Philosophy
Coming Monday, January 26th on PBS's American Experience..."The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer".
PBS:
The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer (2 hours)
Robert Oppenheimer's life and legacy are inextricably linked to America's most famous top-secret initiative -- the Manhattan Project. But after World War II, this brilliant and intense scientist, tasked with the development of the atomic bomb and widely considered one of the most important minds of the twentieth century, fell from the innermost circles of American scientific policy. At the height of the Red Scare, the veil of suspicion fell over J. Robert Oppenheimer. He was accused of having communist sympathies and was pressed to explain his relationships with known communists.
This biography will present a complex and revealing portrait of one of the most influential American scientists. Interweaving interviews with family members, scholars and colleagues with dramatic recreations featuring Academy Award-nominated actor David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck, and The Bourne Ultimatum), this film follows J. Robert Oppenheimer on a fascinating arc from the heady world of international physics to the top-secret Manhattan Project, and finally to the dark days of the Red Scare and McCarthyism.
David Grubin, Producer
Filmmaker David Grubin has won every major award in his field, including three George Foster Peabody awards, two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University awards, and nine Emmys. Mr. Grubin has produced over 100 films on subjects ranging from history to art, from poetry to science.
Grubin's five-part series for PBS, Healing And The Mind with Bill Moyers, has won many awards, and the companion book, for which he was executive editor, rose to number one on The New York Times Best Sellers List. He won a Writers Guild Award for his biography of Marie Antoinette, which aired on PBS in September 2006. His most recent work is a six-hour series, The Jewish Americans, which aired on PBS in 2008.
A member of the executive committee of the Society of American Historians, Grubin has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, has been a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, and is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Hamilton College.
Air date: January 26, 2009
Deceased--Robert Furman
"Doctor Atomic"
"Doctor Atomic"--Great Performances at the Met
George Koval...Soviet spy
Hans Bethe...physicist's physicist
Hans Bethe and Rudolf Peierls: Correspondence
Just a reminder...July 16th, 1945
Philip Morrison...physicist
Tickling the dragon's tail
- Academic Life After Retirement...way To Go Ed Gerjuoy
Ed Gerjuoy, 93, is an emeritus professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. He works in his campus office during the week and often returns to work on Saturdays and Sundays. “Sometimes I’m the only one there on weekends,”...
- "pbs Science Programs" Poll
Do you watch PBS science programs? Yes...2 No...0 Sometimes...3 PBS is probably the most common source of science programs with free access. For the most part they are informative and thoughtful. Two recent good programs were "Absolute Zero" and "The...
- "the Trials Of J. Robert Oppenheimer"--worthy
Okay, I sat through two hours of this documentary on the rise and fall of J. Robert Oppenheimer and must say that is one of the better offerings from PBS. Usually, "docudramas" flounder where the emphasis is placed on actors attempting to characterize...
- "doctor Atomic"--great Performances At The Met
PBS on Monday evening [December 29th] will offer Great Performances at the Met's opera "Doctor Atomic"..."John Adams's contemporary masterpiece explores a momentous episode of modern history: the creation of the atomic bomb. Movie director Penny...
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Current voices on a past event...Trinity [July 16th, 1945]. Players: Hans W. Courant, Roy J. Glauber, Nathan T. Melamed, and Morton Camac, Albert Allen Bartlett, Robert J. Brown, and Murray Peshkin. This is a good audio presentation and accompanying...
Philosophy
"The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer"
Coming Monday, January 26th on PBS's American Experience..."The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer".
PBS:
The Trials of J. Robert Oppenheimer (2 hours)
Robert Oppenheimer's life and legacy are inextricably linked to America's most famous top-secret initiative -- the Manhattan Project. But after World War II, this brilliant and intense scientist, tasked with the development of the atomic bomb and widely considered one of the most important minds of the twentieth century, fell from the innermost circles of American scientific policy. At the height of the Red Scare, the veil of suspicion fell over J. Robert Oppenheimer. He was accused of having communist sympathies and was pressed to explain his relationships with known communists.
This biography will present a complex and revealing portrait of one of the most influential American scientists. Interweaving interviews with family members, scholars and colleagues with dramatic recreations featuring Academy Award-nominated actor David Strathairn (Good Night, and Good Luck, and The Bourne Ultimatum), this film follows J. Robert Oppenheimer on a fascinating arc from the heady world of international physics to the top-secret Manhattan Project, and finally to the dark days of the Red Scare and McCarthyism.
David Grubin, Producer
Filmmaker David Grubin has won every major award in his field, including three George Foster Peabody awards, two Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University awards, and nine Emmys. Mr. Grubin has produced over 100 films on subjects ranging from history to art, from poetry to science.
Grubin's five-part series for PBS, Healing And The Mind with Bill Moyers, has won many awards, and the companion book, for which he was executive editor, rose to number one on The New York Times Best Sellers List. He won a Writers Guild Award for his biography of Marie Antoinette, which aired on PBS in September 2006. His most recent work is a six-hour series, The Jewish Americans, which aired on PBS in 2008.
A member of the executive committee of the Society of American Historians, Grubin has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, has been a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, and is the recipient of an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, Hamilton College.
Air date: January 26, 2009
Deceased--Robert Furman
"Doctor Atomic"
"Doctor Atomic"--Great Performances at the Met
George Koval...Soviet spy
Hans Bethe...physicist's physicist
Hans Bethe and Rudolf Peierls: Correspondence
Just a reminder...July 16th, 1945
Philip Morrison...physicist
Tickling the dragon's tail
- Academic Life After Retirement...way To Go Ed Gerjuoy
Ed Gerjuoy, 93, is an emeritus professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh. He works in his campus office during the week and often returns to work on Saturdays and Sundays. “Sometimes I’m the only one there on weekends,”...
- "pbs Science Programs" Poll
Do you watch PBS science programs? Yes...2 No...0 Sometimes...3 PBS is probably the most common source of science programs with free access. For the most part they are informative and thoughtful. Two recent good programs were "Absolute Zero" and "The...
- "the Trials Of J. Robert Oppenheimer"--worthy
Okay, I sat through two hours of this documentary on the rise and fall of J. Robert Oppenheimer and must say that is one of the better offerings from PBS. Usually, "docudramas" flounder where the emphasis is placed on actors attempting to characterize...
- "doctor Atomic"--great Performances At The Met
PBS on Monday evening [December 29th] will offer Great Performances at the Met's opera "Doctor Atomic"..."John Adams's contemporary masterpiece explores a momentous episode of modern history: the creation of the atomic bomb. Movie director Penny...
- Voices On Trinity [july 16th, 1945]
Current voices on a past event...Trinity [July 16th, 1945]. Players: Hans W. Courant, Roy J. Glauber, Nathan T. Melamed, and Morton Camac, Albert Allen Bartlett, Robert J. Brown, and Murray Peshkin. This is a good audio presentation and accompanying...