 James Burke, the creator and host of 'Connections', explains the Haber-Bosch Process Connections was a ten-episode documentary television series created and narrated by science historian James Burke. The series was produced and directed by Mick Jackson of the BBC Science & Features Department and first aired in 1978. It took an interdisciplinary approach to the history of science and invention and demonstrates how various discoveries, scientific achievements, and historical world events built off one another in an interconnected way to bring about particular aspects of modern technology. The series is well-known for Burke's impeccable narration (especially its dry humour), historical reenactments, intricate working models, skillful use of classical music (most notably Fortuna Imperatrix Mundi, or "O Fortuna" from Carmina Burana), and shots on location as far afield as Penang. The popular success of the series led to two sequels, Connections2 in 1994, and Connections3 in 1997, both produced for TLC. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
The Haber Process (also Haber-Bosch process) is the reaction of nitrogen and hydrogen to produce ammonia. ...
A television documentary is a documentary or a series of documentaries that are meant to be broadcasted on television. ...
A television program is the content of television broadcasting. ...
Part of a scientific laboratory at the University of Cologne. ...
A historian is an individual who studies history and who writes on history. ...
James Burke James Burke (born November 22, 1936) is a British science historian, author and television producer best known for his documentary television series called Connections, focusing on the history of science and technology leavened with a sense of humour. ...
The British Broadcasting Corporation, which is usually known as the BBC, is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world in terms of audience numbers, employing 26,000 staff in the United Kingdom alone and with a budget of more than GB£4 billion. ...
Year 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar). ...
Interdisciplinary work is that which integrates concepts across different disciplines. ...
Science is a body of empirical and theoretical knowledge, produced by a global community of researchers, making use of specific techniques for the observation and explanation of real phenomena, this techne summed up under the banner of scientific method. ...
An invention is an object, process, or technique which displays an element of novelty. ...
By the mid 20th century humans had achieved a mastery of technology sufficient to leave the surface of the Earth for the first time and explore space. ...
The Narrator is the entity within a story that tells the story to the reader. ...
Deadpan is a form of comedic delivery in which humour is presented without exhibiting a change in emotion or facial expression. ...
Reenactors of the American Civil War A one-on-one combat reenactment demonstration. ...
A scale model of the Tower of London. ...
This article discusses classical music in the first sense (see below). ...
The cover of the score to Carmina Burana showing the Wheel of Fortuna Carmina Burana is a scenic cantata composed by Carl Orff between 1935 and 1936. ...
State motto: Bersatu dan Setia (United and Loyal) State anthem: Untuk Negeri Kita (For Our State) Capital George Town Ruling party Barisan Nasional - Yang Di-Pertua Negeri Abdul Rahman bin Haji Abbas - Ketua Menteri Dr Koh Tsu Koon History - Ceded by Kedah to British 11 August 1786 - Japanese occupation 1942...
A sequel is a work of fiction in literature, film, and other creative works that is produced after a completed work, and is set in the same universe but at a later time. ...
Year 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar). ...
Year 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar). ...
TLC is a cable TV network in the US and Canada, that carries a variety of informational and reality-based programming. ...
The Connections Approach to History
 Modern soldiers demonstrate the use of steel-tipped pikes by the Swiss against Charles the Bold in one of the many reenactments used in Connections. Connections explores an "Alternative View of Change" (the subtitle of the series) that rejects the conventional linear and teleological view of historical progress. Burke contends that one cannot consider the development of any particular piece of the modern world in isolation. Rather, the entire gestalt of the modern world is the result of a web of interconnected events, each one consisting of a person or group acting in rational self-interest with no concept of the final, modern result of what either their or their contemporaries' actions finally lead to. The interplay of the results of these isolated events is what drives history and innovation, and is also the main focus of the series and its sequels. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Look up Pike and pike in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
Rogier van der Weyden painted Charles the Bold in about 1460, wearing the Order of the Golden Fleece. ...
Teleology (telos: end, purpose) is the philosophical study of design, purpose, directive principle, or finality in nature or human creations. ...
Look up gestalt in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
To demonstrate this view, Burke begins each episode with a particular event or innovation in the past (usually Ancient or Medieval times) and traces the path from that event through a series of seemingly unrelated connections to a fundamental and essential aspect of the modern world. For example, the program traces the invention of plastics from the development of the fluyt, a type of Dutch cargo ship. “Ancient†redirects here. ...
