6. The Mathematics of the Infinitely Big

Adrian Moore continues his exploration of two and a half millennia of philosophical thought on infinity.Discover the brilliant but tortured German mathematician, Georg Cantor, who devised a way of distinguishing between infinitely big numbers and of performing calculations with them.His work was revolutionary but, as Adrian discovers, it greatly polarised opinion amongst his late 19th and early 20th century contemporaries.We hear how Cantor himself suffered a complete breakdown in his mental health.As Adrian takes us with him deep into the world of infinite set theory, he enlists the help of Mary Leng, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at York University, and four very familiar twentieth century friends.Producer: Philippa GoodrichA Juniper production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in September 2016.