* Max writes…
Among its other charms, YouTube is an amazing repository of old science documentaries. Many are gems of clarity and insight, as well as fascinating time capsules: you really just have to watch them!
Here I’ve embedded a few videos that I’ve been wanting to share. Most have less than 1,000 views. This needs to change. They are presented in no particular order, although several are from a series produced by The Open University and the BBC. Check ‘em out!
#1: James Hutton
As I was researching James Hutton I ran across this banger. The documentary is basically a field trip to the most important locations Hutton visited when constructing his theory of the earth. It also shows many of the wonderful drawings made by Hutton’s pal John Clerk:
#2 and 3. Alpine Geology
Here are two more videos from the same series. These are about the geology of the Alps, a subject I’ve skirted around in some recent posts. Just wonderful— check them out.
#4. Form and Function in Fossils
Here's another video from the OU/BBC series. The title really says it all. But what it doesn’t say is that the video has footage of John Chamberlain experimenting on the biomechanics of ammonoid shells in a tank designed to test ship hulls. (This begins at about the 10:24 mark.) Peter Skelton and Erle Kauffman also appear. (And see this old post, which discusses the “method of paradigms”— very much in the spirit of the video.)
#5. How Plate Tectonics was Discovered
Again, the title says it all. This is a documentary from 1970 and it features some neat physical models to represent the movement of continents and the implications of paleomagnetism. Edward Bullard appears near the beginning; John Dewey shows up at the end. Watch it!
#6. Gaia
I’ve shared this one before, but it’s worth sharing again. It’s a recording of a talk Lynn Margulis gave at NASA in 1984 defending the Gaia hypothesis. Apparently the audience is just NASA employees; the video is (lightly) edited, but it has the feel of something produced for internal distribution. Anyway, it’s lots of fun.
#7. Stephen Jay Gould
Finally, here's a video I can’t believe I haven’t shared yet. It’s a documentary on the ideas of Stephen Jay Gould, also from 1984, and it's great. Gould looks thin because he is recovering from cancer treatment (he was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 1982). See him in the classroom; see him testifying before a congressional subcommittee about nuclear winter; see him lecturing on the history of race science in Apartheid South Africa; see him kicking it with Joe DiMaggio…
Okay that's all. Remember to like and subscribe to my channel! Tickle that like button. More videos to come (maybe).