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Science StoriesEpisodes

  2. Isaac Newton and the story of the apple

    Did Newton's theory of gravity really come to him after seeing an apple fall?

  3. Sophia Jex-Blake, first woman doctor in Scotland

    Naomi Alderman tells the story of Sophia Jex-Blake, first woman doctor in Scotland.

  4. Mary Somerville, pioneer of popular science writing

    Naomi Alderman tells the story of Mary Somerville, pioneer of popular science writing

  5. Galileo's lost letter

    Galileo's lost letter questions how he challenged the Church. With Philip Ball.

  6. Ibn al-Haytham and How We See

    Philip Ball's story is of Ibn al-Haytham, the first scientist, and how we see.

  7. Lady Mary Montagu's Smallpox Experiment

    Naomi Alderman on how Lady Mary Montagu used her own child to prove smallpox inoculation.

  8. Kepler's Snowflakes

    Philip Ball's tale is of Kepler's Snowflakes, a New Year's gift and of crystallography.

  9. Lucretius, Sheep and Atoms

    Naomi Alderman's story is of Lucretius, sheep and atoms

  10. Eddington's Eclipse and Einstein's Celebrity

    Philip Ball tells the story of Arthur Eddington's confirmation of general relativity.

  11. Mary Anning and Fossil Hunting

    Naomi Alderman tells the story of Mary Anning, who discovered many important fossils.

  12. Hypatia: The Murdered Mathematician

    Naomi Alderman's story is of Hypatia - the mathematician murdered by a mob in Alexandria.

  13. Descartes' Daughter

    Philip Ball goes back to the 17th century to tell the story of Descartes' 'daughter'.

  14. Urea and the Wohler Myth

    Philip Ball tells the story of German chemist Friedrich Wöhler's creation of urea.

  15. 17th-Century Space Flight: The Real Cyrano de Bergerac

    Philip Ball reveals the real Cyrano de Bergerac and his 17th-century spaceship.

  16. Michael Faraday and his 'instructess' in chemistry

    Philip Ball tells the story of Michael Faraday and his 'first instructess' in chemistry.

  17. How Humphry Davy discovered laughing gas

    Naomi Alderman describes how Humphry Davy discovered laughing gas.

  18. Lise Meitner: Humanitarian physicist who unlocked the science of the atom bomb

    Lise Meitner, the humanitarian physicist who unlocked the science of the atom bomb.

  19. The Wondrous Transformation of Caterpillars

    How a 13-year-old girl mapped metamorphosis in the 1600s. Naomi Alderman presents.

  20. A wolf, a goat and some cabbages

    Philip Ball dives into the Dark Ages to reveal the author of the river crossing riddle.

  21. Caroline Herschel and the Comets

    Naomi Alderman tells the story of 18th-century comet spotter and singer Caroline Herschel.

  22. The Man Who Found Physics in Shells, Seeds and Bees

    The man who put maths into biology and saw physics in shells, seeds and bees 100 years ago

  23. The Anglo-Saxon remedy that kills MRSA

    Naomi Alderman opens the pages of medieval recipe books to find antimicrobial salves.

  24. The Medieval Bishop's Big Bang Theory

    Philip Ball on a very modern medieval Big Bang Theory forged by a 13th-century bishop.

  25. Pavlov and his Dogs

    Naomi Alderman tells the story of Pavlov and his selectively drooling dogs.

  26. The Birth of Photography

    How William Fox Talbot captured a moment in time.

  27. Jumping Genes

    Philip Ball tells the story of US geneticist and 1983 Nobel prize-winner Barbara McLintock

  28. Mesmerism

    Philip Ball tells the story of Anton Mesmer and the rise and fall of animal magnetism.

  29. The Woman Who Tamed Lightning

    Naomi Alderman tells the story of engineer Hertha Ayrton, who refined street lights.

  30. The man who predicted deforestation and climate change 200 years ago

    The man who predicted deforestation and harmful human-induced climate change 200 years ago

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