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Michael D Gordin

Professor of Modern and Contemporary History, Princeton University

Michael D Gordin is the Rosengarten Professor of Modern and Contemporary History and the director of the Society of Fellows in the Liberal Arts at Princeton University in New Jersey. His books include Einstein in Bohemia (2020) and On the Fringe (2021).

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Written by Michael D Gordin

Person in diving suit stands in the middle of calm lake with misty hills in the background and reflection in the water.

essayHistory of science

Fringe theories stack

Believe in the Loch Ness monster and you’re more likely to believe the Apollo missions were fake. How do weird beliefs work?

Michael D Gordin

An old ID document with handwritten details and a black-and-white passport photo of a man with a moustache and curly hair who is Albert Einstein.

essayRace and ethnicity

Identifying Einstein

For Albert Einstein, being Jewish and German were not questions of identity but rather mutable matters of identification

Michael D Gordin

Book cover of “Nuclear Disaster in the Urals” by Zhores A. Medvedev on a black background with bold white and orange text.

ideaHistory of science

Zhores Medvedev and the battle for truth in Soviet science

Michael D Gordin

Attendees, including Albert Einstein, at the 1927 Solvay Conference on Quantum Mechanics, posed in three rows outside a building, digitally colourised.

essayLanguage and linguistics

Absolute English

Science once communicated in a polyglot of tongues, but now English rules alone. How did this happen – and at what cost?

Michael D Gordin