Alan Turing

Alan Turing

Author: BBC Radio 4 October 15, 2020 Duration: 53:08

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Alan Turing (1912-1954) whose 1936 paper On Computable Numbers effectively founded computer science. Immediately recognised by his peers, his wider reputation has grown as our reliance on computers has grown. He was a leading figure at Bletchley Park in the Second World War, using his ideas for cracking enemy codes, work said to have shortened the war by two years and saved millions of lives. That vital work was still secret when Turing was convicted in 1952 for having a sexual relationship with another man for which he was given oestrogen for a year, or chemically castrated. Turing was to kill himself two years later. The immensity of his contribution to computing was recognised in the 1960s by the creation of the Turing Award, known as the Nobel of computer science, and he is to be the new face on the £50 note.

With

Leslie Ann Goldberg Professor of Computer Science and Fellow of St Edmund Hall, University of Oxford

Simon Schaffer Professor of the History of Science at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Darwin College

And

Andrew Hodges Biographer of Turing and Emeritus Fellow of Wadham College, Oxford

Producer: Simon Tillotson


Melvyn Bragg and a panel of academic experts gather each week to explore the vast history of scientific thought on In Our Time: Science. This BBC Radio 4 podcast delves far beyond simple explanations, instead tracing the long and often winding paths of discovery that shaped our understanding of the world. Each episode focuses on a single idea, from the concept of zero to the theory of plate tectonics, unpacking its origins, the controversies it sparked, and the key figures who championed or challenged it. You’ll hear lively, in-depth conversations that place science firmly within its human and historical context, revealing how principles we take for granted today were hard-won through centuries of debate, accident, and insight. The discussions are rigorous and accessible, designed for the curious mind eager to appreciate not just what we know, but how we came to know it. By treating science as a deeply historical endeavour, this series offers a richer appreciation of the discipline itself. Tune in for a thoughtful and engaging journey through the experiments, the arguments, and the brilliant flashes of imagination that have defined our quest for knowledge.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

In Our Time: Science
Podcast Episodes
Perpetual Motion [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:40
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the rise of the idea of perpetual motion and its decline, in the 19th Century, with the Laws of Thermodynamics. For hundreds of years, some of the greatest names in science thought there m…
Extremophiles [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:27
In 1977, scientists in the submersible "Alvin" were exploring the deep ocean bed off the Galapagos Islands. In the dark, they discovered hydrothermal vents, like chimneys, from which superheated water flowed. Around the…
The Science of Glass [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:57
While glass items have been made for at least 5,000 years, scientists are yet to explain, conclusively, what happens when the substance it's made from moves from a molten state to its hard, transparent phase. It is said…
The Earth's Core [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:41
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Earth's Core. The inner core is an extremely dense, solid ball of iron and nickel, the size of the Moon, while the outer core is a flowing liquid, the size of Mars. Thanks to the m…
The Curies [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 47:22
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the scientific achievements of the Curie family. In 1903 Marie and Pierre Curie shared a Nobel Prize in Physics with Henri Becquerel for their work on radioactivity, a term which Marie…
Dark Matter [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:43
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss dark matter, the mysterious and invisible substance which is believed to make up most of the Universe. In 1932 the Dutch astronomer Jan Oort noticed that the speed at which galaxies mo…
The Photon [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:02
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the photon, one of the most enigmatic objects in the Universe. Generations of scientists have struggled to understand the nature of light. In the late nineteenth century it seemed clea…
Behavioural Ecology [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 45:35
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Behavioural Ecology, the scientific study of animal behaviour.What factors influence where and what an animal chooses to eat? Why do some animals mate for life whilst others are promiscuou…
Brunel [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 44:44
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Victorian engineer responsible for bridges, tunnels and railways still in use today more than 150 years after they were built. Brunel represented the cutting e…
Nuclear Fusion [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 46:55
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss nuclear fusion, the process that powers stars. In the 1920s physicists predicted that it might be possible to generate huge amounts of energy by fusing atomic nuclei together, a reacti…