Portrait of Lord Melvyn Bragg, host of In Our Time

Colva Roney-Dougal

Professor of Pure Mathematics at the University of St Andrews

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12 episodes

Appears in multiple episodes with: Timothy Gowers, Marcus du Sautoy

Covers topics in categories such as:

ScienceFellows of the Royal SocietyFellows of the American Academy of Arts and SciencesRecipients of the Copley MedalMembers of the Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesForeign associates of the National Academy of SciencesGerman LutheransMembers of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and SciencesHonorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of SciencesConcepts in ethicsMembers of the French Academy of SciencesJewish agnosticsMembers of the Académie FrançaiseRecipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class)University of Göttingen alumniMembers of the Bavarian Academy of SciencesForeign members of the Royal SocietyAcademic staff of the University of GöttingenMembers of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and HumanitiesInstitute for Advanced Study visiting scholarsMental calculatorsJewish atheistsFrench physicists18th-century French mathematiciansFrench deistsDeterministsJewish women scientistsJewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United StatesCorresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of SciencesOptical physicistsPrinciplesComplex systems theoryPrinceton University facultySet theoristsAcademics of the Victoria University of ManchesterLinear algebraistsGrand Officers of the Legion of HonourFrench agnosticsFrench fluid dynamicists, French mathematicians, French probability theoristsHistoryJewish German physicists, Jewish scientistsWomen inventorsConverts to Lutheranism from Judaism18th-century German astronomersMillennium Prize ProblemsConjecturesReal transcendental numbersCryptographyConsequentialismElementary arithmetic
  1. Paul Erdős

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the life and work of the highly prolific, itinerant 20th century Hungarian mathematician, who enjoyed an unrivalled reputation for problem-solving.

    23 Feb 2023

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    Also featuring: Timothy Gowers, Andrew Treglown

     
  2. Pierre-Simon Laplace

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the great French mathematician who tackled questions on the stability of the Solar System and planet rotation and devised the basis for metrication

    8 April 2021

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    Also featuring: Marcus du Sautoy, Timothy Gowers

     
  3. Emmy Noether

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas and achievements of one of the great 20th-century mathematicians.

    24 January 2019

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    Also featuring: David Berman, Elizabeth Mansfield

     
  4. 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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    Also featuring: Marcus du Sautoy, Nick Evans

     
  5. P v NP

    Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss P versus NP, an unsolved problem in maths that asks if the answers to all problems can be found as easily as they can be checked.

    5 November 2015

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    Also featuring: Timothy Gowers, Leslie Ann Goldberg

     
  6. e

    Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Euler's number, also known as e, one of the most important and interesting numbers in mathematics.

    25 September 2014

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    Also featuring: June Barrow-Green, Vicky Neale

     
  7. Random and Pseudorandom

    Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss mathematical randomness and pseudorandomness, ideas important to cryptography, statistics and weather forecasting.

    13 January 2011

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    Also featuring: Marcus du Sautoy, Timothy Gowers

     
  8. The Unintended Consequences of Mathematics

    Melvyn Bragg and guests explore the unintended consequences of mathematical discoveries, from alternating current to predicting the path of asteroids.

    11 February 2010

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    Also featuring: John D. Barrow, Marcus du Sautoy

     
  9. Negative numbers

    Melvyn Bragg discusses the history of negative numbers, from the trailblazing Chinese to the suspicious Europeans.

    9 March 2006

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    Also featuring: Ian Stewart, Raymond Flood