Adam John Hart-Davis is an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 scientist

Scientist

A scientist in a broad sense is one engaging in a systematic activity to acquire knowledge. In a more restricted sense, a scientist is an individual who uses the scientific method. The person may be an expert in one or more areas of science. This article focuses on the more restricted use of the word...

, author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

, photographer, historian

Historian

A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human race; as well as the study of all history in time. If the individual is...

 and broadcaster

Presenter

A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...

, well-known in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 for presenting the BBC television series Local Heroes

Local Heroes

Local Heroes is an award-winning science and history television programme in the United Kingdom, presented by Adam Hart-Davis.Made by Screenhouse Productions and directed by Paul Bader, it was first aired on the ITV regional network Yorkshire Television in 1991...

 and What the Romans Did for Us

What the Romans Did for Us

What the Romans Did for Us, is a 2000 BBC documentary series that examines the impact of the Romans on modern society.The name of the programme is derived from the cult movie Monty Python's Life of Brian, referencing the famous scene where the People's Front of Judea discuss "What have the Romans...

, the latter spawning several spin-off series involving the Victorians

What the Victorians Did for Us

What the Victorians Did for Us is a 2001 BBC documentary series that examines the impact of the Victorian era on modern society. It concentrates primarily on the scientific and social advances of the era, which bore the Industrial Revolution and set the standards for polite society today.-Rule...

, the Tudors

What the Tudors Did for Us

What the Tudors Did for Us is a 2002 BBC documentary series that examines the impact of the Tudor period on modern society.-Episode one: Seeying the Worlde:...

, the Stuarts

What the Stuarts Did for Us

What the Stuarts Did for Us is a 2002 BBC documentary series that examines the impact of the Stuart period on modern society.-Episode one: Desygner Livinge:...

, and the Ancients

What the Ancients Did for Us

What the Ancients Did for Us is a 2005 BBC documentary series presented by Adam Hart-Davis that examines the impact of ancient civilizations on modern society.-Production:...

. He was also a co-presenter of Tomorrow's World

Tomorrow's World

Tomorrow's World was a long-running BBC television series, showcasing new developments in the world of science and technology. First aired on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003.- Content :...

, and presented Science Shack

Science Shack

Science Shack was a BBC television series screened in 2001 and 2002. It was presented by Adam Hart-Davis and produced by Leeds UK-based Screenhouse Productions. The series set out to answer science questions by performing experiments...

. Currently he presents How London Was Built and Just Another Day on History

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 UK.
He was born and brought up in Henley-on-Thames

Henley-on-Thames

Henley-on-Thames is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in South Oxfordshire, England, about 10 miles downstream and north-east from Reading, 10 miles upstream and west from Maidenhead...

, the youngest child of the publisher Sir Rupert Hart-Davis

Rupert Hart-Davis

Sir Rupert Charles Hart-Davis was an English publisher, editor and man of letters. He founded the publishing company Rupert Hart-Davis Ltd...

 (1907–1999) and his second wife Catherine Comfort Borden-Turner.

He attended Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 before reading chemistry

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....

 at Merton College

Merton College, Oxford

Merton College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 1260s when Walter de Merton, chancellor to Henry III and later to Edward I, first drew up statutes for an independent academic community and established endowments to...

, Oxford.