Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Human Intelligence

Naomi Alderman introduces her series dissecting the minds of brilliant thinkers from the past; examining the myriad ways in which humans think – the messy magic behind ideas that shaped the world.

Unlike Artificial Intelligence, human intelligence is a flesh and blood pursuit. It is shaped by character, opportunity and circumstance, and fueled by ego, mania, tenacity and eccentricity.

Each episode of HI tells a story of how a brilliant mind came up with a brilliant idea, asking: how did this person achieve their intellectual ambitions? What kind of mind is at work here? Did they argue their position? Did they prefer quiet contemplation or long walks by the sea?

Naomi introduces remarkable thinkers from across history – Socrates, Mary Wollstonecraft, Malcolm X, Sei Shōnagon, Charles Darwin and so many more – alongside academic experts from around the world.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

While in prison, Malcolm X read furiously after lights-out and changed his entire life trajectory. Naomi Alderman looks at his extraordinary capacity for learning. Prominent as a black nationalist, skilled orator and remarkable organiser in the black freedom struggle in mid-20th century America, Malcolm X was, above all, a learner – a thinker prepared to change his mind. He left hustling behind for a Spartan, ascetic existence, dedicated to the cause.

Special thanks to Clarence Lang, Susan Welch Dean of the College of the Liberal Arts and Professor of African American studies at Penn State.

Excerpt from The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Malcolm X and Alex Haley (Penguin Modern Classics 2001).

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Executive editor: James Cook Assistant producer: Sarah Goodman Researcher: Harry Burton Production coordinator: Amelia Paul Script consultant: Sara Joyner

Luther's vivid, wild words – powered by new printing technology – set in motion a chain reaction that split the Catholic Church, powered the Reformation and changed the world forever. Naomi Alderman meets this determined thinker.

Famously, Luther walked up to a church in a backwater town and nailed his Ninety-five Theses to the door. The son of a metal smelter, he knew how rough and dangerous life could be; and he was prepared to question, argue and openly insult powerful authorities in defence of his explosive theology.

Special thanks to Lyndal Roper, Regius Professor of History at the University of Oxford.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Mary Wollstonecraft argued with passion and moral certainty in her great work, A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Naomi Alderman meets the first modern woman, who lived the ideas she espoused – travelling to revolutionary France, living unmarried to her lover, arguing, debating, persuading and showing, with the quality of her arguments, the justice of her own cause. She died tragically young, giving birth to her daughter Mary, known now as Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein.

Special thanks to Dr Corin Throsby, who teaches English at the University of Cambridge.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Washington may be better known as a man of action rather than ideas. However, he gave the world one idea of huge power, an idea that was also about power. As a military General, Washington won the American War of Independence. Then, as the first ever US president, he helped establish a nation and guide it through its early life. And then he did something extraordinary – he voluntarily gave up his power and returned to his farm. The idea of the peaceful transfer of power has been at the heart of the American system ever since.

Special thanks to Dr Tom F Wright, Associate Professor in Rhetoric at the University of Sussex.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

The ancient Athenian Socrates encourages us to think about what are the most important things in life and to bring real clarity to the ideas, concepts and beliefs that we use every day. He was persistent, brilliant, possessed of an intellectual curiosity and rigour that few have matched. Naomi Alderman explores the mind of this mercurial and fleeting figure – he has left us with no written work and our only sense of him is through the experiences and writings of others.

Special thanks to Dr Frisbee Sheffield, Associate Professor of Classics at the University of Cambridge.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Naomi Alderman investigates the eccentric brilliance of Diogenes. He was a ‘cynic’ philosopher, which originally meant ‘dog-like’, and wanted to teach us that humans could learn from dogs and the simple authentic manner in which they went about their lives. Diogenes was sharp, hilarious, downright rude and a menace in the market place.

Special thanks to Dr Robert Cromarty, Classics Master at Wellington College.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Executive editor: James Cook Assistant producer: Sarah Goodman Researcher: Harry Burton Production coordinator: Amelia Paul Script consultant: Sara Joyner

Naomi Alderman meets Peter Ramus – a teacher determined to simplify and systematise the teaching of difficult things. He spoke his mind and thrived on stirring up trouble.

