Rene Descartes

Join the award winning comedian Mark Steel as he charts Descartes course through scientific history; his stint as a card shark in the Dutch army, his invention of the little 2, the symbol used to signify a squared number, his invention of the x and y used in algebra. Not to mention his numerous biological experiments that gave us first clear idea that the senses were linked to the central nervous system and his seminal work, ‘The Meditations’ in which he constructed a theory of the universe which instead of beginning with blind faith, insisted on the prominence of doubt as a starting point. Not bad for a bloke with a rubbish catchphrase.