Ascent of Man (Bronowski 1973 BBC) x264 H!tcher

13 x 50 min
960 x 720 x264, AAC
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Ascent_of_Man_(Bronowski-1973-BBC)

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The Ascent of Man is regarded as one of television's greatest achievements. Dr Jacob Bronowski traces the steps of scientific imagination through history as they happened, where they happened. This lavish and thought-provoking series tells the story of the ideas that have transformed our lives. More than three years in the making, with location filming in over 20 countries, this award-winning series remains compelling viewing.


5.0 out of 5 stars By AJ Averett (Potsdam, NY United States) May 27, 2012

This extraordinary series, thirteen fifty-minute episodes, is one of television's greatest achievements; four decades after its completion, it has lost little of its luster.

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. Jacob Bronowski was one of the last true Renaissance men.

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. Along the way, Dr. Bronowski stops to examine some of humanity's highest achievements - and lowest depths of depravity. 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.

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. For example, the episodes are sprinkled with delightful (and often 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").

Anyone with even a passing interest in the history of our species and its place amongst the stars, or of science in general, will be astonished, delighted, deeply moved and profoundly affected by "The Ascent of Man." The production value is of the highest order throughout (and, now in its second DVD incarnation, the sound, which was always somewhat problematic, has been greatly improved, matching the often stunning visuals).

The most powerful episode of the series is, without question, number eleven, "Knowledge or Certainty," which begins with this two-sentence paragraph:

"One aim of the physical sciences has been to give an exact picture of the material world. One achievement of physics in the twentieth century has been to prove that that aim is unattainable."

Bronowski continues, a short time later:

"There is no absolute knowledge. And those who claim it, whether they are scientists or dogmatists, open the door to tragedy. All knowledge is imperfect. We have to treat it with humility." Truer words were never spoken -- then, or now.

Highest possible recommendation.