Falling Stars
Seriously...9 Des 2022

Falling Stars

In the history of science, many individuals are honoured by having technical terms named after them. To modern sensibilities, this is sometimes regrettable.

Poet Dr Sam Illingworth looks at the challenges of scientific terms named after people we perhaps wouldn't celebrate today. Who gets to choose them anyway?

It's one thing to quietly change the name of a scientific prize, a research facility or a lecture theatre. But how would you rename an element or a famous equation? With a book, a record or a painting we can choose to leave them on the shelf if we so wish, but some scientific names seem as hard-wearing as concrete...

Photo: The Pillars of Creation as captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope/JWST Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Written and presented by Sam Illingworth Produced by Alex Mansfield With contributions from: Dr Emma Chapman, University of Nottingham author of "First Light" Sam Kean, historian of science and author of "The Disappearing Spoon" and "The Icepick Surgeon". Prof Natalie Bann, University of Victoria, British Columbia Derek Robertson, artist, co-author of "Bho Bheul An Eòin / From The Bird's Mouth" Derek's exhibition of the project is at the Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh until Dec 31st 2022.

Episoder(484)

Leeds: Life in the Bus Lane

Leeds: Life in the Bus Lane

Rima Ahmed takes the bus into Leeds and tries to find out why it is “the biggest city in Western Europe without a mass transit system”. Rima meets passengers, campaigners and history buffs as well as ...

23 Aug 202228min

Inheritors of partition

Inheritors of partition

In homes across the UK, partition is not history but a live issue for its young descendants. Over the course of a year, Kavita Puri follows three people as they piece together parts of their complex f...

16 Aug 202243min

Generation Games

Generation Games

Can video games change lives? And, if so, how? 50 years after the arrival of Pong, gamer and writer Keza MacDonald considers what gaming has done for us. Using the rich BBC Archives, she explores how ...

2 Aug 202257min

Welcome to Rwanda

Welcome to Rwanda

The government has described Rwanda, where it intends to send some people who arrive illegally in the UK, as "one of the world's safest nations". But this small, landlocked country in east Africa divi...

29 Jul 202238min

Evacuated to Russia

Evacuated to Russia

More than a million refugees from the war in Ukraine have ended up in the arms of the enemy, Russia. Have they been rescued? Or illegally deported in another Kremlin war crime?

26 Jul 202229min

Schools Apart

Schools Apart

Film and theatre producer Anwar Akhtar, Director of the educational charity Samosa Media, visits schools exploring diversity and the curriculum and asking questions about difficult topics such as segr...

12 Jul 202228min

Ceausescu's Children

Ceausescu's Children

Today, the actor Ionica Adriana lives with her family in the North Yorkshire countryside - but her life could have turned out wildly different. Until the age of two-and-a-half, Ionica lived in an orph...

5 Jul 202229min

London on the Line

London on the Line

This summer marks a decade since the 2012 Olympics - a moment of national pride when London represented Britain on the global stage. Ten years on from those Olympian heights, the capital is struggling...

7 Jun 202228min

Populært innen Samfunn

rss-spartsklubben
giver-og-gjengen-vg
aftenpodden
konspirasjonspodden
aftenpodden-usa
popradet
lydartikler-fra-aftenposten
rss-nesten-hele-uka-med-lepperod
rss-henlagt-andy-larsgaard
alt-fortalt
grenselos
wolfgang-wee-uncut
min-barneoppdragelse
fladseth
synnve-og-vanessa
rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
rss-dannet-uten-piano
krisemoter
198-land-med-einar-trnquist
rss-frekvens-med-anine-olsen