In Our Time

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life of Matteo Ricci, a Jesuit priest who in the 16th century led a Christian mission to China. An accomplished scholar, Ricci travelled extensively and came into contact with senior officials of the Ming Dynasty administration. His story is one of the most important encounters between Renaissance Europe and a China which was still virtually closed to outsiders.With Mary Laven Reader in Early Modern History at the University of CambridgeCraig Clunas Professor of the History of Art at the University of OxfordandAnne Gerritsen Reader in History at the University of Warwick Producer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Greek poet Sappho. Born in the late seventh century BC, Sappho spent much of her life on the island of Lesbos. In antiquity she was famed as one of the greatest lyric poets, but owing to a series of accidents the bulk of her work was lost to posterity. The fragments that do survive, however, give a tantalising glimpse of a unique voice of Greek literature. Her work has lived on in other languages, too, translated by such major poets as Ovid, Christina Rossetti and Baudelaire.WithEdith Hall Professor of Classics at King's College, LondonMargaret Reynolds Professor of English at Queen Mary, University of Londonand Dirk Obbink Professor of Papyrology and Greek Literature at the University of Oxford Fellow and tutor at Christ Church, OxfordProducer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the California Gold Rush. In 1849 the recent discovery of gold at Coloma, near Sacramento in California, led to a massive influx of prospectors seeking to make their fortunes. Within a couple of years the tiny settlement of San Francisco had become a major city, with tens of thousands of immigrants, the so-called Forty-Niners, arriving by boat and over land. The gold rush transformed the west coast of America and its economy, but also uprooted local populations of Native Americans and made irreversible changes to natural habitats.With:Kathleen Burk Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at University College LondonJacqueline Fear-Segal Reader in American History and Culture at the University of East AngliaFrank Cogliano Professor of American History at the University of Edinburgh.

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 coined. Marie went on to win a Nobel in Chemistry eight years later; remarkably, her daughter Irène Joliot-Curie would later share a Nobel with her husband Frédéric Joliot-Curie for their discovery that it was possible to create radioactive materials in the laboratory. The work of the Curies added immensely to our knowledge of fundamental physics and paved the way for modern treatments for cancer and other illnesses.With:Patricia Fara Senior Tutor of Clare College, University of CambridgeRobert Fox Emeritus Professor of the History of Science at the University of OxfordSteven T Bramwell Professor of Physics and former Professor of Chemistry at University College LondonProducer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the life and work of Al-Ghazali, a major philosopher and theologian of the late 11th century. Born in Persia, he was one of the most prominent intellectuals of his age, working in such centres of learning as Baghdad, Damascus and Jerusalem. He is now seen as a key figure in the development of Islamic thought, not just refining the theology of Islam but also building on the existing philosophical tradition inherited from the ancient Greeks.With:Peter Adamson Professor of Late Ancient and Arabic Philosophy at the LMU in MunichCarole Hillenbrand Professor of Islamic History at Edinburgh and St Andrews UniversitiesRobert Gleave Professor of Arabic Studies at the University of ExeterProducer: Victoria Brignell.

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 moved was at odds with the amount of material they appeared to contain. He hypothesized that much of this 'missing' matter was simply invisible to telescopes. Today astronomers and particle physicists are still fascinated by the search for dark matter and the question of what it is.With Carolin Crawford Public Astronomer at the Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge and Gresham Professor of AstronomyCarlos Frenk Ogden Professor of Fundamental Physics and Director of the Institute for Computational Cosmology at the University of DurhamAnne Green Reader in Physics at the University of NottinghamProducer: Simon Tillotson.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the epic poem Beowulf, one of the masterpieces of Anglo-Saxon literature. Composed in the early Middle Ages by an anonymous poet, the work tells the story of a Scandinavian hero whose feats include battles with the fearsome monster Grendel and a fire-breathing dragon. It survives in a single manuscript dating from around 1000 AD, and was almost completely unknown until its rediscovery in the nineteenth century. Since then it has been translated into modern English by writers including William Morris, JRR Tolkien and Seamus Heaney, and inspired poems, novels and films.With:Laura Ashe Associate Professor in English at the University of Oxford and Fellow of Worcester CollegeClare Lees Professor of Medieval English Literature and History of the Language at King's College LondonAndy Orchard Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of OxfordProducer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the history and significance of eunuchs, castrated men who were a common feature of many civilisations for at least three thousand years. Eunuchs were typically employed as servants in royal households in the ancient Middle East, China and classical antiquity. In some civilisations they were used as administrators or senior military commanders, sometimes achieving high office. The tradition lingered until surprisingly recently, with castrated singers remaining a feature of Vatican choirs until the nineteenth century, while the last Chinese eunuch of the imperial court died in 1996.With:Karen Radner Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at University College LondonShaun Tougher Reader in Ancient History at Cardiff UniversityMichael Hoeckelmann British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of History at King's College LondonProducer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Adam Smith's celebrated economic treatise The Wealth of Nations. Smith was one of Scotland's greatest thinkers, a moral philosopher and pioneer of economic theory whose 1776 masterpiece has come to define classical economics. Based on his careful consideration of the transformation wrought on the British economy by the Industrial Revolution, and how it contrasted with marketplaces elsewhere in the world, the book outlined a theory of wealth and how it is accumulated that has arguably had more influence on economic theory than any other.With:Richard Whatmore Professor of Modern History and Director of the Institute of Intellectual History at the University of St AndrewsDonald Winch Emeritus Professor of Intellectual History at the University of SussexHelen Paul Lecturer in Economics and Economic History at the University of SouthamptonProducer: Thomas Morris.

