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00:07To be continued...
00:37I suppose making these programmes and watching them
00:41is a little bit like finding your way through an historical labyrinth.
00:45And this programme is going to be full of strange twists and turns.
00:49But ironically, we're going to end up back here, in Indiana,
00:54in this labyrinth.
00:57Because there's more to what you're looking at than meets the eye.
01:12See, nearly 200 years ago,
01:14the people who founded a small utopian community here in Indiana
01:18dreamed of a better life.
01:22Alas, for them, the dream died.
01:26But because of the strange way history works,
01:28maybe for us it didn't.
01:31Because of this.
01:32Oh, the dream?
01:34They named this place after it.
01:50The story starts here on the Eastern Pacific Rim
01:53with one of its more meaningful products.
01:56The microchip, which runs only the entire modern world.
01:59It's so commonplace, this little thing, isn't it,
02:01that most of the time you don't even know it's there,
02:04in your car, your TV, your washing machine,
02:07or here, in what most people agree is the world's cleanest city.
02:15Singapore.
02:16Some people say Singapore and the people here
02:19all work a bit like a giant microchip.
02:22Efficient, automatic, logical, untiring, productive.
02:29And one of the things that makes Singapore the world's cleanest city
02:33is the fact that this runs this.
02:37Singapore's super high-tech garbage incinerator.
02:40Thanks to what happened in 1945,
02:43when an American called Shockley discovered something extraordinary
02:46about a crystal.
02:49If you add impurities to some crystals,
02:52you can end up with spare electrons on many of the crystal atoms.
02:55Here are the ones in red.
02:57If you then send into the crystal a minute electrical charge,
03:01like this,
03:02it kind of knocks the spare electrons off their atoms,
03:05and they leave the crystal as a much bigger electric charge.
03:09So tiny charge in, big charge out.
03:12So the crystal acts like an amplifier.
03:16Shockley and his team called it
03:18a transistor.
03:22Now, the first crystal Shockley used
03:25was a crystal called germanium.
03:27No prizes for guessing where a mineral called germanium gets its name.
03:31Jawohl, Germany.
03:33Discovered by a German in 1885.
03:36Name of Winkler,
03:38who is so good at analysing minerals
03:40because he's done nothing else all his life.
03:44Well, he has done one other thing.
03:48Winkler designed the first machine for making sure
03:50there was no junk in the gases going up industrial chimneys,
03:54which kind of matters when you run an incinerator
03:57to burn unspeakable muck, like this.
04:07So you can thank Winkler for today's clean environment.
04:13But apart from germanium and hot air,
04:17Winkler's real full-time business was cobalt,
04:20a mineral that dyes things blue.
04:22The kind of blue you need
04:23when you're into expensive fakes.
04:27Chinese fakes, I mean.
04:32And if you've ever tried to buy a Ming vase,
04:34you'll know why there was a market for fakes.
04:36It costs an arm and a leg.
04:38Oh, and they're blue, of course,
04:40and cobalt is the only stuff
04:41that will take the high temperatures you need
04:43to make porcelain.
04:45So the real Ming Chinaware
04:47had also used cobalt.
04:57The story picks up not in China,
04:59but here in Istanbul, in Turkey.
05:07Because Istanbul is the link back
05:09to the Chinese porcelain masters
05:11and how they came across the cobalt they used.
05:30Now, Istanbul,
05:32may not exactly be
05:33where the elite meet today.
05:35But back in the Middle Ages,
05:37it was a kind of world trade centre
05:39because this was the western end
05:41of the Silk Road,
05:43the great trade route
05:44that started in China
05:45way out to the east
05:46and ended here.
06:05One day in the 14th century,
06:08out along the Silk Road
06:09at a place called Kashkan in Iran,
06:12the travelling Chinese traders
06:14found this stuff.
06:16Blue tiles.
06:18Coloured blue
06:19by cobalt.
06:21So, at incredible expense,
06:23they took the stuff back home to China,
06:25which is why Ming porcelain is blue
06:27and costs a lot,
06:28and why I'm telling you all this
06:30in a Turkish graveyard.
06:32Look in here.
06:44This is a tomb.
06:51And even when I tell you
06:55whose tomb it is,
06:57and you get a look at it,
07:02you may still not be all that impressed.
07:07But you should be.
07:09Because a chap lying in state in here
07:11is Suleiman the Magnificent,
07:14history's absolutely top Turk.
07:17And you can tell that
07:19because when something was that special
07:21in the Islamic world,
07:22they set it with Kashkan blue tiles.
07:28Look at the walls.
07:50Now, I said that those blue tiles
07:53were only ever used
07:55in very special Islamic places,
07:57and you may still feel
07:59you haven't seen one yet.
