Human IntelligenceSeries 2Episodes Episode guide
Back up to: Human Intelligence
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Perfectionists: Martha Graham
Martha Graham was to modern dance what Picasso was to painting.
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Perfectionists: Leonardo Da Vinci
The quintessential Renaissance man, artist Leonardo da Vinci was curious about everything.
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Perfectionists: Al-Khwarizmi
Al-Khwarizmi laid the groundwork for the modern world in setting down the rules of algebra
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Perfectionists: Simone Weil
Simone Weil was a perfectionist of ethics, calling on us to attend to others’ suffering.
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Perfectionists: Isambard Kingdom Brunel
Isambard Kingdom Brunel wanted all his work to be the best, but it came at a cost.
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Exiles: Ovid
Ovid was Rome’s funniest, wittiest poet. How was his mind shaped by exile?
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Exiles: Sor Juana Inés De La Cruz
How did exile enable a self-taught intellectual and proto-feminist to do her best work?
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Exiles: Marie Curie
Marie Curie had to go into exile to do her work, but she never forgot where she came from.
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Exiles: Ishi
The mind of Ishi: how one man worked to preserve the knowledge of an entire community.
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Exiles: Karl Marx
Exploring the mind of Karl Marx, a revolutionary political thinker and philosopher.
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Live from Hay Literary Festival 2025
Naomi Alderman and guests celebrate Human Intelligence at the Hay Literary Festival.
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Recluses: Nikola Tesla
Is the mind of Nikola Tesla worthy of such an extensive legacy?
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Recluses: Li Qingzhao
Inside the mind of China’s greatest female poet: Li Qingzhao.
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Recluses: Michel de Montaigne
What can we learn from the mind of Montaigne who invented the concept of the essay?
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Recluses: Ibn Khaldun
How did philosopher Ibn Khaldun invent a theory to explain the rise and fall of dynasties?
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Recluses: Emily Bronte
How did the writing of accomplished author Emily Bronte benefit from her reclusive nature?
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Perfectionists
Thinkers who searched for perfection weren’t always easy to work with.
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Exiles
Exile shaped all these thinkers - and they never forgot where they’d come from.
