Phosphorus, Smoke and Lighting
How a discovery in boiled urine led to the trade union movement and chemical weapons. Chemist Professor Andrea Sella tells the story of the element phosphorus.
What links trade unions with urine, Syria with semiconductors, and bones and bombs? The answer is phosphorus, UCL Inorganic Chemistry Professor Andrea Sella, who is himself engaged in researching new phosphorus based materials, looks at this often rather frightening element.
We hear how the health impact of phosphorus on a group of Irish girls changed politics, how the element has been used as a weapon of war and we peer into the future, as chemists break new ground on what might be possible with phosphorus and nanotechnology.
Last on
More episodes
Previous
Broadcasts
- Tue 23 Jan 2018 11:00大象传媒 Radio 4
- Mon 29 Jan 2018 21:00大象传媒 Radio 4
Primo Levi's The Periodic Table
Major dramatisation of Primo Levi's element-themed stories about life, work and matter.