For example, the episodes are sprinkled with delightful (and sometimes moving) anecdotes of various people, some of whom Bronowski knew and worked with - such as Leo Szilard (who first conceived the concept of sustained nuclear fission - even coining the term "chain reaction" - and who subsequently wrote the letter which Einstein signed that was sent to FDR, bringing about the Manhattan Project) and John von Neumann (one of the great mathematicians of the twentieth century and the "Father of Electronic Computing"). Not simply lectures (nor read from a script), these extemporaneous essays offer Bronowski's "personal view" on a wide range of human, scientific and technological history, presented in both a dramatic and memorable fashion. One outstanding quality of this remarkable series is that he speaks to the viewer directly and very personally through the lens of the camera the book of the same name is a virtual transcript of his remarks. Bronowski stops to examine some of humanity's greatest accomplishments - and lowest depths. Presented here is a veritable smörgåsbord of human history cast against scientific advancements and technological innovations that take the viewer around the world, from the dawn of Man to the then-present of 1972. Jacob Bronowski was one of the last true Renaissance men. A mathematician whose professional journey included work on the Manhattan Project, later at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, as well as an editor and scholar of the works of William Blake, Dr. On viewing this you can judge for yourself whether risking a copyright battle with the BBC et al was/is worth it.This extraordinary series, thirteen fifty-minute episodes, is one of television's highest achievements nearly forty years after its completion, it has lost little of its luster. I struggled to find this show on the web, and the copies on Youtube when I last viewed them were awful. The title is also a clever allusion to Charles Darwin's second book on evolution, The Descent of Man. Unfortunately it never quite received the same attention as Cosmos and Carl Sagan - a show which, incidentally, was produced by the guy (Adrian Malone) seven years later. Not many people know about this incredible series, lesser still of the wonderful host. This series received serious acclaim for its accessibility to the layman (in large-part due to Bronowski's skillful, elegant, incisive storytelling ability) and the wide-range and quality of the location shoots. The series is based on a namesake book by Bronowski in which he tells the fascinating and quite unbelievable story of the development of civilisation as we today know it - that is, the story of The Ascent of Man. (11 / 13)įirst aired in 1973, The Ascent of Man is a 13-part documentary series written and presented by the brilliant Dr Jacob Bronowski, and produced by the BBC. imperfect knowledge, and the misgivings of the scientists realising the terrible outcome of the conflict. Knowledge Or Certainty Physics and the clash of the pursuit of absolute vs.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |