I just learned that Jacob Bronowski would be a century old today. I wonder how many readers here know anything about the man? Many people will praise the impact Carl Sagan had on people with his program, Cosmos, way back in the 1980s, but I have to say that Bronowski’s Ascent of Man was much, much better, and far more influential on me, at least. It’s a program that PBS ought to bring back — thoughtful, deep, and intellectually enriching.
The testimonial above opens with a great quote from the man:
The great poem and the deep theorem are new to every reader and yet are his own experience because he recreates them. They are the marks of unity in variety; and in the instant when the mind seizes this for itself in art or in science, the heart misses a beat.
And really, that’s what it was all about: there aren’t non-overlapping domains, there aren’t two cultures, there’s only the breadth and depth of the human mind.
The DVD was the best birthday gift I ever gave myself. The man and the message were everything that humanism strives to be.
I think I still have the book somewhere; I’ll have to reread it.
Bronowski is mentioned in a Monty Python skit concerning a penguin on the telly.
Watched it when I was in sixth form, made a huge impact. Still have the book I asked for that christmas.
Interestingly, more or less the same team which produced & directed Ascent also made Cosmos.
This is a snippet of the Ascent of Man chapter (‘Knowledge and Uncertainty’, I think) I watched just before I made a trip with my college band to Auswitch. It made a huge impact on me:
On a related note to this segment, another great scientist, Donald Knuth, poses ‘Infrequently Asked Questions’ about Iraq:
http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/iaq.html
In one of the episodes he tells how he once had a disagreement with John Von Neumann (over some issue I can’t recall). The next day he realized that Von Neumann was correct and called him to tell him so at (I believe) noonish. Von Neumann responded, “You wake me up to tell me I’m right?! Call me when I’m wrong!”.
A great man; loved his book and the series.
It’s been a couple of decades since I watched Ascent of Man. Would dearly want to see it again.
Uncanny: I was about to mention Bronowski in my next post. Had no idea his centenary was upon us. He was a great influence on me in my teenage years, I devoured his Ascent of Man book and caught the repeat on telly. I recently treated myself to the DVD set. Television at its absolute best.
All the episodes can be downloaded from the following link and watched on ones computer. They are in avi format.
http://www.guba.com/general/search?query=ascent&set=5&x=25&y=8
Those who know David Attenborough for his excellent wildlife documentaries might be interested to know that it was he who commissioned the Ascent of Man, when he was controller of BBC Two in the late 1960s.
Would that he yet lived !
The power of the original, which continue where Humboldt’s _Kosmos_ and Haldane’s popularization left off, makes Sagan’s remake seem all the more dated in retrospect
I remember him. I even have some clips of “The Ascent of Man” in my YouTube account.
The three great documentaries of the 20th century were: The Ascent of Man, Cosmos, and Civilisation. Brownowski’s was still head and shoulders above the others. Every time I watch a news program, hear a political speech, or even watch a NOVA episode, I think how far we have fallen short of the legacies of Brownowski, Sagen, and Clarke.
“Many people will praise the impact Carl Sagan had on people with his program, Cosmos, way back in the 1980s, but I have to say that Bronowski’s Ascent of Man was much, much better, and far more influential on me, at least….”
‘Fess up now, P.Z. It’s only because “Cosmos” dealt with astronomy and not biology, isn’t it? Look at the way you keep trying to viciously savage poor Phil Plait like a cephalopod all over a crustacean! Try and be a little kinder to those of us who prefer telescopes to microscopes, can’t you? (tongue removed from cheek)
I have to admit never having watched the “Ascent of Man”, but I did grow up with “Cosmos”, which might help explain why my hobby is staring up at the stars instead of down at the squid. I loved “Cosmos” and I wish there were nearly as many good astronomy shows/series as there are for biology. Most of the shows dealing with space involve UFOs, alien abductions and astrology–gah! Biology got “Wild Kingdom”, tons of National Geographic shows, tons of Jacques Cousteau shows…you guys are spoiled.
“What’s that Penguin doin’ on the telly?”
“Standin'”
“No, I mean how did it get there?”
“How should I know? I’m not Doctor bloody Brownowski!”
IIRC, all his TV programmes were done unscripted – he just spoke to camera and that was it!
Alan
Jacob Bronowski, another great mind that enriched our
understanding of ourselves and universe. I have four of
his books and enjoy them all and try to read them every
few years. He and others of like intellect are surely
needed today to attempt to maintain some sanity in the
quagmire of deranged religion. And Philip Klass is also
gone, never to keep the UFO wackos at bay. We should miss
all of them and be glad they came by for a while to instill
some sanity into this demeaning world.
I remember watching Ascent of Man as a child. It had an tremendous impact on me, and I can see here, that others were influenced too. I wonder if such cerebral television would get aired today, and especially affect a young audience (I was probably 10 when I saw it). I’d love to see it aired again — much like they are reairing Cosmos.
actually it was re-aired recently on “The Science Channel” (or one of the other closely related digital cable channels).
