Customer Reviews

NOVA - Genius: The Science of Einstein, Newton, Darwin, and Galileo

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Here, in one box, are 4 superb Nova programs that function as absorbing discussions of some of the most profound scientific discoveries in history and as biographies of the scientists responsible for them. Very few breakthroughs in science follow a linear path: there are usually a host of ancillary scientists whose contributions to the intellectual climate of the time provide the essential nutrients for discovery. Then there are the scientists whose insights are crucial to the final momentous breakthrough. Both groups are part of the fabric of these programs. Abstract ideas are easier to explain when there are people and concrete things to drape them on. I found the superb Galileo and Einstein programs particularly valuable (especially if watched in chronological order) for their thoughtful explication of the scientific concept of Relativity.

Relativity, in it's modern sense, originates with Galileo's primal work on motion and gravity. Following his death, his elegant ideas persisted over three centuries before Einstein's profoundly deep insights into the workings of nature illuminated the Relativity of motion, the speed of light, mass, energy and time. Along this 300 year long thoroughfare of thought, illustrious scientific names such as Newton, Leibnitz, Halley, Faraday, Maxwell and many others illuminate the way. As someone trained as a scientist, I can attest to how this mingling of ideas with personalities and history can make them easier to visualize and understand. Where the Einstein program appears weakest: the occasional emphasis on the 'sexy' Einstein, on 'Einstein the dude' who is just like any other fellow; hating school, ogling women. If the intent is to persuade the audience that Einstein was just an ordinary bloke, that anyone can conceive what Einstein conceived given enough spare time and a sufficient number of rainy afternoons, it is pointless. The kind of insights that led to his miraculous year of discovery, 1905, only happen every few centuries, if not longer. That applies to Newton, Galileo and Darwin, as well. Extraordinary discoveries require extraordinary minds. These 4 programs help curious nonscientists understand the products of these extraordinary minds, and the precursor ideas that helped seed them. Along the way, they also redress some historical wrongs. Women who were marginalized in the world of science by gender and religious prejudice, women such as Emilie du Chatelet and Lisa Meitner, are given long overdue exposure and their proper credit. This is a wonderful byproduct of these programs.

These 4 programs emphasize drama more than the science programs of the past. Inevitably, some may accuse them of being "dumbed down". I've always felt that anything that increases scientific curiosity and aides understanding is worthwhile. These Nova programs definitely achieve that end. They do not engage in deep scientific complexity, but they are intelligently entertaining and dramatically engrossing. If you are curious about these great scientists but are afraid that their science will be over your head, fear not. The shows are clear and not too difficult. They are challenging without being obscure; while never talking down to the audience, they are always eager to inform. For those more scientifically sophisticated than the average viewer, the historical drama and scientific biographies may hold intrinsic interest. All of the performers are superb. All of the scientists providing expert commentary are clear, informative and eager to enlighten. The computer graphics used to illustrate these shows are of the highest technical quality. The photography, likewise.

The DVDs are all NTSC encoded. The films are shot either full screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio or shot widescreen with a 16:9 aspect. The running time of the 4 DVDs is 420 minutes. Sound is Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo and the films are closed captioned. There are various extras including DVD-ROM text material and various web site links.

These 4 programs are an excellent and intelligent combination of science, biography and history presented for those who are curious about the world. Most highly recommended.

Mike Birman

These four videos are just absolutely fantastic. They are so well done that even the students in my introductory classes enjoy them (and that's hard to do when dealing with historical videos). Even I, who knows my history well, enjoys watching them again and again. They are all pretty accurate, and the few sections that aren't are not important or even that noticeable. If this is even a thought, buy it! You won't regret it.

This is a fabulous set of DVD's which explain some the greatest scientific ideas in history and the individuals who authored them. I ony wish each episode were longer in duration and deeper in content.

One reviewer asks why Darwin is included in this set. Although Darwin did not invent the idea of evolution, he did articulate a mechanism by which it operates: natural selection. A preponderance of evidence supports natural seletion as one of, but perhaps not the only, mechanism to explain evolution.

