logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2019
50m 6s

The man who gave his voice to Stephen Ha...

Bbc World Service
About this episode

The story of the American scientist Dennis Klatt who pioneered synthesised speech. He used recordings of himself to make the sounds that gave physicist Stephen Hawking a voice. Plus India:struggling to live through economic shock treatment in the 1990s, also LEO the first electronic office system, the first confirmed case of AIDS in America and when Uluru, Australia's famous natural landmark was handed back to the control of the country's indigenous people.

(Photo: BOMBAY, INDIA: World-renowned physicist Stephen Hawking answers questions with the help of a voice synthesiser during a press conference at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) in Bombay, 06 January 2001. Credit AFP)

Up next
Nov 22
Juan Carlos becomes King of Spain and ending the Bosnian war
<p>Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is Mercedes Peñalba- Sotorrío, a senior lecturer in modern European history at Manchester Metropolitan University, England.</p><p>We start with the death of General ... Show More
1 h
Nov 15
Speed of Sound and prosecuting Nazis
<p>Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service. Our guest is aviation historian Dr Victoria Taylor.</p><p>We start with an archive interview of American Chuck Yeager who became the first pilot to fly faster than the speed ... Show More
1h 1m
Nov 8
The largest dinosaur and creating Miffy
Max Pearson presents a collection of the week's Witness History interviews from the BBC World Service.Our guest is Darja Dankina, who's a palaeontologist from the Natures Research Centre in Vilnius, Lithuania. We start with the discovery of the largest dinosaur ever, uncovered by ... Show More
1 h
Recommended Episodes
Mar 2023
A Brief History of Time
A Brief History of Time, the best-selling book written by the renowned theoretical physicist Prof Stephen Hawking, was published in March 1988.In this programme first broadcast in 2018, Louise Hidalgo talks about physics, existence and the universe that made the book so popular. ... Show More
9m 2s
Jun 2022
Radio waves and plants: The life of JC Bose
Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose was a polymath: a physicist, biologist and early writer of science fiction. He pioneered the investigation of radio and microwave optics. He made significant contributions to plant science, designing ingenious devices to measure plant growth and responsi ... Show More
39m 18s
Feb 2023
Stephen Hawking's Inspirational Last Words on the Importance of Science
<p>Stephen Hawking's Inspiring Last Words on the Importance of Science.</p><br><p>Remembering Stephen Hawking (1942-2018), one of the most incredible physicist's to ever walk our earth. Rest in Peace.</p><br><p>Music:</p><br><p>Borrtex</p><hr><p style='color:grey; font-size:0.75e ... Show More
3m 51s
Apr 2020
How Far We've Come
In our premiere episode, we climb aboard an audio time machine with the reporter Adam Cole to look back at pivotal moments in climate change history. Host John D. Sutter speaks with the actor and climate activist Ed Begley Jr. about the first Earth Day 50 years ago and the things ... Show More
30m 19s
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
Oct 2020
Alan Turing
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Alan Turing (1912-1954) whose 1936 paper On Computable Numbers effectively founded computer science. Immediately recognised by his peers, his wider reputation has grown as our reliance on computers has grown. He was a leading figure at Bletchley Pa ... Show More
53m 8s
Oct 2016
John Dalton
The scientist John Dalton was born in North England in 1766. Although he came from a relatively poor Quaker family, he managed to become one of the most celebrated scientists of his age. Through his work, he helped to establish Manchester as a place where not only products were m ... Show More
45m 40s