logo
episode-header-image
Jul 2020
27m 58s

S1.1 Moonshine

Bbc World Service
About this episode

A little-known scientist discovers something that will change the course of human history.

After befriending some of the world’s greatest physicists in 1920s Berlin, Albert Einstein among them, Leo Szilard is forced to flee when the Nazis come to power. In London, he discovers the destructive possibilities of harnessing nuclear power; setting the course for the world’s first atomic bomb.

#thebomb

Up next
Jul 2020
The prologue
“My grandfather in front of a mushroom cloud”. This is the story of why I wanted to know if the Bomb could have been stopped. Episode 1 available from 1 August. #thebomb 
2m 57s
Nov 6
Kennedy and Khrushchev: Trailer
The world is on the brink of nuclear war. How can the Soviet Union and the USA prevent it? Hosts Nina Khrushcheva and Max Kennedy, relatives of the superpower leaders President John F Kennedy and Premier Nikita Khrushchev, tell the personal and political history of the Cuban Miss ... Show More
4m 5s
Dec 1
Kennedy and Khrushchev: 1. Opening moves
As the USA and Soviet Union race for supremacy in the 1960s, Premier Khrushchev sizes up his rival, President John F Kennedy. Hosts Max Kennedy and Nina Khrushcheva, relatives of the superpower leaders, explore their rise to power - one wealthy, smooth-talking and Harvard educate ... Show More
37m 44s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2021
The Manhattan Project
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the race to build an atom bomb in the USA during World War Two. Before the war, scientists in Germany had discovered the potential of nuclear fission and scientists in Britain soon argued that this could be used to make an atom bomb, against which ... Show More
48m 20s
Oct 2021
The Manhattan Project
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the race to build an atom bomb in the USA during World War Two. Before the war, scientists in Germany had discovered the potential of nuclear fission and scientists in Britain soon argued that this could be used to make an atom bomb, against which ... Show More
48m 20s
Oct 2021
The Manhattan Project
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the race to build an atom bomb in the USA during World War Two. Before the war, scientists in Germany had discovered the potential of nuclear fission and scientists in Britain soon argued that this could be used to make an atom bomb, against which ... Show More
48m 20s
Oct 2023
Albert Einstein
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss the man who, in 1905, produced several papers that were to change the world of physics and whose name went on to become a byword for genius. This was Albert Einstein, then still a technical expert at a Swiss patent office, and that year of 1905 bec ... Show More
49m 29s
Jul 2023
Oppenheimer
<p>On a summer morning in 1945, a device known simply as 'Gadget' was detonated. An enormous explosion tore a crater into the New Mexico desert, melting sand into radioactive green glass and sending a mushroom cloud 7.5 miles into the sky. This was the first controlled detonation ... Show More
33m 21s
Jul 2023
Destroyer of Worlds (Replay)
July 16, 1945. It happened within a millionth of a second. In the New Mexico desert in the early morning hours, a group of scientists watched in anticipation as the countdown began. It was silent at first, yet hot and unbelievably bright. Then came the sound. The first-ever atomi ... Show More
31m 17s
Jul 2020
Destroyer of Worlds
July 16, 1945. It happened within a millionth of a second. In the New Mexico desert in the early morning hours, a group of scientists watched in anticipation as the countdown began. It was silent at first, yet hot and unbelievably bright. Then came the sound. The first-ever atomi ... Show More
28m 11s
Sep 2022
The Atomic Bomb & the Secret City
<p>In 1939 Franklin D Roosevelt received a letter from Albert Einstein, warning him&nbsp;that the&nbsp;Nazis&nbsp;might be developing nuclear weapons. America has to act fast.</p><br><p>What follows is the creation of a secret city in the rural area of Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Aroun ... Show More
27m 28s