Portrait of Lord Melvyn Bragg, host of In Our Time

Optical physicists

Optics is the branch of physics that studies the behaviour and properties of light, including its interactions with matter and the construction of instruments that use or detect it. Optics usually describes the behaviour of visible, ultraviolet, and infrared light.

3 episodes

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  1. Carl Friedrich Gauss

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas of Gauss, 'prince of mathematicians', including those on number theory, geometry, probability theory, astronomy and electromagnetism.

    30 November 2017

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    Featuring: Marcus du Sautoy, Colva Roney-Dougal, Nick Evans

     
  2. Maxwell

    Melvyn Bragg discusses the life and work of the often overlooked 19th century Scottish scientist, and his enormous contribution to the creation of the technological age in which we live.

    2 October 2003

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    Featuring: Simon Schaffer, Peter Harman, Joanna Haigh

     
  3. Michael Faraday

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Michael Faraday, the most famous British scientist of the 19th century.

    25 December 2015

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    Featuring: Geoffrey Cantor, Laura Herz, Frank James