Human Intelligence

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.