
Simon Schaffer
Emeritus Fellow of Darwin College, University of Cambridge
25 episodes
Appears in multiple episodes with: Iwan Morus, Jim Bennett, Patricia Fara, Hasok Chang, Joanna Haigh, Jenny Uglow
Covers topics in categories such as:
Nikola Tesla
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the inventor who helped the advance of electrification in America at the end of the 19th century and cultivated his reputation as a visionary genius
04 April 2024
Also featuring: Jill Jonnes, Iwan Morus
ScienceMembers of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsNaturalized citizens of the United StatesRadio pioneersMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyPeople associated with electricityAmerican humanistsAmerican electrical engineers, People from ManhattanMental calculatorsDeaths from coronary thrombosis20th-century American engineersAlan Turing
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas and life of the founder of computer science - whose work helped crack enemy codes in WW2 - and his exploration of artificial intelligence.
15 October 2020
Also featuring: Leslie Ann Goldberg, Andrew Hodges
ScienceTheoretical biologistsEnglish atheists20th-century English mathematiciansLGBTQ mathematicians, LGBTQ philosophers20th-century English philosophersFellows of the Royal Society20th-century atheistsEnglish logiciansSuicides by cyanide poisoningGay scientistsEnglish inventorsCastrated people20th-century English LGBTQ peopleEnglish people of Scottish descentEnglish people of Irish descentPeople convicted for homosexuality in the United Kingdom, People who have received posthumous pardonsGay academicsComputer designersThe Time Machine
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas and anxieties in late Victorian London, explored by HG Wells in his story of time travel, evolution and a planet unfit for humans.
17 October 2019
Also featuring: Amanda Rees, Simon James
Automata
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of ideas about machines imitating living creatures, and the questions they raise about the differences between machinery and humanity.
20 September 2018
Also featuring: Elly Truitt, Franziska Kohlt
The Invention of Photography
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the development and impact of photography in the 1830s, with heliographs, sun pictures, photogenic drawing, Daguerre and Fox Talbot.
7 July 2016
Also featuring: Elizabeth Edwards, Alison Morrison-Low
Voyages of James Cook
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the science behind Capt James Cook's three voyages of discovery, from 1768 to 1779, one of over a thousand ideas suggested by listeners.
3 December 2015
Also featuring: Rebekah Higgitt, Sophie Forgan
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
Also featuring: Michael Hunter, Anna Marie Roos
ScienceFluid dynamicistsIrish Anglicans17th-century English writers17th-century Anglo-Irish peoplePeople educated at Eton CollegePhilosophers of scienceWriters about religion and science17th-century English philosophers17th-century English male writersDiscoverers of chemical elementsIndependent scientistsEnglish physicistsEnglish alchemistsThe Invention of Radio
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the invention of radio.
4 July 2013
Also featuring: Elizabeth Bruton, John Liffen
The Scientific method
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Scientific Method, the systematic and analytical approach to scientific discovery.
26 January 2012
Also featuring: John Worrall, Michela Massimi
Thomas Edison
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of Thomas Edison, one of the great inventors and cultural figures of modern America.
9 December 2010
Also featuring: Kathleen Burk, Iwan Morus
Science20th-century American inventors, Members of the United States National Academy of SciencesAmerican people of English descentMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyPeople associated with electricityCongressional Gold Medal recipientsHall of Fame for Great Americans inducteesAmerican electrical engineers, People from ManhattanHonorary members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Recipients of the Matteucci MedalMembers of the Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesAmerican people of Dutch descentRecipients of Franklin Medal19th-century American businesspeopleAmerican deistsCalculus
Melvyn Bragg and guests Patricia Fara, Simon Schaffer and Jackie Stedall discuss the dispute between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over who invented calculus.
24 September 2009
Also featuring: Patricia Fara, Jackie Stedall
Heat
Melvyn Bragg discusses the history of scientific ideas about heat from fire to thermodynamics.
4 December 2008
Also featuring: Hasok Chang, Joanna Haigh
The Laws of Motion
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Isaac Newton’s Laws of Motion – three sentences that explain the movements of everything from planets to ping pong balls.
3 April 2008
Also featuring: Raymond Flood, Rob Iliffe
Oxygen
Melvyn Bragg discusses the discovery of Oxygen by Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier and the Anglo-French feud that accompanied it.
