The Ascent of Man

This landmark BBC series from 1973 covers, in thirteen episodes, humanity's scientific and technological discoveries, more or less chronologically. Its host is Jacob Bronowski, a Polish born, British based Jewish mathematician. Clearly an influence on Carl Sagan's Cosmos, this was a sort of an answer to Kenneth Clark's great series Civilization, which despite its title, did not cover science but only art (and only Western European art at that).

The short, brilliant Bronowski reminisces about his personal anecdotes with some of the greatest scientists and intellectuals of the 20th century, like Enrico Fermi, John Von Neumann, Leo Szilard and Aldous Huxley. As did Sagan in Cosmos, he puts himself ideologically in the humanist pro science center left (though he is not as strident an atheist as Sagan). Bronowski would die a year later after this was released from a heart attack. At times, during the series, he looks worn and tired (he was in his mid sixties when he filmed this). The shooting of this series in several countries (including places quite remote in the 1970s such as Easter Island and Machu Picchu or as emotionally moving as Auschwitz, where a large portion of his family died) must have been quite strenuous on him.

In 40 years, some of it has dated, naturally (the computer graphics look very crude now, and some of the scientific information has been surpassed by more recent knowledge) but this is still a very worthwhile, informative TV series to watch.

A bit wordy and dry, even dull at times at times (especially early on), but also full of ever more interesting insight and theories by writer/host Jacob Bronowski. It reminded me of nothing as much as a really interesting illustrated college lecture series.

The series is in 13 parts, each covering a different key step in the development of civilization. A few of Brononski's theories seem a bit stretched, or even wrong headed, the visual style is dated and the effects less than impressive, but that doesn't mean the show isn't interesting, thought provoking and occasionally quite moving -- especially as the series goes on.

I don't feel I need to ever re-see the earliest 4 or 5 episodes again. They feel pretty pedantic and straightforward, and there wasn't much I didn't find familiar.

But the the last 4 or 5 episodes are incredibly clear explanations of the often complex and confusing world of 19th and 20th century science, mixed with quite touching observations about the role of science in a bigger society, its poetry, and the way it feeds humanity' soul.

A strange series - it starts out as fine but nothing special, and ends up somewhere quite powerful.

"The Ascent of Man" is a wonderful and fascinating account of Man's rise from ape to computer-maker through many intermediate steps. Jacob Bronowski does a fantastic job narrating Man's history through the ages. Bronowski was a Jew who found refuge in England after the Nazis invaded his native Poland. Indeed, the most poignant movement in "The Ascent of Man" is when Bronowski visits a former concentration camp where many of relatives were done to death. I had tears in my eyes when I watched that episode. Bronowski's friendship with great nuclear physicists like Leo Szilard enabled him to present a unique perspective on the nuclear age. For example, Bronowski reveals that Szilard conceived the atom bomb when he stopped his car at a stop light and says that is the only part he could not believe - Szilard always ran red lights! Bronowski's account of Darwin and evolution and of Mendel and genetics are the best I have ever seen.

"The Ascent of Man" paints on a huge canvas. What else is suitable for depicting the history of Man? The only criticism I have is that "The Ascent of Man" is rather Eurocentric. It neglects the role of China and India in Man's progress, though it acknowledges the Islamic influence on Europe.

The program was made in 1973, yet it is not outdated. In the last episode, Bronowski prophetically hinted at the coming of the computer age - an age he would not live to see. It is a pity that "The Ascent of Man" is not available on video. Luckily, the book version is still obtainable. Having read it, I strongly recommend it.

Reviewed by Sundar Narayan

It is too simplistic to say that he constructed the series in a linear manner. Bronowski knew what he was doing, and he said that simple questions needed difficullt answers. But not in the space of 12 and a bit hours of televison. This was a (perfect) way in, to encourage complex thoughts, problem analysis and definition. Nothing else like it has appeared on broadcast media, certainly not the populism od Sagan or Burke.

If only he could speak today.

This extraordinary series, thirteen fifty-minute episodes, is one of television's highest achievements; nearly forty years after its completion, it has lost little of its luster.

A mathematician whose professional journey included work on the Manhattan Project, later at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, as well as an editor and scholar of the works of William Blake, Dr. Jacob Bronowski was one of the last true Renaissance men.

Presented here is a veritable smörgåsbord of human history cast against scientific advancements and technological innovations that take the viewer around the world, from the dawn of Man to the then-present of 1972. Along the way, Dr. Bronowski stops to examine some of humanity's greatest accomplishments - and lowest depths. One outstanding quality of this remarkable series is that he speaks to the viewer directly and very personally through the lens of the camera; the book of the same name is a virtual transcript of his remarks.

Not simply lectures (nor read from a script), these extemporaneous essays offer Bronowski's "personal view" on a wide range of human, scientific and technological history, presented in both a dramatic and memorable fashion. For example, the episodes are sprinkled with delightful (and sometimes moving) anecdotes of various people, some of whom Bronowski knew and worked with - such as Leo Szilard (who first conceived the concept of sustained nuclear fission - even coining the term "chain reaction" - and who subsequently wrote the letter which Einstein signed that was sent to FDR, bringing about the Manhattan Project) and John von Neumann (one of the great mathematicians of the twentieth century and the "Father of Electronic Computing").

Anyone with even a passing interest in the history of our species and its place amongst the stars, or of science in general, will be astonished, delighted, deeply moved and profoundly affected by "The Ascent of Man." The production value is of the highest order throughout (and, now in its second DVD incarnation, the sound, which was always somewhat problematic, has been greatly improved, matching the often stunning visuals).

(NOTE: Viewers who enjoy this series will also enjoy both the seven-part BBC miniseries "Oppenheimer" (1980) and their production of Michael Frayen's play "Copenhagen" (2002), both available on DVD.)

Highest possible recommendation.