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Advancements in science saw life expectancy double; they helped us advance technology in a way which would have been unimaginable just years before.....
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00:06In the 20th century, the human race took off, with remarkable individuals making a series
00:12of breakthroughs that changed every aspect of our lives.
00:19But whose contribution was the most significant?
00:28To find out, expert juries from each of the major fields of human endeavour have drawn up
00:34a short list of candidates.
00:39The greatest scientist, artist, entertainer, activist,
00:54explorer, sports star,
00:56People are starting to say, look, it's beautiful.
01:00And leader.
01:05These people's stories are some of the pinnacles of human achievement, and show that a single
01:12person has the power to change the world.
01:24When I think of the 20th century, what blows me away, what I find completely overwhelming,
01:29is just how much we change the world in 100 years.
01:36In the 20th century, we doubled life expectancy, developed incredible technology, which shaped
01:48the world we have to die.
01:52And even cracked the code of life itself.
01:57None of this was due to the work of politicians.
02:00None of it was down to sportsmen or women or rock stars.
02:04No.
02:05This was all the work of scientists.
02:10The story of science is intertwined with war, brutality, epidemics and disaster.
02:17But whatever the century threw at us, scientists found a way to save the day.
02:26My four icons were all outsiders, unlikely heroes, able to see the world differently from the
02:34rest of us.
02:36I want to celebrate their genius, and show how, through great personal sacrifice, they
02:42were each able to propel humanity forwards.
02:52A border train bound for Paris sits the first of our four icons.
02:59She carries with her all her possessions and a fold-up chair.
03:05No seats were provided in fourth class.
03:11Nobody could have guessed that this immigrant, with barely a penny to her name,
03:15would go on to demolish some of science's most firmly held beliefs.
03:22But Marie Skwadoska Curie was no ordinary person.
03:28Such was Curie's passion for science, that when she learned that Poland's universities
03:34didn't accept women, she travelled across Europe to study at the Sorbonne.
03:40It had taken her two years to save up the tuition fees.
03:44She had precious little left for basic commodities like coal or food.
03:49So in wintertime, the water in the sink froze solid.
03:53But it was all worth it for a chance to study the world.
04:00While studying, Marie fell in love with physicist Pierre Curie.
04:05They married in a simple ceremony and spent their honeymoon touring the countryside on bicycles.
04:13But science remained her greatest love.
04:16And this is where the case for Curie begins.
04:19She didn't seek out fame and prizes, choosing instead to focus her research on an area largely ignored by her
04:27male counterparts.
04:30Radioactivity.
04:32This is the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the French national library.
04:38And the reason I'm looking so happy is that I've got special permission to take a look at the original
04:42notebooks,
04:43the handwritten notes that Marie Curie made all those years ago.
04:50Curie was studying rocks containing uranium, a magical element that literally glowed in the dark.
04:57For years, it was the only known radioactive material.
05:02Then Curie came across a sample which gave off 300 times as much radiation as the rest.
05:08Hello. Hello.
05:10She suspected the presence of an even more powerful element.
05:14Come on then, let's have a look in one of the notebooks.
05:17Yeah.
05:18After a few weeks of tests, Curie realised she'd discovered something wonderful.
05:26Here, polonium is the first element that they discovered.
05:32It's remarkable, isn't it? Two little letters on a page written for the very first time.
05:37It looks like just two letters on a paper, but it is opening a new world.
05:43Just a few milligrams of this stuff seemed to give off amounts of energy never seen before.
05:50She named it polonium after her native Poland.
05:56Experiments, experiments.
05:58Then, just six months later, she discovered an even more powerful element.
06:04Radium.
06:05Sulfate of radium.
06:07It's a real, tangible piece of history.
06:10Yes.
06:12Curie not only discovered radium, she realised what it could be used for, to attack cancer cells.
06:20Suddenly, doctors had a new weapon in the fight against the disease.
06:26Today, we all know someone who's benefited from Curie's pioneering work on radiotherapy.
06:34But Curie's experiments had led her to another stunning realisation.
06:40She concluded that something went from inside the matter itself that emitted energy.
06:48So, she had the scientific temerity, if you like, to suggest that there were things smaller than atoms.
06:57And up until this point, the atom was an indivisible thing.
07:00Yes.
07:01This was a revolution.
07:04Curie had dared to think outside the box.
07:07Her ideas paving the way for Rutherford to split the atom.
07:12Enrico Fermi to build the first nuclear reactor.
07:16And atomic energy to light up the world.
07:21And the case for Curie doesn't end there.
07:25In the coming years, she would suffer two great tragedies.
07:29And how she overcame them speaks volumes about her character.
07:35First, in 1906, her beloved husband Pierre slipped in the street, fell under a horse and cart, and was instantly
07:45killed.
07:48Then, five years later, as Marie was beginning to rebuild her life, she found herself at the heart of a
07:56tabloid scandal.
07:59Now, Curie had embarked upon a passionate affair with a fellow scientist.
08:04What's more, he was a married man with a family of four.
08:08Paul Langevin.
08:10When Langevin's wife discovered the affair, she sent a pile of love letters written by Curie to a Parisian tabloid.
