logo
episode-header-image
Sep 2010
13m 52s

The Mathematicians Who Helped Einstein

BBC Radio 4 Extra
About this episode

This ten part history of mathematics from Newton to the present day, reveals the personalities behind the calculations: the passions and rivalries of mathematicians struggling to get their ideas heard. Professor Marcus du Sautoy shows how these masters of abstraction find a role in the real world and proves that mathematics is the driving force behind modern science.

Today, the pioneering nineteenth century mathematicians who helped Albert Einstien with his maths: Jonas Bolyai, Nicolas Loachevski and Bernhard Riemann. Without the mathematics to describe curved space and multiple dimensions, the theory of relativity doesn't really work.

Producer: Anna Buckley

From 2010.

Up next
Oct 2010
Nicolas Bourbaki
This ten part history of mathematics from Newton to the present day, reveals the personalities behind the calculations: the passions and rivalries of mathematicians struggling to get their ideas heard. Professor Marcus du Sautoy shows how these masters of abstraction find a role ... Show More
14m 36s
Oct 2010
Hardy and Ramanujan
This ten part history of mathematics from Newton to the present day, reveals the personalities behind the calculations: the passions and rivalries of mathematicians struggling to get their ideas heard. Professor Marcus du Sautoy shows how these masters of abstraction find a role ... Show More
14m 18s
Sep 2010
Henri Poincaré
This ten part history of mathematics from Newton to the present day, reveals the personalities behind the calculations: the passions and rivalries of mathematicians struggling to get their ideas heard. Professor Marcus du Sautoy shows how these masters of abstraction find a role ... Show More
14m 8s
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2025
Mathematics
Mathematics—the language of the universe, woven into the fabric of history and discovery. From ancient civilizations counting on clay tablets to the groundbreaking theories that shaped our modern world, the story of math is one of curiosity, logic, and human ingenuity. Who were t ... Show More
55m 32s
Feb 2010
Mathematics' Unintended Consequences
Melvyn Bragg and guests John Barrow, Colva Roney-Dougal and Marcus du Sautoy explore the unintended consequences of mathematical discoveries, from the computer to online encryption, to alternating current and predicting the path of asteroids.In his book The Mathematician's Apolog ... Show More
41m 54s
Sep 2009
Calculus
Melvyn Bragg discusses the epic feud between Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz over who invented an astonishingly powerful new mathematical tool - calculus. Both claimed to have conceived it independently, but the argument soon descended into a bitter battle over priority, p ... Show More
42m 7s
Mar 2020
Albert Einstein: Inside the Mind of Quirky Genius
Albert Einstein is the theoretical physicist who discovered the theory of relativity and E=MC². He changed our understanding of the universe more than any other scientist. How and why was he such an original thinker? How did his personal life inform his scientific works? Learn mo ... Show More
34m 55s
Nov 2010
Mathematics in the real world
Inspired by Évariste Galois's attempts to express symmetry using mathematical equations, Professor Marcus du Sautoy explores the inextricable link between the physical world and mathematics. 
9m 22s
Dec 2023
How Scientists Learned to Stop Deuling With Each Other (Literally) and Start Cooperating
Scientists have always been rivals—for priority, prizes, and positions within science, and for fame and funding. This can be seen when Newton and Leibniz fought over who invented calculus (and the former destroyed the reputation of the latter), or Tycho Brahe losing part of his n ... Show More
41m 58s
Feb 2024
Ep 202: David Deutsch’s ”The Fabric of Reality” Chapter 10 ”The Nature of Mathematics” Part 3
The nature of proof and mathematics as a creative enterprise. Not all that is true can be proved as such, the high hopes of David Hilbert for placing the entirety of mathematics on a "firm foundation", the mathematical world-shattering results of Kurt Gödel which frustrated that ... Show More
45m 26s
Nov 2023
"Is Math Real?: How Simple Questions Lead Us to Mathematics’ Deepest Truths" by Eugenia Cheng
Today, one of the world’s most creative mathematicians offers a new way to look at math. 
11m 29s