There are some great questions
that have intrigued and haunted us
since the dawn of humanity.
What is out there?
How did we get here?
What is the world made of?
The story of our search
to answer those questions
is the story of science.
Of all human endeavors
science has had the greatest impact on our lives,
on how we see the world,
on how we see ourselves.
Its ideas, its achievements, its results
are all around us.
So, how did we arive at the modern world?
Well, that is more surprising
and more human than you might think.
The history of science is often told
as a series of eureka moments,
the ultimate triumph of the rational mind.
But the truth is that power and passion,
rivalry and sheer blind chance
have played equally significant parts.
In this series,
I'll be offering a different view
of how science happens.
It's been shaped as much by what's outside the laboratory as inside.
This is the story of how history made science
and science made history
and how the ideas that were generated
changed our world.
It is a tale of power,
proof,
and passion.