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The Ascent of Man
The Ascent of Man Episodes
13. The Long Childhood
From his home, Dr Jacob Bronowski takes stock of man's complex and often precarious ascent, drawing on experiences from his own lifetime.
04-09-2023
BBC 4
11. Knowledge Or Certainty?
Dr Jacob Bronowski considers how the great achievement of physics in the 20th century has been to show that absolute certainty, in science or outside of it, is beyond our grasp.
27-08-2023
BBC 4
12. Generation Upon Generation
Dr Jacob Bronowski follows the history of genetics, from the lonely experiments of Gregor Mendel to the discovery of the structure of DNA. Should we see human sexuality as a gift?
27-08-2023
BBC 4
10. World Within World
Dr Jacob Bronowski tells the story of the men and ideas that gave concrete expression to the invisible, intangible structure that lies beneath all matter.
20-08-2023
BBC 4
9. The Ladder Of Creation
How did life begin on earth? Dr Jacob Bronowski recounts the adventures of Alfred Russell Wallace, and how they triggered off the ideas of Charles Darwin.
20-08-2023
BBC 4
8. The Drive For Power
As political revolutions shook France and America, another quieter, yet more profound restructuring was taking place in Britain - the Industrial Revolution.
14-08-2023
BBC 4
7. The Majestic Clockwork
If the world could be understood by just two men, they may be Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. Dr Jacob Bronowski explores how their theories are connected by light.
14-08-2023
BBC 4
6. The Starry Messenger
Man has always wondered about the movement of the stars, sun and planets. Dr Jacob Bronowski looks at the work of Copernicus and the life, work and trial of Galileo.
07-08-2023
BBC 4
5. Music Of The Spheres
Dr Bronowski gives his own novel proof of Pythagoras' famous theorem and traces the spread of Greek ideas through the Islamic empire to Moorish Spain and Renaissance Europe.
07-08-2023
BBC 4
4. The Hidden Structure
'When Prometheus brought fire to man, he gave him life.'\n\nFire and flame are the elements of magic and of science as Dr Bronowski examines man's probing of the hidden structur ...
31-07-2023
BBC 4
3. The Grain In The Stone
Jacob Bronowski discovers the origins of science in the interaction of hand and brain.\n\n'There is a great intellectual leap forward when man splits a piece of stone, a piece o ...
31-07-2023
BBC 4
2. The Harvest Of The Seasons
Dr Jacob Bronowski's classic account of the social and intellectual evolution of the human race looks at the move mankind made from nomadic pasturage to settled agriculture, wit ...
24-07-2023
BBC 4
1. Lower Than The Angels
Jacob Bronowski opens the first programme at man's birthplace, the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, and traces the evolution of man's unique gifts - foresight and imagination. ...
24-07-2023
BBC 4