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THE MATERIAL WORLD
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Quentin Cooper reports on developments across the sciences. Each week scientists describe their work, conveying the excitement they feel for their research projects.
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PRESENTER |
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"For me science isn't a subject, it's a perspective. There are fascinating scientific aspects to everything from ancient history to the latest gadgets, outer space to interior decorating; and each week on The Material World we try to reflect the excitement, ideas, uncertainties, collisions and collaborations as science continues its never-ending voyage into the unknown".
Quentin Cooper |
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| The title page of Paracelsus's Vita Longa |
Paracelsus
In this episode of Material World, Quentin Cooper is joined by science writer Philip Ball and Peter Forshaw, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at Birkbeck College, University of London, to discuss the myth, life and legacy of Philip Theophrastus Aureolus Bombastus von Hohenheim, or Paracelsus, the 16th Century medic on the border between the medieval and modern.
He was both army surgeon and alchemist, and was rumoured to have made a Faustian bargain with the devil to regain his youth. It was said that he travelled with a magical white horse and stored the elixir of life in the pommel of his sword.
But who was Paracelsus and what did he really believe and practice? Quentin unravels the story of a man who wrote influential books on medicine, surgery, alchemy and theology, while living a drunken, combative, vagabond life.
Quantum Computing
20 years ago David Deutsche drew up the first ever blueprint for a quantum computer: a machine that, powered by the properties of quantum mechanics, would perform millions of times faster than any household computer, or even today's most powerful supercomputer.
Until now scientists have only been able to develop a model that can perform simple mathematics problems but a recent quantum leap has suggested that major problems of quantum computing may be solved with the application of cluster states within the next ten years.
Pieter Kok and Simon Benjamin, both from the Department of Materials at Oxford University, tell Quentin what these developments could mean for the humble PC.
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