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: Chi Onwurah on why engineering is a caring profession.

Chi Onwurah on why engineering is a caring profession.

BBC Radio 4 - The Life Scientific, Chi Onwurah on why engineering is a caring profession.

Why politics needs more scientists and engineers.

Why politics needs more scientists and engineers. Engineer Chi Onwurah tells Jim Al-Khalili why she became an MP.

Chi Onwurah tells Jim Al-Khalili why she wanted to become a telecoms engineer and why engineering is a caring profession. 

As a black, working class woman from a council estate in Newcastle, she was in a minority of one studying engineering at university in London and encountered terrible racism and sexism.  She went on to build digital networks all over the world, the networks that make today's instant multimedia communications possible. And Chi built the first mobile phone network in Nigeria, when the country was without a reliable electricity supply. Today she is Shadow Minister for Science, Research and Innovation.

When Chi decided to go into politics, her engineering colleagues were not impressed. Why would anyone leave their noble profession to enter a chaotic, disreputable and dubiously useful non-profession, they asked. But, Chi believes, parliament desperately needs more scientists and engineers, not only to help us solve science-based problems but also to create technical jobs and build a strong economy. 
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

Chi Onwurah on why engineering is a caring profession.

Genres

Series

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4