08:19At this point, Curie was about to be awarded her second Nobel Prize.
08:25When the committee requested she not attend the ceremony for fear of bringing the award into disrepute,
08:32she told them what she thought in no uncertain terms.
08:37The steps you advise seem to me a grave error.
08:42There is no connection between my scientific work and the facts of private life.
08:53Parisian society turned its back on her.
08:59She was vilified by the press, but what Curie did next, in my eyes, elevates her from great scientist to
09:09hero.
09:33Curie learned that huge numbers of French servicemen were dying on the front line,
09:38because the army only had one mobile x-ray machine.
09:43So she immediately begged and borrowed from her friends
09:46and set one up in a vehicle just like this one.
09:49Now, of course, she'd been lecturing on x-rays,
09:52but she knew nothing of radiography or anatomy.
09:55So she took a crash course in both
09:58and then she put her boots on and headed for the front line.
10:12It wasn't long before Curie found herself face-to-face
10:16with the realities of war.
10:21An operating theatre is hardcore.
10:24This is a place where men are screaming,
10:26where there's blood on the floor,
10:27where people are really trying to save lives minute by minute.
10:31And there she is quietly working out
10:33how she's going to contribute to that process.
10:35This is a war where over 65% of the wounds
10:39will be artillery wounds.
10:41That's a shell that's exploded,
10:43showering a human body with fragments.
10:46And what Marie Curie brings, above all else,
10:49is the ability for surgeons and medics
10:51to see exactly where those fragments are.
10:54You can look at it that she brings vision
10:56where previously there's been blindness.
10:58So they produce a bloodstained x-ray.
11:01Does she then literally stand there pointing out
11:04where in the man's body the shrapnel is?
11:07That would have been her in the operating theatre.
11:10And sometimes she's not even allowed into the operating theatre
11:13because some surgeons won't have women in the operating theatre.
11:15So she has to stand at the door calling out to them,
11:19you need to look under the kneecap,
11:20you need to look under the ribs,
11:21you need to look in the shoulder.
11:26By 1918, Curie had built up a whole fleet of mobile x-ray units
11:31and trained an army of women to use them.
11:35Dubbed the petty Curies,
11:37it's estimated they saved some 900,000 lives.
11:45Curie hadn't just made the case for x-rays in military medicine,
11:48but in civilian medicine too.
11:50And after the war,
11:52radiology departments sprung up in every major hospital.
11:56If you've ever received an x-ray,
11:59you owe a debt to Marie Curie.
12:07Marie Skadoska-Curie died
12:09on the 4th of July 1934
12:12from leukaemia,
12:15almost certainly caused by her experiments
12:18and repeated exposure to x-rays
12:21on the battlefields of France.
12:24She was buried in a lead-lined coffin
12:27in a cemetery on the outskirts of Paris.
12:31Only in 1995
12:33did the French government give Curie
12:36the recognition she deserves,
12:39ordering that her body be brought here,
12:41to the Pantheon,
12:42the final resting place
12:45of the country's greatest heroes.
12:49The first woman to receive this honour
12:52in her own right.
13:02Marie Curie overcame obstacle after obstacle
13:06to become one of the foremost scientists
13:09of the 20th century.
13:10She discovered two new elements,
13:12opened a new branch of physics,
13:14and summoned the cheek
13:15to question the way that we thought
13:18about the world then.
13:20She understood the need
13:22to have a practical application
13:24for her science.
13:25So when she stepped out of the lab
13:27and onto the battlefront,
13:28her science saved hundreds of thousands of lives,
13:31and her science of radiotherapy
13:34continues to save millions of lives
13:37to the people who've got cancer today.
13:39What an incredibly implacable woman.
13:43What an astonishing human being.
13:53In a century of medical miracles,
13:57Curie's discoveries were only the beginning.
14:02Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin,
14:05a new way to fight off deadly infections.
14:11Jonas Sork produced the first successful vaccine for polio.
14:18And as new diseases threatened humanity,
14:21Francoise Bar-Sennoussi rose to the challenge
14:25and identified HIV as the cause of AIDS.
14:29The work of the next icon was no less extraordinary.
14:33I want you to meet him at the peak of his fame
14:37when his science might be about to get him killed.
14:48October the 3rd, 1933,
14:51and one of the most famous men on the planet
14:55is on his way to speak at the Royal Albert Hall.
14:58And his views are so controversial
15:01that it's said that a band of right-wing terrorists
15:04are plotting to assassinate him,
15:06maybe tonight.
15:08But this man wasn't a politician,
15:10a firebrand, an activist.
15:13He was a physicist,
15:15but no ordinary physicist.
15:17The most famous of all,
15:19the one and only Albert Einstein.
15:25Now, few scientists could draw
15:2810,000 adoring fans to the Royal Albert Hall,
15:32and fewer still would use their stage
15:34not to talk about physics,
15:36but politics and the importance of free speech.
15:39Without such freedom,
15:41there would have been no Newton,
15:45no Faraday,
15:46no Pasteur,
15:47and no Lisa.
15:50But then this Jewish refugee,
15:53on the run from Nazi Germany,
15:55had become a moral compass
15:58in troubled times.
