The life project: how the study of six generations showed us who we are

On 5th March 1946 a survey began that is, today, the longest-running study of human development in the world, and has grown to encompass six generations of children and over 150,000 people.

They have become some of the best-studied people on the planet.

The simple act of observing human life has changed the way we are born, schooled, parent and die, and irrevocably altered our understanding of inequality and health.

This is the tale of these studies, the scientists who created and sustain them, the discoveries that have come from them.

The envy of scientists around the world, they are one of Britain's best-kept secrets.