The Box
How and why do you rename a building or equation or theory that is named after someone?
Erwin Schr枚dinger is one of the "fathers of quantum mechanics". He also sexually abused children. Trinity College Dublin recently denamed a lecture theatre that had been named after him - but his name is still on an equation that won the Nobel Prize for physics. And a cat.
Writer and historian Subhadra Das recounts how and why you rename a university building, and retired physicist Martin Austwick considers that renaming an eponymous equation or theory might be more difficult than unscrewing a sign from a wall.
Content note: this episode contains references to racism and eugenics, and to the sexual abuse of children. There is also a Category B swear.
Subhadra Das is a writer and historian. Her latest book is (Un)Civilised: 10 Lies That Made the West. She has also made three podcast series about eugenics, which are What Does Eugenics Mean To Us?, Living With Eugenics, and Bricks + Mortals, a history of eugenics told through buildings.
Martin Austwick is a retired quantum physicist and current musician and composer (including of the Allusionist music). Find out about him and his work on his website.
This episode was produced by Helen Zaltzman.
