talkmagic.co.uk

I know we occasionally have opinionated spats on Talk Magic about "sceptics", "cynics", "believers" , "atheists", "scientists" and the rest, but this looks like a documentary that genuinely shows the sacrifices made in the pursuit of real knowledge about the universe and our place in creation. What is it they say about the ignorant being confident of their views while the knowledgeable are filled with doubt about what they know? Anyway, it should be interesting. From the Radio Times web site:

Blast!: Storyville
Wednesday 07 January
10:00pm - 11:20pm
BBC4

"Documentary which follows the story of Mark Devlin and his team of scientists as they try to figure out how all the galaxies formed by launching a revolutionary new telescope under a NASA high-altitude balloon. Their adventure takes them from Arctic Sweden to Inuit Canada, where failure forces the team to try again on the desolate ice of Antarctica. The obsessions, personal and family sacrifices, and philosophical and religious questioning of a professional scientist are all laid bare."

Looks great, and is a pleasant evening's rescue as my girlfriend is away on residential placement and wednesday is usually our date night! (Though she'll probably call me right in the middle of the best bit... )

followed by star men and later on the sky at night

...and preceded by a documentary on the Hubble Telescope. That's my viewing sorted... love BBC 4!!

Cr@p! Got engrossed in making some beer and onion relish and totally forgot about this

I missed it too; fortunately, it is on BBC iPlayer.

There were some poignant moments, such as Prof Devlin calling home from the Antarctic on Thanksgiving and his 8-year-old son getting bored talking to a near stranger and putting the phone down on him. Devlin's fellow scientist, a Christian, said that for him, understanding how the universe came to be is to find out how God did it. His faith in God but also the need to know were what got him through the setbacks. Interesting bloke. And their project - to fly an expensive space telescope right on the edge of space under a cheap weather balloon and return it safely instead of flying it on a VERY expensive and explosion-prone rocket - is achingly cool.

I never knew Antarctica has three bars

Thanks for the tip Tomo, really good programme. As was the one on amateur astronomers that followed, with Terry Pratchett amongst others.

Gah! Was out! Storyville usually rocks too.

Up for a week on the BBCiplayer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... le_Blast!/