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The Atom

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From the BBC a program about the atom... fundamental to studies in chemistry, physics and general science. The discovery that everything is made of atoms is the greatest scientific find ever. How the vast variety and richness of everything we see around us is built up and how it fits together comes down to atoms and the mysterious laws they obey. As scientists studied the atom they had to abandon everything they believed in and create a whole new science. A science that today underpins the whole of physics, chemistry, biology and maybe even life itself. This series chronicles how humanity solved the mystery of the atom. It is an inspiring and remarkable history.

Episodes:

• Clash of the Titans

  The first of three programs in which nuclear physicist and host, Professor Jim Al-Khalili, tells the story of the greatest scientific discovery ever - the discovery that everything is made of atoms. As scientists delved deep into the atom, into the very heart of matter, they unravelled nature's most shocking secrets. They had to abandon everything they believed in and create a whole new science, which today underpins the whole of physics, chemistry, biology and maybe even life itself. 'Atom' tells a story of great geniuses, people like Albert Einstein and Werner Heisenberg who were driven by their thirst for knowledge and glory. It's a story of false starts and conflicts, ambition and revelation, a story which leads us through some of the most exciting and exhilarating ideas ever conceived of by the human race.

  Length:	00:50:09
  Usage rights:	Expires 6/30/2030

• Illusion of Reality

  The last of Professor Jim Al-Khalili's three part series in which he tells the story of the greatest scientific discovery ever - the discovery that everything is made of atoms. In this film he explores how studying the atom forced us to rethink the nature of reality itself. He encounters ideas that seem like they're from science fiction but in fact are a central part of modern science. He discovers there might be parallel universes in which different versions of us exist and finds out that empty space isn't empty at all, but seething with activity. The world we think we know, the solid, re-assuring world of our senses, turns out to be a tiny sliver of an infinitely weirder and more wonderful universe than we had ever conceived of in our wildest fantasies.

  Length:	00:49:18
  Usage rights:	Expires 6/30/2030

• Key to the Cosmos

  This is the second of Professor Jim Al-Khalili's three part investigation into the basic building block of our universe - the atom. He shows that in our quest to understand the tiny atom, we unravelled the mystery of how the entire universe was created. It's a story with dramatic twists and turns, taking in world-changing discoveries like radioactivity, the Atom Bomb and the Big Bang. All this forms part of an epic narrative in which the greatest brains of the 20th century competed to answer the biggest questions of all - why are we here and how were we made?

  Length:	00:50:05
  Usage rights:	Expires 6/30/2030

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