Portrait of Lord Melvyn Bragg, host of In Our Time

Independent scientists

An independent scientist (historically also known as gentleman scientist) is a financially independent scientist who pursues scientific study without direct affiliation to a public institution such as a university or government-run research and development body. The expression "gentleman scientist" arose in post-Renaissance Europe, but became less common in the 20th century as government and private funding increased.

4 episodes

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CultureScienceFellows of the Royal SocietySocial philosophersFellows of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesPhilosophy writersPhilosophers of literatureTheorists on Western civilizationPhilosophers of historyWriters about activism and social changePhilosophers of scienceMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyAge of EnlightenmentAphoristsRecipients of the Copley MedalWriters about religion and scienceBurials at Westminster Abbey17th-century English male writersMembers of the Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesGerman LutheransEnglish AnglicansHall of Fame for Great Americans inducteesHonorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of SciencesMembers of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesAmerican male non-fiction writersMembers of the French Academy of Sciences17th-century English writersAmerican people of English descentEnglish agnosticsEnglish travel writersPhilosophers of technologyRecipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)Royal Medal winnersSimple living advocates19th-century English writersAlumni of the University of EdinburghCharles DarwinIrish AnglicansMembers of the Bavarian Academy of SciencesMembers of the Prussian Academy of SciencesPeople associated with electricityRhetoric theoristsUniversity of Göttingen alumni17th-century English philosophersAmerican political philosophersDiscoverers of chemical elementsEnglish abolitionistsEnglish physicistsForeign members of the Royal SocietyMembers of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and HumanitiesUtilitarians17th-century Anglo-Irish people18th-century American writers, Founding Fathers of the United States, People of the American Enlightenment18th-century pseudonymous writers19th-century AnglicansActivists for African-American civil rightsAmerican autobiographersAmerican deistsAmerican male journalistsAmerican philosophers of cultureAmerican philosophers of educationAmerican philosophers of religionAmerican slave ownersDeaths from coronary thrombosisGerman travel writersHuman evolutionHumor researchers18th-century American politicians, American Freemasons, Signers of the United States Constitution18th-century German LGBTQ people19th-century British biologists, 19th-century English naturalists, British evolutionary biologists, Fellows of the Linnean Society of London, Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society, Fellows of the Zoological Society of LondonAlumni of Christ's College, CambridgeCircumnavigators of the globeCreators of writing systemsEnglish alchemistsEnglish scepticsFluid dynamicistsGay scientistsHuman geographersIndependent scholarsMasonic grand mastersMembers of the Lincean AcademyPeople educated at Eton CollegePhilosophers from MassachusettsPolitical activists from PennsylvaniaRecreational cryptographers, Writers from Boston, Writers from PhiladelphiaTheoretical biologistsUniversity of Jena alumni
  1. Benjamin Franklin

    Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of the scientist, writer, printer, diplomat and American founding father Benjamin Franklin.

    1 March 2012

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    Featuring: Simon Middleton, Simon Newman, Patricia Fara

     
  2. Darwin: On the Origins of Charles Darwin

    Melvyn Bragg presents a series about the life and work of Charles Darwin. Darwin's early life and time at Cambridge, where his interests shifted from religion to natural science.

    5 January 2009

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    Featuring: Jim Moore, Steve Jones, David Norman, Colin Higgins

     
  3. Humboldt

    Melvyn Bragg discusses the Prussian naturalist and explorer, Alexander Von Humboldt. A hero in South America; Charles Darwin described him as ‘the greatest scientific traveller who ever lived’.

    28 September 2006

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    Featuring: Jason Wilson, Patricia Fara, Jim Secord

     
  4. Robert Boyle

    Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Robert Boyle, a pioneering scientist and one of the first Fellows of the Royal Society.

    12 June 2014

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    Featuring: Simon Schaffer, Michael Hunter, Anna Marie Roos