ATOM
The discovery that everything is made from atoms has been referred to as the greatest scientific breakthrough in history. As scientists delved deep into the atom, they unravelled nature’s most shocking secrets and abandoned traditional beliefs, leading to a whole new science which still underpins modern physics, chemistry and biology, and maybe even life itself. Nuclear physicist Professor Jim Al-Khalili tells the story of this discovery and the brilliant minds behind the breakthrough.
The second part of Professor Jim Al-Khalili’s three-part documentary about the basic building block of our universe, the atom. He shows how, in our quest to understand the tiny atom, we unravelled the mystery of how the universe was created – a story with dramatic twists and turns, taking in world-changing discoveries like radioactivity, the atom bomb and the Big Bang, as the greatest brains of the 20th century competed to answer the biggest questions of all.
The final part of Professor Jim Al-Khalili’s documentary series about the basic building block of our universe, the atom. He explores how studying the atom forced us to rethink the nature of reality itself, discovers how there might be parallel universes in which different versions of us exist and finds out that ‘empty’ space isn’t empty at all. Al-Khalili shows how the world we think we know turns out to be a tiny sliver of an infinitely weirder universe than which we could have conceived. (Excerpt from bbc.co.uk)
The Clash of the Titans
The Key to the Cosmos
The Illusion of Reality






July 21st, 2009 at 20:23
For those who have always looked for a simplistic approach to explain the ever complex quantum mechanics and particle physics , this documentary is definitely the right place to start with.
Personally, the biggest riddle in theoretical physics that desperately needs a breakthrough is the “measurement problem”. Infact I was wondering if Hawking’s Paradox was somehow incorporated in this documentary. That could have been a great fit in the third part “Illusion of reality”.
Overall a very solid introduction to the world of “Atoms”.
January 9th, 2010 at 19:08
Such an awesome piece of documentary…….
Complex theories of Quantum Mechanics are explained in a very simplistic and nice manner……
The content of all the 3 parts is very well prepared and presented!!
January 23rd, 2010 at 21:24
I barely passed physics in school. They dumbed the information down enough that even i could understand it. This series was very thought provoking, in my opinion it shows myself that the Bible to be true in what it states. The Apostle Paul states, “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18); and
“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 6:12). The heavenly realms would be the unseen world, these authors most likely were not able to explain the atom the way the brilliant scientist have, but they were aware of this unseen world thousands of years ago.
The Bible is truly an amazing Book. I feel that with science and the Bible i am able to experience ultimate reality (the seen and the unseen world we live in).
January 29th, 2010 at 04:56
I’m wondering why he suggested that the number of electrons changes the element in the minute 36 of clash of the titans. its certainly a proton that changes the element.
January 29th, 2010 at 06:34
Really enjoyable series, liked how it expanded upon things as it went through the docs and kept me thinking the whole time.
February 20th, 2010 at 23:09
Fantastic intro into quantum-mechanics and the (sub)atomic-world. A must see!