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Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the ideas, people and events that have shaped our world.

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In Our Time: Nuclear Physics

Nuclear Physics

10/01/2002

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Nuclear Physics

Melvyn Bragg examines the 20th century development of nuclear physics as a science.

Melvyn Bragg discusses the controversial 20th century scientific breakthrough and development of nuclear physics, which harnesses the enigmatic qualities of the atom’s core to create nuclear power.

Melvyn Bragg examines one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century, and certainly the most controversial; the development of nuclear physics.  Harnessing the enigmatic qualities of the atom’s tiny core brought us nuclear power and gave us The Bomb, a breakthrough with such far-reaching consequences that it moved the physicist Albert Einstein to say, “Had I known, I should have become a watch maker”.How can such outlandish power be released from such infinitesimal amounts of matter and what does the science of the nucleus tell us about how our universe is built?  Nuclear technology provokes strong emotional and political reactions, but what are the plain facts behind its development as a science?  With Jim Al-Khalili, Senior Lecturer in Physics at the University of Surrey; Christine Sutton, Particle Physicist and Lecturer in Physics at St Catherine’s College Oxford; John Gribbin, Visiting Fellow in Astronomy at the University of Sussex.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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