Connections.3.Episodes01to10of10.txt
Connections 3 Episode Guide
From: http://www.palmersguide.com/jamesburke/burke_dvd_con3.html
This humorous and upbeat science series shows that history is filled with seemingly unrelated discoveries that are actually connected in the most surprising ways. Host James Burke continues to delight viewers as he explores the effects and origins of inventions and events that shape the modern world.
Producer: TLC Release Date: 1997/98
Length: S E R I E S
01 - Feedback
In this episode, James Burke looks at the use of feedback in the twenty-first century. Learn how the concept of feedback originated in the Vineyards of France and how The Humane Society, drowning, shipping, a new diet and Kellogg's Corn Flakes are all integrally related.
02 - What's In A Name?
A good breakfast leads to a corn cob garbage-which isn't actually garbage at all. It is used for "furfan", which creates resin for bonding. Learn how this led to the creation of the tractor and the diesel engine and surprisingly, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
03 - Drop The Apple
With his discovery of calamine, James Smithson, the benefactor of the Smithsonian Institution, did a lot for sunburns, poison ivy and diaper rash. Calamine is one of the most useful and unusual minerals because it gives off electricity. The secret is in the shape. Discover how the use of this electricity led to Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, and eventually to the creation of the atomic bomb.
04 - An Invisible Object
Travel five hundred years into the past to connect mysterious black holes in space with modern fast food, via thrills and spills on the Pony Express and the capture of Joan of Arc. Learn how a gift of Catherine de Medici led to modern techniques for pasteurization, and eventually the first vending machine.
05 - Life Is No Picnic
Explore the connection between soluble coffee consumed during World War II and nineteenth-century theories of evolution through the invention of nylon and The Star Spangled Banner. Discover how a new method for calculating astronomical dates and the death of Descartes led to the creation of the Royal society, and how the jellyfish made Charles Darwin famous.
06 - Elementary Stuff
Join James Burke on a journey that begins with miracles and spiritualism and ends with the greatest detective of them all. Some of the clues connect nineteenth-century thought-transference and radio with banana republics and postage stamps. Learn how Scottish rebels and North Carolina pine trees revolutionized the French navy, and how contextual perception led to Sherlock Holmes.
07 - A Special Place
Journey four hundred years into the past to connect famous sleuths and popular destinations through Dutch wind tunnels and aristocratic World War I fighter aces. Discover how Caribbean smugglers and bird-painters led to Russian skullduggery, and ultimately to a final beauty spot where hundreds of americans get drenched every day.
08 - Fire From The Sky
How do you go from the majestic beauty of Iceland's geysers to the destruction of the Allied firebombing of Hamburg in World War II? You stop by Stonehenge, chat with the mystical Caballists, and talk to Martin Luther, Ozeander, Tycho Brahe and Mary Queen of Scots, before heading to the magnetic North Pole. The invention of gin and tonic will set you back on course to the discovery that mixing rubber with gasoline makes it burn slower, an integral component of any firebombing. It's all a matter of connections.
09 - Hit The Water
If you launch your story in the cockpit of a Tornado Fighter Bomber - the height of "smart bombs" operated by smart pilots, dip into the history of margarine and plankton, travel to 18th century Turkey to investigate small pox inoculations, dance at the ballet Copelia, then blow up a dam in Norway with a British commando team, how do you prevent Hitler from building and exploding atomic bombs? Through the infinite world of unexpected connections - James Burke takes an ingenious look at why and how Hitler never harnessed heavy water and the A-Bomb.
10 - In Touch
An American scientist ponders the problem of nuclear fusion in 1951. This unleashes a series of connections that encompass superconductors, the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, King George III, modern oceanography, the Versailles Gardens, Pagoda Mania, and handwriting analysis to arrive at the Global Net. Through this chain of unexpected connections, you, too, can "stay in touch."
|
|