The Scientist

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the origin of the concept and historical role of the scientist. The word “science” first appeared in the English language in 1340 and ever since its meaning has been in a state of flux. The notion of “the scientist” has had a similarly evolving history. For some, “the scientist” does not truly appear until after the Renaissance, others put its emergence much later than that. When did the words and concepts we recognise today take on their contemporary meaning? How has the role of the scientist, and our understanding of it, changed? Has science always been a rival to religion, or was it once an ally? And how has the scientist been perceived by the wider world - as a modern saint, the “priest of reason”, or as a terrifying and amoral menace - the “mad scientist” of film and literature?

→ Play on BBC Sounds website

Guests

• John Gribbin 6 episodes
  Visiting Fellow in Astronomy, University of Sussex
• Patricia Fara 17 episodes
  Lecturer on the History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University
• Hugh Pennington No other episodes
  Head of the Department of Medical Microbiology, University of Aberdeen

Related episodes

• Science in the 20th century
  
  5 Nov, 1998 500 Science
• The Royal Society
  
  23 Mar, 2006 500 Science
• The Scientific Method
  
  26 Jan, 2012 500 Science
• The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 3
  
  6 Jan, 2010 500 Science
• The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 4
  
  7 Jan, 2010 500 Science
• Early Geology
  
  12 Apr, 2012 550 Earth sciences and geology
• Originality
  
  20 Mar, 2003 800 Literature, rhetoric and criticism
• The Individual
  
  21 Oct, 1999 100 Philosophy
• Optics
  
  1 Mar, 2007 530 Physics
• The Royal Society and British Science: Episode 2
  
  5 Jan, 2010 500 Science
• The Universe’s Origins
  
  20 May, 1999 520 Astronomy
• Robert Boyle
  
  12 Jun, 2014 540 Chemistry
• The Cavendish Family in Science
  
  20 May, 2010 500 Science
• Mathematics
  
  6 May, 1999 510 Mathematics
• Episode 5
  
  6 Jan, 2012 500 Science
• The Microscope
  
  28 Nov, 2013 500 Science
• Logic
  
  21 Oct, 2010 160 Philosophical logic
• The Origins of Life
  
  23 Sep, 2004 570 Biology
• Science and Religion
  
  25 Jan, 2001 200 Religion
• Women and Enlightenment Science
  
  4 Nov, 2010 300 Social sciences, sociology and anthropology

---

Programme ID: p00548jq

Episode page: bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00548jq

Auto-category: 509.2 (History of science)