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- Date:
- 1967
- Summary:
- Reports on survival--car design, highway simulation tests, and the "skid school" at the research center of the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company at Hopkinton, Massachusetts. Shows two cars designed to protect a driver from crash injuries--a research and a production model. Demonstrates the use of the highway simulator and delineates methods used in the skid school to train drivers to control skids.
- Date:
- 1967
- Summary:
- Shows growth of cities today and the steps man is taking to improve them. Describes city population in the United States as seventy percent of the total population. Compares new cities of Brasilia, Brazil; Reston, Virginia; and Chandigahi, India, with old cities of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Boston, Massachusetts; and Stockholm, Sweden.
- Date:
- 1967
- Summary:
- A Black G.I. returns from Vietnam and is confronted by various Black Power activists. He is forced to question his reasons for having served in the military and what he wants to do in the future.
- Date:
- 1967
- Main contributors:
- David Prowitt, Dr. Konrad Lorenz, Gordon Rattray-Taylor, Larry Toft, Don Feldstein, Peter Cantor, Sharon Lynne Gross
- Summary:
- An exciting look into the study of aggression featuring the precedent-setting research in animal psychology of Professor Konrad Lorenz, author of “On Aggression,” at the Max Planck Institute in Germany.
- Date:
- 1967
- Summary:
- The effectiveness of the African medicine man or “witch doctor” has been a subject of much speculation among the lay public and professional medical men for many years. In this program a Western physician investigates the work of “witch doctors” in Nigeria. The viewer is shown actual “healing” sessions and sees the results of what many doctors believe is mass hypnosis induced in his patients by the “witch doctor.” Nigerian physicians and psychiatrists give their explanations of the healing phenomenon.
- Date:
- 1967
- Summary:
- A continuation of the filmed record of a Western physician’s trek to Nigeria to investigate the healing phenomena attributed to the African “witch doctors.”
- Date:
- 1967
- Summary:
- Presents a beginner's guide to smooth and efficient sailing by investigating the effects of weight placement, wind, and sail adjustment. Demonstrates the rules and courtesies of navigation and gives several examples showing which boat has the right-of-way under various conditions.
- Date:
- 1967
- Summary:
- Presents a history of the Hale Telescope and the contributions it has made to our knowledge of the universe. Shows transportation and construction of the 200-inch mirror. Illustrates recent discoveries with photographs taken through the telescope at its Mount Palomar site.
- Date:
- 1967
- Summary:
- Warning: This film contains dated language regarding race. Documents the chaos of a "ghetto" school and what is being done in one particular school to remedy this situation. Focuses on Junior High School No. 5 in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn where the workers with a New York University special learning project are shown in classrooms, teachers' meetings, and visits with parents. Suggests that moderate success in reaching the children was achieved only when many different approaches were adopted.
- Date:
- 1967
- Summary:
- Presents the biography of Thornton Wilder by tracing his life and family background. Provides excerpts from his speeches and quotations from his writings and film clips. Analyzes, for their social meanings, the themes of several of his works.
- Date:
- 1967
- Summary:
- Warning: This film contains dated and offensive language regarding race. Twelve college students of different races and faiths participate in a week-long workshop to test their common denial that they are prejudiced. A frank discussion and questioning of one another continues and latent prejudices emerge. Shows why the participants are unable to cope with the revelations.
- Date:
- 1966
- Summary:
- Depicts Michael McClure, an experimental poet who has written in many styles, and Brother Antoninus, a Dominican lay brother who is distinguished as a poet because of his unique combination of poetry reading and dramatic encounters with his audiences. Touches upon McClure's use of hallucinogenic experimental system of developing poetry through the use of words printed on cards which are shuffled to create poems at random. Places the viewer in the audience during one of Brother Antoninus' celebrated readings.
- Date:
- 1966
- Summary:
- Portrays some of the learning of both students and instructors at the Harvard Medical School. Presents discussions of an instructor's first lecture, the meaning of academic freedom, and the reasons why a teacher must also be a researcher. Demonstrates a bedside teaching situation, a clinical conference dealing with pathology, and a brain-cutting operation conference.
- Date:
- 1966
- Summary:
- Contrast the Russian and United States' plans for disarmament and points out the difficulties of implementing either plan. Explains the limited success of the nuclear test ban and the low probability of its being extended, some of the difficulties involved in setting up a United Nations force to keep the peace, and the refusal of the nuclear powers to give concessions to the non-nuclear nations in return for the latters' agreement to the non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.
