How We Got to Now

Season 1

2014 · 6 episodes · 6h 0m in all

Episodes

1. 

   1. Clean

   8 Oct 2014 · 60 min

   Dirty water is transformed with a series of innovations - Chicago builds America's first sewer system, and Jersey City makes water safe for drinking (and bikinis). Manufacturing is transformed with the elimination of dust.

2. 

   2. Time

   15 Oct 2014 · 60 min

   With no natural light, submarines re-invent the workday. Frustrated with hundreds of local time zones, a railroad clerk fights to standardize time. Navigation, travel, and technology advances result from unrecognized contributions to time.

3. 

   3. Glass

   22 Oct 2014 · 60 min

   The invention of the mirror gives rise to the Renaissamce; glass lenses reveal worlds within worlds worlds; glass is essential; for communication in the deep ocean; glass lens allows millions to watch a man walk on the moon.

4. 4

   4. Light

   29 Oct 2014 · 60 min

   The pioneers of light; Edison's light bulb; a French scientist accidentally discovers a neon light.

5. 

   5. Cold

   5 Nov 2014 · 60 min

   Ice delivery becomes big business, the father of frozen foods, Clarence Birdseye, and his vision for the future, and penguins who live in the desert.

6. 

   6. Sound

   12 Nov 2014 · 60 min

   30,000 year old traces of a desire to record sound are located in caves, how radio influenced the civil rights movement, the weapon that laid the ground work for today's mobile phones, and the role of the ultrasound in modern medicine.