The Day the Universe Changed
| The Day the Universe Changed | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Genre | Documentary |
| Written by | James Burke |
| Directed by | Richard Reisz |
| Presented by | James Burke |
| Theme music composer | Carl Davis |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 10 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Richard Reisz |
| Running time | 55 minutes |
| Production company(s) | BBC Productions in association with RKO Pictures, Canale 5, FR3 and YLE |
| Distributor | BBC |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC1 |
| Picture format | 4:3 |
| Audio format | Mono |
| Original release | 19 March – 21 May 1985 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Connections |
| Followed by | Connections 2 |
The Day the Universe Changed: A Personal View by James Burke is a British documentary television series written and presented by science historian James Burke, originally broadcast on BBC1 from 19 March until 21 May 1985 by the BBC. The series' primary focus is on the effect of advances in science and technology on western society in its philosophical aspects.
The title comes from the philosophical idea that the universe essentially only exists as one perceives it through what one knows; therefore, if one changes one's perception of the universe with new knowledge, one has essentially changed the universe itself. To illustrate this concept, James Burke tells the various stories of important scientific discoveries and technological advances and how they fundamentally altered how western civilization perceives the world. The series runs in roughly chronological order, from around the beginning of the Middle Ages to the present.
In the United States, the ten-week hour-long series was broadcast from 13 October to 15 December 1986, on PBS and was rebroadcast on The Learning Channel in 1993.
A 1985 companion book of the same title, also written by Burke, presenting the same general premise of the television series in expanded detail. Burke read from the book for an abridged audiocassette and compact disc set available from Macmillan Audio.
Licensed by the BBC, The Day the Universe Changed was released on DVD in January 2009 by Documentary-Video. The five-disc set is closed captioned for the hearing impaired and approximately 550 minutes in length.
Alfred Unger of The Christian Science Monitor (14 October 1986) said "The Day the Universe Changed is studded with flashes of insight amid its potpourri of intellectual revelations. Burke believes that it will encourage viewers to examine what they know, digest what he has to tell them, and come up with, possibly, a new way of looking at things."
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