- Date:
- 1966
- Summary:
- Describes the contributions of Arthur Schawlow in the development of the ruby laser. Demonstrates, through a working model of atoms, how ordinary light is produced and how laser light is generated and controlled, and shows why getting the light under control is so difficult. Presents several sequences showing Schawlow's part in working out the physics behind the first successful laser.
- Date:
- 1966
- Summary:
- Examines the various means of delivering nuclear weapons to distant targets and protecting these delivery systems from surprise attack. Discusses how the vulnerability of bombers to nuclear attack led to the development of various kinds of protected missile sites. Reviews the effectiveness of the U.S. defenses against bomber and/or missile attack.
- Date:
- 1966
- Summary:
- Warning: This film begins with combat footage and images of deceased soldiers. Examines various methods of countering the possibility of governments using weapons of mass destruction and engulfing the major powers in an expanding local conflict. Presents some of the views held by international leaders and scientists on the potential dangers of chemical, bacteriological, and nuclear weapons, and some of the propositions by which the Western nations might cooperate to lessen these dangers.
- Date:
- 1966
- Summary:
- Interviews Richard Wilbur and Robert Lowell (Pulitzer Prize winners) and explores their interests in poetic expression, and the origins of the ideas in their respective poems. Presents Wilbur reading "On The Marginal Way," "Love Calls Us To The Things of this World," and "Advice to a Prophet." Shows Lowell reading "Water," "Soft Wood," "A Flaw," "Fall, 1961," and "The Opposite House."
- Date:
- 1966
- Main contributors:
- Robert Creeley, Richard Moore, Philip Greene
- Summary:
- Provides a candid view of poet Robert Creeley in his home and introduces his poetry. Presents him describing the influences of other literary figures on his works and explaining his own method of working. Includes readings of several of his poems, such as "La Noche," "The First Time," "The Place," and "Someplace."
- Date:
- 1966
- Summary:
- Studies the return of romanticism to contemporary poetry through the poetry of Robert Duncan and John Wieners. Presents Duncan reading several poems, including "The Architecture," and excerpts from "A Biographical Note" and "A Statement on Poetics." Shows Wieners, a student of Duncan, reading "A Poem for Painters," "Cocaine," and an excerpt from an unpublished prose work.
- Date:
- 1966
- Summary:
- Probes, in documentary style, the attempts which are made to solve the problems which have been brought about by the urban population explosion. Cites slum areas, racial unbalance in the schools, and the needs of untrained or illiterate rural immigrants as some of the elements involved. Points out projects in urban renewal and urban rehabilitation, bussing children from one school district to another, and antipoverty programs as attempted solutions.
- Date:
- 1966
- Summary:
- Documents several experiments conducted at the Sleep Research Laboratory of the University of California at Los Angeles in studying the nature of sleep. Presents experiments to determine the relationship of dreams to stomach secretions, the amount of time infants spend dreaming, and the effects of depriving a subject of dreams. Shows the recording and interpretation of electrical impulses from a sleeping subject and the rapid eye movements during dreaming.
- Date:
- 1965
- Summary:
- The circus is a glorious mixture of many different acts, and the circus crowd is a glorious mixture of many different kinds of people with greatly varied taste. For some, the antics of the clowns are the most memorable parts of the show; for others, the grace and daring of the aerialists draw the loudest cheers; and there are some to whom the massive, lumbering elephants are the circus’s most exciting offering. This program is about the elephants (dubbed “bulls” in circus jargon). It also looks at two other important circus animals; the bears and the chimpanzees.
- Date:
- 1965
- Summary:
- Discusses the two major aspects of the crime problem in the United States--police protection of citizens from crime and rehabilitation of juvenile offenders through training schools and reformatories. Aspects of these problems are examined by police experts, criminologists, and others. Methods of operation used by the Chicago Police Department are evaluated; training schools are visited; and their methods are contrasted with community programs designed to keep the juvenile from ever becoming a criminal.