15:59He'd come a long way from the Bern patent office,
16:03where he'd rewritten
16:04the rules of the universe.
16:07Aged just 26,
16:09Einstein wrote four
16:11extraordinary papers,
16:13which tore up Newton's laws
16:16and replaced them
16:17with wild new theories.
16:20Let me give you an example.
16:23Before Einstein,
16:24everyone thought that time was fixed.
16:26If exactly 10 seconds passed for me,
16:28then exactly 10 seconds would pass for you.
16:31But Einstein realised that this was wrong.
16:33Time speeds up and slows down,
16:35depending on how fast you're moving,
16:37or how far away you are
16:39from the surface of the planet.
16:43Einstein's theory showed that time on top of a mountain
16:46runs faster than at sea level.
16:50And if you were to go higher
16:51and live on the space station,
16:53you'd come back slightly older
16:55than if you'd stayed on Earth.
16:57Except that's only half of it,
16:59because the space station
17:01is flying around the Earth
17:02at five miles a second.
17:04And Einstein states that
17:05time dilation due to velocity
17:07is greater than time dilation due to gravity,
17:10meaning time aboard the space station
17:12runs slower
17:12and you'd come back younger.
17:13Only a few milliseconds younger,
17:15but younger nonetheless.
17:19Makes your brain hurt, doesn't it?
17:20And that's just one of his theories.
17:23His ideas seem to defy common sense
17:26and critically, what he did
17:28was take all of the established ideas in physics
17:31and throw them clean out of the window.
17:35But for many years,
17:37they remained just theories.
17:40Physicists found them interesting,
17:41but no one could really believe
17:43he'd rewritten the laws of nature.
17:46Then, in 1919,
17:50along came British astronomer
17:51Arthur Eddington.
17:53Einstein had predicted
17:55that light from a distant star
17:57will be bent as it passes by the sun.
17:59And remarkably,
18:01when Eddington measured the position
18:04of such a star,
18:05that's exactly what happened.
18:12Einstein was catapulted
18:14to worldwide fame.
18:16With his eccentric appearance,
18:18warmth and wit,
18:19he was destined to become a star.
18:25But in the 1920s and early 30s,
18:28with nationalism sweeping across Germany,
18:32Einstein,
18:33a man with a claim
18:34to be the cleverest person
18:35who ever lived,
18:37came under threat
18:38from a racist ideology
18:40that considered Jewish people like him
18:42somehow inferior.
18:45When Hitler came to power,
18:47Einstein got out
18:48and headed for America.
18:50Was he ever
18:51in any real physical danger?
18:54Einstein was absolutely
18:55in physical danger.
18:56At least 300 leading
18:58left-wing Germans
18:59were murdered
19:00by the right.
19:01And Einstein was certainly
19:02on at least some of those lists.
19:04He wasn't deluded
19:05that this was a perfect country,
19:06but I think he really welcomed
19:07the idea of America
19:09that civil liberties
19:10and civil rights
19:11were inherent
19:12in this system.
19:14When Einstein arrived
19:16in America in 1933,
19:18he was very keen
19:19to shake off
19:20the shackles of Nazism.
19:22And to symbolically embrace this,
19:24he went shopping
19:25and he bought himself
19:27something classically American,
19:29a jacket.
19:30In fact,
19:31he bought
19:32this
19:33very
19:34Levi Strauss jacket.
19:37I mean,
19:37look at that
19:38patina on the collar here.
19:40Look at that.
19:42That's Einstein's sweat.
19:44Throughout his life,
19:45he was ferociously
19:47independent.
19:48He jealously protected
19:50his right
19:51to think independently,
19:54radical things,
19:55and to speak his mind.
19:57And maybe he bought
19:58this jacket to say,
19:59I love it here.
20:00This is my
20:02mental and scientific home.
20:05Einstein's jacket.
20:06But you couldn't make it up,
20:08could you?
20:08It's fantastic.
20:11To fully appreciate Einstein,
20:14you need to know
20:15he wasn't just a genius.
20:17He was also
20:17an extraordinary
20:19human being.
20:20A devout pacifist,
20:22he gave interviews
20:23praising disarmament
20:24and calling on people
20:26to refuse military service.
20:28He joined the
20:29civil rights movement
20:30and even started
20:31charging a dollar
20:33for his autograph,
20:34giving the money
20:35to children's charities.
20:36Einstein is the prototype
20:38of a scientist
20:39who takes his moral
20:40responsibility
20:41to humanity
20:42at large seriously.
20:43He was one of the first
20:45actually to use
20:46this extraordinary
20:47platform he had
20:48to achieve not just
20:49scientific fame,
20:50but what he saw as
20:52a better world
20:53for humans to live in.
20:55But one flirtation
20:57with politics
20:59would change the world
21:00in ways
21:01that he never imagined.
21:06Whilst relaxing
21:07in Long Island,
21:08Einstein received a visit
21:10from Leo Szilard,
21:12another physicist
21:12on the run
21:13from Nazi Germany.
21:15Szilard feared
21:16that Hitler
21:17might be using
21:18Einstein's principles
21:19to create a bomb
21:21the likes of which
21:22had never been seen before.
