Washington Yotto Ochieng on the navigation tech that keeps our world moving
The Life Scientific
BBC
4.6 • 1.4K Ratings
🗓️ 28 April 2026
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As a child growing up on the shores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya, Washington Yotto Ochieng once watched a plane cross the night sky and told his mother he wished he could travel on it. But he remembers her encouraging him to dream bigger...
Today, Washington is a Professor of Engineering at Imperial College London, and President of the Royal Institute of Navigation. Over a career bridging industry and academia, he has helped shape the movement of urban transport; how satellites guide us and locate us; and how governments manage the technologies underpinning so much of modern life.
Professor Jim Al-Khalili speaks to Washington about his inspirational upbringing, how reliant we've become on technologies such as GPS, and his work encouraging the next generation of engineers in both the UK and Africa.
Presented by Jim Al-Khalili Produced by Lucy Taylor
A BBC Studios production
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:07.0 | If you need help on money matters, you're not alone. |
| 0:10.4 | In the Martin Lewis podcast, I'll give you tips to keep more cash in your pocket |
| 0:13.9 | and answer your important questions. |
| 0:16.7 | Now that we're starting from scratch, what is the best way for us to move forward? |
| 0:21.2 | To help your everyday finances just add up, let's see what we can do. |
| 0:26.2 | The Martin Lewis podcast, listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.1 | You're about to listen to the latest series of The Life Scientific. |
| 0:33.9 | Episodes will be released weekly wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:37.7 | But if you're in the UK, you can listen to the latest episodes 28 days before anywhere else, first on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:47.4 | Hello, let me take you back briefly to the 1970s and a clear night in western Kenya. |
| 0:54.1 | A young boy lies on the ground watching a faint |
| 0:56.2 | light move steadily across the sky. A plane on its way to London, his mother explains. And when |
| 1:01.8 | he says he wishes he could travel on it, she tells him, you needn't just be on a plane. One day, |
| 1:06.9 | you could build them. That boy was Washington Yoto Oceang, now Professor of Engineering at Imperial |
| 1:12.8 | College London and President of the Royal Institute of Navigation. Over a career bridging industry |
| 1:18.5 | and academia, Washington has helped shape the movement of urban transport, how GPS satellites |
| 1:24.4 | guide us and locate us, and how governments manage the technologies underpinning so |
| 1:29.1 | much of modern life. He now plays a key role in encouraging the next generation of engineers |
| 1:33.7 | across the UK and Africa and has been recognised with awards including a CBE and Kenya's prestigious |
| 1:41.0 | Order of the Burning Spear. This journey from plain spotting on the shores of |
| 1:46.2 | Lake Victoria to developing the invisible systems that keep our world moving just goes to show |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

