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The Reith Lectures

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Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series.

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The Reith Lectures: Edward Appleton - Science and the Nation: Science for its Own Sake

1956: Edward Appleton - Science and the Nation

24/11/1956

Science for its Own Sake

Edward Appleton - Science and the Nation

BBC Radio 4 - The Reith Lectures, Edward Appleton - Science and the Nation, Science for its Own Sake

Professor Edward Appleton explains the intellectual interest of science.

Professor Edward Appleton explains why there is an intellectual interest in science in his third Reith lecture.

This year's Reith Lecturer is the Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh Sir Edward Appleton. From 1939 to 1949 he was Secretary of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, and in 1947 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his contributions to the knowledge of the ionosphere, which led to the development of radar. In his Reith series entitled 'Science and the Nation', he considers the importance of science. 

In his third lecture entitled 'Science for its Own Sake', Professor Appleton considers the intellectual interest of science. He explores how pure science can create knowledge that gives intellectual pleasure. He details some of these joys, derived from both research and scientific theory.

The Reith Lectures: Edward Appleton - Science and the Nation

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

Physicist and Nobel-prize winner Edward Appleton examines scientific activity in Britain.

The British physicist and Nobel-prize winner Sir Edward Appleton delivers six Reith lectures on the many facets of scientific activity in Britain.

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