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Bodies

Bodies: Omnibus 2

Omnibus 2

BBC Radio 4 - Bodies, Omnibus 2

Alice Roberts with her time travelling tour of anatomical knowledge of the human body.

Professor Alice Roberts concludes her narrative history series about the human body - a time travelling tour of anatomical knowledge from the Stone Age to the Silicon Age

In this second omnibus edition of Alice Roberts' series, she begins by looking at the medieval era and how it stands out for its obsession with the body and proliferation of theories, often far-fetched, surrounding it. She takes us from transformation of Thomas Becket's body from a corpse into a relic, to arguments around resurrection, sex and the mirroring between the human body and the elements that make up the universe.

Perhaps the most beautiful anatomical drawings of them all are from the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci. Alice celebrates da Vinci's lifelong fascination with anatomy and the ground-breaking diagrams he made. 

In 1543, De humani corporis fabrica – on the fabric of the human body – by a Flemish artist known by his Latin name, Vesalius was published. This book was full of the most gorgeous illustrations of anatomy. Its publication marks a watershed.

Art, literature and science in 17th century Holland shared a fascination with death – and overlapped each other in macabre ways as they explored their subject. Dutch anatomists made discoveries both about the structure of the body and how to preserve and prepare corpses for dissection. But they also created what today we'd call artistic installations. 

From pre-history until the 20th century, the story was broadly the transformation of a conception of the body as a mysterious black box into the body as a machine. But now we seem on the cusp of a new era – with technology profoundly changing the ways we view our bodies both metaphorically and practically.

Presenter: Professor Alice Roberts
Actor: Jonathan Kydd

A Made in Manchester production for BBC Radio 4

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Professor Alice Roberts traces our changing understanding of human anatomy and ourselves.

Professor Alice Roberts traces how human knowledge of anatomy has grown and changed over time and how this has in turn affected our understanding of who we are.

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