Скачать или смотреть The science of murder: Agatha Christie's deadly poisons - with Kathryn Harkup

Chemist Kathryn Harkup explores the science of poisons used by Queen of Crime, Agatha Christie.

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Buy Kathryn's book "V is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death" here: https://geni.us/yzYZ

This lecture was recorded at the Ri on 23 June 2025.

00:00 Introduction
2:13 Agatha Christie's background in chemistry
6:30 Arrow poisons in 'Miss Marple's Final Cases'
23:14 Trinitrine and nitroglycerine in 'Poirot's Early Cases'
37:37 Chloral hydrate and Mickey Finns in 'Passenger to Frankfurt'
49:41 Snake venom in Poirot's 'Death in the Clouds'

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Agatha Christie revelled in the use of poison to kill off unfortunate victims in her books, using poisons more accurately than any other crime writer. But how is it that some chemicals in such small quantities can be so deadly? And how feasible was it to obtain these chemicals both in Christie’s day, and today?

Join chemist-turned-writer Kathryn Harkup as she explores how Christie’s extensive knowledge of drugs and medicine mixed with real life cases, created her brilliantly plotted crime novels. Her poisons were picked with care to give clues, red-herrings and interesting new twists to her classic crime novels, whilst maintaining scientific accuracy. Kathryn will uncover howdunnit, but whodunnit is still up to you to find out...

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Kathryn Harkup is a former chemist who has turned writer and science communicator. Her interests are in anything gothic, gory and geeky, and preferably all three. She gives regular public talks on the disgusting and dangerous side of science. Her first book was the international best-seller A is for Arsenic: The Poisons of Agatha Christie. She has also written Making the Monster: The Science of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Death by Shakespeare and Superspy Science: Science, Death and Tech in the World of James Bond. Her latest book is V is for Venom: Agatha Christie's Chemicals of Death.
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