Birth of the Solar System

Where did our solar system come from? The events that led to the formation of the solar system have for centuries been shrouded in mystery but over the last fifty years, advances in astronomical technology have allowed scientists to look behind the curtains of the past to discover that these events were far more dramatic and chaotic than previously believed. Giant collisions, planets migrating millions of miles through space and a barrage of asteroids raining down into the inner solar system are just a few of the spectacular events under investigation as scientists seek to uncover the truth behind the birth of the mighty solar system.

Related Links:
Order from Chaos: The Birth of the Solar System
Wonders of the Solar System

The Life and Times of Ernest Lawrence

A one hour documentary about the life and achievements of physicist Ernest Lawrence, produced by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

Ernest Orlando Lawrence (1901 – 1958) was an American physicist and Nobel Laureate, known for his invention, utilization, and improvement of the cyclotron atom-smasher beginning in 1929, based on his studies of the works of Rolf Wideroe, and his later work in uranium-isotope separation for the Manhattan Project. Lawrence had a long career at the University of California, Berkeley, where he became a Professor of Physics. In 1939, Lawrence was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work in inventing the cyclotron and developing its applications. Chemical element number 103 is named "lawrencium" in Lawrence's honor. He was also the first recipient of the Sylvanus Thayer Award. His brother John H. Lawrence was known for pioneering in the field of nuclear medicine.
(from wikipedia.org)

Related Links:
E=mc^2: Einstein's Big Idea
The Manhattan Project (The Moment in Time)

Our Mr. Sun (1956 film directed by Frank Capra)

Our Mr. Sun is a one-hour American 1956 television film in Technicolor written, produced, and directed by Frank Capra. It is a documentary that explains how the Sun works and how it also plays a huge part in human life. It was first televised by CBS in 1956.

The film opens with Dr. Research (Dr. Frank C. Baxter) and the Writer (Eddie Albert) meeting Father Time (Lionel Barrymore) and Mr. Sun (Marvin Miller) who explain that time started a few billion years ago and that the Sun is a star. Mr. Sun explains that he was worshipped as various gods (Shamash, Mithra, Ra and Apollo) until Anaxagoras proclaimed the Sun was a very hot stone and not a god. Logic and reasoning were the beginning of the end of worshiping the Sun as algebra and the astrolabe were used to study the heavens. (from wikipedia.org)

Related Links:
Secrets of the Sun
The Planets - Star

What Are Dreams? (PBS documentary)

What are dreams and why do we have them? NOVA joins leading dream researchers as they embark on a variety of neurological and psychological experiments to investigate the world of sleep and dreams. Delving deep into the thoughts and brains of a variety of dreamers, scientists are asking important questions about the purpose of this mysterious realm we escape to at night. Do dreams allow us to get a good night's sleep? Do they improve memory? Do they allow us to be more creative? Can they solve our problems or even help us survive the hazards of everyday life?

Related Links:
Why do We Dream?
Sleep and Dreams

Lost Horizons: The Big Bang

Professor Jim Al Khalili delves into over 50 years of the BBC science archive to tell the story behind the emergence of one of the greatest theories of modern science, the Big Bang. The remarkable idea that our universe simply began from nothing has not always been accepted with the conviction it is today and, from fiercely disputed leftfield beginnings, took the best part of the 20th century to emerge as the triumphant explanation of how the universe began. Using curious horn-shaped antennas, U-2 spy planes, satellites and particle accelerators, scientists have slowly pieced together the cosmological jigsaw, and this documentary charts the overwhelming evidence for a universe created by a Big Bang.

Related Links:
Books and Films - The Big Bang

Marin Mersenne: The Birth of Modern Geometry

Marin Mersenne was a French monk of the seventeenth century. He sought to break the wall of secrecy behind which scholars were hiding themselves and their discoveries. This film shows how he encouraged cooperation between scientists and how he managed to break through the silence and publicize Descartes' development of coordinate geometry.

Related Links:
The Story of Maths
Books and Films - Rene Descartes

The Joy of Stats with Hans Rosling

Documentary which takes viewers on a rollercoaster ride through the wonderful world of statistics to explore the remarkable power they have to change our understanding of the world, presented by superstar boffin Professor Hans Rosling, whose eye-opening, mind-expanding and funny online lectures have made him an international internet legend. Rosling is a man who revels in the glorious nerdiness of statistics, and here he entertainingly explores their history, how they work mathematically and how they can be used in today's computer age to see the world as it really is, not just as we imagine it to be. Rosling's lectures use huge quantities of public data to reveal the story of the world's past, present and future development. Now he tells the story of the world in 200 countries over 200 years using 120,000 numbers - in just four minutes.

Related Links:
Understanding the World through Statistics
The Beauty of Diagrams