From Quarks to the Cosmos — A Planning Grant

September 1st, 2003 - February 28th, 2005 | PROJECT

Twin Cities Public Broadcasting is developing a two-hour prime time PBS television special on complementary advances in particle physics and cosmology. The program will present the dramatic recent history of the two disciplines, striking discoveries in both fields, and the cutting-edge research under way today. The format of the programs will be modeled on Michael Riordan's book, "The Hunting of the Quark," which presented a rich, personal story of working scientists with their struggles and their successes. The following activities are among those that will be conducted during the planning phase: 1. Develop strategic partnerships among the principal research institutions and organizations involved in physics/astronomy education 2. Develop detailed treatments of the television programs 3. Research sources for program graphics with universities, national laboratories, and other research institutions 4. Meet with the advisory board 5. Produce a video sampler from taped interviews of selected scientists Key staff with include: Richard Hudson, Director of Science Production at KTCA-TV; Les Guthman, Executive Producer and Vice President of Outside Television for S2 Media; and Michael Riordan, physicist, science historian, and author. Advisors for the project are: Donna Cox, National Center for Supercomputing Applications and School of Art and Design, University of Illinois; Peter Galison, Department of History of Science, Harvard University; Leon Lederman, Director Emeritus, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory; Dennis Overbye, science writer; Randal Ruchti, Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame; George Smoot, Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley; and Michael Turner, Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Chicago.

Project Website(s)

(no project website provided)

Team Members

Richard Hudson, Principal Investigator, Twin Cities Public Television
Barbara Flagg, Evaluator, Multimedia Research

Funders

Funding Source: NSF
Funding Program: ISE/AISL
Award Number: 0341932
Funding Amount: 49967

Tags

Audience: General Public | Museum | ISE Professionals
Discipline: Physics | Space science
Resource Type: Project Descriptions
Environment Type: Broadcast Media | Media and Technology