…

People in this episode

Host: Ivan Wise

Guest: Matt Kaplan

Topics covered

  • science
  • history
  • medicine
  • public health
  • biography

Keywords

  • science
  • medicine
  • history
  • public health
  • biography

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Economist

Books & works: The Science of Monsters, Science of the Magical, David Attenborough’s First Life: A Journey Through Time, I Told You So! Scientists who were Ridiculed, Exiled and Imprisoned for Being Right

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