James Burke

Historian James Burke continues his journey through random historical connections that together have shaped our world and provide important clues to our future.

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National Geographic's riveting effort recounts all 12 crewed missions using only archival footage, photos and audio.

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This is one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Commemorating the 40th anniversary of NASA's 1969 moon landing, this documentary uses news coverage from the BBC archives to recount the excitement of the historic event. Led by science reporter James Burke and astronomer Sir Patrick Moore, the BBC team captures all the drama of the momentous occasion, from the exhilarating takeoff to Neil Armstrong's unforgettable first step.

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25th anniversary of James Burke's landmark Connections program, in which Burke looks back and forward to the program's digital incarnation, the Knowledge Web

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In the third edition of his groundbreaking series, James Burke continues to make incredible connections to history's most important discoveries and inventions.

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Historian James Burke walks the viewer through the tenuous threads of history that link seemingly obscure scientific breakthroughs and the events and products that exist today.

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This exploration of visual illusions, explained by James Burke in the context of its discovery by the Renaissance masters, and now used by Hollywood special effects wizards is certainly of the most valuable and entertaining educational videos ever produced. If you teach art or film, or if you are a student of any age, your education is incomplete unless you have seen this film. Works of Brunelleschi, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Botticelli, Rapheal and others are used to illustrate the technical and artistic achievements of the Renaissance, but within a very contemporary context of how we see the world in reality or artificial illusion. This is about the discovery of how to make a two dimensional image appear in three dimensions through an understanding of light, shadow, color, and vanishing point perspective.

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Set in 2050, social journalist James Burke looks back at events of the world from the dawn of civilization and shows how climate change has affected human history. At the point of the Industrial Revolution, humans began to do things to the climate, rather than the other way round. When he brings us up to date (1989), that is when the predictions begin. From Kyoto to the two Gulf Wars, Burke accurately predicts many of the events that have taken place so far. His predictions have been sound, even to the tune of carbon credits and climate change agreements. Using virtual reality computer simulations, Burke traces the Earth's history of ice ages and warming trends and presents several possible scenarios caused by the greenhouse effect during the 1990s to 2050.

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Documentary series about the effect of advances in science and technology on western society in its philosophical aspects.

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A documentary on the history on mankind's attempts to reach high speeds. Starting with the invention of the bicycle, going on to sports cars, cars with jet engines, rocket-powered cars, attempts to break the sound barrier, and rocket-engine airplanes. Each achievement is documented by title card indicating the speed reached in miles per hour.

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James Burke roams the Hotel del Coronado, using its services as a metaphor for the neuro-chemical activity of the human brain.

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Asking how you tell what's real and what isn't sounds like an obvious question. But in this series of six programmes, James Burke shows that the more you think about it the harder it is to answer. After all, what have you got, apart from your five senses, to prove those senses are giving you the real thing?

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Taking an interdisciplinary approach to the history of science and invention, Connections explores an "Alternative View of Change" that rejects the conventional linear and teleological view of historical progress. To demonstrate this view, Burke begins each episode with a particular event or innovation in the past (usually ancient or medieval) and traces a path from that event through a series of connections to a fundamental and essential aspect of the modern world.

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Raymond Burr and James Burke take a whimsical look at 200 years of inventions from the cotton gin to the computer. Included are commentaries, animation, song by and dance routines and on-location segments.

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Doomwatch is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC, which ran on BBC 1 between 1970 and 1972. The series was set in the then present-day, and dealt with a scientific government agency led by Doctor Spencer Quist, responsible for investigating and combating various ecological and technological dangers. The series was followed by a film adaptation produced by Tigon British Film Productions and released in 1972, and a revival TV film was broadcast on Channel 5 in 1999.

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Tomorrow's World was a long-running BBC television series on new developments in science and technology. First transmitted on 7 July 1965 on BBC1, it ran for 38 years until it was cancelled at the beginning of 2003.

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Historian James Burke continues his journey through random historical connections that together have shaped our world and provide important clues to our future.

Open details →

In the third edition of his groundbreaking series, James Burke continues to make incredible connections to history's most important discoveries and inventions.

Open details →

Historian James Burke walks the viewer through the tenuous threads of history that link seemingly obscure scientific breakthroughs and the events and products that exist today.

Open details →

Documentary series about the effect of advances in science and technology on western society in its philosophical aspects.

Open details →

James Burke roams the Hotel del Coronado, using its services as a metaphor for the neuro-chemical activity of the human brain.

Open details →

Asking how you tell what's real and what isn't sounds like an obvious question. But in this series of six programmes, James Burke shows that the more you think about it the harder it is to answer. After all, what have you got, apart from your five senses, to prove those senses are giving you the real thing?

Open details →