Jewish Teaching StudioCalendar · History · Learning

People · ideas · discovery

Jewish lives in science, medicine & technology

Science is full of questions students can recognize: How do we know? What counts as evidence? Who gets to take part in discovery? This growing collection brings Jewish people and ideas into that conversation, from medicine and psychology to mathematics, astronomy, engineering, computing, and the natural world. As educators in Jewish schools, we try to bring Jewish ruach—soul and inspiration—into every part of our students’ lives and learning. I built this collection from my own nerdy curiosity and from a teacher’s question: where can we find connections between Jewish discovery and study and the science, math, and physics students meet in class?

People behind the ideas

The collection includes biographies as well as dated milestones. A short entry can help students connect a field to a person, a research problem, and the world around them. Search by name, discipline, or a subject you are already teaching; the same search can include the women’s history collection when you want to compare across fields.

For a classroom activity, begin with a question from your science unit and ask students to find a person whose work touches it. Have them explain the question that person investigated, then identify what they would need to read next to understand the work more fully.

From a person to a research question

A Jewish scholar from Basra, Māshāʾallāh ibn Atharī worked in 8th-century Baghdad. With the Persian astrologer Abū Sahl Nawbakht, he is credited with choosing an auspicious time for the city’s foundation in 762. His work also touched astronomy, eclipses, and planetary conjunctions.