<description>&lt;p&gt;Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German physicist who, at the age of 23 and while still a student, effectively created quantum mechanics for which he later won the Nobel Prize. Werner Heisenberg made this breakthrough in a paper in 1925 when, rather than starting with an idea of where atomic particles were at any one time, he worked backwards from what he observed of atoms and their particles and the light they emitted, doing away with the idea of their continuous orbit of the nucleus and replacing this with equations. This was momentous and from this flowed what’s known as his Uncertainty Principle, the idea that, for example, you can accurately measure the position of an atomic particle or its momentum, but not both.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fay Dowker
Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College London&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Harry Cliff
Research Fellow in Particle Physics at the University of Cambridge&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Frank Close
Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics and Fellow Emeritus at Exeter College at the University of Oxford&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Simon Tillotson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reading list:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Philip Ball, Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different (Vintage, 2018)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;John Bell, ‘Against 'measurement'’ (Physics World, Vol 3, No 8, 1990)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mara Beller, Quantum Dialogue: The Making of a Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 2001)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;David C. Cassidy, Beyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, And The Bomb (Bellevue Literary Press, 2010) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy (first published 1958; Penguin Classics, 2000)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carlo Rovelli, Helgoland: The Strange and Beautiful Story of Quantum Physics (Penguin, 2022)&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Heisenberg's key role at the outset of quantum mechanics

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the German physicist who, at the age of 23 and while still a student, effectively created quantum mechanics for which he later won the Nobel Prize. Werner Heisenberg made this breakthrough in a paper in 1925 when, rather than starting with an idea of where atomic particles were at any one time, he worked backwards from what he observed of atoms and their particles and the light they emitted, doing away with the idea of their continuous orbit of the nucleus and replacing this with equations. This was momentous and from this flowed what’s known as his Uncertainty Principle, the idea that, for example, you can accurately measure the position of an atomic particle or its momentum, but not both.With Fay Dowker
Professor of Theoretical Physics at Imperial College LondonHarry Cliff
Research Fellow in Particle Physics at the University of CambridgeAnd Frank Close
Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics and Fellow Emeritus at Exeter College at the University of OxfordProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list:Philip Ball, Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew about Quantum Physics Is Different (Vintage, 2018)John Bell, ‘Against 'measurement'’ (Physics World, Vol 3, No 8, 1990)Mara Beller, Quantum Dialogue: The Making of a Revolution (University of Chicago Press, 2001)David C. Cassidy, Beyond Uncertainty: Heisenberg, Quantum Physics, And The Bomb (Bellevue Literary Press, 2010) Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy (first published 1958; Penguin Classics, 2000)Carlo Rovelli, Helgoland: The Strange and Beautiful Story of Quantum Physics (Penguin, 2022)

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle

<description>&lt;p&gt;Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss some of the chemical signals coursing through our bodies throughout our lives, produced in separate areas and spreading via the bloodstream. We call these 'hormones' and we produce more than 80 of them of which the best known are arguably oestrogen, testosterone, adrenalin, insulin and cortisol. On the whole hormones operate without us being immediately conscious of them as their goal is homeostasis, maintaining the levels of everything in the body as required without us having to think about them first. Their actions are vital for our health and wellbeing and influence many different aspects of the way our bodies work.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sadaf Farooqi
Professor of Metabolism and Medicine at the University of Cambridge&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rebecca Reynolds
Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of Edinburgh&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Andrew Bicknell
Associate Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Reading&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Produced by Victoria Brignell&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reading list:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (first published 1962; Penguin Classics, 2000)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stephen Nussey and Saffron Whitehead, Endocrinology: An Integrated Approach (BIOS Scientific Publishers; 2001)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Aylinr Y. Yilmaz, Comprehensive Introduction to Endocrinology for Novices (Independently published, 2023)&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the chemical signals that control the ways our bodies work

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss some of the chemical signals coursing through our bodies throughout our lives, produced in separate areas and spreading via the bloodstream. We call these 'hormones' and we produce more than 80 of them of which the best known are arguably oestrogen, testosterone, adrenalin, insulin and cortisol. On the whole hormones operate without us being immediately conscious of them as their goal is homeostasis, maintaining the levels of everything in the body as required without us having to think about them first. Their actions are vital for our health and wellbeing and influence many different aspects of the way our bodies work.WithSadaf Farooqi
Professor of Metabolism and Medicine at the University of CambridgeRebecca Reynolds
Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the University of EdinburghAndAndrew Bicknell
Associate Professor in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of ReadingProduced by Victoria BrignellReading list:Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (first published 1962; Penguin Classics, 2000)Stephen Nussey and Saffron Whitehead, Endocrinology: An Integrated Approach (BIOS Scientific Publishers; 2001)Aylinr Y. Yilmaz, Comprehensive Introduction to Endocrinology for Novices (Independently published, 2023)