08:02OK?
08:03You want special?
08:05Here's special.
08:19The incomparable mosque
08:20at the heart of old Istanbul
08:22called Ayya Sofya.
08:29The greatest tilers
08:31in the Islamic world
08:32were brought here
08:33to cover the walls
08:34is no expense spared.
08:37Which is why
08:38Ayya Sofya
08:39is one of the wonders of Islam.
08:42Well, kind of.
08:44Because the ironic thing
08:46about all this
08:47amazing Islamic decor
08:49is that the guys who did it
08:51used the tiles
08:52for a great cover-up job.
08:54See, the original builders
08:56and decorators of this place
08:58weren't Islamic at all.
08:59They'd started out
09:00as a band underground movement,
09:02and you can tell that
09:04from the materials they used
09:05for their decor.
09:09Look.
09:11If you put little bits like this
09:12all over the wall,
09:13each one at a different angle,
09:14they reflect the light.
09:16See?
09:17Just what you need
09:18down a dark hole.
09:19Where the Christians were,
09:21designing the mosaics
09:22that the Islamic artists
09:24would copy
09:25and then cover up
09:26centuries later.
09:28Mosaics
09:29that would reflect
09:30the imperial glory
09:31of Byzantium.
09:38Once the Christians
09:39came out of hiding
09:40when the emperor
09:40made them official,
09:41and then gave the whole
09:43of the West
09:43to the Pope
09:44in a document called
09:45The Donation of Constantine.
09:57One thousand years later,
09:59some Italian scholar
10:00called Valla
10:01reveals the document
10:03on which the Pope's
10:04authority rests
10:05is a fake,
10:07probably by the Vatican.
10:11Which brings us,
10:13as I'm sure you were expecting,
10:15to a funeral.
10:17It's being held,
10:18not long after
10:19Valla's shock revelations,
10:21in the small
10:22central Italian town
10:23of Todi,
10:24just north of Rome.
10:26But the news
10:27to emerge
10:28from this funeral
10:29may not be quite
10:30what you're expecting.
10:33The surprising thing is,
10:35it isn't Valla's.
10:36Surprising because,
10:38back then,
10:38you just don't go
10:40on the front page
10:40with a Vatican expose
10:41like that
10:42and stay alive.
10:43So,
10:45whose funeral is it?
10:49It's for an ecclesiastical
10:50godfather
10:51who'd saved
10:52Valla's neck
10:53and the necks
10:54of everybody else here
10:55paying their respects
10:56for similar favours.
10:58One of whom
10:58is a Portuguese type
11:00called Martins,
11:01who's a head of Portugal's
11:02secret Oceanic Exploration Agency,
11:05about which
11:06he's saying nothing.
11:07on account of,
11:08it's the equivalent
11:09of the Department of Defence
11:10and NASA
11:11rolled into one.
11:21now I said NASA
11:22because Martins' explorers
11:25are like NASA people,
11:26right out on the edge.
11:30Well,
11:31back then,
11:31what they're up to
11:32is as mind-blowing
11:33and dangerous
11:34as going to the moon
11:35was for us.
11:36Because what they're planning
11:37is to boldly go
11:39where no European
11:40has gone before.
11:41They've been down
11:41the coast of Africa
11:42for gold
11:43and then out
11:44across the Indian Ocean
11:45to the Far East
11:45for spices.
11:46But this is the big one.
11:48The vast,
11:49trackless,
11:50unexplored
11:51wastes
11:52of the Atlantic.
12:06now that's nothing
12:07to a modern,
12:08sophisticated ship
12:09like this.
12:10But to the Portuguese,
12:12it was off the edge
12:13of the known world.
12:14Now the Portuguese
12:15were able to take risks
12:16like that
12:16because they had
12:17various bits of equipment
12:18that added up
12:19to the 15th century
12:20equivalent
12:20of satellite navigation.
12:24Now,
12:25other people have that stuff
12:26as well as the Portuguese
12:27but what nobody else knows
12:29is the mysterious business
12:30of running up
12:31the latitudes
12:32for which you need
12:33this secret
12:34Portuguese gizmo.
12:36Okay,
12:36you go north
12:37until the pole star
12:39is a certain number
12:39of degrees above the horizon
12:41on your quadrant
12:41and you measure
12:42those degrees
12:43like this.
12:44The star's up there,
12:45line it up,
12:46check the plumb lines free
12:50and read off the angle
12:51there.
12:53And when the pole star
12:55is 39 degrees above
12:56the horizon
12:56you turn right
12:57and sooner or later
12:59you'll hit Lisbon,
13:01home and mother.
