Day at Night: Jacob Bronowski

[@BackToTheBlues]

That must be why he said he couldn't run the mile in four minutes! I was 13 when The Ascent Of Man came out, I found it an absolutely fascinating programme, thanks to his down to earth, very personal style. It was as though he was talking just to me. Brilliant man, as shown in this excellent interview.

[@richarddavis1163]

I find his mind to be stunningly composed. A striking intellect.

[@garyblais8602]

How wonderful to hear Dr Bronowski speak as it were off the Cuff. Brilliant .

[@geoden]

As a young man in the UK, I was so impressed by this great man that he changed my life. Since childhood I'd been interested in all things scientifically related. Prof. Bronowski set me on a path which has been with me all my life.

[@mogadon7]

The Ascent Of Man - has NEVER BEEN EQUALED or bettered in 50 years.

[@juliememoriesguest7958]

Found him at 14 profoundly changed my life open a world and history I wish we were taught in school and I never met anyone who had heard of him I love this man literally special person

[@optimusmaximus9646]

@@mogadon7 I second that!

[@optimusmaximus9646]

@@juliememoriesguest7958 Had the same impact on me when I was at school too.

[@Bob-h3n]

​@@mogadon7 Have you seen Man on the rim?

[@dfghj241]

what a privilege it must have been to have a casual conversation with this man.

[@rogerlephoque3704]

A "casual" conversation with this man is beguiling even at the mere thought of it happening...

[@richieh007]

What a wonderful example of a human being. That's what authentic is folks.

[@tm502010]

What a man! He was taken from us too soon!

[@youngian]

Thankfully there has been an upsurge in academic and scientific programming on British TV. Jacob Brownoski is still the yardstick they measure themselves against. A real pleasure to watch this.

[@anthonysimon4991]

My first year in college The Ascent of Man was offered as a Cultural Anthro course, it was very profound to me at age 17, everything made sense to me afterwards. Bronowski is a personal Hero of mine.

[@anthonysimon4991]

@@HIJK_LMNOP yes, I am a Cynic.

[@buttnhole1]

Ascent of Man is mindblowing.

[@Jakesonaplane]

Very interesting interview with a very interesting man. As a side note, I find it refreshing to watch an interview with pauses where the person is thinking before answering. I can't stand much of how much of media is presented today.

[@tarnopol]

I would agree but I tuned out after the paragraph break. No pauses allowed! :)

Actually he has a braille magic 8 ball in his pocket which he consults before every answer.

[@paulwright9749]

Michael Parkinson who died yesterday, Thursday 17 August 2023 said that his favourite interview was with this man. Parkinson met all the great Hollywood greats, and some not so great, rock starts, comics and authors but it was this man, that touched his heart and to the end, brought him to tears. A humanitarian a brilliant mind and a gentleman. If you can get the chance, try and get hold of the tv series The Ascent of Man and judge for yourself. 😊

[@thatbeme]

He is my hero. I love his book 😊

[@cdsoder345432]

Great interview with thoughtful answers (today you never see someone give so much time to an answer as Bronowski does here). And the interviewer never interrupts and allows the conversationto go where it shall. Great stuff about science ( I loved the part about the pencil and the diamond), history, and literature.

[@marie-ctunnicliff513]

What a wonderful and powerful man Jacob Bronowski was. I watched The Ascent of Man in the 70s and was totally immersed by this series - I will never forget his famous quote by Oliver Cromwell, " I beseech you from The Bowels of Christ .........."

[@sherlockholmeslives.1605]

Jacob Bronowski 1908 - 1974 Polish-British Mathematician, Historian of Science, Theatre Author, Poet and Inventor.

[@johnforshaw3711]

Thank you for this, Bravo

[@LenHummelChannel]

A true intellectual in both science and the arts and History. great interview.

[@ricklangley3438]

Wonderful interview. I hadn't come across James Day before. I will look forward to seeing some more of his programmes on KZbin. I was particularly impressed that he asked well researched and interesting questions and then took the trouble to listen to the answers. So many of today's so-called interviewers would do well to take note!

[@cunytv]

Thanks for your comments! CUNY TV is proud that James Day was the chair of our advisory board from 2003 until his death in 2008, and are thrilled to be able to make "Day at Night" available again via the web.

[@Dazbog373]

This is a treasure. Thanks

[@ammorreztristar]

Thanks 4 the up load. Fascinating man . The Ascent of man was an awesome series.

[@WolfeTone66]

“Where does fact end & imagination begin”..Spoken like a man who was a very deep thinker.

[@classhound2036]

He is so right. My maths teachers were terrible. Most bad teaching is down to bad teachers.

[@Chardonbois]

What a fascinating man! It is a privilege to listen to him.

[@doghead992]

An truly amazing individual

[@keithwald5349]

As a kid watching the Ascent of Man on TV, I naturally assumed Dr. Bronowski was perhaps a historian or a philosopher. Only much later did I learn he was actually a mathematician, and friend and colleague of the mathematican Johnny von Neumann, the physicist Leo Szilard, and that group of luminaries. He was the ultimate humanist.

[@MrFalconford]

thank you for all your hard work jacob and jd, i'll always remember you this way

[@MrFalconford]

art

[@insider_english1594]

Donnie Mrkacek art means way (in German).

[@soupermanist]

R.I.P.. sir. We'll miss you forever.

[@lesleymcshanemitchell9651]

Be still my heart My Pin up Man as a Young Girl Still get tye shivers when he talks 65 years Later

[@ajoybaksi3654]

Wow! One of the greatest comments posted anywhere!

[@dabearcub]

Let me echo my thanks, I enjoy these so much - it seems like James could interview just about anyone on any subject. What a treasure these are!

[@davebloke829]

What a wonderful world we'd have if we were all blessed with a mind like Dr Bronowski's!

[@nicholasdunn-coleman4176]

A great teacher is perhaps one that whatever subject they discuss they make you think about learning it.

[@wongawonga1000]

I studied Physics at university. I still remember being amazed in first year when our lecturer showed how to construct a differential equation for the motion of a spring and then solved it to show that a weight on the end of a spring will follow a sinusoidal path when the displacement is plotted vs time. I thought what he did was rather neat.

[@Korea4Me]

The Year is 2024. I've loved Mr Bronowski for many years and watching this interview today for the first was like watching The Ascent of Man and all the many interviews I have seen him in. He's intelligent, thought-provoking, electrifying. It was an absolute pleasure and an honour to see this interview. Such a pleasure for the mind and spirit. However, I also have to mention how impressed I was with Mr Day. My God, how dumbed-down the world has become! Most interviewers today are incapable of such an intelligent conversation. Will we ever see the likes of both men ever again?

[@sebastianbeaumont6783]

A great polymath in action. And so passionate, too.

[@Kinetic-Energy117]

Brilliance! I couldn't imagine attaining the poise of this honorable man as I watch 'ascent of man' as he intelligently describes humans beginnings, using science that til this very day, still rank supreme in the archeological records!

[@PMS1950]

Always fascinating to listen too, but I feel that he enjoyed performing to the camera and sometimes overdid the long pauses, appearing to wait for his mental machinery to start up and provide him with another stunning response. I believe his daughter, Lisa Jardine, discovered some less than admirable facts about his involvement in wartime bombing strategies and planning. Although an exceptional and many layered human being, not without his 'warts' and blemishes.

[@uploadJ]

I would hope there is factual basis for your comment, otherwise this man's reputation is besmirched a bit ...

[@claudelara85]

One of the most interesting person of the century ...

[@Toracube]

Great interview. Thanks for uploading it.

[@quagapp]

Yes. I watched 'The Ascent of Man' twice and also read a book on Blake by him. I also see the connections of art, literature, science, Mathematics -- all disciplines. Today we, perhpaps from necessity, specialize and neglect philosophy. Forget the nature of knowledge. Eliot, great poet essayist etc, put the boot into Blake so to speak so it is good Bronowski came up with his book.

[@MaryJaneHancock]

Thank you for posting. Learned a lot.

[@fromtherubble6890]

I agree w/ Bruno's point about math teachers... There may be no more valuable educator.. It's so easy to be frustrated by numbers

[@suitabledude]

That's an understatement. It literally changed my life.

[@ShikataGaNai100]

I first heard and read Bronowski in 1972. It is because of him (and Richard Feynman) that I majored in Zoology...and, English, with an emphasis on the poetry of William Blake.

[@ShikataGaNai100]

...and, may my high school math "teacher," Jack Conklin, Napa High School, Napa, CA, rot in hell. He tried his best to ruin science for me...fortunately, he failed.

[@optimusmaximus9646]

Bronowski and Feynman....my goodness, what a pair of intellectual giants!!

[@tarnopol]

I don't get it. There's a black background, no bright colors or lights, no graphics, no yelling and screaming. There are just two people communicating and listening to each other. This is what used to pass for a talk show? By the way, that sonnet he quotes at random is my favorite one by Shakespeare and one of my favorite poems--not that I'm all that well-versed, if you'll forgive a pun.

[@uploadJ]

Its not a "talk show". Its one man interviewing another ...

[@tm502010]

Diamond vs. pencil: what an amazing comparison!