If asked why, in my late forties, I transitioned to atheism I would have pointed to the cumulative effects of Durant’s History of Western Civilization as the “work” that caused the final push but in reading these comments I realize that that fantastic series was most likely the start. The idea that a human based understanding of great events was, not only the most believable, but the most compelling did eventually erode a miracle based reality.
What inspiration! I just ordered Cosmos to give my boyfriend for Valentine’s Day!
I can’t believe you stopped there, SteveM. What follows is priceless.
“How does Dr. Bronowski know which zoo it came from?”
“He knows everything.”
“Oh. I wouldn’t like that. It’d take all the mystery out of life.”
I remember my parents watching the program when it first aired and reading the book. I was too young to understand it all, but I knew that they found it compelling, moving, exhilarating and profound. I recall Bronowski’s voice from those airings, both enthusiastic and sad.
The sole image that remains from those days is of Bronowski at Auschwitz. I didn’t know what Auschwitz was at the time, but somehow between the show and my parents reaction to it, I understood that he was addressing the very multifaceted essence of what it meant to be human, to be in this world. Come to think of it, this was probably my first existentialist moment.
And now with the death of Bobby Fischer (although I guess he was a nut later in life). I remember the 1972 Chess match which we also watched. If only the public could be enthralled by brilliant people on television agian. Today, we get American Gladiators.
Thank goodness for David Attenborough.
The sequence of Brownowski at Auschwitz was moving. He kneels in a puddle of water and ash, reaches down and with dripping hand asks how humanity came to do such a thing and that we never repeat the travesty. The admixture of sorrow and bitterness in his voice was memorable. The series holds up, even after more than 30 years, extraordinarily well.
Bronowski’s books are great, but his series “The Ascent of Man” was beyond incredible. The man was the very embodiment of what it means to be a civilized and education person.
Bryn wrote: “Fess up now, P.Z. It’s only because “Cosmos” dealt with astronomy and not biology, isn’t it?”
You should see “Ascent of Man”. It covers physics, chemistry, biology, everything. Including astronomy in the episode “The starry messenger” which includes Galileo and his problems with the Pope.
But everyone should watch the Auschwitz episode. Everyone.
“The three great documentaries of the 20th century were: The Ascent of Man, Cosmos, and Civilisation.”
I really think we have to add “Life on Earth” by David Attenborough to that. I also agree with PZ that Ascent of Man was better than Cosmos. It had a far wider scope.
Ok, now I really have to buy and watch “Ascent of Man.” For some reason I’d never heard it praised that highly before — and yet I love Jacob Brownowski for his book Science and Human Values, which is one of my favorites. I’ve read it several times.
I don’t know what he sounds like, and didn’t know I should…
I too watched “The Ascent of Man” avidly as a twelve year old, with my father (an atheist/humanist English professor, no less) watching with me to supply answers to my inevitable questions. It was my first introduction to that heady mixture of science, history (especially macrohistory) and humanism that is the legacy of Dr. Bronowski to us all.
It’s a memory that still sticks, these thirty-three years on, and it was probably what spurred me to be both a professional historian and an adult science enthusiast, and it certainly confirmed me as an empiricist. I still use segments from “The Ascent of Man” in my history classes, especially when teaching my early modern courses, as there is no better way to drive home the historical importance of early modern science.
Every Sunday evening several fellow grad students came over to my apartment, since I had a TV, to watch the Ascent of Man on PBS.
Bronowski had a profound effect on all of us, particularly the episode in which he waded into a pond at Auschwitz where the ashes of the victims had been dumped.
Bronowski said: I owe it as a scientist to my friend Leo Szilard, I owe it as a human being to the many members of my family who died at Auschwitz, to stand here by the pond as a survivor and a witness. We have to cure ourselves of the itch for absolute knowledge and power. We have to close the distance between the push-button order and the human act. We have to touch people.
@27 Is the current ‘Life on Earth’ a re-release or a 21st century work? I had problems with the last disk of Life on Earth in that, contrary to previously expressed views by David Attenborough, they spent episodes on conservation. When he was interviewed concerning the series The Life of Birds (wonderful), he was asked why he did not include a note on conservation. His reply (paraphrased): “It was un-necessary and would be redundant. If I’ve done my job, this should be self evident.” Ditto-life on Earth– And he most certainly DID do his job.
@30 Thank you for the words! I have not seen the series since its’ original broadcast- I plan on buying it shortly.
@ Martin
Don’t get me wrong–it sounds fascinating and I’m sorry not to have seen it before. And thanks for letting me know what all it covered. Here I was assuming it was primarily biology (blushes and shuffles off to a corner).
Yes Life on earth is great. I’ve only watched it for the first time two or three years ago. I’ve been reading up quite a lot on biology and evolution and history of life recently after that and what got me hooked on that theme was Life on earth.
Of course I realize that many of his points are dated (science having made large strides since 1976) now, but it still seems like a great overview to me.
I watched all of “The Ascent of Man” as a kid in the UK. It made a lifelong impression on me. Wonderful, awe-inspiring, inspirational stuff.
Me too (except in Kansas, not the UK). The show on Galileo I remember especially.
The show as a whole got me interested in the history of ideas.
Right now I am re-reading Daniel Boorstin’s “The Discoverers”, by the way, which I highly recommend to anyone who likes this kind of stuff.
Aaaah..”Ascent of Man”…I caught this on Auntie Beeb as I was finishing off my masters. An incredible series by a great humanist whose views influenced me greatly.
Other favourite series have to be “Civilization”, “Cosmos” and “The Story of English”. My new fave rave, for the photography alone, is “Planet Earth”…probably Sir David’s swan song.
Aaaah..”Ascent of Man”…I caught this on Auntie Beeb as I was finishing off my masters. An incredible series by a great humanist whose views influenced me greatly.
Other favourite series have to be “Civilization”, “Cosmos” and “The Story of English”. My new fave rave, for the photography alone, is “Planet Earth”…probably Sir David’s swan song.
When I was in years 8-10 in highschool in addition to our regular timetable my class had an extra academic subject. It was called IDS – interdisciplinary studies – and “Ascent of Man” & “Civilization” were two of our textbooks. I still have them on my bookshelf and recently have had them down for my nephews to read. What a fantasic subject that was, run by a mad Scotsman – thankyou Mr. Watt! We ranged from learning Chaucer in Middle English, paleoanthropology, Gothic architecture to the history of astronomy. Those books were inspirational.
I stumbled across the book version of the Ascent of Man many years ago at a used book store. It was mesmerizing. A year or two ago, I found the entire series on Google video. I had never seen it before and although I knew the material was going to be good, I didn’t have any expectations about the production values, particularly given the age of the series. But, I was blown away by how good it was/is.
I went on to read a lot more Bronowski and I agree that he was an amazing man and intellect.
Someone mentioned the Auschwitz episode. Here is a portion of the transcript:
It is said that science will dehumanise people and turn them into numbers. That is false, tragically false. Look for yourself. This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance. It was done by dogma. It was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave. This is what men do when they aspire to the knowledge of gods.
During the 1970s, a local community college offered a for-credit class consisting of reading the book and watching the program, then taking tests at the school. It was great. I still have the book.
Thank you all for these wonderful posts about my father, Jacob Bronowski (who I and my sisters, curiously, always called ‘Bruno’ as children. Aside from being a truly great man, with an uncanny capacity to communicate, he was a wonderful father!
MartinDH wrote:
Life in Cold Blood, Sir David’s new series – a survey of amphibians and reptiles – starts next month on the BBC. That will end the Life series, which must rank as the most significant – and almost certainly, the most comprehensive by a single individual – series of Natural History documentaries ever produced. The full series being: Life on Earth (1979), The Living Planet (1984) and The Trials of Life (1990), Life in the Freezer (1993), The Private Life of Plants (1995), The Life of Birds (1998), The Life of Mammals (2002), Life in the Undergrowth (2005), and Life in Cold Blood (2008).
More excitingly, in an interview I saw last night, he said that his next series – which he has already started working on – will be on EVOLUTION… (Sorry for screaming, but Im very, very excited.)
They have Ben Stein, we have Sir David Attenborough. It almost doesn’t seem fair; too easy.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2008/01_january/18/ross.shtml
And, yes, The Ascent of Man is definitely great and important enough that it needs to be repeated, in the UK too.
As Jacob Bronowski’s grandson, I would like to thank PZ Myers and all of you who have posted such wonderful things about Bruno. The whole Bronowski family have probably read the thread by now, since someone kindly sent us a link earlier today. Bruno was an amazing man, and an inspiration to us all.
For those of you who want to experience The Ascent of Man as it was intended (rather than in YouTube blurriness), the full DVD set is available on Amazon. If you haven’t watched it recently, it really is incredible how it has stood the test of time!
I found his “The Common Sense of Science” in a second-hand bookshop in Canterbury. I was idly wandering around on a nice summer day and just happened across it, mainly buying it for the lovely cover (it was a very old edition, 1960s I think). It really was fascinating to read this guy’s take on the history and philosophy of science, its public perception, and so on. I got the feeling that it was a very personal view on the subject, but not self-indulgent.
Bernard:
Thanks for the info from an ex-pat…I hadn’t realised that the “Life” series had so many components! 82yrs old and still active and planning…what a man.
Bernard:
Thanks for the info from an ex-pat…I hadn’t realised that the “Life” series had so many components! 82yrs old and still active and planning…what a man.
Thanks PZ for the reminder. Isn’t it just amazing that humans range from the absolutely marvelous seeker of knowledge and wisdom — Jacob Bronowski — to the clearly deluded but supremely and arrogantly confident of knowing absolute truth — Mother Teresa.
As I started to read this post I thought not only about how inspiring Jacob Bronowski’s Accent of Man was, it was one of the things that inspired me to become a historian of science but that also Bronowski blessed those of us who listen to BBC Radio 4 with regular broadcasts by his equally inspiring daughter the Renaissance historian Lisa Jardine. Reading further down the comments who do I meet thanking PZ for his post and all of the commentators but the lady herself. For those who do not know of her Ms. Jardine is a first class historian and a superb broadcaster.
I’m 37 and I remember watching “Ascent of Man” on TV with my dad. My dad still has the book.