Who is Frank von Hippel? JRE Ep 1540 Guest

The featured guest of JRE episode 1540 was none other than Frank von Hippel. Although not a household name, as some JRE guests are lesser known than others, the podcast was filled with an interesting blend of science and history. Frank A. von Hippel is a professor of ecotoxicology at Northern Arizona University. In his tenure as a professor he has taught ecology field courses in over twenty countries and conducted research all over the world including the Americas, Africa and Australia.

A quick google search brings up another scholar with a similar name. Frank N. von Hippel is a theoretical physicist and Professor of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. Not sure if there's any relation there. The von Hippel surname isn't all too common so it's possible. Frank N. von Hippel comes from a German lineage of scholars and scientists.

As does JRE guest Frank von Hippel. He mentioned a couple times during the podcast, his great grandfather was James Franck, whom worked alongside Fritz Haber at some point.

A New Book For Joe Rogan To Read?

He has a new book with a very long title, The Chemical Age: How Chemists Fought Famine and Disease, Killed Millions, and Changed Our Relationship with the Earth, was just released early in September of 2020. It covers a topic that's not talked about as much as it should but affects the entire world population on a daily basis.

The book spans recent history but especially the last couple hundred years' significant scientific advancements and the historic events associated with them in a way that informative but not boring. It's a fascinating combination of history and science wrapped in an entertaining package.

He also is credited with editing another book you can find on Amazon, Tinbergen Legacy in Behaviour: Sixty Years of Landmark Stickleback Papers originally published in 2010. This book seems to be in a different format. The subject of this book is Nikolaas Tinbergen, a Dutch biologist and ornithologist credited as one of the founders of modern ethology, the study of animal behavior.

This book is more of a compilation of scientific articles with some commentary by Frank von Hippel that adds some perspective for the reader. There's definitely a pattern of authorship here by von Hippel. He seems to specialize in scientific subjects within the context of history and how they fit into the big picture.