Human Intelligence

Naomi Alderman returns with her series that explores the minds of the greatest thinkers in history. From political theorists to scientists to inventors, authors and artists. Our world is based on their ideas and innovations. How did they do their work, what did they struggle with, where did they find their dedication, creativity and inspiration?

Engineer Nikola Tesla had grand plans to change the world. One of his inventions did forever change our relationship with electricity, and the way we move through the world, but he also left us with another long-lasting legacy that is problematic. He was utterly obsessed with convincing the world that he was a reclusive genius. Someone who did not need colleagues or teammates to achieve greatness. Was he right to do it all alone? And how does the image of the reclusive genius still affect society today?

Special thanks to Professor Iwan Rhys Morus, a Professor of history at Aberystwyth University.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman

Naomi Alderman returns with her series that explores the minds of the greatest thinkers in history. From political theorists to scientists to inventors, authors and artists. Our world is based on their ideas and innovations. How did they do their work, what did they struggle with, where did they find their dedication, creativity and inspiration?

Li Qingzhao is still celebrated today as one of China’s greatest literary figures, and arguably the most famous female Chinese poet. However, her talents in writing are just the beginning of where her intelligence lies. Naomi Alderman explores the mind of a woman who was fascinated with game play, and who worked tirelessly to preserve important artefacts of history which were in danger of being lost forever.

Special thanks to Penny Ding, Senior Lecturer at the University of Liverpool.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Naomi Alderman returns with her series that explores the minds of the greatest thinkers in history. From political theorists to scientists to inventors, authors and artists. Our world is based on their ideas and innovations. How did they do their work, what did they struggle with, where did they find their dedication, creativity and inspiration?

French philosopher Michel de Montaigne was fascinated by the study of his own mind – with its changing nature and lack of fixed ideas. He would spend days and days rewriting his thoughts, questioning himself and challenging his own opinions. How did he do his thinking, and what can the study of his mind reveal about how we view ourselves?

Special thanks to David Wootton Emeritus Professor of History at the University of York.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman

Naomi Alderman returns with her series that explores the minds of the greatest thinkers in history. From political theorists to scientists to inventors, authors and artists. Our world is based on their ideas and innovations. How did they do their work, what did they struggle with, where did they find their dedication, creativity and inspiration?

Centuries ago, philosopher Ibn Khaldun had time and space to reflect on the world around him. By soaking up the available historical knowledge at his disposal and casting a keen eye on how power evolved, he produced a theory that explained why there was a pattern of dynasties rising and falling. How did retreating from society enable him to do his greatest thinking?

Special thanks to Hugh Kennedy, Professor of Arabic at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman

Naomi Alderman returns with her series that explores the minds of the greatest thinkers in history. From political theorists to scientists to inventors, authors and artists. Our world is based on their ideas and innovations. How did they do their work, what did they struggle with, where did they find their dedication, creativity and inspiration?

Emily Brontë’s novel Wuthering Heights sent shock waves through Victorian society when it was published, and it is a novel that continues to stir debate and discussion today. What can we learn of the mind that conjured up such a piece of work? And how did her reclusive nature bring greater depth and focus to her writing?

Special thanks to Dr Claire O’Callaghan, Senior Lecturer in Victorian Literature at Loughborough University.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman

Naomi Alderman returns with her series that explores the minds of the greatest thinkers in history. From political theorists to scientists to inventors, authors and artists. Our world is based on their ideas and innovations. How did they do their work, what did they struggle with, where did they find their dedication, creativity and inspiration?

Against the wishes of her family, American dancer and choreographer Martha Graham pursued a career on the stage, touring the United States as a vaudeville star, even making it to Broadway. But the classic traditions of dance weren’t enough for her. She sought perfection – the perfect encapsulation of the human experience, in movement. Modernist ideals were changing artistic expression across mediums, and the Graham technique distilled those ideals for dance. Her visceral work catapulted her to fame. As her reputation grew she never stopped exploring, looking to everything from Greek myth to Jungian psychology for inspiration, pushing to explore the passions and pains of the human experience.

Special thanks to Paul Jackson, Reader in Choreography and Dance at the University of Winchester and Choreography Instructor at the Central School of Ballet.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman

Naomi Alderman returns with her series that explores the minds of the greatest thinkers in history. From political theorists to scientists to inventors, authors and artists. Our world is based on their ideas and innovations. How did they do their work, what did they struggle with, where did they find their dedication, creativity and inspiration?

Da Vinci had insatiable curiosity, a deep desire to observe and understand the world around him. The curiosity that drove him to learn everything he could and brought a depth of understanding to the works he produced. His obvious genius put him in high demand – but Da Vinci was a careful man, taking years to complete each commission and frequently never finishing them at all. He was looking for perfection and seemed not to mind taking years to achieve it.

Special thanks to Catherine Fletcher, Professor of History at Manchester Metropolitan University.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman

Naomi Alderman returns with her series that explores the minds of the greatest thinkers in history. From political theorists to scientists to inventors, authors and artists. Our world is based on their ideas and innovations. How did they do their work, what did they struggle with, where did they find their dedication, creativity and inspiration?

In the early 9th century Baghdad was the centre of the world, and within Baghdad the Bayt al-Hikma – the House of Wisdom – was the centre of scholarship. And in that centre, the Al-Khawarizmi was working to revolutionise our understanding of mathematics. This revolution would be outlined in his book, Al-Jabr, from which we get the word algebra. While arithmetic and geometry date back to the ancient Greeks and Babylonians, Al-Khawarizmi sought to outline a recipe that could be applied to multiple situations. A formula that would unlock a greater understanding of calculation.

In his own lifetime his impact was immense, from popularising the use of Hindu numerals, to large infrastructure projects. But his impact today is even greater. He laid the foundations on which we all walk.

Special thanks to Jim Al-Khalili, professor of theoretical physics and chair in public engagement in science at the University of Surrey.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman

Naomi Alderman returns with her series that explores the minds of the greatest thinkers in history. From political theorists to scientists to inventors, authors and artists. Our world is based on their ideas and innovations. How did they do their work, what did they struggle with, where did they find their dedication, creativity and inspiration?

Raised in an environment of deep, committed learning, Weil studied Marx and Descartes. But by adulthood she was frustrated with the intellectualisation of the plight of the poor. It was not enough, for Weil, to learn about or to discuss the lives of factory workers – she felt it was crucial to experience their lives first-hand. Weil’s was a perfectionism of the spirit, a demand to understand every human life in the ways in which it is unlike every other. But did her perfectionism lead her astray?

Special thanks to Professor Anna Rowlands at the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman

Naomi Alderman returns with her series that explores the minds of the greatest thinkers in history. From political theorists to scientists to inventors, authors and artists. Our world is based on their ideas and innovations. How did they do their work, what did they struggle with, where did they find their dedication, creativity and inspiration?

A highly skilled engineer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel was driven by a desire to be the best, to achieve perfection in everything he built. From the Clifton Suspension Bridge to Paddington Station, Brunel’s work left indelible stamps on Britain. Unconcerned with cost and willing to put himself and his workers at risk to achieve his goals, his need for perfection perhaps went too far, by today’s standards. He had a vision for a future that, in his own time, seemed impossible: one where people could travel by smooth, comfortable, fast railways.

Special thanks to Tim Bryan Brunel curator at the SS Great Britain in Bristol.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman