The Day the Universe Changed

The Way We Are: It Started with the Greeks

Mar 19, 198545 min

Written and presented by James Burke, this 10-part series traces the development of Western thought through its major transformations since the days of ancient Greece. Program one is an overview of the series, showing how a culture’s view o

In the Light of the Above: Medieval Conflict: Faith and Reason

Mar 26, 198545 min

Point of View: Scientific Imagination in the Renaissance

Apr 2, 198545 min

Shows that Western Europe’s rediscovery of perspective through the study of Arab optics led to revolutions in art and architecture. The West’s new-found ability to control things at a distance resulted in new methods of warfare and the conf

A Matter of Fact: Printing Transforms Knowledge

Apr 9, 198545 min

Observes that the invention of printing and the advent of cheap paper forever transformed the nature of knowledge from the local and traditional to the systematic and testable. Nationalism, public relations, and propaganda are among the res

Infinitely Reasonable: Science Revises the Heavens

Apr 16, 198545 min

Notes that investigators such as Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton evolved better explanations of natural phenomena than those of Aristotle. Highlights the theories that led to a new conception of how the universe works and of man’s p

Credit Where It's Due: The Factory and Marketplace Revolution

Apr 23, 198545 min

Locates the origins of contemporary consumerism in the English industrial Revolution, powered by religious dissenters barred from all activities except trade. The invention of the steam engine, new forms of credit, surplus wealth, and openi