Spark • episode "S1E1" • Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

22:09

They've captured our imagination and are a source of childlike wonder, but what exactly are rainbows? Learn the science behind these weather phenomenon and how one day they might help pinpoint habitable planets in deep space.

2018 • Physics

52:33

A unique and captivating documentary on the story of humanity's quest to measure time. Who invented time, who invented the clock? Why 1 hour, why 60 minutes, why 60 seconds? Since prehistoric times, man has sought to measure time, to organize social and religious life, to plan food supply... Today we can surf the Internet, geolocate, pay by credit card ... All our daily lives depend on time and the synchronization of clocks. The history of the invention of time and of the ways and instruments to measure it is a long story... Controlling Time, one of Humanity's biggest obsessions. First, man began to calculate the observable phenomena of time using incredible astronomical measuring instruments. Calendars were born. Then, he sought to quantify ever more precise durations, with ever more sophisticated machines, in order to establish a social, conventional time, the same for all. Today, this time, inscribed on our smartphones, is established by atomic clocks which have become the keystone of our digital world. Not without enormous industrial and economic challenges at stake. Through what major technological breakthroughs have we succeeded in controlling time, to the point of being able to make its ultra-precise factory the foundation of our interconnected society? From France to Greece, through Italy, England, and Switzerland, a group of experts —astrophysicists, engineers and historians — follows in the footsteps of genius inventors who forged our perception of time and our relationship to the world. For better and for worse. This film delves into the invention of time & ways to measure it. Don't waste time and be sure to make time to watch this fascinating film!

2021 • Physics

82:27

Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking were revolutionary thinkers who changed everything we know about our universe, and using the latest discoveries, experts explore the connections between these two great minds.

2019 • Physics

59:08

Artist and writer Matt Collings takes the plunge into an alien world of equations. He asks top scientists to help him understand five of the most famous equations in science, talks to Stephen Hawking about his equation for black holes and comes face to face with a particle of anti-matter. Along the way he discovers why Newton was right about those falling apples and how to make sense of E=mc2. As he gets to grips with these equations he wonders whether the concept of artistic beauty has any relevance to the world of physics.

2010 • Physics

48:53

We hold a unique knowledge of time, realising that it stretches deep into the past, and will continue into the future. How does this affect our sense of who we are?

S1E3 • BBC: Time • 2006 • Physics

59:15

Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell describes how she discovered pulsars, the by-products of supernova explosions which make life in the universe possible. She describes the moments of despair and jubilation as the discovery unfolded and her excitement as pulsars took the scientific world by storm. Reflecting on the nature of scientific discovery, she talks about the connections between religion and science and how she sees science as a search for understanding rather than as a quest for truth.

S1E1 • Beautiful Minds • 2010 • Physics