21:26Terrified the Nazis
21:27could hold the world
21:28to ransom,
21:29Einstein wrote
21:30to President Roosevelt,
21:31calling on the US
21:33to build a bomb
21:34of their own.
21:36And a few months later,
21:38the Manhattan Project
21:40was born.
21:45This is Wendover,
21:47where air crews
21:48trained to drop
21:49their deadly payloads
21:50and scientists
21:51made their final checks.
21:56An outspoken pacifist,
21:58Einstein was not invited
21:59to work on the project.
22:01But many hundreds
22:03of physicists,
22:04including 18-year-old
22:06Roy Glauber,
22:07were specially recruited.
22:08We had to presume
22:10that the Germans
22:11knew everything
22:12that we knew,
22:13and perhaps then some.
22:15That meant,
22:17at the very least,
22:18working on it ourselves
22:19in the absence
22:20of any knowledge.
22:22And that's what we did.
22:26For Einstein,
22:27the threat of Nazism
22:28was so horrifying,
22:30it had to be stopped
22:31at all costs.
22:34But by early 1945,
22:36it was clear to him
22:37that Hitler
22:38would be defeated.
22:40And when the threat
22:42disappeared,
22:43the need for the bomb
22:44disappeared with it.
22:48In a desperate bid
22:49to halt the project,
22:51Einstein sent Roosevelt
22:52another letter.
22:56We are greatly concerned
22:57about the lack
22:58of adequate contact
23:00between the scientists
23:01who are doing this work
23:03and those members
23:04of your cabinet
23:05who are responsible
23:06for formulating policy.
23:09And that's the crux
23:10of it, you see.
23:12The scientists
23:13were building the bomb,
23:14but the politicians
23:16were going to decide
23:17who they were going
23:18to kill with it.
23:20Roosevelt never got
23:21to see the letter.
23:22He died on April
23:25the 12th, 1945.
23:27And they found it
23:28unopened
23:29on his desk.
23:46On the orders
23:47of incoming
23:48President Truman,
23:49two nuclear bombs
23:51were dropped
23:51on Japan.
23:54Over 200,000
23:57people were killed.
23:59when Einstein
24:00heard the news,
24:02all he could say
24:03was,
24:04oh my God.
24:07The use of the weapons
24:09was a mistake.
24:12The world
24:13would be better off
24:14had we never done that.
24:16I think we should have
24:18used it differently,
24:19but the military
24:20were not going
24:21to buy that.
24:22Once the weapon existed,
24:23it was the property
24:24of the military.
24:25we didn't own it
24:27any longer.
24:34In the years
24:35that followed,
24:36Einstein became
24:37a tireless campaigner
24:39for peace,
24:40denouncing the use
24:41of nuclear weapons.
24:44In his scientific work,
24:46he set about
24:47trying to condense
24:48all the laws
24:49of the universe
24:49into one single
24:51simple equation,
24:53a theory
24:53of everything.
24:55And although
24:56he never managed
24:57to unify physics
24:58or the people
24:59of the world,
25:00physicists are still
25:02trying to catch up
25:03with his brain,
25:04with new technology
25:06proving ideas
25:07like gravitational waves
25:08correct
25:09several decades on.
25:13I think what made
25:14Einstein a great man
25:16was the fact
25:16that he was a genius,
25:18but he garnered
25:19public profile.
25:20He was globally known.
25:23And therefore,
25:24he felt a moral compunction
25:26to speak out
25:27about ethics.
25:28And why shouldn't he?
25:29He didn't care about
25:30what other people thought.
25:31That made him
25:32a great scientist,
25:33and it allowed him
25:35to exercise that voice.
25:37And to do so
25:38was entirely right.
25:40Einstein and Curie
25:42were true outsiders.
25:44Both found themselves
25:45strangers in a new land.
25:47Both defied convention
25:49and frustrated
25:50the establishment.
25:52And both were loved
25:54and loathed
25:55in their lifetime.
25:58Our third icon
26:00also found himself
26:01excluded by society,
26:02but his genius
26:04would change the way
26:05that we live forever.
26:13Buckinghamshire,
26:141945,
26:15and a young man
26:16is out for a run.
26:20And he's fast.
26:21In fact,
26:22he's very fast.
26:23So fast
26:24that he's in with a chance
26:25for the next Olympic team.
26:36He stops
26:37because he sees something.
26:40A pine cone.
26:42And he's preoccupied
26:44with the very precise
26:46pattern of those scales,
26:48the mathematical pattern
26:50of those scales.
26:51And this might seem
26:52a bit strange,
26:53but not for this man.
26:54he's obsessed
26:55with puzzles
26:56and codes.
26:57In fact,
26:57his obsession
26:58with the fact
26:59that everything
27:00in the world
27:01can be explained
27:02by mathematics
27:03has just helped
27:05Great Britain
27:06win the Second World War.
27:08His name
27:09is Alan Turing.
27:16Mathematician,
27:17computer scientist,
27:18and marathon runner,
27:19Alan Turing
27:20had always been
27:21immensely bright.
27:24Aged 15,
27:26he'd written
27:26a simplified version
27:27of Einstein's
27:28theory of relativity
27:29to give to his mum.
