Nova: Absolute Zero

Synopsis

The epic story of humanity’s struggle to master extreme cold. This Nova special recreates groundbreaking discoveries across four centuries that expanded our knowledge of low temperatures and led ultimately to today’s cutting edge "cold technologies." The gripping story of the race between two leading chemists to liquefy helium and nitrogen opened the door to the modern era of refrigeration and modern air conditioning. Broadcast in 2 parts:

1) THE CONQUEST OF COLD - Throughout history, scientists such as Francis Bacon, Robert Boyle, Michael Faraday and Antoinne Lavoisier attempted to harness the effects of the ultimate limit of cold, known as Absolute Zero. From the father of air conditioning, a 17th Century alchemist who turned summer into winter inside the Great Hall of Westminster, to frozen food pioneer Clarence Birdseye, this film traces the progress of the scientists, innovators and visionaries who enabled us to conquer the cold

2) THE QUEST FOR ABSOLUTE ZERO - Documentary charting rival attempts to reach absolute zero, the ultimate limit of cold, by scientists in London and Leiden. A second race unfolded 100 years later, towards the end of the 20th century, as scientists attempted to produce a Bose Einstein Condensate, a new state of matter predicted by Einstein. With the winner of each scientific race going on to win the Nobel Prize for their work, ultra-cold research has proved to be one of the most competitive fields of modern science

Series

Nova, Series

Language

English

Country

United States

Year of production

2008

Notes

Broadcast on BBC4 on 25/7/2007

Subjects

Chemistry

Keywords

refrigeration; temperature

Online availability

URI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jSv8PDDwA

Price

free

Delivery

Streamed

Credits

Director

David Dugan

Distribution Formats

Type

DVD

Format

Region 1 NTSC

Price

$24.95

Availability

Sale

Duration/Size

112 minutes

Year

2011

Production Company

Name

PBS

Web

http://www.pbs.org External site opens in new window

Distributor

Name

PBS Shop

Web

http://www.shoppbs.org External site opens in new window

Name

YouTube

Web

http://www.youtube.com External site opens in new window