Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss 25 scientific pioneers who have shaped the development of science over 500 years.

One of the bedrocks of Radio 4, In Our Time has entertained and fascinated millions of listeners since it was first broadcast in 1998. Each week, Melvyn Bragg and a panel of leading academics discuss the big ideas that form the intellectual agenda of our age, traversing an eclectic spectrum of topics from the alphabet to Absolute Zero.

This specially curated collection introduces us to 25 of the best minds who have shaped the fields of science over the past five centuries. Beginning with an introductory episode, 'The Scientist', it encompasses pioneers such as mathematicians Blaise Pascal, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Ada Lovelace and Emmy Noether; astronomers Johannes Kepler and William and Caroline Herschel; chemists Rosalind Franklin and Dorothy Hodgkin; and physicists Ernest Rutherford and Paul Dirac. Among the other famous names featured are Michael Faraday, Louis Pasteur, Thomas Edison, Alan Turing and the Curies, as well as the great naturalist Charles Darwin, who is the subject of a 4-part special devoted to his life and work.

Science students, In Our Time fans and lovers of learning will relish these captivating, wide-ranging discussions, giving us unparalleled insight into the remarkable individuals whose ideas and inventions have transformed our world.

Production credits

Presented by Melvyn Bragg

Produced by Victoria Brignell, Thomas Morris, John Goudie and Simon Tillotson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on the following dates:

The Scientist 24 October 2002

Johannes Kepler 29 December 2016

Pascal 19 September 2013

Robert Boyle 12 June 2014

Emilie du Châtelet 4 February 2021

Lamarck and Natural Selection 26 December 2003

William and Caroline Herschel 11 November 2021

Pierre-Simon Laplace 8 April 2021

John Dalton 27 October 2016

Humboldt 28 September 2006

Carl Friedrich Gauss 30 November 2017

George and Robert Stephenson 12 April 2018

Michael Faraday 24 December 2015

Ada Lovelace 6 March 2008

Maxwell 2 October 2003

Darwin: On the Origins of Charles Darwin 5 January 2009

Darwin: The Voyage of the Beagle 6 January 2009

Darwin: On the Origin of Species 7 January 2009

Darwin: Life After Origins 8 January 2009

Louis Pasteur 18 May 2017

Pitt-Rivers 28 February 2013

Thomas Edison 9 December 2010

Rutherford 19 February 2004

Emmy Noether 24 January 2019

The Curies 26 March 2015

Alan Turing 15 October 2020

Rosalind Franklin 22 February 2018

Paul Dirac 5 March 2020

Dorothy Hodgkin 3 October 2019