54 min

Medieval Science You're Dead to Me

    • History

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires subscription and macOS 11.4 or higher

There's a school of thought out there that, following the fall of the Roman Empire around Europe, there's a decline in knowledge, technologies, and economics. But is this true?
Greg Jenner and his guests look at a range of discoveries spanning a thousand of years, widely known as the Medieval period. How was knowledge and scientific findings shared across a world with its countless languages and regions before the internet? Looking at essential scholars of the time like Ibn Al Hytham, the 'father of modern optics', and the evolution of compasses and maps, this episode picks up some of the weird and wonderful advancements of the period that we still use today - Medieval Science.
Greg is joined by Dr Seb Falk, a historian of Medieval Science, an expert on astronomy and mathematics and the author of the book The Light Ages, which was voted Book of the Year 2020 by the The Times and The Telegraph. Alongside Dr Falk, we have the multi-award-winning comedian, writer, podcaster and filmmaker, Josie Long, who has alsp appeared on 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Have I Got News For You and House of Games.
Research - Rosanna Evans
Script- Emma Nagouse, Rosanna Evans and Gregg Jenner
Project Manager - Siefe Miyo
Edit Producer - Cornelius Mendez
The Athletic production for BBC Radio 4

There's a school of thought out there that, following the fall of the Roman Empire around Europe, there's a decline in knowledge, technologies, and economics. But is this true?
Greg Jenner and his guests look at a range of discoveries spanning a thousand of years, widely known as the Medieval period. How was knowledge and scientific findings shared across a world with its countless languages and regions before the internet? Looking at essential scholars of the time like Ibn Al Hytham, the 'father of modern optics', and the evolution of compasses and maps, this episode picks up some of the weird and wonderful advancements of the period that we still use today - Medieval Science.
Greg is joined by Dr Seb Falk, a historian of Medieval Science, an expert on astronomy and mathematics and the author of the book The Light Ages, which was voted Book of the Year 2020 by the The Times and The Telegraph. Alongside Dr Falk, we have the multi-award-winning comedian, writer, podcaster and filmmaker, Josie Long, who has alsp appeared on 8 Out Of 10 Cats, Have I Got News For You and House of Games.
Research - Rosanna Evans
Script- Emma Nagouse, Rosanna Evans and Gregg Jenner
Project Manager - Siefe Miyo
Edit Producer - Cornelius Mendez
The Athletic production for BBC Radio 4

54 min

Top Podcasts In History

The Rest Is History
Goalhanger Podcasts
American Scandal
Wondery
American History Tellers
Wondery
Everything Everywhere Daily
Gary Arndt | Glassbox Media
Dan Carlin's Hardcore History
Dan Carlin
Throughline
NPR

More by BBC

Global News Podcast
BBC World Service
6 Minute English
BBC Radio
In Our Time
BBC Radio 4
You're Dead to Me
BBC Radio 4
Newshour
BBC World Service
The Documentary Podcast
BBC World Service