Portrait of Lord Melvyn Bragg, host of In Our Time

Simon Schaffer

Emeritus Fellow of Darwin College, University of Cambridge

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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:

ScienceCultureFellows of the Royal SocietyBritish novels adapted into filmsPhilosophy writersTheorists on Western civilizationPhilosophers of literatureWriters about activism and social changePhilosophers of scienceMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyEnlightenment philosophersRecipients of the Copley MedalWriters about religion and scienceSolar SystemNovels first published in serial formBurials at Westminster AbbeyGerman male non-fiction writers20th-century atheists17th-century English male writersMembers of the Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesPhilosophers of social scienceForeign associates of the National Academy of Sciences19th-century German philosophers19th-century German male writersPantheistsEnglish people of Scottish descentPhilosophy of scienceHall of Fame for Great Americans inducteesGerman political philosophersPhilosophers of sexualityGerman male essayistsNatural philosophersGerman philosophers of historyGerman philosophers of artLiteracy and society theoristsGerman philosophers of cultureEnglish atheists17th-century English writersAmerican people of English descentEpic poetsLiterary theorists19th-century German essayistsGerman ethicists, German philosophers of educationPeople associated with electricityHistory of technologyIrish AnglicansScientific RevolutionKnights BachelorEnglish Nobel laureatesAlumni of the University of EdinburghRomantic poetsGerman philosophers of scienceLeipzig University alumni18th-century German male writersGerman philosophers of languageMembers of the Bavarian Academy of SciencesNaturalized citizens of the United States20th-century English philosophersEnglish inventors20th-century English LGBTQ peopleEnglish people of Irish descentBritish novellas17th-century English philosophersDiscoverers of chemical elementsIndependent scientistsEnglish physicists19th-century British physicistsBritish Nobel laureatesAlumni of Trinity College, Cambridge18th-century German philosophers, 18th-century essayistsMembers of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and HumanitiesFabulistsGerman untitled nobilityFreethought writers19th-century German non-fiction writersMembers of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsAmerican humanistsMental calculatorsDeaths from coronary thrombosis20th-century English mathematiciansEnglish logiciansCastrated peopleBritish science fiction novelsDystopian novels18th century in technologyHistory of science by discipline17th-century Anglo-Irish peopleEmpiricismScientific methodCongressional Gold Medal recipientsHonorary members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Recipients of the Matteucci MedalRecipients of Franklin MedalAmerican deistsCopernican RevolutionScientific lawsChemical elementsApplied and interdisciplinary physicsExperimental physicistsNobel laureates in ChemistryFellows of Trinity College, CambridgeColor scientistsOptical physicistsPhilosophers of linguisticsJohann Wolfgang von Goethe, Sturm und DrangGerman travel writers19th-century German novelistsEpigrammatists19th-century travel writersUniversity of Strasbourg alumni18th-century German educators, 18th-century historians, 19th-century German educators, 19th-century historiansGerman autobiographersGerman male dramatists and playwrights, German male poetsGerman librariansGerman Freemasons19th-century German historiansRadio pioneersAmerican electrical engineers, People from Manhattan20th-century American engineersTheoretical biologistsLGBTQ mathematicians, LGBTQ philosophersSuicides by cyanide poisoningGay scientistsPeople convicted for homosexuality in the United Kingdom, People who have received posthumous pardonsGay academicsComputer designersSocial science fictionVegetarianism in fictionNovels about time travelAncient Greek technologyPersons of National Historic Significance (Canada)Maritime writers18th-century English peopleCircumnavigators of the globeHistoryFluid dynamicistsPeople educated at Eton CollegeEnglish alchemistsDiscovery and invention controversies20th-century American inventors, Members of the United States National Academy of SciencesAmerican people of Dutch descent19th-century American businesspeopleHistory of calculusIsaac NewtonPhysical quantitiesThermodynamicsEquations of physicsClassical mechanicsReactive nonmetalsOpticsNatural philosophyLightElectricityHonorary Fellows of the Royal Society of EdinburghAcademics of the Victoria University of Manchester20th-century British physicists, Members of the Pontifical Academy of SciencesCorresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925)Recipients of the Dalton MedalCavendish Professors of Physics20th-century British scientistsAcademics of King's College LondonDeaths from stomach cancer in EnglandBritish theoretical physicists, Mathematical physicistsMagneticiansOceanography, Physical geographyEarth sciences18th-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 Weimar
  1. 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

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    Also featuring: Jill Jonnes, Iwan Morus

     
  2. Alan 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

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    Also featuring: Leslie Ann Goldberg, Andrew Hodges

     
  3. The 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

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    Also featuring: Amanda Rees, Simon James

     
  4. 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

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    Also featuring: Elly Truitt, Franziska Kohlt

     
  5. 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

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    Also featuring: Elizabeth Edwards, Alison Morrison-Low

     
  6. 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

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    Also featuring: Rebekah Higgitt, Sophie Forgan

     
  7. 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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    Also featuring: Michael Hunter, Anna Marie Roos

     
  8. The Invention of Radio

    Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the invention of radio.

    4 July 2013

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    Also featuring: Elizabeth Bruton, John Liffen

     
  9. The Scientific method

    Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Scientific Method, the systematic and analytical approach to scientific discovery.

    26 January 2012

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    Also featuring: John Worrall, Michela Massimi

     
  10. 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

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    Also featuring: Kathleen Burk, Iwan Morus

     
  11. Calculus

    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

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    Also featuring: Patricia Fara, Jackie Stedall

     
  12. Heat

    Melvyn Bragg discusses the history of scientific ideas about heat from fire to thermodynamics.

    4 December 2008

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    Also featuring: Hasok Chang, Joanna Haigh

     
  13. 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

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    Also featuring: Raymond Flood, Rob Iliffe

     
  14. 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

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    Also featuring: Jenny Uglow, Hasok Chang

     
  15. 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

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    Also featuring: Jim Bennett, Emily Winterburn

     
  16. 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

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    Also featuring: Kristen Lippincott, Allan Chapman

     
  17. Electrickery

    Melvyn Bragg discusses the dawn of the age of electricity, from lightning conductors to leaping soldiers and Franklin to Frankenstein.

    4 November 2004

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    Also featuring: Patricia Fara, Iwan Morus

     
  18. 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

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    Also featuring: Jim Al-Khalili, Patricia Fara

     
  19. 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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    Also featuring: Peter Harman, Joanna Haigh

     
  20. Oceanography

    Melvyn Bragg discusses the science of Oceanography which has attempted to unmask the enigma of the oceans and seas.

    22 November 2001

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    Also featuring: Margaret Deacon, Tony Rice

     
  21. 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

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    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