BBC: Chemistry A Volatile History

[CraigS]

I'm not sure whether this may have appeared here before, but I recently discovered yet another brilliant BBC Documentary (on Youtube) …

BBC Documentary: Chemistry A Volatile History. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZLnKqv94n0)
(Just follow the subsequent links for each episode).

I highly recommend this one .. its one of the best I've seen so far, and traces the history of Chemistry, starting with its ancient origins in Alchemy, to the discovery of the elements, and all the way through to modern times.

Its presented by Jim Al-Khalili (my favourite science presenter).

It was nominated for the 2010 British Academy Television Awards in the category: Specialist Factual.

Somewhat unfortunately, the uploaded Youtubes don't cover the entire series, however most episodes are there.

For anyone wanting to acquire some condensed background on Chemistry and the various intersections with Nuclear Physics at a general fairly basic level, its absolutely fantastic !

(I'm kind of excited about this discovery).

Cheers
PS: Wiki gives some more detail here. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chemistry:_A_Volatile_History)

[spacezebra]

Thanks craig, I'm looking forward to seeing them. BTW are there any physics docs that you would recommend?

Cheers Petra d.

[CraigS]

Hi Petra;

Y'know, now you come to mention it .. I can't think of any docos I've seen which specifically tackles general Physics, although just about all of them touch on parts of the history of it … :question: .. interesting .. perhaps its just too broad a topic for a TV documentary ?

When it comes to getting a leg up on Astrophysics and Cosmology however, its tough to find anything which comes close to the quality, breadth, (and 'maths-freeness') of Brian Greene's book "The Fabric of the Cosmos". It gets a super-dooper 9.5 out of 10 from me :thumbsup:

A week or two spent pouring through this book, and I reckon just about anyone would be pretty well up to date on the bulk of it ! Love to see them make a documentary of this one .. now that would be an awesome one!

Cheers

[sjastro]

That's because these physicists are too busy explaining all other sciences except their own. :lol:

Professor Cox please take note.

Regards

Steven

[avandonk]

If I told you all I know I would be dead before I finished!
Bert

[CraigS]

So can ya blame them when the 'big picture' is supposed to look like this (http://users.westconnect.com.au/~sjastro/Tutorial/physics_family_tree.jpg) ?

… According to this, there is no such thing as 'General Physics' anyway … its either Thermodynamics, Mechanics, Mineralogy, Optics or Electricity and Magnetism .. and if one sticks to these topics, one is invariably talking about pre 19th Century History !

Ie: if you're a modern Physicist you have to slot into one, but only one, of these boxes, otherwise you're out of your box … and you're a very naughty scientist: Cryogenics; Statistical Mechanics; Quantum Mechanics; Particle Physics; Nuclear Physics; Plasma Physics; Atomic Physics; Molecular Physics; Solid-State Physics and Relativity Physics !

It beats me how anyone could be seen to be speaking from a clearly-defined area of expertise !??!! :shrug:

Cheers

[morry]

Is this it? http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/physics/fabric-of-the-cosmos.html

[CraigS]

Hi Morry;

Yep .. sure is ..
I was unaware that they'd made a TV documentary out of it.

Just had a look at the preview on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLgo4zd5NhI) … it looks very much like the same style of 'glitzy' doco as the "The Elegant Universe" (another Brian Greene book/doco about String Theory). I wasn't all that impressed with the TV Documentary of the "The Elegant Universe", it seemed to skim over many, many things which I find inevitably leads one to the book anyway .. and the doco's style is a bit too glitzy for my liking (a bit distracting, I find).

Gotta have a laugh at Steven Weinberg's (??) comment at about the 1:53 mark in the preview:

:lol: :)
What a classic !

Anyway, I'd still recommend 'The Fabric ..' book .. there's a lot of detail and its one of those books one can come back to time and time again, as it seems to touch on so many aspects which come up both in the IIS Science Forum, and elsewhere in other Physics Forums (around the web).

Cheers & thanks kindly for that 'Find' !

[spacezebra]

Hi Craig

Many thanks. Im reading Brian Greene (Elegant Universe) and also have The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes...), I like reading Michio Kaku, I have a few of his titles - but will check out Fabric of the Cosmos.

Cheers Petra d.