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 clear that light was an electromagnetic wave. But the work of physicists including Planck and Einstein shed doubt on this theory. Today scientists accept that light can behave both as a wave and a particle, the latter known as the photon. Understanding light in terms of photons has enabled the development of some of the most important technology of the last fifty years.With:Frank Close Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of OxfordWendy Flavell Professor of Surface Physics at the University of ManchesterSusan Cartwright Senior Lecturer in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Sheffield.Producer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the Indian Emperor Ashoka. Active in the 3rd century BC, Ashoka conquered almost all of the landmass covered by modern-day India, creating the largest empire South Asia had ever known. After his campaign of conquest he converted to Buddhism, and spread the religion throughout his domain. His edicts were inscribed on the sides of an extraordinary collection of stone pillars spread far and wide across his empire, many of which survive today. Our knowledge of ancient India and its chronology, and how this aligns with the history of Europe, is largely dependent on this important set of inscriptions, which were deciphered only in the nineteenth century.With:Jessica Frazier Lecturer in Religious Studies at the University of Kent and a Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Hindu StudiesNaomi Appleton Chancellor's Fellow in Religious Studies at the University of EdinburghRichard Gombrich Founder and Academic Director of the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and Emeritus Profess

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the ancient Greek historian Thucydides. In the fifth century BC Thucydides wrote The History of the Peloponnesian War, an account of a conflict in which he had himself taken part. This work is now seen as one of the first great masterpieces of history writing, a book which influenced writers for centuries afterwards. Thucydides was arguably the first historian to make a conscious attempt to be objective, bringing a rational and impartial approach to his scholarship. Today his work is still widely studied at military colleges and in the field of international relations for the insight it brings to bear on complex political situations.With:Paul Cartledge Emeritus Professor of Greek Culture and AG Leventis Senior Research Fellow at Clare College, CambridgeKatherine Harloe Associate Professor in Classics and Intellectual History at the University of ReadingNeville Morley Professor of Ancient History at the University of BristolProducer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss phenomenology, a style of philosophy developed by the German thinker Edmund Husserl in the first decades of the 20th century. Husserl's initial insights underwent a radical transformation in the work of his student Martin Heidegger, and played a key role in the development of French philosophy at the hands of writers like Emmanuel Levinas, Jean-Paul Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir and Maurice Merleau-Ponty.Phenomenology has been a remarkably adaptable approach to philosophy. It has given its proponents a platform to expose and critique the basic assumptions of past philosophy, and to talk about everything from the foundations of geometry to the difference between fear and anxiety. It has also been instrumental in getting philosophy out of the seminar room and making it relevant to the lives people actually lead. GUESTSSimon Glendinning, Professor of European Philosophy in the European Institute at the London School of Economics Joanna Hodge, Professor of Philosophy at Manchester Met

