Past Programs
History - 2008
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In Conversation - John Jenkin
07/12/2008
To complement the Boyer Lectures we present some in depth interviews by robyn Williams from his program In Conversation. This week Robyn speaks with Professor John Jenkin. When he was appointed to a professorship at the University of Adelaide, British physicist William Bragg, barely 22, had never lectured, done lab work or conducted research. A few years later he was a giant in the field. His son, Lawrence, went on to become the youngest winner in history of a Nobel Prize in science. How did this father and son change the world, invent a new field of science - yet be unknown to most Australians? Professor John Jenkin of La Trobe University tells the tale
For a transcript and further details visit the In Conversation website
2008 Boyer Lectures - A Golden Age of Freedom, Lecture 6: The 21st century: comforting the afflicted. And afflicting the comfortable
07/12/2008
The Oxford of Rupert Murdoch's youth was one of the most privileged places on earth. But freedom and information have changed the order of things. On a global scale more people than ever are taking advantage of the revolution. And that's how it should be.
The Republic - are we there yet?
21/09/2008
It has been nearly ten years since the republic was seriously discussed. Most thought it dead and buried. But with the political elevation of Malcolm Turnbull, the republican heart has quickened. Leading Australian historians Henry Reynolds and Mark McKenna kick start the debate in an engrossing conversation that cuts to the core of our national identity.
Unfinished business - Mick Dodson
17/08/2008
The Prime Minister has put unfinished constitutional business back on the agenda. It might be 108 years late in coming but official recognition of Indigenous Australians is drawing serious attention. So what is at stake here? In this powerful presentation, recorded at the National Archives of Australia, Indigenous leader and rights advocate Mick Dodson argues for an overhaul of a document frozen in time and almost impossible to change.
Alexander Solzhenitsyn revisited
10/08/2008
Alexander Solzhenitsyn has died at the age of 89. His work is testament to the power of the written word to change the world. We revisit a powerful program on Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, first broadcast in 2007. Master interviewer Terry Lane interrogates a great work of art, and the uncompromising life of its creator.
Reith Lectures 2008 - Chinese Vistas : American Dreams
20/07/2008
Once the US stood head and shoulders above China. But the dynamics of this relationship is rapidly changing . In his third lecture, Professor Jonathan Spence traces the two centuries in which the United States gradually moved from being a dominant beacon of freedom and democracy for China to a more demanding global rival.
Reith Lectures 2008 - Chinese Vistas : English Lessons
13/07/2008
In the second lecture, Professor Jonathan Spence examines China's relations with Great Britain through the prism of three centuries of trade, warfare, unequal treaties and missionary endeavours that shaped mutual perceptions. Early Anglo entrepreneurs did not receive the type of welcome that they expected. Forays into this new, exotic territory were marked by tension, mistrust and hostility. Visitors soon found themselves embroiled in a difficult and uneasy relationship.
Reith Lectures 2008 - Chinese Vistas
06/07/2008
We hear much analysis about China as an emerging economic entity. But can history provide a more reliable insight into this rapidly modernising giant? This year's Reith Lectures bring to the fore one of the world's foremost authorities on Chinese history. Professor Jonathan Spence, Sterling Professor of History at Yale University, presents a long view in four parts. In this first lecture Professor Spence reflects on Confucius, and his importance for the current Communist leadership.
Massey Lectures 2007: The City of Words, Lecture 3, The Bricks of Babel
13/04/2008
In the biblical account, the people of Babel suffered a terrible curse: to be scattered throughout the world and be given different languages. This, it was written, was why friction and misunderstanding began to develop between people as there was no longer a common form of communication. But is there another reading to this tale? Why is it that a diversity of languages and culture are in some places celebrated and yet the tensions remain? In his third talk, Alberto Manguel searches the story of Babel for clues to mending a wounded world.
For copyright reasons this series is not available as a podcast
Islamofascism or climate change?
09/03/2008
It is the political season in the USA. Locked in battle are the final contenders for the big job. But will the new president get it right when it comes to global security? So far the USA has steadfastly stuck to the war on terror. Today's speaker thinks this belongs to an era that exists no longer.
US security expert Ann-Marie Slaughter has been surveying a darker view of the future from her bunker at Princeton. What she sees is not one threat, but multiple. These include pandemics, nuclear weapons and mother nature. What she also sees is a voting public not keen on hearing a complex story. Hear Slaughter's engaging lecture delivered in Sydney at the inaugural National Summit on 21st Century America,
Does Secularism Provoke Religious Extremism?
24/02/2008
Collectively they are known as the new atheists. Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Michel Onfray and AC Grayling, among others, all wish to rid the public square of a meddlesome god. According to them, religion causes more problems than it solves. It should become a quiet relic of history, laid to rest with other pre-scientific age superstitions. But for some the challenge is not ineradicable religion but aggressive secularism. Tom Frame, in this powerful and provocative public lecture, questions the defiantly atheistic direction modern secularism is taking, which he believes is a recipe for disaster. Does secularism, as we know it now, provoke religious extremism? Join us for the Annual Acton Lecture on Religion and Freedom.
