The Robot • 2019 • Breakthrough the Ideas that Changed the World

51:55

This documentary presented by Professor Simon Schaffer describes the amazing story of automata Designed and built with pen and paper in the 18th Century leveraging the mechanisms employed in making timepieces, these mechanical devices containing 1000’s of parts and are programmable to mimic human actions in Mechanical Theatre. The program describes how there development has led to the creation of the mechanical devices we take for granted today showing the first mechanical weaving looms allowing for the mass production of fabrics and in effect started the industrial revolution.

2013 • Technology

55:11

Imagine a world without the power to capture or transmit sound. Journey with Steven Johnson to the Arcy sur Cure caves in northern France, where he finds the first traces of the desire to record sound — 30,000 years ago. He also learns about the difference that radio made in the civil rights movement and reveals the Hollywood star who designed a WW2 weapon that would make possible the modern cell phone network. During an ultrasound on a pregnant dolphin, he realizes just how big a role sound has played in medicine. The unsung heroes of sound have had an impact on our working lives, race relations, saving lives and the radical alteration of cities.

6/6 • How We Got to Now • 2014 • Technology

48:39

As we embark upon the 21st century, sports now occupy a central role in our lives. They set the pace of our daily routines, influence our lifestyles, and maintain our health and general well being. This episode will show how the athletes of 2050 will be spoiled with technological choices.

S1E10 • Dream the Future • 2017 • Technology

44:00

It's July 20, 1969. Four days after Apollo 11 thundered skyward from NASA's Kennedy Space Center, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to set foot upon the moon, thanks to a marvel of engineering: the lunar module. It's the culmination of years of toil and millions of man-hours of engineering prowess. This is the story of the unsung heroes who built the unconventional flying machines that carried 12 Americans to the moon on six separate missions and made the dream of a generation come true.

2/6 • America's Secret Space Heroes • 2017 • Technology

44:28

Costing $150 billion, the International Space Station is the most expensive structure humans have ever built. In this episode, using the series' signature photo-real computer graphics, we take it apart to uncover the extraordinary innovations that enable it to support life in the deadly vacuum of space.

1/6 • Superstructures Engineering Marvels • 2019 • Technology

40:47

The invention of TV is born out of a David vs. Goliath competition between Sarnoff and Farnsworth.

S1E3 • American Genius • 2015 • Technology