13:03And that's why
13:04nobody else
13:05was doing the one thing
13:06that really makes
13:07the Portuguese
13:07like NASA,
13:09deliberately losing
13:09sight of land,
13:11going on secret
13:12navigational proving
13:13exercises deep
13:14into mid-Atlantic.
13:15which is why
13:16in 1497
13:17Roriz is able
13:18to tell his explorers
13:20something quite
13:21extraordinary.
13:22To forget
13:23hugging the coast
13:24of Africa
13:24on the way
13:25to India
13:25like everybody
13:26else does,
13:27instead
13:28to take the best
13:29winds by going
13:30due south
13:31down the Atlantic
13:32from the Cape Verde
13:32Islands
13:33and then left
13:34around the bottom
13:35of Africa.
13:36It works.
13:38So three years later
13:39a fellow called
13:40Cabral
13:40tries doing
13:41the same thing.
13:43Only he goes
13:44a little bit
13:45too far west
13:46and bumps
13:47into Brazil.
13:57So here we are
13:58in Amsterdam
13:59because the Portuguese
14:00colonized Brazil
14:02with Jews
14:02who wanted to get
14:03away from persecution
14:04but after a while
14:06the Inquisition
14:07arrived in Brazil
14:08so a lot of them
14:09hightailed it back
14:10but not to Portugal.
14:12Here
14:13to Holland.
14:18See
14:18in the 17th century
14:20Holland
14:20had probably
14:21the rarest
14:22and most valuable
14:23commodity
14:23of any country
14:24anywhere
14:24tolerance
14:25so refugees
14:27of all kinds
14:28came here
14:28and in the case
14:30of the Portuguese
14:30Jews
14:31became diamond
14:32merchants
14:33in the business
14:34of light
14:35and reflections
14:40and speaking
14:41of light
14:42and reflections
14:42and such
14:43one of the kids
14:44of one of these
14:45Portuguese refugees
14:46a young guy
14:47called Baruch Spinoza
14:48goes into lens grinding
14:50to make a living
14:51after he's achieved
14:52the unique distinction
14:53of being called
14:54a heretic
14:55by Jews
14:56Catholics
14:56and Protestants.
14:59Reason being
15:00Spinoza's got everybody
15:02all stirred up
15:03with stuff about
15:04how mathematics
15:04is the only truth
15:05and how everybody
15:07should have absolute
15:08freedom
15:08to speak
15:09and think
15:09as they choose.
15:11Spinoza's less
15:12revolutionary optical work
15:14attracts the attention
15:15of the MIT
15:16of the period
15:17the English Royal Society
15:18who promptly
15:20zip over here
15:20to see what other
15:22scientific ideas
15:23are being floated
15:23in Holland.
15:28It doesn't take them long
15:30to get all excited
15:30by an ex-draperist
15:32assistant
15:32called
15:32Leuwenhoek
15:33who's got a new
15:34microscope
15:35and is seeing
15:36things.
15:39Well, that's what
15:40the Royal Society
15:41think
15:42when they take
15:43a really close look
15:44at his drawings
15:44of what he's been
15:45seeing
15:46at 250 times
15:48magnification
15:49what looks like
15:50minute little animals.
15:51Now, this blows
15:53everybody away
15:54because all these
15:55creepy crawlies
15:56are apparently
15:57creeping and crawling
15:58inside us
16:00and everything else
16:02in the world.
16:05Leuwenhoek's little
16:05organisms
16:06also went over
16:07very small
16:08in Switzerland
16:08where they had
16:09an unexpectedly
16:10literary effect
16:11which is why
16:12I'm here
16:13in this charming
16:14little restaurant
16:15on a lake
16:16in Switzerland
16:16because in 1813
16:18for the average
16:19Joe
16:20the key question
16:22is
16:22is life
16:23as we know
16:24it
16:25just moving
16:26too fast
16:26for people
16:27to take?
16:27I mean,
16:28every day
16:29new scientific
16:29amazements
16:30gravity
16:31chemistry
16:33physiology
16:33electricity
16:34geology
16:35anything it
16:37seems
16:37with a Y
16:38in it
16:40thank you
16:41all of which
16:42seriously
16:43underwhelms
16:45one particular
16:46bunch of
16:46scribbling
16:47misfits
16:47on holiday
16:48here in
16:48Geneva
16:49the romantic
16:51megastars
16:51Byron
16:52and Shelley
16:53and their
16:53child brides
16:54over here
16:55for a bit
16:55of wife
16:56swapping
16:56and dope
16:57smoking
16:57and stuff
16:58like that
16:58anyway
16:59one night
16:59at dinner
17:00the conversation
17:01gets around
17:02to the subject
17:02of microscopic
17:03creepy crawlies
17:04and how
17:05apparently
17:05some scientist
17:06has galvanized
17:08a piece of pasta
17:09and made it
17:10come alive
17:12but back then
17:13who knew?
