Breakthrough: The Ideas That Changed the World

IMDb TVDB Trailer
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  • : 6
  • : 3
  • PBS
  • Documentary History Mini-series

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1x1
The Telescope
Episode overview
A look at how the telescope was invented, from Galileo to Edwin Hubble, and how the invention reaches the universe 13 billion light-years out.
1x2
The Airplane
Episode overview
Take to the sky with the dreamers whose work gave humans the ability to fly. From Leonardo da Vinci’s “flying machines” to the modern commercial plane, without these inventions, we may have never left the ground.
1x3
The Robot
Episode overview
Robots are first conceptualized in ancient Rome; how uses for robots have evolved over the centuries, from the calculator to the Roomba; what future robots might be able to do.
1x4
The Car
Episode overview
Go for a ride through the 9,000-year history of the car, from its roots in dogsleds to Henry Ford’s affordable and assembly line-built Model T, and meet the scientists working on the next generation of self-driving automobiles.
1x5
The Rocket
Episode overview
Learn the explosive history of the rocket, from its origin in ancient China, to its use as a weapon of war, to how adding hydrogen allowed it to carry astronauts all the way to the moon.
1x6
The Smartphone
Episode overview
Dial in to the fascinating history of the smartphone, from its roots in Morse Code to 2007, when Apple unveiled the first-ever iPhone. Plus, see how the next generation of smartphones will allow us to communicate through them just by thinking.

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