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 American Philosophical SocietyPeople associated with electricityNaturalized citizens of the United StatesAmerican humanistsDeaths from coronary thrombosisMembers of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and ArtsMental calculators20th-century American engineersRadio pioneersAmerican electrical engineers, People from ManhattanLongitude
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the 18th-century search for ways to calculate longitude at sea - how far east or west a ship was - to make voyages across oceans safer and faster.
13 May 2021
Also featuring: Rebekah Higgitt, Jim Bennett
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
Also featuring: Leslie Ann Goldberg, Andrew Hodges
ScienceFellows of the Royal Society20th-century atheistsEnglish people of Scottish descentEnglish atheists20th-century English philosophersEnglish inventors20th-century English LGBTQ people20th-century English mathematiciansCastrated peopleEnglish logiciansEnglish people of Irish descentSuicides by cyanide poisoningComputer designersGay academicsGay scientistsTheoretical biologistsLGBTQ mathematicians, LGBTQ philosophersPeople convicted for homosexuality in the United Kingdom, People who have received posthumous pardonsThe 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
SciencePhilosophers of scienceWriters about religion and science17th-century English male writers17th-century English writers17th-century English philosophersEnglish physicistsIrish AnglicansIndependent scientistsDiscoverers of chemical elements17th-century Anglo-Irish peopleEnglish alchemistsPeople educated at Eton CollegeFluid dynamicistsThe Invention of Radio
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the invention of radio.
4 July 2013
Also featuring: Elizabeth Bruton, John Liffen
Absolute Zero
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss absolute zero, the theoretical lower limit of temperature.
7 March 2013
Also featuring: Stephen Blundell, Nicola Wilkin
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
ScienceMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyMembers of the Royal Swedish Academy of SciencesHall of Fame for Great Americans inducteesAmerican people of English descentPeople associated with electricityRecipients of Franklin MedalCongressional Gold Medal recipientsAmerican deistsAmerican people of Dutch descent19th-century American businesspeopleHonorary members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Recipients of the Matteucci MedalAmerican electrical engineers, People from Manhattan20th-century American inventors, Members of the United States National Academy of SciencesThe Cavendish Family in Science
Melvyn Bragg and guests Jim Bennett, Simon Schaffer and Patricia Fara explore the scientific achievements of the Cavendish family, from the 17th to the 19th century.
20 May 2010
Also featuring: Jim Bennett, Patricia Fara
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
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
ScienceMembers of the American Philosophical SocietyRecipients of the Copley MedalBurials at Westminster AbbeyForeign associates of the National Academy of SciencesEnglish Nobel laureatesBritish Nobel laureates19th-century British physicistsRecipients of Franklin MedalNobel laureates in ChemistryExperimental physicistsKnights BachelorDiscoverers of chemical elementsFellows of Trinity College, CambridgeRadio pioneersAcademics of the Victoria University of ManchesterRecipients of the Dalton MedalPersons of National Historic Significance (Canada)Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925)20th-century British scientistsHonorary Fellows of the Royal Society of EdinburghCavendish Professors of PhysicsHonorary members of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Recipients of the Matteucci MedalMembers of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, 20th-century British physicistsMaxwell
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
ScienceFellows of the Royal SocietyPeople associated with electricityAlumni of the University of Edinburgh19th-century British physicistsOptical physicistsAlumni of Trinity College, CambridgeColor scientistsAcademics of King's College LondonMagneticiansDeaths from stomach cancer in EnglandCavendish Professors of PhysicsMathematical physicists, British theoretical physicistsThe Lunar Society
Melvyn Bragg discusses the Birmingham based society of prominent 18th century scientists, engineers and intellectuals who pioneered the science of the Enlightenment and Industrial Revolution.
5 June 2003
Also featuring: Jenny Uglow, Peter Jones
Oceanography
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
SciencePhilosophy writersPhilosophers of literatureTheorists on Western civilizationWriters about activism and social changeEnlightenment philosophersGerman male non-fiction writersPhilosophers of social sciencePantheists19th-century German male writers19th-century German philosophersGerman male essayistsGerman political philosophersGerman philosophers of historyNatural philosophersPhilosophers of sexualityLiteracy and society theoristsGerman philosophers of artGerman philosophers of cultureEpic poetsLiterary theorists19th-century German essayistsRomantic poetsLeipzig University alumni18th-century German male writersGerman philosophers of languageGerman philosophers of scienceMembers of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences19th-century German non-fiction writersMembers of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and HumanitiesFabulistsFreethought writersEpigrammatists19th-century German novelistsGerman FreemasonsUniversity of Strasbourg alumniPhilosophers of linguisticsGerman untitled nobilityGerman librariansGerman travel writers19th-century travel writersColor scientistsGerman autobiographers19th-century German historiansGerman philosophers of education, German ethicists18th-century German philosophers, 18th-century essayistsGerman male poets, German male dramatists and playwrights19th-century historians, 18th-century historians, 19th-century German educators, 18th-century German educatorsSturm und Drang, Johann Wolfgang von GoetheGerman bibliophiles, 19th-century German dramatists and playwrights, 18th-century travel writers, Writers from Weimar, 19th-century German diplomats, 18th-century German novelists, German diplomats, 18th-century German historians, German male novelists, 19th-century German poets, People from Weimar, Scientists from Weimar, 18th-century German dramatists and playwrights, 19th-century German civil servants, Writers from Frankfurt, 18th-century German poets, 18th-century German civil servants