Hormones

<description>&lt;p&gt;Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the tiny drifting organisms in the oceans that sustain the food chain for all the lifeforms in the water and so for the billions of people who, in turn, depend on the seas for their diet. In Earth's development, the plant-like ones among them, the phytoplankton, produced so much oxygen through photosynthesis that around half the oxygen we breathe today originated there. And each day as the sun rises, the animal ones, the zooplankton, sink to the depths of the seas to avoid predators in such density that they appear on ship sonars like a new seabed, only to rise again at night in the largest migration of life on this planet.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Carol Robinson
Professor of Marine Sciences at the University of East Anglia&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Abigail McQuatters-Gollop
Associate Professor of Marine Conservation at the University of Plymouth&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Christopher Lowe
Lecturer in Marine Biology at Swansea University&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Simon Tillotson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reading list: &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Juli Berwald, Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone (Riverhead Books, 2018)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Sir Alister Hardy, The Open Sea: The World of Plankton (first published 1959; Collins New Naturalist Library, 2009) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Richard Kirby, Ocean Drifters: A Secret World Beneath the Waves (Studio Cactus Ltd, 2010)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Robert Kunzig, Mapping the Deep: The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science (Sort Of Books, 2000)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Christian Sardet, Plankton: Wonders of the Drifting World (University of Chicago Press, 2015) &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Helen Scales, The Brilliant Abyss: True Tales of Exploring the Deep Sea, Discovering Hidden Life and Selling the Seabed (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2022)&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the tiny lifeforms that sustain so much life on earth.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the tiny drifting organisms in the oceans that sustain the food chain for all the lifeforms in the water and so for the billions of people who, in turn, depend on the seas for their diet. In Earth's development, the plant-like ones among them, the phytoplankton, produced so much oxygen through photosynthesis that around half the oxygen we breathe today originated there. And each day as the sun rises, the animal ones, the zooplankton, sink to the depths of the seas to avoid predators in such density that they appear on ship sonars like a new seabed, only to rise again at night in the largest migration of life on this planet.WithCarol Robinson
Professor of Marine Sciences at the University of East AngliaAbigail McQuatters-Gollop
Associate Professor of Marine Conservation at the University of PlymouthAndChristopher Lowe
Lecturer in Marine Biology at Swansea UniversityProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list: Juli Berwald, Spineless: The Science of Jellyfish and the Art of Growing a Backbone (Riverhead Books, 2018)Sir Alister Hardy, The Open Sea: The World of Plankton (first published 1959; Collins New Naturalist Library, 2009) Richard Kirby, Ocean Drifters: A Secret World Beneath the Waves (Studio Cactus Ltd, 2010)Robert Kunzig, Mapping the Deep: The Extraordinary Story of Ocean Science (Sort Of Books, 2000)Christian Sardet, Plankton: Wonders of the Drifting World (University of Chicago Press, 2015) Helen Scales, The Brilliant Abyss: True Tales of Exploring the Deep Sea, Discovering Hidden Life and Selling the Seabed (Bloomsbury Sigma, 2022)

