Science and Technology

Science and Technology

Documentaries, interviews and podcasts about the Information Age. From the Technological revolution to Brexit and the Coronavirus Pandemic.

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Science and Technology
  • Science in the Middle Ages

    Seb Falk, a historian of medieval science at Cambridge University and the author of The Light Ages, tackles the big questions about science in the Middle Ages.

  • Uncovering the Enigma: Bletchley Park

    Bletchley Park is now internationally famous as the home of the code-breakers during World War Two. But the endeavours of Alan Turing, Dilly Knox and their colleagues were so top secret that we are only now beginning to learn how they really lived day-to-day in this magnificent house, where – beh...

  • Ada Lovelace: Computing Pioneer

    Regarded by many as the world's first computer programmer, Ada Lovelace was also the first to envision a world where computers could be used for more than just number crunching. She saw in them the potential to not just solve problems, but create new ideas and even produce music and poetry as we ...

  • Coronavirus and HIV

    Sam Nightingale is an infectious diseases researcher and is currently treating patients with COVID-19. In this episode of Historic Questions he talks about this new form of coronavirus and how it might change our society. He also explains how humans responded to the emergence of AIDS in the late ...

  • Sir Joseph Banks: Pioneer of British Botany

    ‘Dictator of British Botany’. ‘Autocrat of the Philosophers’. Sir Joseph Banks has been called many things over the past few centuries. A towering figure in the development of British botany and British natural history during the 18th century, he voyaged across the World with famous navigators su...

  • Communities in Crisis

    Steve Wyler answers the big questions about how communities have responded to pandemics in the past and whether similar reactions can be seen in the current COVID-19 pandemic.

  • National Museum of Computing

    Our new strand, Access All Areas, will take you behind the scenes at top historical destinations. "Like many people my age - some of my strongest childhood memories are of the exciting new devices called "computers" that started appearing in our homes. I spent hours learning programming on a BBC ...

  • The Mystery of the Headless Man

    This story has everything: war, politics, betrayal, scandal, murder and at its heart a cracking forensic science mystery. This is the story of Simon Fraser, the 11th Lord Lovat of the Highland, also known as the Fox. In the late 1660s, Simon Fraser was born in a house on the banks of a burn in th...

  • Steve McNeil's History of Video Games

    1 season

    Go 8-Bit's Steve McNeil takes the controls to guide us through the history of videogames.

  • 🎧 Andy McNab on the SAS

    From the day he was found in a carrier bag on the steps of Guy's Hospital in London, Andy McNab has led an extraordinary life. As a teenage delinquent, Andy McNab kicked against society. As a young soldier he waged war against the IRA in the streets and fields of South Armagh. As a member of 22 S...

  • The Cardiff Castle Hidden in the Centre of London

    Chris Lloyd spotted a house in London which reminded him of Cardiff. It turned out it had a huge link to the Welsh capital, as well as currently having a very famous resident.

  • Whose Story? Round Table for International Women's Day 2018

    To mark International Women's Day, we gathered a panel of historians together for a live debate about the representation of women in history. Sarah Churchwell, Fern Ridell, Amara Thornton, Hallie Rubenhold, and Janina Ramirez discuss how women's lives been documented, and the work required to ens...

  • Who Do We Think We Aren't: The Science and History of Race

    We haven’t always been preoccupied with ideas of race. But from the 19th c onward, bogus science has been used to legitimise social hierarchies and political policies, with consequences that have resounded across the world. From the father of eugenics Francis Galton to surprising figures such as ...

  • Race Science with Angela Saini

    Dan sat down with Angela Saini to talk about the history behind race and the history of interactions between civilisations.

  • Parliament's Greatest Speeches

    The Palace of Westminster is one of the world's most famous buildings: 'the mother of parliaments'. Since the days of Simon de Montfort parliaments having been meeting at this location in the heart of London. Though plagued by controversy and destruction over its long history the site's significa...

  • 🎧 ‘One of Our Greatest Living Historians’

    Natalie Zemon Davis is a legend. One of the most influential and versatile contemporary historians. A pathbreaking scholar of early modern European social and cultural history, she has also explored the Mediterranean world as seen by Leo Africanus and the culture of slavery in Suriname. She was b...

  • Nuclear Armageddon with Julie McDowall

    Dan sat down with Julie McDowall to talk about Britain's plans in case of nuclear Armageddon during the Cold War. They also discuss the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl and its infamous legacy.

  • Niall Ferguson on Social Networks Throughout History

    Most history is hierarchical: it’s about popes, presidents and prime ministers. A very small section of society has wielded very great power. But what if that’s simply because they are responsible for creating the historical archives? What if we are missing out on understanding equally powerful b...

  • I Object: Ian Hislop's Search for Dissent

    We live in a golden age of objection. Not since the 1960s has the Western world been so embroiled in street protests – women’s marches, anti-Trump demonstrations and alt-right parades in America, anti-Brexit marches in Britain, and strikes across continental Europe – as in recent years. It is saf...

  • How the Earth Shaped Human History

    Great leaders? Industrial change? Revolutions? If you thought these were the things that shaped history, think again. Back by popular demand, Lewis Dartnell returns to the show. He explains how modern political and economic patterns correlate with events which happened not decades or centuries ag...

  • Gwrych Castle: Catastrophe to Celebrity

    Over November and December 2020, Gwrych Castle in North Wales is to become the most famous castle in the UK. It is in this castle that I'm a Celebrity is being filmed. But there is so much more to Gwrych than simply hosting the 20th series of I'm a Celebrity. The Castle's history is fascinating, ...

  • F-35 Simulator

    The F-35 is the latest plane to join the ranks of the RAF. What is so special about it is that it is a single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed for many missions with advanced, integrated sensors built into every aircraft. Missions that were traditionally performed by small numbers of...

  • The Uniform of the British Army

    The British Army is one of the world’s most experienced fighting forces. From Blenheim to Waterloo, from Balaclava to the Somme, it has played its part in the history’s most bloody conflicts. But as these troops executed Herculean tasks in the worlds harshest terrains, what were they wearing? How...

  • Art Detective at Harry Potter: A History of Magic

    Janina Ramirez escapes to a world of magic as she gets a special tour of the new Harry Potter exhibiton at the British Library.