Ramus was behind one of the most important learning devices in history. A system of organising knowledge that helped overthrow the primacy of Aristotle in medieval universities and allowed everyone to access ideas, regardless of birth or status. He was a fighter (literally on some occasions), a brilliant speaker and devoted to the idea that knowledge deserved to spread far beyond the cloistered walls of higher education.

Special thanks to Robert Goulding, Associate Professor in the Program of Liberal Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Mary Somerville was a brilliant polymath who found time to correct the work of Isaac Newton whilst looking after her infant children. Naomi Alderman investigates her extraordinary work ethic and expansive interests.

Somerville's writings, across a range of disciplines – maths, astronomy, botany, geography – became essential reading for those learning science, and helped to define what a scientist was in the early 19th century.

Special thanks to Dr Brigitte Stenhouse, Lecturer in the History of Mathematics at The Open University.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Naomi Alderman explores one of the greatest minds of the medieval world and in the history of Jewish thought. His work, The Guide for the Perplexed, is among the most influential works of medieval philosophy. In his efforts to reconcile faith and reason, Maimonides was having parts of the Enlightenment in his head 600 years early.

Special thanks to Rabbi Dr Raphael Zarum, Dean of the London School of Jewish Studies and the Rabbi Sacks Chair of Modern Jewish Thought.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

The modern world is inconceivable without this son of a blacksmith and his meticulous, relentless brain. Naomi Alderman meets the mind behind huge scientific advances – who made breakthroughs in the understanding of electricity, changed the technology by which we live and contributed to our theoretical understanding of the forces underpinning the universe. Faraday also devoted his life to spreading the understanding of science into public life via his lectures at the Royal Institution.

Special thanks to Frank James, Professor of the History of Science at University College London.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Darwin asked big questions. His theory of evolution transformed our understanding of life on Earth. But Naomi Alderman discovers that he did it by looking at small things and tiny changes that other people had overlooked. From earliest childhood, he’d been a collector – pocketing shells, coins, minerals, bits of pottery and rooftiles – and his travels on HMS Beagle allowed him to amass a vast collection of specimens and observations that he and others would puzzle over for decades.

Special thanks to Dr John van Wyhe, historian of science at the National University of Singapore and the Director of The Complete Work of Charles Darwin Online.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Executive editor: James Cook Assistant producer: Sarah Goodman Researcher: Harry Burton Production coordinator: Amelia Paul Script consultant: Sara Joyner

Samuel Johnson was living proof that a person can be extremely messy and disorganised but still do work of great worth. He compiled and almost single-handedly wrote an English dictionary that changed the language for good. ‘Dictionary Johnson’ established the spelling and meaning of many words; he looked at etymology; he poked fun and cracked jokes. He lived hand to mouth, writing for money, and helped establish the modern literary world.

Special thanks to Judith Hawley, Professor of Eighteenth-Century Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Naomi Alderman examines the intelligence and sharp humour of an ancient Greek historian known as Pamphila of Epidaurus. She was a female historian working in a society that believed women were constitutionally unsuited to the rational and peculiarly masculine task of recording facts for posterity. She wrote thirty-three volumes of her famed Historical Commentaries from her home. She wrote for fun, organising her material in a free and easy mix, like ‘embroidery’. We have none of her original writings, just reported fragments, but she gave us cultural history as we know it today, centuries ahead of time.

Special thanks to Edith Hall, Professor of Classics at Durham University.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Naomi Alderman looks at the remarkable way Denis Diderot connected ideas and people. In 18th-century Paris, he edited one of the very first encyclopaedias: twenty-eight volumes with tens of thousands of articles on everything from the concept of liberty to cutting-edge medical research, the manufacture of silk stockings and a recipe for apricot jam. Diderot was the perfect man for the job – energised by veering from one subject to the next and undeterred by fierce opposition from the Church or even a government ban on the entire project.

Special thanks to Kate Tunstall, Professor of French and Sir Lindsay Owen-Jones Fellow in Modern Languages at Worcester College, University of Oxford.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Naomi Alderman wonders at lady-in-waiting, writer and all-round entertainer Sei Shōnagon, who wrote The Pillow Book over a thousand years ago in the Japanese imperial court.

The Empress and her entourage lived in a closed world, glimpsed through half-shut blinds, while political machinations went on all around them. Poetry and wit were highly prized; and Sei Shōnagon was unmatched. In dark times, she picked out the beauty and absurdity in everyday life; and pulled together poetry, anecdote, essays and lists to create a whole new genre in Japanese – miscellany.

