The Manhattan Project - MODERN MARVELS® draws on government files, archival footage and the memories of many surviving team members to tell the extraordinary story of THE MANHATTAN PROJECT. It's an in-depth portrait o... more »f one of the most impressive scientific, engineering and manufacturing projects in human history, made all the more compelling because of its ethical implications. In just 28 months, the United States created a nationwide industry that consumed $30 billion in today's dollars and one-tenth of the nation's electricity, and delivered the deadliest weapon that mankind had ever conceived. Yet when the scientists and dignitaries gathered in that remote desert nearly 60 years ago, few had any real idea of what they had created.
Among the people interviewed for this program are General Paul Tibbets, who piloted the Enola Gay over Hiroshima, the past and present directors of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and the official Manhattan Project photographer.
More Engineering Disasters - MODERN MARVELSTM pores through the rubble of some of the most notable disasters looking for clues as to what happened. Often, the stories point to one tiny mistake that, unchecked, snowballed into a force that could not be stopped. Experts reveal how easy it is for this to happen, particularly when all the engineering computations involved in a new structure were done without the aid of a computer. But then we'll see how other incidents were caused by arrogance, ego and plain incompetence. Dramatic footage and photos capture many of these ENGINEERING DISASTERS as they happened (or immediately after), and engineers detail the changes that these accidents have spurred.
Join us for a fascinating look at the failures that male up a vital--if somewhat embarrassing--chapter in the history of engineering.« less