In 1846, an Italian chemist discovered the volatile compound nitroglycerine, the first major breakthrough in creating man-made explosions since the invention of gunpowder a thousand years earlier. But almost everyone who experiments with the compound thinks it’s too dangerous for any commercial application–everyone except for one brooding, obsessed young Swe ... Show More
May 2020
Enemy of All Mankind | A True Story of Piracy, Power, and History's First Global Manhunt | S30-E1
<p>On September 11th, 1695, two ships confronted each other in the middle of the Indian Ocean: one an enormous treasure ship owned by the Grand Mughal of India, and the other a much smaller British pirate ship led by Henry Every. </p><p>What happened next changed the w ... Show More
36m 19s
Jul 2023
Mr. Dynamite
Dynamite was invented by Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, who demonstrated it in Britain for the first time on 14th July, 1867. He had discovered that when nitroglycerin, an explosive liquid, was absorbed by kieselguhr, a porous siliceous earth, it produced a solid that was resistan ... Show More
13m 5s
Jan 2024
The Manhattan Project | Chain Reaction | 1
<p>In December 1938, a team of German physicists achieved an astonishing scientific breakthrough: they split the nucleus of a uranium atom. In the United States, news of the discovery sparked fear in the scientific community. Atomic fission could power a devastating new weapon, a ... Show More
40m 4s
Feb 2022
L’énigme de la plus grosse explosion de l’histoire
L'événement de la Toungouska, un mystère vieux de 114 ans, en passe d'être résolu ? Des chercheurs russes viennent d'émettre une nouvelle théorie sur ce qui a pu causer la plus grande explosion de mémoire d'homme. Imaginez l'énergie de la bombe nucléaire d'Hiroshima, et multiplie ... Show More
17m 15s
Jan 2024
The Manhattan Project | Secret Cities | 2
<p>In Spring of 1943, hundreds of scientists and technicians moved to a remote location in the mountains of New Mexico to work at a secret laboratory. Under the guidance of their leader, J. Robert Oppenheimer, they rushed to figure out how to channel the power of an atomic c ... Show More
38m 21s