''How Science Changed Our World'' is a 2010

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television documentary Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. * Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

presented by

Robert Winston Robert Maurice Lipson Winston, Baron Winston (born 15 July 1940) is a British professor, medical doctor, scientist, television presenter and Labour peer. Early life Robert Winston was born in London to Laurence Winston and Ruth Winston-Fox, ...

(first broadcast on 23 December 2010 on BBC One). It focuses on ten scientific advances, which according to the producers, had the biggest impact on our lives. Viewers were asked to vote on their favourite advancement.

Breakthroughs

Combined oral contraceptive pill The combined oral contraceptive pill (COCP), often referred to as the birth control pill or colloquially as "the pill", is a type of birth control that is designed to be Oral administration, taken orally by women. It is the oral form of combi ...

Microchip An integrated circuit (IC), also known as a microchip or simply chip, is a set of electronic circuits, consisting of various electronic components (such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors) and their interconnections. These components a ...

Magnetic resonance imaging Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to generate pictures of the anatomy and the physiological processes inside the body. MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and ...

Laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

Biomechanics Biomechanics is the study of the structure, function and motion of the mechanical aspects of biological systems, at any level from whole organisms to Organ (anatomy), organs, Cell (biology), cells and cell organelles, using the methods of mechani ...

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW or simply the Web) is an information system that enables Content (media), content sharing over the Internet through user-friendly ways meant to appeal to users beyond Information technology, IT specialists and hobbyis ...

Big Bang theory The Big Bang is a physical theory that describes how the universe expanded from an initial state of high density and temperature. Various cosmological models based on the Big Bang concept explain a broad range of phenomena, including the ...

(Robert Winston's choice) #

Human Genome Project The Human Genome Project (HGP) was an international scientific research project with the goal of determining the base pairs that make up human DNA, and of identifying, mapping and sequencing all of the genes of the human genome from both a ...

Stem cell research In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...

In vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an ovum, egg is combined with spermatozoon, sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the Ovulation cycle, ovulatory process, then removing ...

Credits

* Series Producer: Sophie Todd * Presenter: Robert Winston * Producer: Naomi Austin

External links

''How Science Changed Our World''
at BBC

at

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

Results of the Viewer Poll

''With 23000 votes.'' # Microchip (37.3%) # World Wide Web (18.7%) # Stem cell research (14.3%) # Human Genome Project (10%) # Laser (6.2%) # Big Bang theory (6.1%) # Magnetic resonance imaging (3.9%) # In vitro fertilisation (2.8%) # Combined oral contraceptive pill (2.7%) # Biomechanics (2.1%) ''(These results have not been confirmed but are deemed reliable.)'' BBC television documentaries about science Documentary films about science 2010 television specials 2010 in science {{sci-documentary-stub