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Pieter Bruegel the Elder's painting of 1559, 'The Fight Between Carnival And Lent'. Created in Antwerp at a time of religious tension between Catholics and Protestants, the painting is rich in detail and seems ripe for interpretation. But Bruegel is notoriously difficult to interpret. His art seems to reject the preoccupations of the Italian Renaissance, drawing instead on techniques associated with the new technology of the 16th century, print. Was Bruegel using his art to comment on the controversies of his day? If so, what comment was he making? CONTRIBUTORSLouise Milne, Lecturer in Visual Culture in the School of Art at the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Napier UniversityJeanne Nuechterlein, Senior Lecturer in the Department of History of Art, University of YorkMiri Rubin, Professor of Medieval and Early Modern History and Head of the School of History at Queen Mary, University of LondonProducer: Luke Mulhall.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the philosophy of truth. Pontius Pilate famously asked: what is truth? In the twentieth century, the nature of truth became a subject of particular interest to philosophers, but they preferred to ask a slightly different question: what does it mean to say of any particular statement that it is true? What is the difference between these two questions, and how useful is the second of them?With:Simon Blackburn Fellow of Trinity College, University of Cambridge, and Professor of Philosophy at the New College of the HumanitiesJennifer Hornsby Professor of Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of LondonCrispin Wright Regius Professor of Logic at the University of Aberdeen, and Professor of Philosophy at New York UniversityProducer: Victoria Brignell and Luke Mulhall.

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 promiscuous? Behavioural ecologists approach questions like these using Darwin's theory of natural selection, along with ideas drawn from game theory and the economics of consumer choice.Scientists had always been interested in why animals behave as they do, but before behavioural ecology this area of zoology never got much beyond a collection of interesting anecdotes. Behavioural ecology gave researchers techniques for constructing rigorous mathematical models of how animals act under different circumstances, and for predicting how they will react if circumstances change. Behavioural ecology emerged as a branch of zoology in the second half of the 20th century and proponents say it revolutionized our understanding of animals in their environments.GUESTSSteve Jones, Emeritus Professor of Genetics at Uni

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Zen. It's often thought of as a form of Buddhism that emphasises the practice of meditation over any particular set of beliefs. In fact Zen belongs to a particular intellectual tradition within Buddhism that took root in China in the 6th century AD. It spread to Japan in the early Middle Ages, where Zen practitioners set up religious institutions like temples, monasteries and universities that remain important today.GUESTSTim Barrett, Emeritus Professor in the Department of the Study of Religions at SOAS, University of LondonLucia Dolce, Numata Reader in Japanese Buddhism at SOAS, University of LondonEric Greene, Lecturer in East Asian Religions at the University of BristolProducer: Luke Mulhall.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Franz Kafka's novel of power and alienation 'The Trial', in which readers follow the protagonist Joseph K into a bizarre, nightmarish world in which he stands accused of an unknown crime; courts of interrogation convene in obscure tenement buildings; and there seems to be no escape from a crushing, oppressive bureaucracy.Kafka was a German-speaking Jew who lived in the Czech city of Prague, during the turbulent years which followed the First World War. He spent his days working as a lawyer for an insurance company, but by night he wrote stories and novels considered some of the high points of twentieth century literature. His explorations of power and alienation have chimed with existentialists, Marxists, psychoanalysts, postmodernists - and Radio 4 listeners, who suggested this as our topic for listener week on In Our Time.GUESTSElizabeth Boa, Professor Emerita of German at the University of Nottingham Steve Connor, Grace 2 Professor of English at the University of Cambridge R

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Aesop. According to some accounts, Aesop was a strikingly ugly slave who was dumb until granted the power of speech by the goddess Isis. In stories of his life he's often found outwitting his masters using clever wordplay, but he's best known today as the supposed author of a series of fables that are some of the most enduringly popular works of Ancient Greek literature. Some modern scholars question whether he existed at all, but the body of work that has come down to us under his name gives us a rare glimpse of the popular culture of the Ancient World.WITHPavlos Avlamis, Junior Research Fellow in Classics at Trinity College at the University of OxfordSimon Goldhill, Professor of Greek Literature and Culture at the University of CambridgeLucy Grig, Senior Lecturer in Classics at the University of EdinburghProducer: Luke Mulhall.

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 edge of technological innovation in Victorian Britain, and his life gives us a window onto the social changes that accompanied the Industrial Revolution. Yet his work was not always successful, and his innovative approach to engineering projects was often greeted with suspicion from investors. Guests:Julia Elton, former President of the Newcomen Society for the History of Engineering and TechnologyBen Marsden, Senior Lecturer in the School of Divinity, History and Philosophy at the University of AberdeenCrosbie Smith, Professor of the History of Science at the University of KentProducer: Luke Mulhall.