Main content

Isaac Newton

The EssayFive Portraits of Science
Episode 3 of 5

Historian of science Patricia Fara explores how Isaac Newton became the quintessential English genius.

The Essay considers how five real-life scientists have been portrayed in culture, examining along the way ideas of genius, inspiration and authority.

Tonight, historian of science Patricia Fara explores how Isaac Newton helped to define our modern sense of what a genius is - and a quintessentially English one, at that.

Available now

15 minutes

Last on

Wed 16 Jan 201322:45
BBC Radio 3

More episodes

Previous

GalileoFive Portraits of Science

Next

Marie CurieFive Portraits of Science

See all episodes from The Essay

Broadcast

  • Wed 16 Jan 201322:45
    BBC Radio 3

Death in Trieste

Death in Trieste

A 1760s murder still informs ideas about aesthetics, a certain sort of sex, and death.

Watch: My Deaf World

Watch: My Deaf World

Five compelling experiences of what it is like to be deaf in 21st-century Britain.

The Book that Changed Me

The Book that Changed Me

Five figures from the arts and science introduce books that changed their lives and work.

Podcast

  • The Essay

    Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.