17:14so Shelley's
17:15wife Mary
17:16gets all
17:16exercised
17:17about how
17:18science will
17:19destroy us
17:19all by
17:20tampering
17:20with the
17:21forces of
17:21nature
17:21and decides
17:23to write
17:23a novel
17:23about it
17:37Mary's novel
17:38is all about
17:39a scientist
17:39called Victor
17:40who does
17:40too much
17:41tampering
17:42and it all
17:43goes horribly
17:44wrong
17:49you already
17:50know what
17:51I'm talking
17:51about
17:51because you
17:52know what
17:52Victor's
17:53other name
17:53was
17:55Frankenstein
17:56but Mary
17:58had a secret
17:58agenda
17:59inspired by
18:00her socialist
18:00father
18:02Frankenstein
18:02was really
18:03an attack
18:04on the kind
18:04of technology
18:05that she
18:06thought
18:06was destroying
18:07people's lives
18:07in the unspeakable
18:09conditions
18:09of industrial
18:10revolution
18:11factories
18:12one of her
18:13father's
18:14friends and
18:14admirers
18:15was a young
18:15factory manager
18:16called Owen
18:17who turned
18:18his factory
18:19in New Lanark
18:20Scotland
18:20into a kind
18:21of worker's
18:22paradise
18:23we'd describe
18:24Owen as
18:24politically middle
18:25of the road
18:26but back then
18:27he was revolutionary
18:28so seeing no
18:30future for his
18:30plans in Britain
18:31Owen took his
18:33revolutionary ideas
18:34where most
18:34revolutionaries
18:35at the time
18:36did
18:41America
18:42well
18:43Indiana
18:43manor
18:43which brings us
18:45back to where
18:45we started
18:46here
18:46in New Harmony
18:47remember
18:48so this is
18:50how the harmonist
18:51would have
18:51made candles
18:53Owen's dream
18:54still described
18:55to tourists
18:55today
18:56was to set up
18:57a utopian
18:58socialist commune
18:59away from the
19:00factories and the
19:00exploitation
19:02so when the
19:03tiny American
19:03settlement of New
19:04Harmony
19:04came up for
19:05sale
19:06he jumped
19:07at it
19:10but the reason
19:11I started the
19:11show in New
19:12Harmony has
19:13to do with a
19:13fellow called
19:14McClure
19:14who had been
19:15so impressed
19:16by the new
19:17Lanark experiment
19:17he offered
19:19start-up money
19:19to Owen
19:20for the New
19:20Harmony
19:21venture
19:21and what
19:22brings a
19:23final twist
19:23in my story
19:24is that
19:25besides
19:25liberal causes
19:27McClure
19:28had one
19:29other passion
19:39rocks
19:42by the time
19:43of New
19:44Harmony
19:44McClure
19:45had been to
19:45every state
19:46and territory
19:46of America
19:47with his bag
19:48and his hammer
19:49chipping
19:49cataloguing
19:50and collecting
19:50stuff like that
19:51and in 1817
19:53he produced
19:54what would turn
19:55out to be
19:55the first
19:56and only
19:56proper geological
19:57map of the
19:57United States
19:58for the next
19:5825 years
19:59look like this
20:01I won't bore you
20:02with the detail
20:03different rocks
20:04different colours
20:05but
20:07there
20:08in the area
20:09where Kansas
20:10Missouri
20:10and Oklahoma
20:11touch
20:11McClure
20:13identified something
20:13that brings
20:14my story
20:14full circle
20:15the kind
20:16of mineral
20:17deposits
20:17that in the
20:1820th century
20:19would provide
20:20the germanium
20:21shockly needed
20:22for his first
20:23transistor
20:31and that's why
20:32New Harmony
20:33maybe wasn't
20:34a failure
20:34in the end
20:35because if we
20:36in the modern world
20:37are ever to find
20:38a way
20:38to unite
20:39the fragmented
20:40post-cold war
20:42chaos
20:42that the 21st
20:43century looks
20:43like becoming
20:44it'll be with
20:45what the transistor
20:46made possible
20:47the open access
20:49global communications
20:50network
20:51that might give
20:52us a chance
20:53to build
20:53what those
20:53people tried
20:54to hear
20:55all those
20:55years ago
20:56a community
20:57where we can
20:58all live
20:59together
21:00in new
21:01harmony
21:01in new
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