27:32As a student,
27:33he published a paper
27:34describing a machine
27:36which could solve
27:37any computable calculation
27:38with ease.
27:40It became known
27:41as a Turing machine,
27:43but we'd recognise it now
27:45as a computer.
27:49He was offered
27:50a fellowship at Cambridge,
27:51but like Curie
27:53and Einstein
27:54before him,
27:55war was about
27:56to change his life.
28:00When he was summoned
28:01to Bletchley Park
28:02in 1939,
28:05war was raging
28:06across Europe
28:07and a Nazi invasion
28:09seemed inevitable.
28:16Britain's only hope
28:18was to decrypt
28:19their top-secret messages
28:21and uncover
28:22their enemies' plans.
28:27The problem was
28:29that all of the German
28:30messages were encrypted
28:31using one of these
28:33Enigma machines.
28:34The operator would key
28:35and say the first letter
28:36of a word.
28:37I'd press the B here
28:39and the letter O
28:40comes up here.
28:42So B becomes O.
28:45The challenge for Turing
28:47was to work out
28:48which settings the Germans
28:50were using
28:50for their Enigma machines.
28:52Find the settings
28:54and you can crack the code.
28:55You could try and guess
28:57but there were
28:59158 quintillion.
29:01There were
29:03962 quadrillion,
29:07555 trillion,
29:09217 billion,
29:12826 million,
29:16360 thousand
29:17different combinations
29:20and what's more
29:21at midnight
29:22every day
29:23they would change
29:24the settings
29:25and you'd have to start
29:26all over again.
29:31Former codebreaker
29:32Asa Briggs said
29:33you needed genius
29:35at Bletchley
29:37and Turing's
29:39was that genius.
29:41For quietly,
29:42in a corner
29:43of an old stable block,
29:45Turing was working
29:46on a machine
29:47of his own.
29:51And this
29:52is what he designed.
29:54It's called
29:55the bomb
29:55and although
29:56this is a replica
29:57it's in every way
29:59identical to one
30:00of Turing's machines
30:01and essentially
30:02it's like
30:0336 Enigma machines
30:06strapped together
30:07so it's able
30:08to process
30:09an enormous number
30:10of combinations
30:11very, very rapidly.
30:14Turing's machines
30:15were operated
30:16by members
30:17of the Women's
30:18Royal Naval Service
30:19women like
30:21Ruth Bourne.
30:22The first thing
30:23you have to do
30:24is to feed it
30:25the information
30:26because it can't
30:27think for itself.
30:28Turing realised
30:30that phrases like
30:31weather forecast
30:32appeared in messages
30:33time and time again.
30:35Three little letters,
30:37little red ones.
30:38And if you knew
30:39part of a message
30:40the bomb
30:41could automatically
30:42check all
30:43the possible settings.
30:44Turn it
30:45until it comes
30:47to Z.
30:47Until it found
30:49one that correctly
30:50decrypted the text.
30:52And that goes to B.
30:53With these settings
30:54you could break
30:55every message
30:56sent that day.
30:57No, turn them.
30:58I'm squeezing.
31:00Let me have a go.
31:01Go on, you have a go.
31:02Maybe the hands
31:03of experience.
31:04I'm not saying that.
31:06If this works
31:06I shall get my coat.
31:08Yeah.
31:10I'll get my coat.
31:12Then you power it up
31:14you press the magic button
31:17and it starts looking.
31:26Checking all the different settings
31:28would take a human weeks.
31:31Turing's bomb
31:31could do it in minutes.
31:34Ruth spent many hours
31:35setting up these machines
31:36that she had no idea
31:39she was cracking
31:40Nazi codes.
31:41We didn't know
31:42that those three drums
31:44represented
31:45three enigma scramblers.
31:47We didn't know anything.
31:49So you really learned
31:50all of this
31:51after the fact?
31:52Yes.
31:53But 30 years later
31:55we were allowed
31:56to talk about it.
32:00Turing and his bombs
32:01brought Britain
32:02back from the brink.
32:03Able to accurately
32:05predict the positions
32:06of the German U-boats
32:07more and more convoys
32:09made it through unscathed.
32:12And during the Battle
32:13of Al Alamein
32:14the British generals
32:15knew the enemy's
32:16entire battle plan.
32:18General Eisenhower
32:19claimed that Bletchley Park
32:21shortened the war
32:22by two years.
32:24Without Turing's genius
32:25we might not have
32:27won it at all.
32:35To design a machine
32:37like the bomb
32:38required a truly
32:39unique intellect.
32:42Turing had to work
32:43methodically
32:44spotting patterns
32:45in seemingly chaotic
32:46information.
32:48An ability
32:50which has led
32:50some to believe
32:51that his brain
32:52was wired differently
32:53to others.
32:56researchers
32:57are fairly convinced
32:59that Alan Turing
33:01had Asperger's
33:02Syndrome
33:02which is
33:03a type of autism.
33:05We know
33:06that as a child
33:08he was ostracised
33:09by his peers
33:10so he would have
33:12always been a bit
33:13of an outsider.
33:14The upside of this
33:15is that it makes
33:16you try so much harder.
