{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"When Knowledge Survives War: Adolphe Rome and Scientific Memory","description":"What does it take to preserve knowledge when libraries burn, records disappear, and history itself is under threat? In this episode of Math! Science! History!, Gabrielle Birchak takes a closer look at the life and work of Adolphe Rome, a meticulous Belgian historian of science whose devotion to ancient mathematics and astronomy reshaped how we understand figures like Ptolemy, Hypatia, and Theon of Alexandria. Spanning from the destruction of the Library of Alexandria to modern data-rescue movements, this episode traces the fragile chain of scientific preservation. It is a story about persistence, philology, and the individuals who quietly ensure that knowledge survives political upheaval, war, and time itself. What You Will Learn in This Episode When Knowledge Is at Risk \u2013 Understand how moments of political instability, from ancient Alexandria to the modern United States, have repeatedly threatened scientific records, and how archivists, historians, and scholars have responded. How Ancient Mathematics Is Reconstructed \u2013 Discover how Adolphe Rome used linguistic analysis, statistical word usage, and dialect comparison to study ancient mathematical texts like Ptolemy\u2019s Almagest, even when original sources no longer existed. Why One Historian Still Matters - Learn how Rome\u2019s work survived censorship, war, and the destruction of his own research, and how his methods influenced later historians such as Wilbur Knorr and continue to shape the history of science today. \u2615 Support the Show: Coffee!! PayPal \ud83d\udd17 Resources & Further Reading Ptolemy, Almagest (overview): https:\/\/plato.stanford.edu\/entries\/ptolemy Hypatia of Alexandria (historical context): https:\/\/a.co\/d\/g3OuP9h Wilbur Knorr, Textual Studies in Ancient and Medieval Geometry: https:\/\/press.princeton.edu\/books\/paperback\/9780691025979\/textual-studies-in-ancient-and-medieval-geometry History of Science Society and Osiris journal: https:\/\/hssonline.org\/publications\/osiris \ud83d\udd17 Explore more on our website: mathsciencehistory.com \ud83d\udcda To buy my book Hypatia: The Sum of Her Life on Amazon, visit https:\/\/a.co\/d\/g3OuP9h  \ud83c\udf0d Let\u2019s Connect!Bluesky: https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/mathsciencehistory.bsky.social Instagram: https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/math.science.history Facebook: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/mathsciencehistory  LinkedIn: https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/math-science-history\/  Threads: https:\/\/www.threads.com\/@math.science.history  Mastodon: https:\/\/mathsciencehistory@mathstodon.xyz YouTube: Math! Science! History! - YouTube Pinterest: https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/mathsciencehistory  Leave a review! It helps more people discover the show! Share this episode with friends & fellow history buffs! Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform Check out our merch: https:\/\/www.mathsciencehistory.com\/the-store Music: All music is public domain and has no Copyright and no rights reserved. Selections from The Little Prince by Lloyd Rodgers Jingle Synth 80s by Fabien Roch from Pixabay Cinematic Ambient Feeling by music_for_video from Pixabay Army Marching Steps by Alexander Jauk from Pixabay Apathias (Dark Ambient) by Vlad Bakutov from Pixabay Dark Hero by u_5gcdffq7mb from Pixabay From Page to Practice by Bryan Teoh \u2013 Free PD music Until next time, carpe diem!   ","author_name":"Math! Science! History!","author_url":"https:\/\/www.mathsciencehistory.com","html":"