In this New Books in Science, Technology, and Society podcast episode, Director emerita Lorraine Daston and alumnus Peter Galison discuss their joint publication Objectivity. Their work traces the historical and cultural developments of the word "objective" as it acquired different meanings and associated practices. Similarly, they consider the changing relationship of objectivity as it relates to the subjectivity of the researcher as the "scientific self." This deep philosophical work, diving into the cultural and historical shifts of epistemology within the past few centuries, is told through atlas-making and image generation.

In this conversation, host Sarah Kearns discusses with Daston and Galison the evolving processes of research and atlas-making and how they co-evolved with the fears, virtues, and ideals of the time of their emergence. Additionally, they talk about the role of the self and aesthetics in categorizing and publishing the collections of working objects in atlases.