Special thanks to Naomi Fukumori, Associate Professor and Director of The Institute for Japanese Studies at The Ohio State University.

Excerpts from The Pillow Book translated by Meredith McKinney (Penguin Classics 2006).

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Albert Einstein was an international pop star of science who urged the US government to build an atom bomb. Naomi Alderman gets into one of the most famous brains of all time.

Einstein rewrote our understanding of universe. He imagined hitching a ride on a light beam and pursued his famous 'thought experiments' to remarkable ends. He was a man who never swam with the tide. Despite a lifelong commitment to pacifism, in 1939, Einstein signed a letter urging the US government to speed up work on the development of a nuclear bomb. Naomi finds out why.

Special thanks to Janna Levin, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Executive editor: Philip Sellars Series producer: Sarah Goodman Script editor: Sara Joyner Researchers: Harry Burton and Miriam O'Byrne Production coordinator: Amelia Paul

Lise Meitner was a world-class physicist, who saw what others could not. She recognised nuclear fission – the splitting of the atom, the powerful energy released – before anyone else. Naomi Alderman finds out how.

Women weren't even allowed to attend lectures at the University of Berlin, when Meitner moved there in 1907. She began her career in a basement workshop, kept away from male students, and went on to build an unimpeachable reputation for scientific precision and brilliance. Her discovery of fission made the atom bomb possible, but she refused to have anything to do with the Manhattan Project.

Special thanks to Frank Close, Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Physics at the University of Oxford and author of Destroyer of Worlds: The Deep History of the Nuclear Age: 1895-1965 (Allen Lane, 2025).

Thanks also to Alex Wellerstein, historian of science at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Naomi Alderman dives into the amazing intellect of John von Neumann, physicist, mathematician, economist, computer scientist – a visionary who predicted the rise of artificial intelligence decades ahead of time.

As a child, von Neumann could recite the telephone directory and crack jokes in Ancient Greek. He waltzed into the Manhattan Project and solved a problem that had frustrated other top scientists for months. His work on game theory underpins the modern world, from defence strategies to dating apps. But, for all his serious intellectual contributions, von Neumann was a party animal, who did his best thinking surrounded by people and noise.

Special thanks to Ananyo Bhattacharya, chief science writer at the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences and author of The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann (Allen Lane, 2021).

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Niels Bohr said, 'Anyone who is not shocked when they first come across quantum theory cannot possibly have understood it.' Naomi Alderman investigates the remarkable insights of a scientific genius.

Bohr is the man who figured out the structure of the nucleus at the centre of the atom, recognising that the quantum world of tiny particles behaves very differently to the tangible, everyday world around us. He built a scientific family around him, mentoring some of the greatest theoretical physicists of the twentieth century.

Special thanks to Jim Al-Khalili, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Surrey.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Naomi Alderman explores the multifaceted mind of J Robert Oppenheimer, scientific lead on the Manhattan Project, a vast, top secret scheme to build the world's first atomic bombs in World War II.

The Project was a remarkable feat of human intellect with a real, devastating human cost. It required close cooperation between the US military and a group of world-leading scientists. In many ways, Oppenheimer was a puzzling candidate for the job. He was brilliant, but fuelled by self-loathing. A physicist, he was also a student of philosophy and mysticism, interested in left-wing radical politics. Oppenheimer built the bomb, but later called the weapon's industry "the devil's work". His legacy, like the Manhattan Project itself, is infinitely complex.

Special thanks to Alex Wellerstein, historian of science at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, and author of The Most Awful Responsibility: Truman and the Secret Struggle for Control of the Atomic Age (HarperCollins, 2025).

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Aristotle was a philosopher, teacher, collector and all-round polymath. He was also, importantly, a traveller, who allowed new places, especially the rich biodiversity he encountered on the island of Lesbos, to shape his thinking profoundly.

Aristotle’s observations about the natural world were remarkably accurate. Many were proved correct by modern science thousands of years later. He dissected animals, not as his contemporaries did, to understand the will of the gods, but to understand animals for their own sakes. He believed – and encouraged us to consider – that everyone has an innate curiosity about the world, that everyone can try to understand its wonder.