33:24After the war
33:26Turing continued
33:27to work as a
33:28consultant for GCHQ
33:29whilst also designing
33:31world-changing computers
33:33such as the Ace
33:35and Pilot Ace
33:36two of the earliest
33:37computers able
33:38to store programs.
33:41Every computer
33:43ever since
33:44has relied
33:45in some way
33:46on Turing's principles.
33:48from towering
33:50mainframes
33:50to the one
33:52in your pocket.
33:55But in 1952
33:57Turing's world
33:59came crashing
34:00down around him.
34:01Many people know
34:02what happened next
34:03but it doesn't make
34:04the details
34:05any less horrific.
34:08After the police
34:09discovered
34:09he was in a relationship
34:10with another man
34:12Turing was arrested
34:14and charged
34:15with gross indecency.
34:16In the post-war
34:18period
34:18the police
34:20embarked on
34:21what can only
34:21be described
34:22as a witch hunt
34:23to eradicate
34:25and repress
34:25homosexuality.
34:26Human rights
34:27campaigner
34:28Peter Tatchell
34:29fought for an
34:30official pardon
34:31for Turing
34:31and other men
34:32prosecuted
34:33for their sexuality.
34:35As you can see
34:36Alan Turing
34:37pleaded guilty
34:38to all the charges.
34:39It says here
34:40to submit
34:41for treatment
34:42by a duly qualified
34:43medical practitioner
34:44at Manchester
34:46Royal Infirmary.
34:48What was
34:49the duly qualified
34:50medical treatment
34:52that he was receiving?
34:54Well he was
34:55required to undergo
34:56what was in effect
34:57chemical castration
34:58which involved
35:00regular injections
35:02of estrogen
35:03to suppress
35:04his sexual drive
35:06and that basically
35:07made him impotent.
35:09He grew breasts
35:10he became
35:11exceedingly depressed
35:14and he endured
35:15this for well
35:16over a year.
35:17Horrific.
35:18God.
35:19It appears
35:20that he
35:20preferred
35:21the option
35:22of chemical
35:24castration
35:24to prison
35:25because at least
35:26he hoped
35:27he'd be able
35:27to continue
35:28his groundbreaking
35:29scientific research.
35:30In the end
35:31of course
35:31the terrible
35:32bodily changes
35:33probably diminished
35:34his ability
35:34to do his research.
35:36Plus on top of that
35:37losing his clearance
35:38to work at GCHQ
35:39intelligence services
35:41the world he knew
35:42basically imploded.
35:48Unable to work
35:49for GCHQ
35:50During focused
35:51his attention
35:52on his other passion
35:53the natural world.
35:57He developed
35:58mathematical formulae
35:59that explained
36:00why some animals
36:01develop spots
36:02and others stripes.
36:04why some patterns
36:05are big
36:05and others
36:06are small.
36:07But this
36:08would be his last
36:10great breakthrough.
36:13Two years
36:14after his trial
36:15During was found
36:16dead in his
36:17Manchester home.
36:20The coroner
36:21returned a verdict
36:22of suicide.
36:23A half-eaten apple
36:24laced with cyanide
36:26lay beside his bed.
36:29He was 41.
36:33Perhaps more than
36:35Curie and Einstein
36:36During exemplifies
36:38the very best
36:39and the very worst
36:40of the 20th century.
36:42He was brilliant.
36:43There was no doubt
36:43of that.
36:44But he wouldn't
36:44have flowered
36:45without the ghastly
36:47Second World War.
36:48He would never
36:49have got funding
36:50to build that computer.
36:52And then immediately
36:53after the war
36:54the 20th century
36:55turns on the man.
36:56We persecute him
36:57because he's
36:58homosexual.
36:59We chemically
37:00castrate him
37:01and he kills himself.
37:02So difficult
37:03to say who's
37:05better, who's best
37:06but under
37:08the conditions
37:09during
37:10sparkles.
37:12Absolutely sparkles.
37:18In the 1950s
37:20many scientists
37:21wanted nothing
37:22more to do
37:22with death
37:23and radiation
37:24and turned
37:25instead
37:26to studying
37:26life.
37:29Thanks to the
37:30work of
37:30Rosalind Franklin
37:31and Morris
37:32Wilkins
37:32James Watson
37:33and Francis Crick
37:35were able to
37:35deduce the
37:36structure of DNA
37:37the blueprint
37:38for all
37:39living things.
37:42Biologists
37:43like Richard Dawkins
37:44unveiled radical
37:46new theories
37:46of evolution
37:47making us
37:48question
37:48why we act
37:50the way we do.
37:52Then
37:52at the end
37:53of the century
37:54cloning gave
37:55science
37:56an unexpected
37:56icon
37:58Donnie the sheep.
38:01By now
38:02science had
38:02become a team
38:03sport
38:03extraordinary
38:05individuals
38:06often lost
38:06in huge
38:07organisations
38:09and
38:10as a result
38:11the identity
38:12of our
38:13fourth icon
38:14was nearly
38:15lost forever.
38:20In the last
38:21hundred years
38:22scientists
38:22discovered
38:23treatments
38:23for many
38:24fatal diseases
38:25including
38:26one of the
38:27world's
38:27biggest
38:28killers
38:28malaria.
