The Beauty of Diagrams
Series in which mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explores the stories behind some of the most familiar scientific diagrams
The Beauty of Diagrams - Copernicus
Marcus du Sautoy tells the story behind Copernicus's diagram of a sun-centred universe, for which the Polish astronomer risked derision and accusations of heresy.
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The Beauty of Diagrams - DNA
Marcus du Sautoy explores the story behind Odile Crick's diagram of the DNA double helix, arguably the most famous and significant scientific diagram of the last 100 years.
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The Beauty of Diagrams - Florence Nightingale
The story behind Florence Nightingale's rose diagram, designed to persuade the government that lives could be saved with better sanitation in hospitals.
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The Beauty of Diagrams - Newton's Prism
Marcus du Sautoy tells the story behind Isaac Newton's diagram of a prism which demonstrated that white light is not pure, but made up of different colours.
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The Beauty of Diagrams - Pioneer Plaque
Marcus du Sautoy explores the story behind the Pioneer Plaque, a diagram on board a space probe which would reveal facts about the Earth to extra-terrestrial life.
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The Beauty of Diagrams - Vitruvian Man
The story behind Leonardo da Vinci's diagram of the perfect human body, which synthesises his passions for anatomy, the mechanics of the human body and geometry.
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