In 1973, Jacob Bronowski produced a marvelous thirteen episode programme for the BBC called “The Ascent of Man”. In this series, Jacob travels around the world and investigates the great scientific minds and discoveries that have shaped the evolution of human society. Jacob chronicles the history and context of human understanding of the natural world and exploration of the universe. The beauty of this series is that it puts the entire history of scientific knowledge into perspective with great clarity and detail. Bronowski follows in the footsteps of Sir Kenneth Clark’s thirteen part Civilisation which aired on BBC 2 in 1969. This format was also followed by James Burke’s Connections, David Attenborough’s Life on Earth and Carl Sagan’s Cosmos.

It’s an absolute tragedy that all of these documentaries aren’t recommended viewing in public schools. I feel extremely sad about the fact that I wasn’t aware that any of these programs existed until last month. It’s amazing to me how important media like this is discarded in favor of the schlock that is regularly viewed by Americans on broadcast television. If you haven’t seen any of these series, I’d highly recommend all of them.