The Middle Ages formed the middle period in a traditional schematic division of European history into three ages: the classical civilization of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and modern times, beginning with the Renaissance. ...
The term plastics covers a range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic condensation or polymerization products that can be molded or extruded into objects or films or fibers. ...
Dutch fluyts of 17th Century A fluyt or a flute (IPA: ) is a type of sailing vessel originally designed as a dedicated cargo vessel. ...
Hapag-Lloyd Container ship Container ship A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. ...
Burke also explores three corollaries to his initial thesis. The first is that, if history is driven by individuals who act only on what they know at the time and not because of any idea as to where their actions will eventually lead, then predicting the future course of technological progress is futile conjecture. If we are astonished by the connections Burke is able to weave among past events, then we will be equally surprised by what the events of today eventually lead to, especially events we weren't even aware of at the time. Look up theorem in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...
The second and third corollaries are explored most in the introductory and concluding episodes, and they represent the downside of an interconnected history. If history progresses because of the synergistic interaction of past events and innovations, then as history does progress, the number of these events and innovations increases. This increase in possible connections causes the process of innovation to not only continue, but to accelerate. Burke poses the question of what happens when this rate of innovation, or more importantly change itself, becomes too much for the average person to handle and what this means for individual power, liberty, and privacy.
Lastly, if the entire modern world is built from these interconnected innovations, all increasingly maintained and improved by specialists who required years of training to gain their expertise, what chance does the average citizen without this extensive training have in making an informed decision on practical technological issues, such as the building of nuclear power plants or the funding of controversial projects such as stem cell research? Furthermore, if the modern world is increasingly interconnected, what happens when one of those nodes collapses? Does the entire system follow suit? A nuclear power station. ...
Mouse embryonic stem cells with fluorescent marker. ...
Episode Guide
Connections - The Trigger Effect
- Death in the Morning
- Distant Voices
- Faith in Numbers
- The Wheel of Fortune
- Thunder in the Skies
- The Long Chain
- Eat, Drink and Be Merry
- Countdown
- Yesterday, Tomorrow and You
The Trigger Effect is the first episode in James Burkes documentary Connections. ...
Death in the Morning is the 2nd episode in James Burkes documentary Connections. ...
Connections2 - Revolutions
- Sentimental Journeys
- Getting It Together
- Whodunit?
- Something for Nothing
- Echoes of the Past
- Photo Finish
- Separate Ways
- High Times
- Déjà Vu
- New Harmony
- Hot Pickle
- The Big Spin
- Bright Ideas
- Making Waves
- Routes
- One Word
- Sign Here
- Better Than the Real Thing
- Flexible Response
Connections3 - Feedback
- What's in a Name?
- Drop The Apple
- Invisible Object
- Life is No Picnic
- Elementary Stuff
- A Special Place
- Fire from the Sky
- Hit the Water
- In Touch
Related Works All three Connections documentaries are available in their entirety as DVD box sets. DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ...
Burke also wrote a series of Connections articles in Scientific American, and published a book of the same name, all built on the same theme of exploring the history of science and ideas, going back and forth through time explaining things on the way and, generally, coming back to the starting point. Scientific American is a popular-science magazine, published (first weekly and later monthly) since August 28, 1845, making it the oldest continuously published magazine in the United States. ...
A Myst-style computer game with James Burke and others providing video footage and voice acting was released in 1995. Myst (or MYST) is a graphic adventure computer game designed and directed by the brothers Robyn and Rand Miller. ...
Year 1995 (MCMXCV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display full 1995 Gregorian calendar). ...
Burke produced another documentary series called The Day the Universe Changed in 1985, which explored man's concept of how the universe worked in a similar way to the original Connections. The Day the Universe Changed is a name of a British documentary television series produced by and starring science historian James Burke, originally broadcast in 1985. ...
Year 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar). ...
Surprising interconnectedness is a feature of the radio series The Rest of the Story, hosted by Paul Harvey. The Rest of the Story is a weekday radio segment told by Paul Harvey. ...
For the Stuckist artist, see Paul Harvey (artist). ...
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