It’s not hard to imagine Edgar Allan Poe as obsessive. Consider his passionate poetry, his tales of horror barely tapping reality --not to mention his personal life: his ardent marriage to his cousin and his baffling death on the streets of Baltimore.  But--manic about SCIENCE? 

In his biography, historian John Tresch shows us a Poe who led his class at West Point in engineering and math, .. wrote about scientific discoveries and plunged into debates about evolution and the origin of the universe in an age when the line between science and quackery was a blur. 

Tresch: “My goal is to reframe Poe’s life, and bring out this aspect of it --which is as central as it is neglected,-- which is his lifelong obsession with science.” 

It&rsquo;s not hard to imagine Edgar Allan Poe as obsessive. Consider his passionate poetry, his tales of horror barely tapping reality --not to mention his personal life: his ardent marriage to his cousin and his baffling death on the streets of Baltimore.&nbsp; But--manic about SCIENCE?&nbsp;
In his biography, historian John Tresch shows us a Poe who led his class at West Point in engineering and math, .. wrote about scientific discoveries and plunged into debates about evolution and the origin of the universe in an age when the line between science and quackery was a blur.&nbsp;
Tresch: &ldquo;My goal is to reframe Poe&rsquo;s life, and bring out this aspect of it --which is as central as it is neglected,-- which is his lifelong obsession with science.&rdquo;&nbsp;

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Catch On the Record, hosted by Sheilah Kast, weekdays from 9:30 to 10:00 am, following NPR's Morning Edition. We'll discuss the issues that affect your life and bring you thoughtful and lively conversations with the people who shape those issues -- business people, public officials, scholars, artists, authors, WYPR reporters and other journalists who can take us inside the story. If you want to share a comment, question, or an idea for an interview you?d like to hear, email us at <a href="mailto:ontherecord@wypr.org" target="_blank">ontherecord@wypr.org</a>

On The Record

Catch On the Record, hosted by Sheilah Kast, weekdays from 9:30 to 10:00 am, following NPR's Morning Edition. We'll discuss the issues that affect your life and bring you thoughtful and lively conversations with the people who shape those issues -- business people, public officials, scholars, artists, authors, WYPR reporters and other journalists who can take us inside the story. If you want to share a comment, question, or an idea for an interview you'd like to hear, email us at ontherecord@wypr.org

Catch On the Record, hosted by Sheilah Kast, weekdays from 9:30 to 10:00 am, following NPR's Morning Edition. We'll discuss the issues that affect your life and bring you thoughtful and lively conversations with the people who shape those issues -- business people, public officials, scholars, artists, authors, WYPR reporters and other journalists who can take us inside the story. If you want to share a comment, question, or an idea for an interview you'd like to hear, email us at <a href="mailto:ontherecord@wypr.org">ontherecord@wypr.org</a>

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