Hardy and Ramanujan - a podcast by BBC Radio 4 Extra

This ten part history of mathematics from Newton to the present day, reveals the personalities behind the calculations: the passions and rivalries of mathematicians struggling to get their ideas heard. Professor Marcus du Sautoy shows how these masters of abstraction find a role in the real world and proves that mathematics is the driving force behind modern science.

Today, G.H.Hardy, the mathematician who insisted he had never done anything useful. And yet his work on the "diabolical malice" inherent in prime numbers inspired the millions of codes that now help to keep the internet safe.

Producer: Anna Buckley

From 2010.

Further episodes of A Brief History of Mathematics

Further podcasts by BBC Radio 4 Extra

Website of BBC Radio 4 Extra