Indiana Jones and the Table of Babel
An ancient Mesopotamian tablet shows Babylonian trigonometrists had long anticipated the Greeks
Politics, Ideas and the Arts
Rediscovering a Roman Thought
Lucretius’s poem On the Nature of Things was written in 50 BC, yet remains as startling as ever
Dating Dilemmas
Trying to change the calendar to accommodate religious festivals has been a centuries-old minefield
Time To Revisit The Two Cultures
The divide between the arts and sciences will never be fully resolved. But the gap may be narrowing
A Beautiful Waste
The ascendancy of machine over man
From An Art To A Science
Wilhelm Steinitz was the inventor of modern chess, yet died a pauper's death
Tom and Jerry Tactics
The world's youngest ever International Master is an Indian child prodigy with an appetite for cartoons
Vivat Rex!
A modest philanthropist, Rex Sinquefield, is behind the US's triumph at the World Chess Olympiad
Les Pions de Résistance
François-André Danican Philidor, composer turned blindfold king of the chessboard
The One-Eyed Maths Monster
Leonhard Euler was the presiding genius at the courts of Peter, Frederick and Catherine the Great
Korchnoi Plays His Last Move
Viktor Korchnoi, who has died at the age of 85, defeated nine world champions but never managed to claim the title for himself
When Players Become Pawns
Accusations of off-board skulduggery can be a powerful tool of psychological warfare