The Complete BBC Radio 4 Popular Science Series
By: Naomi Alderman, Kevin Fong, Tracey Logan, Simon Schaffer
Narrated by: Naomi Alderman, Philip Ball, full cast
Length: 22 hrs and 32 mins
Radio/TV Program
Release date: 09-03-2023
Language: English
Publisher: BBC Audio

Publisher’s Summary
In these ten absorbing series, award-winning authors Naomi Alderman and Philip Ball and guest presenters Tracey Logan, Kevin Fong, Simon Schaffer and Lindsey Fitzharris take a look at the many amazing events and characters from science’s long history. In this collection, which runs close to 23 hours in total, they throw light on the revolutionary visionaries who defined how we see the world, from pioneers and prophets to inventors, experimenters and creators.

Among the topics explored are feuding dinosaur hunters, jumping genes, the engine that nearly ran out of steam, the day the Earth stopped standing still, how laughing gas was discovered, the first female professional scientist in Britain, and how an eel sparked our interest in electricity. So, if you want to know more about a medieval bishop’s Big Bang theory, how Florence Nightingale saved lives with statistics, the mediaeval equivalent of GPS, the woman who tamed lightning, Cyrano de Bergerac’s designs for a spaceship, and what happened when Einstein decided to fix the fridge, our presenters are here to fill you in. Helping them discover the fact behind the fiction are a host of scientists and experts, including Professor Edith Hall, Hannah Fry, Tim Spector, Marcus du Sautoy, Richard Wiseman, Natalie Haynes and Tracy Chevalier.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 10 June 2015 to 25 December 2019