[@suitabledude]

Origin of Knowledge is top 3 books of all time for me.

[@rhettvorsterblack]

He's as refreshing as my books on Amazon

[@oker59]

Jacob Bronowski's best stuff is "Science and Human Values", "Magic, Science, and Civilization", and "The Origin of Knowledge and Imagination." "Ascent of Man" is just cute little tidbits in comparison.

[@uploadJ]

In the 'modern age' (now), a bit of A-V (audio visual) assist goes a long ways in getting the man's point across ...

[@siliconRain]

Did anyone else think those chairs are ridiculously close together?

[@dancingvirgil]

Yes but there was no social distancing back then.

[@tarnopol]

He was serious about bringing the two cultures closer together.

[@markbaker2629]

My first thought when I opened this clip to view

[@uploadJ]

Depth of field distortion contributed by the camera?

[@siliconRain]

@@uploadJ no

[@howardleekilby7390]

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@badgastein2]

You Tube has the definitive Michael Parkinson/Jacob Bronowski interview - Parkinson’s interview is more emotional than this particular ‘clinical’ interview.

[@insider_english1594]

sorry if I'm not the only one to be asking (if you've seen this request), but any idea where I could get a transcript of this interview?

[@oker59]

Hello suitabledude, Origins is top two for me!

[@nathanbridle]

Here, here.

[@myroseaccount]

They just don't do talk shows like this anymore!

[@mikecimerian6913]

"I learned the word for water and the formula for h2o at about the same time".

[@nathanbridle]

Yes, more about the interviewer than the interviewee.

[@lucaviggiani2189]

Somewhat tragically, Jacob reaches for his nitroglycerin pills at the end of the interview. A few months after this interview, he would sadly die of a heart attack. His work in Mathematics, operational research, his classified work during World War 2, the national coal board and the Salk Institute, defined him as a towering intellect and a person, like Feynman, with a rare talent to explain complex scientific principles to non scientific audiences.

[@Silverhand290]

He is searching for a beautiful way to relate mathematics and nature and not doing very well unless you already agree with him. I say this as I can see what he is trying to say but a friend of mine could not. I think he would have loved fractals and they would have much better suited the point he was trying to illustrate.

[@uploadJ]

Oops, fractals. "What are they good for?" Bronowski knew enough about repeating patterns he would have brought subject up.

[@Silverhand290]

@@uploadJ Clearly he didn't know enough to use them, as that would have illustrated the point he was trying (not very well) to make far better.

[@uploadJ]

@@Silverhand290 Fractals are OVERRATED as well. I never understood this, unhealthy fascination some people have w/fractals. Plus, I don't think you have seen the entire 13 episodes in a great while ... you're "micro-focusing" on one minor aspect to the detriment of the entirety ...

[@Silverhand290]

@@uploadJ microfocusing wtf. that is an absurd term. I have not only seen the series recently, I looked em up as I read the book that Bronowski wrote originally.

[@uploadJ]

@@Silverhand290 Micro-focusing - I'll call it what it is then (AND not be polite this time) its NAVEL GAZING, staring into one's own belly button for too long. I'd recommend developing some balance in your life and leave the fractal aspect alone. Another word for 'fractals' - FAD. Look for New Scientist article titled: Forum: Twisting the fractal knife - Differences within the world of mathematics

[@Bob-h3n]

We can now claim the superiority of English with an irreproachable authority backing us up.

[@ArazZeynisoy]

Youu go maaan : the only person that konws whether it is right or wrong is me i am rather insensitive to the opinions of other people. if I think it is good then to hell with what anybody else says

[@suitabledude]

"Where are the Bronowski's of modern age?" ...Seriously! They're all being sensationalists a la Kaku et al.

[@anthonysimon4991]

In 2020 it seems to be Jordan Peterson.

[@uploadJ]

Louis Rossmann.

[@maximuscomfort]

thank g-d for calculators. nuke maths is a bummer with out them these days.

[@kevinastraw]

Sonnet 18 was written to a man not a woman - perhaps JB was being careful!

[@paul_the_merciful]

Pretencious

[@lucaviggiani2189]

“Pretentious” is what the ignorant call the intelligent.

[@oker59]

The interviewer seems to always want to know about easy stuff and never mathematics and humanity.

[@damienholden2132]

God knows

[@Bob-h3n]

So English is the superior language.

[@MisterKorihor]

Look at Bronowski's skinny legs at 2:50! He needs to ramp-up his exercise program.

[@drstrangelove09]

the interviewer knows nothing about advanced mathematics... it's irritating

[@arturboras6615]

ggirls , local MES ?