Max Planck

Born in 1940 in British-occupied Kenya, Wangarĩ Muta Maathai learned at a young age how the environment and poverty were inextricably linked. As one of Africa's first women to obtain a PhD, she dedicated over forty years of her adult life fighting to teach the people of Kenya abo ...  Show more

Johann Bach never knew it during his lifetime, but he revolutionized classical music. Centuries after his death in 1750, Bach is known as one of the main fathers of classical composition. Sponsors! Gabi - Take TWO MINUTES and Go to Gabi.com/HISTORICAL to see if you can save up to ...  Show more

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the man who, in 1905, produced several papers that were to change the world of physics and whose name went on to become a byword for genius. This was Albert Einstein, then still a technical expert at a Swiss patent office, and that year of 1905 bec ...  Show more

Einstein's theory of general relativity has been our best understanding of gravity for over a century, withstanding a variety of experimental challenges of ever-increasing precision. But we have to be open to the possibility that general relativity -- even at the classical lev ...

You’ve seen it in your science classroom, and there was probably a copy of it on the inside cover of your chemistry book. Maybe if you are a real nerd, you might even have your own personal copy.  Yet its very creation was a revolutionary breakthrough that helped scientists and g ...  Show more

“I’ve never been part of the gang. I was a one-man band playing little tunes.” – Meet physics laureate John Hopfield in a podcast recorded at his cottage in Selborne, England. Together with host Adam Smith, he reflects on the value of interdisciplinary work and how chemists and p ...  Show more