Episode 3: Into the Atom airs Monday, Nov. 3, at 10 p.m. on OPB
Or record it Wednesday, Nov. 4, at 3 a.m. on OPB
A young British physicist named Harry Moseley uses newly discovered X-rays to determine "how many elements God created," putting the Periodic Table in a whole new light. And a young American chemist named Glenn Seaborg creates a new element—plutonium—that changes the world forever, unleashing a force of unimaginable destructive power: the atomic bomb.
See Episode 3 promos at the links below.
Hour 3 Seaborg promo 0:30
Hour 3, 0:20 "Moseley"
https://vimeo.com/109454596
Was physicist Leo Sziilard mentioned even once? If so, I didn't hear it.
ReplyDeleteEinstein's letter to Roosevelt was mentioned, but not Szilard's role in it.
The chain reaction was called 'Fermi's chain reaction' when it could more accurately be called Szilard's chain reaction.
The opposition to the use of the bomb on Japanese cities was never mentioned, or the historical consequences.
The omission of Szilard's role is so glaring that it constitutes historical inaccuracy.
This program needs a rewrite before national broadcast.
Gene,
DeleteThanks for your comment.
If the program were on the atomic bomb, I would agree with you, but the bomb is only a small part of the Seaborg story -- and an even smaller part of the whole hour. There is much that we had to leave out for lack of time -- Oppenheimer, for example.
However, funds permitting, we hope to create a longer version of the Seaborg story for the Mystery of Matter Website. It would go into much more detail about Seaborg's role in the Manhattan Project, and it would note Szilard's role in conceiving of the chain reaction and urging Einstein to write the letter to Roosevelt.
Steve Lyons
Several of the above links are broken. Though they supposedly point to vimeo, they go to facebook then to vimeo in a broken way.
ReplyDelete