Special thanks to  Sophia Connell, Reader in Philosophy at Birkbeck, University of London.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Executive editor: Philip Sellars Series producer: Sarah Goodman Script editor: Sara Joyner Researchers: Harry Burton and Miriam O'Byrne Production coordinator: Amelia Paul

Naomi Alderman looks at the mindset and legacy of Ida Pfeiffer, a woman who changed the very idea of travel, who is allowed to do it and why.

Traditionally, travelling had always had a purpose – conquering, discovering, negotiating, pilgrimaging. Women were always accompanied by men – husbands, fathers, brothers, guardians. But in the mid-nineteenth century, a separated mother of two upped sticks and travelled twice around the world, all because she wanted to.

Ida Pfeiffer went on bush expeditions with tiger hunters in India and had dinner with Queen Pomare IV of Tahiti. She spent her fiftieth birthday riding camels through Iran. So many people must have yearned for this kind of adventure, thought about it, but never turned the idea into reality. Pfeiffer made it happen. But what was so different about her thinking?

Special thanks to John van Wyhe, historian of science at the National University of Singapore and author of Wanderlust: The Amazing Ida Pfeiffer, the First Female Tourist (National University of Singapore Press, 2020).

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Sir Patrick Manson shook the medical world when he first understood the infection route for vector-borne diseases like malaria. Naomi Alderman dissects the thinking of a scientific pioneer.

In the late 1800s, no one knew how this kind of illness was spread. Manson, a Scottish physician working in China and later in a home laboratory in London, doggedly pursued the answer. Known as the father of tropical medicine, his understanding has undoubtedly saved lives, although he hoped it would also further the Empire. Where might his discovery take us in future?

Special thanks to Kristin Hussey, Lecturer in Environmental History at Newcastle University and author of Imperial Bodies in London (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021).

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Jean Rhys' sequel to Jane Eyre, Wide Sargasso Sea, changed the way we think about stories forever. Naomi Alderman meets a fellow novelist who put a marginalised character at the centre of the action.

Rhys left Dominica to go to school in cold, grey England, but she had always felt out of place. A perfectionist who needed every word in just the right place, she took decades to publish her masterpiece. She was a thinker ahead of her time, who crammed the whole world and its injustices into her writing.

Special thanks to Sophie Oliver, Senior Lecturer in Modernism at the University of Liverpool.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

Naomi Alderman explores the thinking of the Buddha, who, as a young prince, ventured outside the palace walls and began his journey towards enlightenment.

Siddhartha Gautama lived in a life of rarefied luxury until an encounter with suffering changed everything for him. He became the Buddha, the awakened one, urged self-transformation and profoundly shaped the world we live in. But did his many insights come from thinking, as such, or something else altogether?

Special thanks to Kate Crosby, Numata Professor of Buddhist studies at the University of Oxford.

Produced by BBC Studios Audio in partnership with The Open University.

As a prelude to a new season of Human Intelligence on Radio 4 Naomi Alderman took the brand on the road. It was a road that lead to the upper Wye valley where Naomi and her guests Professor Rosalind Crone and Dr Sian Williams were met with the warmth and enthusiasm of a Hay Literary Festival audience.

The ambition was to add three more names to the Human Intelligence roster, all of them connected by their varyingly difficult childhoods.

Ros Crone told the story of the prison reformer John Field who at a time of crisis in the running and governance of prisons in the 19th century advocated for teaching prisoners to read and write rather than continuing with traditional punishments, in the hope of rehabilitating prisoners. His most impressive work was done at Reading Gaol. All this came after a childhood blighted by Asthma, which saw him bedridden for long periods. During one of these episodes he picked up and became absorbed in a book by the penal reformer John Howard.

Dr Sian Williams chose Anna Freud. The youngest child of Sigmund Freud and Bertha Bernays, Anna became a pioneer in the development of child psychoanalysis as distinct from adult therapy as well as setting up the famous Hampstead nurseries during the 2nd world war. Anna's early life was troubled by a difficult relationship with her mother. Just as she was starting to establish herself as a figure independent from her father, the Anschluss of Austria lead to her being arrested briefly by the Gestapo. It was enough to persuade the family to flee Vienna and settle in London.

