The Life Scientific

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

BBC Radio 4 LW

The Life Scientific: Optical communications pioneer Polina Bayvel

11/02/2020

Optical communications pioneer Polina Bayvel

BBC Radio 4 - The Life Scientific, Optical communications pioneer Polina Bayvel

The invention of the optical fibres that makes ultra-fast broadband possible.

The invention of optical fibres that makes ultrafast broadband possible. Prof Polina Bayvel talks to Jim Al-Khalili.

We’ve come to expect to be connected instantly to anywhere in the world and to have unlimited information at our fingertips. We shop online, stream music, download books and boxsets onto our electronic devices. We share videos of our pets just because we can.  But how much time have you spent recently thinking about the remarkable feats of engineering that make all this possible?  
Polina Bayvel has been at the forefront of creating the optical fibre networks that are capable of transporting vast quantities of data from one place to another: linking continents via cables laid under oceans or enabling computer systems in data centres to share information. Without these high speed networks, ultra-fast high-capacity broadband will remain a dream. Polina tells Jim Al Khalili  how she moved to the UK from the Soviet Union when she was 12 and  worked in industry for many years, before deciding that she wanted to set up a lab to find out what optical fibres were capable of: just how much data could they transport, and how fast? 
Producer: Anna Buckley

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

Podcasts

Factual: Life Stories

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili talks to leading scientists about their life and work, finding out what inspires and motivates them and asking what their discoveries might do for us in the future

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Life Scientific

Optical communications pioneer Polina Bayvel

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4