38:31Second only
38:32to smallpox
38:33it claimed
38:34an estimated
38:34300 million
38:36lives
38:37during the
38:3720th century
38:38most notably
38:39in Africa
38:40where 90%
38:41of cases
38:41still occur.
38:43But now
38:44a drug
38:44called
38:44artemisinin
38:45is turning
38:46things around.
38:47The most
38:48effective cure
38:49ever known
38:50millions of
38:51people who
38:52may have
38:52otherwise
38:53died
38:53are alive
38:54today
38:55thanks to
38:56artemisinin.
38:58yet for
38:59over 40
39:00years
39:00the name
39:01of the
39:02scientist
39:02behind
39:02the
39:03drug
39:03was
39:04shrouded
39:05in
39:05mystery.
39:06All
39:06anyone
39:07knew
39:07is that
39:08they
39:08were
39:08working
39:08in
39:09China
39:09in
39:10the
39:10early
39:101970s.
39:20I've
39:21come to
39:21Washington
39:22D.C.
39:23home to
39:24the
39:24National
39:24Institute
39:25of Health
39:25to meet
39:26two men
39:26who made
39:27it their
39:28mission
39:28to solve
39:29the mystery
39:29and track
39:30down
39:30this
39:30elusive
39:31figure.
39:32Professor
39:32Louis Miller
39:33and Dr.
39:34Zingzuan
39:35Hsu.
39:35You know
39:36that there's
39:37this compound
39:38which has
39:38been incredibly
39:39efficient
39:40but you
39:41don't know
39:42who found
39:43it and
39:43where.
39:44So the
39:45first paper
39:45was in
39:461979
39:47and there
39:49were no
39:50names on
39:50that paper.
39:51Can you
39:51imagine a
39:52major discovery
39:53like this?
39:54No
39:54names.
39:55In 2005
39:57the pair
39:57were invited
39:58to a
39:58conference
39:59in China.
40:00Louis
40:00started
40:01to ask
40:01questions
40:02about
40:03do you
40:04know
40:04anyone
40:04who
40:05discovered
40:05artemisin
40:06and nobody
40:08knew at
40:08that time.
40:09Here's a
40:09malaria group
40:10in China
40:12and no
40:13one
40:13knew
40:14who
40:15discovered
40:15artemisin.
40:17Hsu
40:18began
40:18searching
40:19the internet
40:19for leads
40:20and found
40:21several sites
40:21mentioning
40:22the same
40:22institute
40:23in Beijing.
40:25I got a
40:26phone number
40:26and called
40:27the number
40:28and then
40:29they told
40:30me
40:30they are
40:30going to
40:30send me
40:31a package
40:33and here's
40:34the package.
40:36The envelope
40:37was stuffed
40:38full of original
40:38documents
40:39connected to
40:40the discovery
40:40of artemisinin
40:41and one name
40:43stood out
40:44from the rest
40:44Tu Yu Yu.
40:47Finally I
40:48can piece
40:48the whole
40:49story
40:49together.
40:50As they
40:51scoured the
40:51documents
40:52Louis and
40:53Hsu
40:53uncovered
40:54an incredible
40:55story.
40:56The story
40:57of an
40:58exceptional
40:58scientist
40:59willing to
41:00risk her
41:00own life
41:01to find
41:02a cure
41:02for malaria
41:03and bring
41:04it to
41:04the world.
41:05The story
41:06of
41:07Tu Yu Yu.
41:13Tu's quest
41:14didn't begin
41:15in China
41:16but in
41:16the jungles
41:17of Vietnam
41:18where soldiers
41:19on both
41:20sides of
41:20the war
41:21found themselves
41:22fighting a
41:23third enemy
41:23mosquitoes.
41:27Tens of
41:28thousands
41:28were left
41:29incapacitated
41:30after being
41:31bitten by
41:32the malaria
41:32carrying
41:33insects.
41:34In one
41:36US army
41:36unit
41:37a third
41:37of soldiers
41:38contracted
41:39the disease.
41:41Now we
41:42have no
41:43way of
41:43estimating
41:44how many
41:44soldiers
41:45died in
41:45the North
41:46Vietnamese
41:46army
41:46but we
41:47know
41:47the
41:47Communist
41:48Party
41:48chairman
41:48Ho Chi
41:49Min
41:49reached
41:50out
41:50to
41:50his
41:50allies
41:51in
41:51China
41:52asking
41:53for help
41:54to find
41:54a cure.
41:58Chairman
41:58Mao
41:59Cedong
41:59declared
41:59the search
42:00for a
42:01drug
42:01a top
42:01priority
42:03and in
42:04May
42:041967
42:05officially
42:06launched
42:06Project
42:075-2-3
42:13At
42:14Beijing's
42:14Academy
42:14of
42:15Chinese
42:15Medical
42:16Sciences
42:1639-year-old
42:18researcher
42:18Tu Yu Yu
42:20decided to
42:21scour
42:21hundreds of
42:22old
42:23manuscripts
42:23in search
42:24of ancient
42:25wisdom.
42:27A traditional
42:28herbal remedy
42:29that might
42:30form the
42:30basis
42:30of a cure.
