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Harper's: Former Scientific American editor pens bombshell Churchill critique

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


Madhusree Mukerjee distinguished herself at Scientific American for the depth of her knowledge about string and related theory as well as the elegance of her news and feature writing.

After she left, the trained physicist applied her writing prowess to a book on the Andaman Islanders and recently to Churchill's Secret War, a scathing investigation from a raft of primary sources that revealed how direct decision-making by Winston Churchill  led to massive famine on the Indian subcontinent.

Meet Madhusree in this recent interview in Harper's, in which she parries gracefully a series of sharp questions from interviewer Scott Horton. Harper's labels her book a "bombshell."


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So what do Churchill's politics have to do with science?

Read this excerpt, published previously on Scientific American, which profiles a scientist/bureaucrat appointed by Churchill who brought a coldly rational approach to carrying out policies that bled the Indians.

Image Credit: Dave Freda

Gary Stix, Scientific American's neuroscience and psychology editor, commissions, edits and reports on emerging advances and technologies that have propelled brain science to the forefront of the biological sciences. Developments chronicled in dozens of cover stories, feature articles and news stories, document groundbreaking neuroimaging techniques that reveal what happens in the brain while you are immersed in thought; the arrival of brain implants that alleviate mood disorders like depression; lab-made brains; psychological resilience; meditation; the intricacies of sleep; the new era for psychedelic drugs and artificial intelligence and growing insights leading to an understanding of our conscious selves. Before taking over the neuroscience beat, Stix, as Scientific American's special projects editor, oversaw the magazine's annual single-topic special issues, conceiving of and producing issues on Einstein, Darwin, climate change, nanotechnology and the nature of time. The issue he edited on time won a National Magazine Award. Besides mind and brain coverage, Stix has edited or written cover stories on Wall Street quants, building the world's tallest building, Olympic training methods, molecular electronics, what makes us human and the things you should and should not eat. Stix started a monthly column, Working Knowledge, that gave the reader a peek at the design and function of common technologies, from polygraph machines to Velcro. It eventually became the magazine's Graphic Science column. He also initiated a column on patents and intellectual property and another on the genesis of the ingenious ideas underlying new technologies in fields like electronics and biotechnology. Stix is the author with his wife, Miriam Lacob, of a technology primer called Who Gives a Gigabyte: A Survival Guide to the Technologically Perplexed (John Wiley & Sons, 1999).

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