Naomi chose Epictetus, the Greek philosopher most associated with stoicism. Of all our thinkers, his was the toughest upbringing, being born into slavery at Hierapolis.

As well as championing their Human Intelligence choices, this was also a chance Naomi and her panel to hear from the Hay audience. They were asked to respond to a simple question, where did they do their best and most creative thinking. It turns out that the processes leading to cleanliness are especially conducive to mental activity. As Michael Flanders once sang; 'I can see the one salvation of the poor old human race.... in the Bath.' It turns out the Hay audience were in agreement, although the shower was also popular.

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 Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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 Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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 Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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 Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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 Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-Ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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?

When Ishi walked from the Californian wilderness into one of the settler’s towns, he became known as “the last wild Indian”. He was the last survivor of the Yahi people, who had been massacred by white settlers during the Gold Rush in about as complete a genocide as mankind had ever inflicted. But Ishi was resourceful and intelligent - he fought for ways to preserve his people’s ways of life, language and culture. So that it wouldn’t die with him.

Special thanks to  Dr Cutcha Risling Baldy, Associate Professor of Native American Studies and department chair of Native American studies at Cal Poly Humboldt.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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 a world that held few spaces for women, Sor Juana found her own. Born in 1648 near the town of Nepantla, she was the daughter of a Spanish coloniser and an indigenous mother. A woman of considerable intelligence, she yearned for a university education, but that was a privilege reserved for men.

She learned all she could, and poured forth her learning in plays, in poetry, and in prose, exploring theological thought and questioning the hypocrisy of the male thinkers who claimed that, as a woman, she had no right to think at all.

Special thanks to a Elisa Sampson Vera Tudela, reader in Latin American culture at King's College London.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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?

The poet Ovid was a brilliant thinker. His masterwork, the Metamorphoses, effortlessly weaves together hundreds of myths into a coherent narrative - it’s because of Ovid that we know of these myths, and we wouldn’t have the mythological richness in later writers including Shakespeare without him.

But Ovid’s life contains a mystery and a tragedy. Without warning, the Emperor Augustus decided to send him into exile - to Tomis on the Black Sea, in modern-day Romania. And it changed Ovid’s thinking. Ovid turned his image into one that has endured: a man who was martyred for free speech.

Special thanks to Gail Trimble Fellow in Classics at Trinity College Oxford.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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?

For Marie Curie, understanding was everything. It was her drive for understanding that saw her seeking an illegal education in Russian occupied Warsaw, attending classes held in apartments and shop rooms. And it was her drive for understanding that ultimately drove her into exile. Her legacy includes untold lives saved by radiation therapy; it is a legacy made possible by her unceasing need to explore and understand the world in which she lived.

Special thanks to award-winning science writer and journalist,  Dava Sobel.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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?

Karl Marx’s ideas caused revolutions, toppled governments, and re-made the political map of the world. He was exiled again and again - fleeing Prussia for France, then to Brussels, eventually living in London where he completed his masterwork Capital. How did exile influence his thinking?

Special thanks to  Bruno Leipold Assistant Professor of Political Theory at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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?

Naomi explores the mind of Homer, the ancient Greek epic poet. She examines how oral tradition, memory, and performance were integral to the imagination of his work, and how storytelling functioned as a shared cultural intelligence long before writing became dominant. Through themes of heroism, fate, and human struggle, Homer’s epics reveal a deeply patterned way of thinking about the world. Naomi investigates how his storytelling mind has influenced countless generations, cultures and societies.

Special thanks to Edith Hall, Professor of Classics at the University of Durham.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researcher: Sasha Edye-Lindner Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Executive Producer: Paul Smith Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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?

Fatema Mernissi, a pioneering sociologist and Islamic feminist whose work centred on voice, storytelling, and power. She examined how narrative becomes a tool of resistance and survival. Naomi Alderman explores her belief that who gets to speak, and be heard, shapes societies, identities, and authority structures. Mernissi also recognised early on how emerging digital spaces could amplify women’s voices globally. Her thinking blends sociology, literature, and activism, offering a profound framework for understanding communication, agency, and cultural transformation.

Special thanks to Zakia Salime, associate professor of sociology and women's and gender and sexuality studies at Rutgers University.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researcher: Sasha Edye-Lindner Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Executive Producer: Paul Smith Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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 Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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. Presenter: Naomi Alderman Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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 Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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 Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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 Executive Editor: Philip Sellars Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researchers: Harry Burton, Martha Owen and Victoria Brignell Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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?

