The Universe's Origins

In Our Time: Science

BBC

History

4.5 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 20 May 1999

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg examines the history of what we know about the origins of the universe. Some four hundred years ago in Rome, one Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake for his belief in other inhabited worlds - it’s a possibility which has fascinated scientists, writers, artists and the general public for centuries - and any consideration of the origins of life and matter on other planets, and indeed this one, inevitably raises huge questions. Do other worlds exist? How did our planet come into existence? How can we know anything at all about the origins of life and matter so many billions of years ago, and how has our thinking on these - amongst the deepest of questions - changed over the 20th century? Are we any closer to knowing whether other worlds exist and how our own planet came into being? And does the knowledge we have about these things change our perception of ourselves and our position in the universe?With Professor Sir Martin Rees, Astronomer Royal and Royal Society Research Professor in Astronomy and Physics, Cambridge University; Professor Paul Davies, theoretical physicist and Visiting Professor at Imperial College, London.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thanks for downloading the In Our Time podcast. For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co.uk.
0:09.0	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:11.0	Hello, about 400 years ago in Rome, Giordano Bruno was burnt at the stake for his
0:16.7	belief in other inhabited worlds.
0:19.6	It's a possibility which is fascinated scientists, writers, artists and the general public for centuries.
0:24.3	And any considerations of the origins of life and matter on other planets, and indeed this one,
0:29.3	inevitably raises huge questions.
0:31.6	Do other worlds exist? How did our planet come into existence? How
0:35.2	can we know anything at all about the origins of life and matter so many billions of
0:38.9	years ago? And how is our thinking on these among the deepest of questions changed over the century.
0:45.0	With me is the Astronomer Royal Professor Sir Martin Reese, who's also a Royal Society research
0:49.0	professor in Astronomy and Physics at Cambridge University, a leading research on cosmic evolution, black holes and galaxies.
0:55.0	His books include black holes in the universe and
0:58.0	before the beginning, our universe and others.
1:00.0	He's particularly interested in searching for the basic physical laws of life.
1:04.5	His most recent book, Just Six Numbers, will be published in the autumn.
1:09.2	Professor Paul Davies is a theoretical physicist who is currently a visiting professor at Imperial College London
1:14.4	a prolific and prize-winning writer on cosmology, gravitation and quantum field theory.
1:19.5	He is like Sir Martin particularly interested in black holes and the origin of the universe.
1:23.6	His most recent book, The Fifth Miracle, comes out in paperback.
1:27.4	Next month.
1:28.4	Martin, can I ask you how this century the ideas about how the universe began have developed?
	...

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