- Date:
- 1965
- Main contributors:
- Joseph Moray, National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, John M. Davidson, Richard Gilbert, Arthur M. Kaye, Shirley Tebbe, Francesca Greene, Peter Smith, Carole Eickhoff, Davidson Films
- Summary:
- Delineates interesting facets of the development of our decimal system. Compares the additive, subtractive, multiplicative, and positional notation aspects of the Chinese, Babylonian, Egyptian, and Hindu-Arabic systems. Uses models to explain concepts which lead to greater understanding of base 10 systems. This film traces the historical development of our present decimal system--the Hindu-Arabic system of numeration. The meaning and importance of base ten, place value, grouping, numerals, and expanded notation are carefully described.
- Date:
- 1965
- Summary:
- Provides an opportunity for the viewer to compare the personality of Dorothea Lange, photographer-artist, with her work. Many of her photographs are presented; these cover various periods, such as the depression, World War II, and the growth of the urban sprawl in contemporary California. Lange is shown in her home as she states she is convinced the world is not being truly photographed at all today. To the present generation of photographers, she proposes a new photographic project with the cities of America as the subject--to be done on a scale comparable to that of the Farm Security Administration Photographic Project of the thirties.
- Date:
- 1965
- Summary:
- Provides a close view of Dorothea Lange and her photographs, enabling the viewer to share her deep involvement in her work and her philosophy as a photographer. Looks in on Lange as she prepares for a one-woman exhibition of her work covering the past fifty years and comments on the reasons and emotions that have moved her to photograph particular scenes. Represents, with her death in October, 1965, a memorial to her and to the despair and hope which she captured so well in her documentary photographs.
- Date:
- 1965
- Summary:
- Traces the development of American jazz dance, from tap dancing through the stylized theatrical form of the 1900's and orchestrated jazz of the Thirties, to the cool, abstract music of the Sixties. Demonstrates the basic steps of tap dance (sand shuffle, waltz clog, time step, buck and wing) as performed by Honi Coles. Presents Paula Kelly, Dudley Williams, and William Luther dancing to "Storyville, New Orleans" and the music recorded by Jelly Roll Morton, and Grover Dale and Michel Harty dancing in "Idiom 59" and to recorded music of the same title by Duke Ellington. Presents John Butler's choreography of music by Gunther Schuller, variations on a theme by John Lewis.
- Date:
- 1965
- Summary:
- Defines movies as glorified shadow shows and traces the motion picture revolution from a simple shadow on a wall to modern movies. Presents a history of the development of the movie camera, film, and other photographic inventions. Includes Al Jolson, Lon Chaney, Laurel and Hardy, and sequences from The Great Train Robbery and a Conquest of Space.
- Date:
- 1965
- Main contributors:
- Richard Lukin, Ron Allen
- Summary:
- Condensed version of "Gift of Choice" episode of Population Problem. Reports on experiments being carried out to determine the factors controlling pregnancies both to aid those who want children and to control fertility for those who want to limit family size.
- Date:
- 1965
- Summary:
- Illustrates Edward Weston's philosophy of photography and life through his writings, which he called "Daybooks." Relates the feelings of the photographer as photographs are presented from Weston's soft-focus period, his abstract photographs, and his work done in Mexico. Evaluates Weston as an artist through discussions by two of his sons, his second wife, and one of his former students.
- Date:
- 1965
- Summary:
- Illustrates Edward Weston's philosophy of photography through his photographs. Includes photographs from his study of Point Lobos, California; his record of California and the western United States; portraits of his cats; and samples from his satirical series and his civil defense series.
- Date:
- 1965
- Main contributors:
- Morton Gould, Sol Schoenbach, Clark Jones
- Summary:
- Introduces the music of the woodwinds. Presents the story of their evolution from outdoor performances to the concert hall. Includes the following: the Second Movement of Haydn's Divertimento in B Flat Major; the First Movement of Antonio Rosetti's Wind Quintet in E Flat; and the Pastorale of Gabriel Pierne.
- Date:
- 1965
- Summary:
- Presents music of the renaissance played by the New York Pro Musica using authentic instruments of the period. Demonstrates the recorder, brumhorn, sackbut, dulcian, viola da gamba, and shawm. Performs such compositions as: Passamezzo for the Coronettas, Galliard of Monsieur Wustrow, Galliard of the Battle, Reprise, Spanish Pavane, Bourree, The Queen's Courante, Passamezzo, and Galliard.