Isabella d'Este was one of the most influential cultural figures of the Italian Renaissance. Renowned for her intelligence, political acumen, and refined taste, she shaped the artistic and intellectual life of her time through strategic patronage and correspondence with leading thinkers and artists. Naomi examines how she navigated the complex power dynamics of Italian courts, using curiosity, diplomacy, and aesthetic vision as tools of influence. From her famed studiolo to her extensive letters, Isabella’s thinking reveals a deeply modern mind; shrewd, self-aware, and committed to shaping culture through intellect as much as authority.

Special thanks to Sarah Cockrum, lecturer in medieval history at the University of Glasgow.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researcher: Sasha Edye-Lindner Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Executive Producer: Paul Smith Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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?

Naomi explores the mind of Desmond Tutu, archbishop and human rights activist, and how his thinking reshaped approaches to justice and reconciliation. As chair of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, he helped pioneer a transformative model of restorative justice grounded in dialogue rather than retribution. Central to his philosophy was Ubuntu, the African idea of a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity, shaping his ethical framework for national healing. Naomi examines how his moral seriousness turned reconciliation into lived practice rather than symbolic performance for a nation rebuilding itself after conflict.

Special thanks to Mungi Ngomane, author and activist.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researcher: Sasha Edye-Lindner Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Executive Producer: Paul Smith Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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?

Naomi explores the mind of Voltaire, one of the defining intellectual voices of the Enlightenment. Through more than 20,000 letters, Voltaire built a vast network of debate known as the “Republic of Letters,” using wit, scepticism, and relentless curiosity to challenge authority and defend freedom of thought. Naomi examines how his experiences of censorship, exile, and persecution shaped his fierce opposition to religious intolerance and abuses of power. From his famous call to “crush the infamous” to his sharp philosophical style, she unpacks how Voltaire’s provocative thinking transformed public debate and helped define modern intellectual life.

Special thanks to David Wooten, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of York

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researcher: Sasha Edye-Lindner Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Executive Producer: Paul Smith Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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?

Elinor Ostrom, the Nobel Prize-winning economist, challenged one of the most influential assumptions in modern economics: the “tragedy of the commons.” Through extensive field research, Ostrom demonstrated that communities around the world can successfully manage shared resources without destroying them. Her work offered a powerful alternative to the belief that competition and privatisation are inevitable. Naomi examines how her deeply practical ideas continue to shape conversations about cooperation, sustainability, democracy, and how humanity might build a more balanced and livable future.

Special thanks to Daniel Cole, emeritus professor at the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researcher: Sasha Edye-Lindner Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Executive Producer: Paul Smith Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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?

Eugène-Francois Vidocq is often regarded as the father of modern policing. Credited with creating the first private detective agency and pioneering the role of the agent provocateur, Vidocq transformed criminal investigation in 19th-century France. Naomi examines how his first-hand knowledge of the underworld helped revolutionise law enforcement through early forensic methods, detailed criminal records, fingerprint concepts, and visual identification techniques. His innovations laid the foundation for modern detective work and influenced policing methods that are still used around the world today.

Special thanks to James Morton, retired criminal defence lawyer and author of ‘The First Detective: The Life and Revolutionary Times of Vidocq’.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researcher: Sasha Edye-Lindner Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Executive Producer: Paul Smith Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Production Manager: Jo Kyle

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?

From inventing the idea of talk therapy to reshaping how we understand dreams, desire, and behaviour, Sigmund Freud changed psychology forever. But what intellectual qualities did he possess that enabled him to carry out this work? Naomi traces his journey starting with medical fascination, but then how he moved from studying the body to focusing on the mind. Ultimately, Naomi uncovers how both his deeply curious mind and willingness to be wrong were the driving forces behind his breakthroughs and enduring intellectual legacy.

Special thanks to Dr Eve Watson, psychoanalyst and academic.

Produced by BBC Studios in partnership with The Open University.

Presenter: Naomi Alderman Production Co-ordinator: Amelia Paul Researcher: Sasha Edye-Lindner Series Producer: Anishka Sharma Executive Producer: Paul Smith Mix Engineer: Nigel Appleton Production Manager: Jo Kyle