42:32with over
42:332,000
42:35preparations
42:35to choose
42:36from
42:36this was
42:37a daunting
42:38task.
42:41Professor
42:42Ni
42:42Mu
42:42Yuin
42:43worked
42:43closely
42:44with Tu
42:44on the
42:45project.
43:10Tu
43:11tested almost
43:12200
43:12compounds
43:13with nothing
43:15to show
43:15for it.
43:16She never
43:17gave up
43:18hope that
43:18a cure
43:19was just
43:19around
43:19the
43:20corner.
43:23She
43:23continued
43:24to scour
43:25the
43:25ancient
43:25text.
43:27Then,
43:28in a book
43:29written in
43:29the 4th
43:30century
43:30by Chinese
43:31scholar
43:32Gi Hong,
43:33she found
43:33a preparation
43:34that claimed
43:35to cure
43:36a malaria-like
43:37fever.
43:51Artemisia
43:52was a plant
43:53too had
43:53tested before
43:54without success.
43:56Then,
43:57she had
43:58an epiphany.
44:00By heating
44:01the plant
44:01to extract
44:02the compound,
44:03she might
44:04have been
44:04damaging
44:04the drug
44:05in the process.
44:07Instead,
44:09she decided
44:09to try
44:10extracting it
44:10at a lower
44:11temperature,
44:12mimicking
44:13the original
44:13formula.
44:15She tested
44:16it on a
44:17cluster of
44:17malarial
44:18cells.
44:20Every single
44:21one was
44:22destroyed.
44:25But when
44:25the team
44:26tested the
44:26drug on
44:27animals,
44:28the results
44:28were alarming.
44:30While some
44:31of them
44:31were cured,
44:32others
44:33were poisoned.
44:34Nobody
44:35could say
44:36whether the
44:36drug would
44:37be safe
44:37in humans.
44:40What happened
44:40next was a
44:42little unconventional
44:43scientifically.
44:44You see,
44:45Tu was so
44:45convinced that
44:46the extract
44:47would work
44:48that she
44:49volunteered to
44:50test it on
44:51herself.
44:53Knowing what
44:54was at stake,
44:55Tu went into
44:56hospital and
44:58over several
44:58days,
44:59doctors gradually
45:00increased the
45:01dose.
45:03She took the
45:04extracts,
45:04she felt
45:05fine,
45:06but more
45:06importantly,
45:07they were
45:07monitoring her
45:08major organs,
45:09her heart,
45:10her liver,
45:10her kidneys,
45:11and they
45:12were fine
45:13too.
45:14The test
45:14had worked.
45:18Few people
45:19are brave enough
45:20to risk their
45:21own lives in
45:22the hope of
45:22saving others.
45:23medicines.
45:24Like any new
45:25drug, it would
45:26take many years
45:27of refinement by
45:28Tu and her team
45:29before artemisinin
45:31could be rolled out
45:32worldwide.
45:33The first tablets
45:34were approved in
45:351986,
45:37and in 1999,
45:39the World Health
45:40Organization added
45:41artemisinin to their
45:42list of essential
45:43medicines.
45:45Since then,
45:46the number of
45:46deaths due to
45:47malaria have
45:48fallen by almost
45:4950%,
45:50with several
45:52countries eradicating
45:53the disease
45:54altogether.
45:56Tu dedicated her
45:57life to perfecting
45:58the drug,
45:59but continued to
46:00work in the
46:01shadows.
46:05Then,
46:0640 years after
46:07the discovery,
46:08Tu was herself
46:09discovered by
46:10Louis and Sue
46:11in Washington.
46:14They wrote about
46:15her story in
46:15the journal's
46:16cell.
46:19And,
46:19at the age
46:20of 84,
46:22she was awarded
46:23the Nobel Prize
46:24for Medicine,
46:26the first Chinese
46:27person ever
46:29to win the
46:29award.
46:57Tu still lives in
46:58Beijing,
46:59but prefers to
47:00stay out of the
47:01spotlight.
47:04If you measure
47:05greatness in terms
47:06of the number
47:07of human lives
47:08saved,
47:09then there's no
47:09doubt at all
47:10that 2UU is one
47:11of the greatest
47:12scientists of all
47:13time.
47:14The drugs saved
47:16millions of
47:17people's lives.
47:18People in some
47:18of the poorest
47:19communities on the
47:20planet.
47:21Millions of
47:22children.
47:23When it comes
47:24to science icons,
47:26there's no doubt
47:27at all that 2UU
47:28is right up there.
47:35So four people
47:37who may have
47:38seemed outsiders,
47:39a female
47:40Polish immigrant,
47:42a Jewish
47:43refugee,
47:45a gay
47:45mathematician,
47:46and a Chinese
47:48woman working
47:49almost anonymously,
47:51ended up making
47:52some of the biggest
47:53contributions
47:54to the 20th century.
47:56But despite their
47:58differences,
47:59they all shared
48:00the intellectual
48:01courage to think
48:02outside the box
48:04and the personal
48:05courage to stand
48:06firm in the face
48:07of adversity.
48:08community.
48:10Music
48:10.
48:10.
48:10.
48:10.
48:10.
48:10.
48:10.
48:11.
48:11.
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