It is true, however, that Darwin's theory has not been "proved". It is a cornerstone of science that a theory can never be proved, only disproved. At best, a theory can only be said to be consistent with the known evidence. But no other theory of evolution or creation stands on as sound a footing as natural selection.

Darwin often is discounted by those who disfavour a world based on reason, preferring instead to accept one of the many forms of religious mythology. But this does not disprove Darwin's writings as a comprehensive framework for biology, a framework which is yet to be developed for physics. The ideas of Galileo, Newton and Einstein no doubt will be key pillars of the latter framework.

Well produced videos with amazing subject matter.Nova has done some beautiful work here.
For those of you whose faith will not allow them to accept evolution, you should still quite enjoy the other three. You may even enjoy the drama of the disc on Darwin. It's a wonderful story.

I teach High School Science and this was just what I needed. I had to attend numerous conferences this year, sometimes for a couple of days at a time. All of the films are highly entertaining and informative. The price was great to get them all together and I didn't have to go through PBS to get them piecemeal. The highlights were Galileo's Battle for the Heaven's and Einstein's Big Idea (I often will play the scenes of Lavoisier and Faraday's stories when the topics of Conservation of Mass and Faraday's Electromagnetic Induction come up).

We received this as one of the wedding gifts we registered for. We love the scientific and historical information provided; however, found the scientist acting portions a bit obnoxious and annoying (however may accurate they may have been). The historical/prior known knowledge is well described so that a large variety of individuals can appreciate/understand the information. Additionally we liked the wide variety of experts, that the personal lives of the scientists were also included.

Great collection of scientists, their specific place in the course of history, and the great contributions that they made. Another stellar NOVA product !!!

There is loads of valuable info but the temptation to nod off is pretty high.

I find it repugnant that year after year that a man like Charles Darwin is heralded as a genius and a great man. He had several vices that if he were a contemporary and these vices were popularly known today, he would be torn to pieces. First off, the full title of his now infamous book "The Origin of Species" is actually "The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life." The title alone would cause people to cringe and shrink away from this work if it had been written today, whether his theories were correct or not. He also married his first cousin, and because of this whenever 1 or more of his 10 children fell ill, he feared that they might have inherited weaknesses from inbreeding due to the close family ties he shared with his wife and cousin, Emma Wedgwood. He also was very open about his poor view of women (as compared to his high praise of men) in his work "The Descent of Man." So, from this, you could say he was racist, incestuous, and a sexist. What a lovely human being to hold up as a great man. Why do we go beyond celebrating ideas and celebrate this man who we would not want in our own home?

TAKE DARWIN OUT AND PUT LEONARDO DA VINCI IN! THE 'THEORY' OF EVOLUTION,(NOTHING BUT HIGHLY IMAGINED SUPPOSITIONS, WITH ABSOLUTELY NO CONCLUSIVE OR FACTUAL PROOF TO SUPPORT IT), IS A THEORY WHEN IT COMES TO THE EVOLUTION OF MANKIND ESPECIALLY. WHAT THE HELL IS DARWIN BEING PUT IN THE SAME LEAGUE AS THESE OTHER GENTLEMEN, ESPECIALLY SIR ISAAC NEWTON!? SCIENCE WOULD NEVER HAVE HAD THE BEDROCK, AND I DO MEAN ''BEDROCK', IF IT HADN'T BEEN NEWTON'S FORMULATION FOR GRAVITY 650 YEARS AGO. LEONARDO DA VINCI WAS QUITE FRANKLY, A 'TRUE GENIUS' IN EVERY SENSE OF THE WORD. 1,000 YEARS AHEAD OF HIS TIME.HE PROBABLY BELONGS HERE BEFORE EINSTEIN! PLEEEAAAASSSSEEEE. GIVE ME A BREAK! THIS WOULD HAVE BEEN A FULL 5 STARS IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR DARWIN. HEY NOVA YOU REALLY MADE A MONKEY OUTTA YOURSELVES FOR THIS!