The Universe's Origins
In Our Time
BBC
4.6 • 9.9K Ratings
🗓️ 20 May 1999
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
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 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
| 0:04.7 | My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds. |
| 0:08.5 | As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices. |
| 0:18.0 | What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars, |
| 0:24.6 | poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples. |
| 0:29.7 | If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds. |
| 0:36.0 | Thanks for downloading the In Our Time Podcast. |
| 0:39.0 | For more details about In Our Time and for our terms of use, please go to BBC.co. UK forward slash radio for. I hope you enjoy |
| 0:46.5 | the program. Hello about 400 years ago in Rome Giordano Bruno was burnt at the |
| 0:52.2 | stake for his belief in other inhabited worlds. |
| 0:55.0 | It's a possibility which is fascinated scientists, writers, artists and the general public for centuries |
| 1:00.0 | and any considerations of the origins of life and matter on other planets, and indeed this one, |
| 1:05.5 | inevitably raises huge questions. |
| 1:07.9 | Do other worlds exist? |
| 1:09.3 | How did our planet come into existence? |
| 1:11.4 | How can we know anything at all about the origins of life and |
| 1:13.9 | matter so many billions of years ago and how is our thinking on these among the |
| 1:17.9 | deepest of questions changed over the century. With me is the Astronomer Royal |
| 1:22.4 | Professor Sir Martin Reese who's also a Royal |
| 1:24.4 | Society research professor in Astronomer in Physics at Cambridge University. A leading research |
| 1:29.2 | on cosmic evolutions, black holes and galaxies, his books include black holes in the universe and |
| 1:34.1 | before the beginning our universe and others. He's particularly interested in |
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