Seek the Light

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.

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Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Factual: Life Stories

Factual: Science & Nature

Music: Folk

Stories of science, history and the natural world woven together around a theme of light.

Award-winning folk musician Karine Polwart weaves together stories of science, history and the natural world around a theme of light.

BBC Radio 4 LW

Seek the Light: Out of the Shadows

Out of the Shadows

BBC Radio 4 - Seek the Light, Out of the Shadows

Musician Karine Polwart weaves together stories of science, history and the theme of light

Songwriter and storyteller Karine Polwart brings together her twin loves of astronomy and history for a story of discovery, diversity and the righting of a historical wrong.

Singer, story teller and seven-times Radio 2 Folk Awards winner, Karine Polwart brings together her love of science, history and the natural world.

Karine looks up into the dark for a story of discovery, diversity and the righting of a historical wrong.

When young geologist turned planetary scientist Annie Lennox surveyed the night sky of her Aberdeenshire home, little did she realise that one day she'd be giving names to landmarks on our closest neighbours in the solar system. In 2021, while studying for her PhD, Annie discovered an enormous 50km wide crater near Mercury's southern pole. An area that had never been seen in sunlight until until the Messenger mission of 2015. 

The crater's distinctive spectral colour and shape caught her eye. As the first person to see it, Annie has the honour of naming it. An accomplished singer and harpist, Annie named it  'Nairne' after the 17th-century Scottish poet and songwriter Lady Carolina Nairne.

All the craters of Mercury are named after famous artists, Burns and Pushkin are there along with Bach and Boccaccio. And it was this dominance of white men that Annie wanted to challenge. The International Atstonomical Union's naming conventions around new discoveries have proven themselves inherently sexist and exclusionary and Annie felt compelled to do waht she could to rebalance it. In her lifetime, Lady Carolina Nairne was responsible for such staples of Scottish folk singing as 'Charlie is my darlin' and 'Caller Herrin', yet she's largely unknown, publishing much of her work anonymously or under pseudonyms. Now there is a corner of the universe that will forever be a testament to her talents.

Produced by Peter McManus
Written and presented by Karine Polwart
Music by Karine Polwart and Pippa Murphy

Vocals - Karine Polwart
Piano - Dave Milligan

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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Seek the Light

Out of the Shadows

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