This is the publication of the influential 1959 Rede Lecture by British scientist and novelist C. P. Snow. Its thesis was that "e;the intellectual life of the whole of western society"e; was split into the titular two cultures — namely the sciences and the humanities — and that this was a major hindrance to solving the world's problems. Published in book form, Snow's lecture was widely read and discussed on both sides of the Atlantic, leading him to write a 1963 follow-up, "e;The Two Cultures: And a Second Look: An Expanded Version of The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution."e;