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- The desert plains of central Idaho bore silent witness to many events in history – the coming of the Oregon Trail, the wars between the whites and the Indians, the events of the Old West, Today they are witnessing a change that is far more important – the coming of atomic power. On the lava plains of central Idaho is the National Reactor Testing Station, famous for “firsts” in nuclear energy. Here electricity was first generated from atomic energy and atomic power first was used to light a town. Principles of nuclear submarine propulsion were worked out in “a ship on the desert” in Idaho. “Challenge” visits the National Reactor Testing Station to look at a power plant of the future, a reactor that makes more nuclear fuel than it consumes. The principle is not perpetual motion. This reactor takes the part of uranium that is not fissionable fuel (more than 99 per cent of the total) and converts it into plutonium, a man made element that is a good nuclear fuel. Because the reactor “breeds” plutonium it is called a “breeder” reactor – Experimental Breeder Reactor-II. How this breeding is accomplished, and how fuel for EBR-II is fabricated by remote control, is explained in this program.
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- A few years ago history was made at the United States Atomic Energy Commission’s Argonne National Laboratory where this program was filmed. This is the story of the dedicated research scientists whose search for truth ended a fallacy in chemistry which had existed for more than half a century. Although their efforts were not as exciting as the discovery that the world was round and not flat, the scientists at Argonne disproved that a group of elements called “inert gases” would not react with other elements to form compounds. This is not to imply that these elements – helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon – did not have utility. Helium is the gas used to send balloons aloft. Neon, argon, and krypton are used in light bulbs: xenon in high speed photographic cells; and radon in medical therapy to irradiate cancer cells. What the Argonne scientists investigated was the atomic structure of these elements. For years it had been falsely believed that the electrons within these elements could not combine with electrons within the atoms of other elements. Following a report of Canadian scientists, the researchers at Argonne found that, instead of picking up electrons from other atoms, some of these so-called “inert gases” actually gave up electrons when combined with other elements. Using Krypton, xenon, and radon, in separate experiments, the Argonne scientists succeeded in making compounds which previously were unheard of. In fact, they also found at least one xenon compound for which they weren’t looking. This was xenon trioxide, a powerful explosive, made from xenon and oxygen. Many new uses will doubtless be found for these new compounds, according to the scientists. One might be the use of xenon tetrafluoride to store large quantities of fluorine as an oxidizing agent in rocket fuel.
88. Algae (17:14)
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- Depicts the five major groups of algae, showing growth, movement, reproduction, and nutritional patterns. Describes the tremendous size range of algae from the giant kelp to the minute forms found in a drop of pond water. Discusses the evolutionary development and the economic and ecological importance of the algae.
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- Mr. Hoffer examines the role that works plays in self-esteem as well as the effects of growing automation upon this self-esteem. He comments on the basic human need in all societies, in every period of history, for self-realization. It is, he feels, the feeling of worth derived from productive activity whether it be manual labor or the creation of art, literature and philosophy. Mr. Hoffer points out that early science grew out of Western man’s conception of God as “a master scientist,” and that Leonardo da Vinci, for his art, investigated anatomy and became interested in science because he believed it was “God’s work.” He then traces the development of machines from early civilization to what he terms, “present day over-mechanization and automation.” Today’s fast-growing automation and shrinking labor market is turning early man’s dream of luxury and leisure into a nightmare. Unemployment among workers is outstripping the ability of today’s economy to supply jobs for the unskilled. Mr. Hoffer cites current unemployment figures and projects them into the future, commenting that “when man is cut off from the chance to exercise his skills, he loses his confidence, his joy for life, and his sense of worth. Where you have people without a sense of usefulness, you have a potentially explosive situation ideal for the growth of hatred, bigotry and racism.”
