Their work is changing the world we live in, but what do we really know about their lives beyond the lab? Based on interviews for the hit BBC Radio 4 series, The Life Scientific: Inventors reveals the life and work of some of the foremost scientists in the world, from Nobel laureates to the next generation of beautiful minds. Getting under their skin and into their minds, we find out what first inspired them and what motivates them to keep going.

The inventors featured in this volume include: Alan Winfield on robots for the twenty-first century; Alison Smith on making biofuels from algae; Wendy Hall on inventing the worldwide web; Ian Wilmut on creating Dolly the sheep; and Ann Dowling on creating a silent aircraft.