The Two Cultures and The Abacus And The Rose

This month marks the 50th anniversary of C.P. Snow’s famous Rede Lecture, “The Two Cultures And The Scientific Revolution.” A half-century later, the term “two cultures” is still well remembered, but many of the details, both of the history and of the philosophical foundations of the dispute–and the contributions of my hero, the scientist, philosopher, and future television celebrity Jacob Bronowski–have largely been forgotten.