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- Wild animal exhibitions originated with the menagerie, but jungle beasts as performers are relative newcomers to the circus. Because traveling menageries were so successful financially, circus operators around the turn of the century began to incorporate into their shows wild animal exhibitions with “lion tamers” in attendance. The American public flocked to see the dangerous denizens of faraway jungles paraded with great ballyhoo by nerveless human handles, and wild animal acts swiftly became an integral part of the circus. There is another kind of animal act which answers a different interest among circus audiences and comes out of a longer standing tradition than the wild animal acts: the tame animal act in which the animal, through meticulous training, is able to perform tricks exploiting the upper limits of its physical capability and intelligence. It is always with squeals of delight that the audience watches an animal –a seal, pony, chimpanzee, or dog –break into a routine which makes it look “human.”This program concentrates on these two kinds of animal performance. It uses as examples of the tame animal act the skillful and imaginative “Stephenson’s Dogs,” seen in rehearsal on the Ringling lot. In the wild animal category there are three different performers: Clyde Beatty, Pat Anthony, and Robert Baudy. In each case the viewer sees them at work with their “cats” (tigers and lions), while their voices come over their own performance shots describing the dangers of their profession, their training methods, how they groom the animals, and what happens when a snarling cat turns against his master (Anthony, who puts his arm in the mouth of a tiger, tells us that if the animal begins to bite his arm, he bites his ear, which makes the tiger relinquish its hold.) The three trainers on this program represent two different approaches to the art of the wild animal act. Both Pat Anthony (who studied animal training under the G.I. Bill) and veteran Clyde Beatty (whose performances are seen in both old and current film clips) give “fighting acts,” concentrating on the physical aspects of their performances –often wielding the gun and whip irritating the cats into loud roaring, and, in general, making it as clear as possible that a 165-pound man is taking on 8700 pounds of “unleashed jungle fury.” Robert Baudy, a Frenchman, has a different approach. His act emphasizes “style” rather than combat, and, clad in rich costume, he enters the steal arena with a more aesthetic objective than that of his colleagues Beatty and Anthony: he makes his Siberian tigers go through the paces of their impossible tricks with quiet, sinister, grace.
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- In this program research scientists explore a mystery that has baffled man for ages – the life process itself. To gain knowledge that someday might answer questions such as, “How do plants make food?” and “What will control the spread of cancer?” Scientists at the United States Atomic Energy Commission’s Argonne National Laboratory are experimenting with the simplest forms of plant and animal life. One avenue of research is centered on the study of algae, one-celled green plants commonly found in pools of stagnant water. The algae were singled out because, like man, they are basically chemical factories – only infinitely more simple in structure. Scientists explain, in this program, how they have succeeded in growing algae in pure “heavy” water, a rare form of water that has hydrogen atoms that are twice as heavy as Normal hydrogen atoms.From a unique “algae farm” the scientists harvest these tiny plants. Their crop gives them chemicals that have heavy hydrogen in place of ordinary hydrogen atoms. Other larger plants are being grown successfully in mixtures of heavy water and ordinary water, and these also are valuable chemical factories.The scientists found that organisms growing in heavy water grow at a slower rate and have different nutritional requirements than organisms growing in ordinary water. From these findings, research scientists are exploring the possibility that heavy water might cause a slow-down in the aging process. Scientist has experimented also with mice to determine what effect heavy water has on animals. Already, they have succeeded in replacing about 30 percent of the normal water in mice with heavy water. Scientists have found that heavy water retards the growth of mice and that tissue which normally grows the fastest appeared to be the most retarded in growth. This latter finding may someday have a bearing on understanding cancer in humans and may lead to a breakthrough in its treatment.Other startling biological effects also have been demonstrated in organisms which have been given doses of “heavy” carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. In these experiments, scientists were able to alter the growth of the organisms. These alterations may hold further clues to the life process.
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- What fingerprinting is to the F.B.I., spectroscopy is to the scientist. Through its use, astronomers have been able to learn more about the chemical composition of the sun than is known about the composition of the earth. Spectroscopy is used in food research to find impurities in canned food and cans of beer; it is used to trace the origin of paint found on a car in a hit-and-run accident; or to determine how jewelry was made centuries ago. Just how does this technique work? It is a simple story as explained by physicists at Argonne National Laboratory. Yet its applications are extremely precise. The basic instrument is the spectroscope, which can be as simple as a piece of glass used to split sunlight into a “rainbow” of color or as complicated as a piece of delicate apparatus that can single out sixty thousand different colors and requires a room as big as a small house. The use of spectroscopy was extremely important during the development of the atomic bomb. Large quantities of uranium and graphite were needed to produce the bomb, and scientists knew that the very success of the project depended on obtaining these elements in their purist forms. Using a spectroscope, scientists were able to measure the purity of the valuable elements. They knew that each element emits certain colors in the same manner that each man has different fingerprints. Thus, scientists could “look” at two pictures of different samples of uranium and determine which was the purer, since uranium containing impurities gave a different color or wavelength when photographed and compared with photographs of light from pure uranium. Scientists have spent literally years studying photographic plates from the spectrograph to determine the frequencies of light from specimens of chemical elements. The measurement and interpretation is an exacting and time-consuming task which is important if scientists are to understand the structure of atoms.
