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Programme one: Let There Be Light

The journey into the nature of light itself begins with a fascinating look into man's earliest beliefs.

According to Genesis, God created light before the heavens and the earth.

In Islamic culture, there is a close connection between light, truth and divinity.

Light Fantastic: Let There Be Light charts the powerful relationship in all cultures between our understanding of light and our ever changing relationship with religion.

Beginning in Scilly 2,000 years ago Simon Schaffer embarks on his investigation with a look at the Greek philosopher and poet Empedocles, who created the first comprehensive theory of light and vision.

Empedocles put forward the idea that light streams from the eyes and touches objects.

From this seemingly unlikely theory, one of the most important early discoveries about light was made.

Euclid, a renowned Greek mathematician, reasoned that light must travel in straight lines.

This discovery was to transform navigation into a rigorous skill based on the positions of the sun and the stars.

Greek navigators opened up new trade routes, and Greek culture and learning dominated the civilised world.

Islamic scholars were to develop these ideas further: Alhazen - who made a living copying the works of Euclid - studied light and the eye in great depth and created the earliest law of reflection, that eventually pathed the way for modern optics.

Jumping forward to the development and spread of Christianity, the story of light moves on to how the church used light to both inspire and control its flock.

Light was essential for the church to dramatise true faith. Churches were bathed in candle light and featured intricate stained glass windows in order to transport their flock closer to God. Light was seen as a direct messenger of God.