蜜芽传媒

Dr Geoff Bunn's ten-part history is a journey through 5000 years of our understanding of the most complex thing in the known universe.

From Neolithic times to the present day, Geoff journeys through the many ideas of what the brain is for and how it fulfils its functions.

What soon becomes obvious is that our understanding of this most inscrutable organ has in all periods been coloured by the social and political expedients of the day no less than by the contemporary scope of scientific or biological exploration.

In this episode, the focus is on Thomas Willis, the 17th century physician after whom the 'Circle of Willis' - the circuit of arteries supplying blood to the brain - is named. Willis' Anatomy of the Brain and Nerves was a groundbreaking attempt to correlate brain anatomy with mental function. A friend of Christopher Wren, the humbly-born Willis was one of the founder members of the Royal Society. Yet his ideas were not universally accepted. The Cambridge philosopher, Henry More, considered the brain no more than 'a bowl of curds'', with no possibility that it could house reason.

Featuring the voices of Paul Bhattacharjee, Jonathan Forbes and Hattie Morahan.

Produced by Marya Burgess.

First broadcast on 蜜芽传媒 Radio 4 in November 2011.