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- The task of today’s mathematicians and computers is to keep abreast of the fast-moving world of nuclear research where yesterday’s successful experiments can be outdated tomorrow. To record the progress being made in this complex field, television camera crews went to the Atomic Energy Commission’s Argonne National Laboratory where in the Mathematics Division men and machines are working daily to process the avalanche of data, the results of thousands experiments that are performed each year at Argonne. In this program, “Machines that think” cameras focus on the latest computers which in a matter of minutes can analyze and solve problems that would take a team of mathematicians a life time to work out. The program reports on computers that have such names as Chloe, Phylis, Engine No.2, and Analog. Chloe is a computer capable of transforming picture patterns, such as chromosome alignments, into numbers, the meaningful language of computers. In the study of radiation effects on chromosomes, for example, Chloe can come up with faster and more accurate answers than human observers. Chloe’s information, in turn, can be fed to other computers which can interpret the findings and “tell” the experimented the results he’s getting while the experiment is still in progress. Still other computers are capable of making adjustments, again while the experiment is in progress, while others can make “decisions,” such as interrupting the function of a main computer to “ask” a question about the experiment. There are other new computers which can tell scientists whether or not their design in experimental models, such as rockets or reactors, will work –even before the machine is built. This is accomplished by feeding the computers mathematical models of the proposed rocket or reactor and asking the computer to test them. Their answers can save scientists years in experimenting by trial and error and millions of dollars necessary to build experimental models.
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- Had it not been for the study into the nature of matter itself, the twentieth century probably would be without television, atomic power, and space satellites. This Program looks into a branch of science called particle physics, a study of sub nuclear particles. The experiments are being carried out at the Atomic Energy Commission’s Argonne National Laboratory. This is the story of experiments in a field where the lifespan of one of the subjects can be less than a billionth of a second and where the subject has no mass or shape –terms almost impossible for the layman to visualize yet alone comprehend. One of the particles which scientists know little about is the neutrino, a neutral particle carrying no electrical charge, but which some day may yield the key to the universe. Scientists say the neutrino does not have mass and the only way it can be observed is by collecting trillions of them and forcing them to collide with other particles, and then observing the damage of that collision. To accomplish this collision, a maze of machinery and nearly infinite timing and precision is required. This program reports on some of these experiments and the machinery employed. For these experiments, where the sub nuclear particles are in existence less than a few billionths of a second and are without mass, scientists have invented various detection devices. A sophisticated electron detector can observe and record these collisions in a manner similar to conventional radar which can follow aircraft. Another method which the program illustrates is high-speed photography which is capable of following the collision in the same way vapor trails from a high-altitude jet can be photographed without the camera capturing the plan itself. The ambition of the sub nuclear physicist is to unify all of nature’s phenomena into coherent sets of laws. His eventual goal is to find the answers that are at the core of the universe.
95. Talent (59:54)
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- Mr. Hoffer argues that the men working beside him as longshoremen on the San Francisco docks are “lumpy with talent.” Genius, he notes, is not rare, it is wasted; and the talent of the workingman is a kind of common sense practicality. Wherever this talent exists among working men, they do their jobs without “all that fuss” which he considers to be characteristic of the underdeveloped countries of the world. Then, Mr. Hoffer raises a question regarding the forces that bring about creative periods in our history – periods that began quite suddenly and ended just as suddenly. He cites, as examples, “the period of cave drawings,” “the Age of Pericles,” “the Florence of the Renaissance,” and “the flowering of New England,” Mr. Hoffer contends that it was not because there was more talent during these periods (“the artists of Florence,” he notes, “were the sons of shopkeepers, and tailors.”), but rather that others forces which exist in every period of history were at work and these forces freed the talent.
