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Introduces the series and establishes some basic knowledge about radiation which is necessary for a clear understanding of the following programs. Discusses the meaning of radiation, its natural sources, and the various forms it takes. Using a variety of devices points out the difference between alpha and beta particles and between gamma and X-rays.
Discusses the work of Newton, who was born the day Galileo died, and was a contemporary and friend of Huyghens. Describes Newton's Principia Mathematica, one of the greatest scientific books ever written which was published through his friendship with Halley, another outstanding scientist of the time. Briefly discusses Newton's most important contributions to science which were his theories of light and prisms, and of motion and bodies in space.
As a boy, Maxwell was subject to the brutal teasing of his classmates. As an adult he met and solved several scientific problems that had been perplexing his contemporaries. He won a prize for demonstrating mathematically the nature of the rings around Saturn. But his most important achievement, which was at once the result of Faraday’s experiments and the beginning of much important new work by later scientists in physics and electricity, was his contribution to the study of electromagnetics and his predictions of the existence of electromagnetic waves. The processes and apparatuses he used are sketched in detail by Dr. Posin. The topic is a complicated one, but worth the attention of anyone who intends to pursue modern physics on his own.
Outlines the work of Dr. Howard Kendler of New York University, Dr. Tracy Kendler of Barnard College, Dr. Kenneth Spence of the State University of Iowa, Dr. Harry Harlow of the University of Wisconsin, and Dr. B. F. Skinner of Harvard University in exploring the different strategies employed in developing new theoretical concepts about man's ability to learn. Shows how the work of these men has influenced methods of instruction in schools and colleges.
States that only a lack of engineers and adequate materials kept the helicopter from being an actuality during da Vinci's lifetime. Pictures this great inventor creating workable plans for the helicopter, the submarine, and hundreds of other "modern" inventions--all backed by scientific data. According to Dr. Posin, Leonardo "was always lured by the subtle, the fleeting, the unknown--this was the artist in him. Yet he searched for exact reasons and causes and logic--this was the scientist."
Scientists discover things either by making plans for experiments and then following them doggedly, or by pursuing the implications of unexpected events or findings. It was in the latter way that Michael Faraday made one of his most important discoveries in the field of electricity. Dr. Posin discusses the men preceding Faraday, who had worked with electricity -- Volta, Benjamin Franklin, the Danish scientist HC Oersted (1777-1851) -- and the discoveries each made. He then turns to the work, and some pictures and models of the apparatus, for which Faraday is best known. In particular, he demonstrates the experiment by which Faraday proved that magnetism can produce electricity. He also performs an experiment with electrically charged fish like the electric eel or the Gymnotus.
Discusses whether the artist is free to express himself regardless of public understanding, public acceptance, or public rejection. Dramatizes the incidents surrounding a citizen's donation of a statue for a town square. The artist commissioned to do the work has fashioned a piece of iron sculpture which depicts what he feels is the horse's spirit instead of its outward form. At the dedication of the statue in the town square, the crowd voices mixed reactions to the sculpture. More and stronger objections are climaxed in attempt to destroy the iron horse. The donor finally removes the iron horse to his own estate where, on top of a rise, it dominates the landscape in splendid exile.
Points out that genetic damage is one of the most serious effects of radiation and shows how the Atomic Energy Commission's genetics research program is geared to learn how radiation damages cells and what the long term effects of such damage might be. Presents Douglas Grahn, a geneticist in the Division of the Biology Medicine, explaining how radiation causes mutations and how these mutations are passed on to succeeding generations. Describes the work of Herman Slatis, also a geneticist in the Division of Biology Medicine, with fruit flies and induced mutations. Discusses fallout and its implications.