Plankton

<description>&lt;p&gt;Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the man who, in 1905, produced several papers that were to change the world of physics and whose name went on to become a byword for genius. This was Albert Einstein, then still a technical expert at a Swiss patent office, and that year of 1905 became known as his annus mirabilis ('miraculous year'). While Einstein came from outside the academic world, some such as Max Planck championed his theory of special relativity, his principle of mass-energy equivalence that followed, and his explanations of Brownian Motion and the photoelectric effect. Yet it was not until 1919, when a solar eclipse proved his theory that gravity would bend light, that Einstein became an international celebrity and developed into an almost mythical figure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Richard Staley
Professor in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and Professor in History of Science at the University of Copenhagen&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Diana Kormos Buchwald
Robert M. Abbey Professor of History and Director and General Editor of The Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of Technology&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;And&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;John Heilbron 
Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer: Simon Tillotson&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Reading list: &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ronald W. Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times (first published 1971; HarperPaperbacks, 2011)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Albert Einstein (eds. Jurgen Renn and Hanoch Gutfreund), Relativity: The Special and the General Theory - 100th Anniversary Edition (Princeton University Press, 2019)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Albert Einstein, Out of My Later Years (first published 1950; Citadel Press, 1974)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Albert Einstein (ed. Paul A. Schilpp), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist: The Library of Living Philosophers Volume VII (first published 1949; Open Court, 1970)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Albert Einstein (eds. Otto Nathan and Heinz Norden), Einstein on Peace (first published 1981; Literary Licensing, 2011)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Albrecht Folsing, Albert Einstein: A Biography (Viking, 1997)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;J. L. Heilbron, Niels Bohr: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2020)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe (Simon &amp;amp; Schuster, 2008)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Max Jammer, Einstein and Religion (Princeton University Press, 2002)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Michel Janssen and Christoph Lehner (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Einstein (Cambridge University Press, 2014)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Dennis Overbye, Einstein in Love: A Scientific Romance (Viking, 2000)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Abraham Pais, Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein (Oxford University Press, 1982)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;David E. Rowe and Robert Schulmann (eds.), Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb (Princeton University Press, 2007)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Matthew Stanley, Einstein's War: How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I (Dutton, 2019)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Fritz Stern, Einstein’s German World (Princeton University Press, 1999)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A. Douglas Stone, Einstein and the Quantum: The Quest of the Valiant Swabian (Princeton University Press, 2013)&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Milena Wazeck (trans. Geoffrey S. Koby), Einstein's Opponents: The Public Controversy About the Theory of Relativity in the 1920s (Cambridge University Press, 2014)&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Einstein's astonishing impact on theoretical physics.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the man who, in 1905, produced several papers that were to change the world of physics and whose name went on to become a byword for genius. This was Albert Einstein, then still a technical expert at a Swiss patent office, and that year of 1905 became known as his annus mirabilis ('miraculous year'). While Einstein came from outside the academic world, some such as Max Planck championed his theory of special relativity, his principle of mass-energy equivalence that followed, and his explanations of Brownian Motion and the photoelectric effect. Yet it was not until 1919, when a solar eclipse proved his theory that gravity would bend light, that Einstein became an international celebrity and developed into an almost mythical figure.With Richard Staley
Professor in History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge and Professor in History of Science at the University of CopenhagenDiana Kormos Buchwald
Robert M. Abbey Professor of History and Director and General Editor of The Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of TechnologyAndJohn Heilbron 
Professor Emeritus at the University of California, BerkeleyProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list: Ronald W. Clark, Einstein: The Life and Times (first published 1971; HarperPaperbacks, 2011)Albert Einstein (eds. Jurgen Renn and Hanoch Gutfreund), Relativity: The Special and the General Theory - 100th Anniversary Edition (Princeton University Press, 2019)Albert Einstein, Out of My Later Years (first published 1950; Citadel Press, 1974)Albert Einstein (ed. Paul A. Schilpp), Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist: The Library of Living Philosophers Volume VII (first published 1949; Open Court, 1970)Albert Einstein (eds. Otto Nathan and Heinz Norden), Einstein on Peace (first published 1981; Literary Licensing, 2011)Albrecht Folsing, Albert Einstein: A Biography (Viking, 1997)J. L. Heilbron, Niels Bohr: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2020)Walter Isaacson, Einstein: His Life and Universe (Simon &amp; Schuster, 2008)Max Jammer, Einstein and Religion (Princeton University Press, 2002)Michel Janssen and Christoph Lehner (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Einstein (Cambridge University Press, 2014)Dennis Overbye, Einstein in Love: A Scientific Romance (Viking, 2000)Abraham Pais, Subtle Is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein (Oxford University Press, 1982)David E. Rowe and Robert Schulmann (eds.), Einstein on Politics: His Private Thoughts and Public Stands on Nationalism, Zionism, War, Peace, and the Bomb (Princeton University Press, 2007)Matthew Stanley, Einstein's War: How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I (Dutton, 2019)Fritz Stern, Einstein’s German World (Princeton University Press, 1999)A. Douglas Stone, Einstein and the Quantum: The Quest of the Valiant Swabian (Princeton University Press, 2013)Milena Wazeck (trans. Geoffrey S. Koby), Einstein's Opponents: The Public Controversy About the Theory of Relativity in the 1920s (Cambridge University Press, 2014)

Albert Einstein

<description>&lt;p&gt;Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the power-packs within cells in all complex life on Earth. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Inside each cell of every complex organism there are structures known as mitochondria. The 19th century scientists who first observed them thought they were bacteria which had somehow invaded the cells they were studying. We now understand that mitochondria take components from the food we eat and convert them into energy. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mitochondria are essential for complex life, but as the components that run our metabolisms they can also be responsible for a range of diseases – and they probably play a role in how we age. The DNA in mitochondria is only passed down the maternal line. This means it can be used to trace population movements deep into human history, even back to an ancestor we all share: mitochondrial Eve. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;With &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Mike Murphy
Professor of Mitochondrial Redox Biology at the University of Cambridge&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Florencia Camus 
NERC Independent Research Fellow at University College London&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;and &lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Nick Lane
Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College London&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Producer Luke Mulhall&lt;/p&gt;</description>

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the power-packs within cells in all complex life on Earth.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the power-packs within cells in all complex life on Earth. Inside each cell of every complex organism there are structures known as mitochondria. The 19th century scientists who first observed them thought they were bacteria which had somehow invaded the cells they were studying. We now understand that mitochondria take components from the food we eat and convert them into energy. Mitochondria are essential for complex life, but as the components that run our metabolisms they can also be responsible for a range of diseases – and they probably play a role in how we age. The DNA in mitochondria is only passed down the maternal line. This means it can be used to trace population movements deep into human history, even back to an ancestor we all share: mitochondrial Eve. With Mike Murphy
Professor of Mitochondrial Redox Biology at the University of CambridgeFlorencia Camus 
NERC Independent Research Fellow at University College Londonand Nick Lane
Professor of Evolutionary Biochemistry at University College LondonProducer Luke Mulhall

Mitochondria

Scientific principles, theory, and the role of key figures in the advancement of science.

In Our Time: Science

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