Doco Sunday 7 June on SBS, we are not the centre of the universe!

[OneOfOne]

I was just looking to see if there is anything on TV tonight and found this one at 7:30. Sounds interesting, it is about the gradual discovery that we are not at the centre of the universe.

[Robert9]

Hope its better than last night's "Richard Hammonds' Engineering Solutions" about the construction of the Keck Telescope. Took 50 minutes to say what could have been said in 15.
Robert

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

Yes, he does do that. The Airbus episode was the same:

"You mean this gazinta that, and it comes out HERE?? WOW!!"

I believe the show however is aimed at school-age viewers with no prior knowledge of the subjects.

Cheers

[iceman]

Or even at the general public with no prior knowledge.

It takes someone special to be able to communicate science subjects in a way that the general public can understand. So I guess that's why it was dragged out.

[Robert9]

I often wonder as to how many of "the general public" are sufficiently interested to watch this type of program rather than say "The Footy Show". I would suggest that those who do watch have sufficient education not to require the "this guzinta that" style of explanation. Or am I being too judgemental?
Robert

[bloodhound31]

I, for one, found last night's show fascinating. It was a great short look at some very important history, of how resistant we can be to change. It is wonderful to see the breakthrough as we re-assess our understanding as more facts come to light.

Great show.

Baz.

[Campus Dweller]

Yes, last night's was a great program. I had read a bit about these people before but didn't realise, for example, that Tycho Brahe put together his own model -the other planets going around the Sun and the whole lot then orbiting the Earth - after painstaking observations trying to show that the Earth actually moved. I'd always had the impression that he was just an ego driven being trying to push his model at the expense of any others.

It was interesting, too, to see that those very clever people, Kepler and Newton in particular, often had as part of their make-up a deep religious and/or mystical belief; although it is equally interesting that THAT is not what they became famous for, and that their discoveries in the end had no need of them.

[Robert9]

Hey, don't get me wrong. I agree, last night's program was an excellent review of the development of astronomic science. My comments were directed toward the previous night's "Richard Hammonds' Engineering Solutions which dealt with the construction of the Keck Telescope.

[mswhin63]

I also found last night program excellent, the other program with Richard Hammond was a boon for the kids and was really good for me to encorouge the kids.

I was though especially interested in the polishing of the mirror and the Atom Blasting method. I noticed they didn't demo on a mirror though just explained it.

[lacad01]

Enjoyed last night's viewing on SBS about the Copernican revolution. Although a shame the dramatic portrayal of Brahe didn't include some detail of his prosthetic nose ;) (he lost part of his nose in a sword-fight/duel).
For those interested in reading up a bit more on this history, can highly recommend a little book called "The Transit Of Venus" by Peter Aughton as well as Fred Watson's book "Stargazer:The Life and Times of the Telescope". Aughton's book gives a great insight into the lives of Brahe, Kepler, Copernicus and others as background to Jeremiah Horrocks' work, who tragically died at a very young age and to all accounts a genius at what he was able to accomplish.

[GeoffW1]

Hi,

Yes, do you remember Carl Sagan at that silly crystal console, with his epic galactic beak in profile?

He was good at explaining, I hope they will repeat it sometime.

Cheers

[hickny]

I missed the broadcast but located it on the SBS website iand subsequently watched it. If anybody is interested http://player.sbs.com.au/programs#/programs_08/fullepisodes/latestepisodes/playlist/The-Moving-Earth-Full-Ep/