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- Precision and perfection are the watchwords of today’s Space and Atomic Age. Nothing can be overlooked everything must be checked and rechecked before the “go” signal can be given. A crack in a missile’s fuel line, invisible to the human eye, can be disastrous. A defect in an atomic reactor, while not disastrous, can mean costly and time-consuming repairs. This program examines “non-destructive testing”, a new-comer, yet one of the most important engineering techniques. Non-destructive testing is simply a method of examining an object for defects without destroying it in the process. It is unlike other testing methods such as automobile test, for example, in which the vehicle is pushed to its maximum performance before it ends up on the junk pile. The television cameras are at the Metallurgy Division of the United States Atomic Energy Commission’s Argonne National Laboratory, where scientists are using such non-destructive testing techniques as X-rays, gamma rays, and neutron radiography. At Argonne, neutronradiography is an invaluable aid to pinpoint what happens to uranium or plutonium fuel that sustains a chain reaction in an atomic reactor. The knowledge gained through this technique is important in designing the atomic power plants of today and tomorrow. Also shown are the ultrasonic testing methods used to detect imperfections by “bouncing” sound waves through objects that are being tested. One of these methods converts sound waves into electronic signals to show television pictures of hidden defects. The value of these non-destructive testing methods becomes increasingly more important as the tolerances become smaller and smaller for the new atomic reactors, space vehicles, and aircraft engines that are being constructed.
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- For centuries men have dreamed of turning common elements such as lead and zinc into more precious metals such as gold and silver. Today, nuclear scientists are looking beyond this and are inventing new elements which are more valuable than gold. This program, “The Alchemist’s Dream,” looks into these new elements –like curium and berkelium –which were unheard of a few years ago. Using an instrument called a cyclotron –an atom smasher –scientists at the United States Atomic Energy Commission’s Argonne National Laboratory are making new elements which do not exist in nature. In a manner of speaking, scientists at Argonne are working in an “atomic shooting gallery.” Houses in a special room behind seven –foot thick concrete doors, a cyclotron bombards target atoms of curium with a beam of a special variety of hydrogen nuclei, resulting in the making of a new elements, berkelium, one of eleven elements which have been “invented” by science. Behind heavy concrete walls, painstaking precautions are taken in the manufacture of these new elements because of harmful radiation, a byproduct of atom splitting. Though these experiments yield only small amounts of the new elements, they enable scientists to work out their chemical properties. This research provides new information on how atoms are put together. It also tells the scientists what to expect when larger quantities of the new elements are available. Already, some of these man-made elements are furnishing the power for satellites and remote weather stations. A small quantity of one of the new man-made elements, californium, scientists predict, could produce enough energy to do the job of a nuclear reactor weighing several tons.
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- Electrical power to heat and light American homes and industries in the future will be furnished by plutonium. This program reports on plutonium, one of the eleven man-made elements, which as a future source of fuel will produce two million times more energy than coal. Plutonium did not exist on earth until less than a quarter-century ago when it was born in a nuclear reactor. Born in a wartime program to obtain material for the atomic bomb, plutonium is finding important peacetime uses because it is a potent nuclear fuel. In fact, 99 percent of all uranium that is mined must be converted into plutonium in a reactor in order for mankind to use its latent energy. It has been estimated that the reserve of uranium that can be converted into plutonium represents hundreds of times more energy than the nation’s combined reserves of coal, oil, and natural gas. Against this background of the importance of plutonium, the program shows some of the elaborate precautions that must be taken in handling it. Plutonium is highly toxic. It burns easily in air. Its metallurgical properties make it extremely difficult to work with. At the Plutonium Fabrication Building, the cameras capture the elaborate precautions employed, revealing how plutonium is combined with uranium and other elements and shaped into wire-thin rods of fuel. As the program points out, 25 years ago the word plutonium could not be found in the dictionary, but tomorrow – through scientific research – the word plutonium will be as common as the words coal and oil are today.
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- San Francisco longshoreman and author-philosopher Eric Hoffer began more than fifteen years ago to identify in his thought the nature of the “true believer,” the inspiration for his book on the subject. After writing the book, he turned his thoughts to the underdeveloped nations of the world, leading him to a consideration of the effects of change. Suddenly, Mr. Hoffer found himself thinking about juveniles; concluding that nations, as people, can be juvenile and that “true believers” are, in fact, perpetual juveniles – “true believers” such as General de Gaulle of France, Premier Khrushchev of Russia, and Premier Sukarno of Indonesia. His conclusion from all this is that each human being has one central preoccupation, - one train of thought- to which all of his thoughts are related.
- Date:
- 1964
- Summary:
- Examines the problem of the individual in a complex society. Analyzes how various aspects of American life satisfy man's need for self-identification. Assesses the impact of government planning on individual initiative and community identification and examines the problems of people living in urban renewal projects. Points out how the Polaroid Corporation deals with the suppression of individuality in industry and how a steel corporation treated an executive who expressed personal opinions.