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- Written and presented by James Burke
- Directed by Mick Jackson
- Episode length: 50 minutes
- First aired in 1978
- Network: BBC
- Shot at over 150 locations in 19 countriesPalmers Guide: Connections DVD Information
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Science historian James Burke’s ten part series Connections traces the progression of technology from ancient to modern times. According to Burke, every invention comes from putting the right pieces of already available technology together to build something new. By tracing the history of technology through a series of "triggers," each one of which sets off the next, Burke demonstrates how technology is an interconnected web and how one seemingly unrelated innovation leads to another.
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Episode Overview
James Burke begins by illustrating the fear we should have as we are vulnerable to nuclear weapons. War has always shaped civilizations such as the Battle of Hastings which was won because of the simple advancement of stirrups. Telecommunications are perhaps our only hope of stopping future deadly conflicts.
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Distant Voices Part One
@ 1:44: Nuclear Science has provided many incredible and useful scientific breakthroughs, but at what cost?
@ 02:23: The suitcase bomb equipped with a Nuke provides a nightmare scenario that we will always have to live with. "Once you have nuclear material, any physics student can do the rest" a bomb can go off in any city.
@ 3:16: Military breakthroughs have changed the world in the past, the reason James Burke is speaking English today and not Dutch is because of theNorman Conquest of 1066 and the Battle of Hastings
@ 3:53: War was a little bit more tough back in the 11th Century, soldiers were maimed, not killed immediately, James Burke hacks away at a side of meat to illustrate this point.
@ 4:54: At the site of the battle, James Burke lays out how William the Conqueror and Harold Godwinson lined up and fought.
@ 6:15: It was the stirrup that gave the Normans the advantage in the battle against the Anglo Saxons, as they could fight from horseback
@ 6:45: Less then 60 years later, fighting from horseback was all the rage, everybody in England was doing it and more advancements were up to the 12th Century and into the 13th Century.
@ 8:14: This lead to Knights and Jousting Tournaments.
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Distant Voices Part Two
@ 0:57: The Knight dominated the for four centuries.
@ 1:52: The Day it changed for the Knights on horseback was at the Battle of Agincourt which was a battle between Henry V and the French on October 25, 1415.
@ 2:30: Henry V advantage came by utilizing the Longbow, the Welsh bow could kill from over 400 yards away. Henry V was able to slaughter the French in no more then 3 hours.
@ 5:03: Cuts back to the 8th to 10th Century to talk about the advancements of the plow and agriculture in Europe.
@ 8:30: Agriculture and production skyrocketed in Europe because of the Horse Collar and Horseshoes
@ 9:21: The Agriculture business was so good that people started giving up the life of a soldier to make money and live the good life.
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Distant Voices Part Four
@ 1:00: The 16th Century Fort Knox of Europe was the town of Jachymov in current day Czech Republic, the town benefited from the largest silver discovery.
@ 2:20: No individuals could build the mining industry on their won, so Jachymov became one of the first great Capitalist ventures as shareholders invested in the great fortune that could be had.
@ 3:00: Georg Agricola of Jachymov wrote "the Bible" of Mining in 1556, which was useful for centuries.
@ 4:39: There was the issue of pumping water out of the mines to reach the silver, the people of Jachymov eventually wrote Galileo to see if he could provide an answer, he in turn passed the problem to Evangelista Torricelli, who made great contributions to the solution but it was difficult to collaborate, as the Holy Roman Empire was in full force.
@ 5:20: Evangelista Torricelli sent the information to Marin Mersenne who was a scientific monk with lots of contacts.
@ 7:25: Marin Mersenne connected Evangelista Torricelli with Blaise Pascal who experimented with Torricelli's idea and proved the Vaccum, which lead to the discovery of the barometer in the 17th Century.
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Distant Voices Part Three
@ 0:21: Prosperity was reaching the lower classes, prosperity brought more trade and during the 13th Century the population of towns and cities rose as did the number of jobs.
@1:15: The Kings and Princes of the time did not enjoy the prosperity as the peasants seemingly didn't care to learn about fighting and War.
@ 2:04: Europeans didn't invent gunpowder but once they had the technology they took to it like no other.
@ 3:20: Gunpowder was invented by the Chinese and they had it for about 700 years before it made it to Europe, it's assumed it made it's way West through the Middle East, who brought much from the East to the West through Trade.
@ 4:16: The Chinese used gunpowder in as fireworks in ceremonies, not as a weapon.
@ 4:36: This brings up the interesting aside that the Chinese invented a lot of stuff before the West and never used it the same way the West did. James Burke thinks its because of their way of life.
@ 5:20: Burke provides many different examples of this such as the compass, the rudder, the loom, furnaces, steel, pistons, paper etc...
@ 6:32: The reason the Chinese went about the world differently was because of Tao.
@ 8:59: The reason the West went about technology differently was the incentive of profit and ability to compete.
@ 9:40: This brings us to the latest advancement in warfare, the Cannon, which was first tested out in 14th Century, Yugoslavia
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Distant Voices Part Five
@ 0:01: Jean Picard's observances mercurial phosphorescence in his glowing barometer led to much new excitement in the field of electric research.
@ 0:24: In the early 18th Century many bizarre experimentation and uses of the new found sparks was conducted.
@ 5:09: In 1820 Hans Oersted accidentally, discovered the relationship between electricity and magnetism known as Electromagnetism. Much of the modern has been shaped by this discovery.
@ 7:00: because of Hans Oersted in 1875 Boston, Alexander Graham Bell was able to patent what we know today to be the telephone but also radio and radar comes from Electromagnetism.
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James Burke Connections Episode 3 Questions
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Have you watched any of James Burkes documentaries? 2 AnswersAbsolutely! I loved both Connections and The Day the Universe Changed. The episodes that stand out were one where he took a whack at a cow carcass with a claymo... read more -
What is your favourite James Burke clip? 1 AnswerI like The Day the Universe Changed more than the Connections, because I am interested more in the Science field than history. In my point of view, the main hig... read more
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Who is James Burke? 2 AnswersJames Burke (born 22 December 1936) is a Northern Irish science historian, author and television producer best known for his documentary television series calle... read more -
Does anyone remember the PBS/ITV series "Connections" with James Burke? 1 Answeryes, I just took smt 310 at Cal State Dominguez hills and the Instructors use his series throughout the course, these videos are also available at youtube. read more
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