15 November 2007
Also featuring: Jenny Uglow, Hasok Chang
Optics
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the history of optics – from star gazing with a telescope to examining lice under a microscope
1 March 2007
Also featuring: Jim Bennett, Emily Winterburn
Astronomy and Empire
Melvyn Bragg discusses the relationship between astronomy and the British Empire, how astronomical science provided a means for navigation and British naval control.
4 May 2006
Also featuring: Kristen Lippincott, Allan Chapman
Electrickery
Melvyn Bragg discusses the dawn of the age of electricity, from lightning conductors to leaping soldiers and Franklin to Frankenstein.
4 November 2004
Also featuring: Patricia Fara, Iwan Morus
Rutherford
Melvyn Bragg discusses Ernest Rutherford. He is seen as the father of nuclear science, a great charismatic figure who mapped the landscape of the sub-atomic world.
19 February 2004
Also featuring: Jim Al-Khalili, Patricia Fara
ScienceHonorary Fellows of the Royal Society of EdinburghPersons of National Historic Significance (Canada)Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences19th-century British physicistsKnights BachelorAcademics of the Victoria University of ManchesterBurials at Westminster AbbeyExperimental physicistsRecipients of Franklin MedalNobel laureates in ChemistryRecipients of the Copley MedalFellows of Trinity College, Cambridge20th-century British physicists, Members of the Pontifical Academy of SciencesRadio pioneersCorresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925)Honorary members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Recipients of the Matteucci MedalBritish Nobel laureatesDiscoverers of chemical elementsRecipients of the Dalton MedalCavendish Professors of PhysicsMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyEnglish Nobel laureates20th-century British scientistsMaxwell
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
Also featuring: Peter Harman, Joanna Haigh
ScienceAcademics of King's College LondonDeaths from stomach cancer in EnglandBritish theoretical physicists, Mathematical physicistsFellows of the Royal SocietyPeople associated with electricityColor scientistsCavendish Professors of PhysicsMagneticiansAlumni of the University of EdinburghOptical physicistsAlumni of Trinity College, Cambridge19th-century British physicistsOceanography
Melvyn Bragg discusses the science of Oceanography which has attempted to unmask the enigma of the oceans and seas.
22 November 2001
Also featuring: Margaret Deacon, Tony Rice
Goethe and the Science of the Enlightenment
Melvyn Bragg assesses the scientific legacy of the 18th century German poet and thinker Goethe, who gave us the term morphology and is sometimes even credited with inventing biology itself.
10 February 2000
Also featuring: Nicholas Boyle
SciencePhilosophers of linguisticsGerman philosophers of artRomantic poetsGerman philosophers of scienceGerman political philosophersJohann Wolfgang von Goethe, Sturm und Drang18th-century German civil servants, 18th-century German dramatists and playwrights, 18th-century German historians, 18th-century German novelists, 18th-century German poets, 18th-century travel writers, 19th-century German civil servants, 19th-century German diplomats, 19th-century German dramatists and playwrights, 19th-century German poets, German bibliophiles, German diplomats, German male novelists, People from Weimar, Scientists from Weimar, Writers from Frankfurt, Writers from WeimarLiteracy and society theoristsPhilosophers of social science19th-century German philosophersTheorists on Western civilizationGerman travel writersPhilosophers of literaturePhilosophers of sexualityEpic poets19th-century German novelistsPhilosophy writersLeipzig University alumni18th-century German male writersEpigrammatists18th-century German philosophers, 18th-century essayists19th-century travel writers19th-century German male writersUniversity of Strasbourg alumniGerman philosophers of languageMembers of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and HumanitiesLiterary theoristsMembers of the Bavarian Academy of SciencesFabulistsGerman untitled nobilityGerman philosophers of culture19th-century German essayistsGerman male essayists18th-century German educators, 18th-century historians, 19th-century German educators, 19th-century historiansGerman autobiographersGerman ethicists, German philosophers of educationNatural philosophersGerman male dramatists and playwrights, German male poetsPantheistsFreethought writersEnlightenment philosophersGerman librariansWriters about activism and social changeColor scientistsGerman Freemasons19th-century German historians19th-century German non-fiction writersGerman philosophers of historyGerman male non-fiction writers