Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity

Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity
Title screenshot
Genre	History of science
Presented by	Jim Al-Khalili
Narrated by	Jim Al-Khalili
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Original language(s)	English
No. of series	1
No. of episodes	3
Production
Running time	45 minutes
Production company(s)	Open University and BBC
Release
Original network	BBC Four
Picture format	16:9 1080i
Audio format	Stereo
Original release	6 October (2011-10-06) – 20 October 2011 (2011-10-20)
External links
Website

Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity is a British television series outlining aspects of the history of electricity. The series was a co-production between the Open University and the BBC and aired from 6 to 20 October 2011 on BBC Four. The programs were presented by Jim Al-Khalili.

Episodes

• Spark: How pioneers unlocked electricity's mysteries and built strange instruments to create it.
• The Age of Invention: How harnessing the link between magnetism and electricity transformed the world.
• Revelations and Revolutions: After centuries of experimentation, how we finally came to understand electromagnetism.

Spark

In the first episode Al-Khalili introduces the history of our understanding of electricity and the harnessing of its power.^[1] He covers the achievements of these "natural philosophers" - ^[2] Francis Hauksbee, Stephen Gray, Musschenbroek, Benjamin Franklin, Henry Cavendish, Galvani, Volta and Humphry Davy.

The programme starts with Hauksbee's invention of a static-electricity generator and its subsequent demonstration to the high-minded.^[3] It covers Franklin and the resulting experiments to capture and tame lightning.^[4] The narrative continues with Cavendish's investigations of the electric shock received from the torpedo fish.^[5] Al-Khalili expands on the development of the electric battery following Volta's discovery that simultaneously licking a copper coin and a silver spoon would generate a tingle of electricity.^[3] The programme finishes with the first breakthrough in finding a commercial use for electricity:^[6] Humphry Davy demonstrating the first carbon-arc light before members of the Royal Institution.^[3]

The Age of Invention

In the second episode Al-Khalili covers the scientists who discovered the links between electricity and magnetism leading to a way to generate electric power- ^[7] Hans Christian Oersted, Michael Faraday, William Sturgeon and Joseph Henry.

The development of commercial applications started with Samuel Morse and Al-Khalili then tells the story of the 1866 transatlantic cable. He revisits the War of Currents rivalry between Direct current and Alternating current.^[8]

Revelations and Revolutions

In the final episode Al-Khalili brings the story up to date covering the achievements of James Clerk Maxwell; Heinrich Hertz; Oliver Lodge; Jagadish Bose; William Crookes; Mataré & Welker; and William Shockley.

References

External links

• BBC information
• Shock and Awe: The Story of Electricity at the Internet Movie Database