Absolute Zero - NOVA

I love almost everything about NOVA but they cheap out by not presenting this program with English sub-titles. I am hard of hearing and often cannot make out what a narrator is saying, so this is an important factor for me. Oh, it says CC is available -- just adjust your TV or DVD player to display the closed captioning, but my DVD recorder/player and TV both defer to settings on a commercial DVD and there is no way I can get CC to work on a DVD that doesn't come with subtitles built into it. So that made this program hard to follow.

Good, shows history of cold. I expected a little more aboutour quest to get to absolute zero. That was the name of the movie after all, wasn't it?Good otherwise for basic science. But again, they did not get into the science ofabsolute zero.

A two-parter, this one inspired me to pursue some of what I had learned in more depth later on. The quest for absolute zero continues; we become better in our approach with time, but never actually achieve... Zeno's paradox of Achilles and the tortoise comes to mind.

Having an education in physics and atmospheric science, and a strong interest in astronomy, this program was very interesting. It led the viewer through an historical view from learning what cold is, how we have learned to use it, and then to the possibility of cooling something to zero atomic motion. I like how it shows the technological advancements in creating and using cold.

This DVD is a "must have". The inclusion of historical footage tracing the widespread use of ice, on through to the search for how low can you get, and the subsequent discoveries which went on to commercial ventures for things we take for granted, is both facinating and educational. The patience of the scientific community never ceases to amaze, in the quest for the truth about the world we live in. Congratulations to the production team that put it all together in this DVD.Philip J. Gannon (Aug 8, 2008)

This is a must see video on several levels:- Getting some insight on the personalities in the history of research.- Learning how the frozen food industry got started.- Learning why getting there is so important.Those are only some of the interesting things about this video. It is well done and even someone without a pre-disposition to scientific things would enjoy it, and learn something in the process.

. . . and they are excellent programs at that. The first DVD deals with the history of understaning cold temperatures, measuring temperature and even Faradays's inadvertent discovery of refrigeration. (Faraday is truly underappreciated IMO.)The second DVD deals with efforts to achieve extremely low temperatures in the lab and the first creation of a Bose-Einstein condensate. It's fascinating watching and quite relevent.I'd suggest buying a copy before they raise the price. :)

An excellent review of cold research from its earliest beginnings. What's amazing is they made their own equipment! No running down to the corner hardware store to grab some fittings. Most of the apparatus was made by glass blowers and instrument makers. Also gives some insight into how their minds worked. Very interesting and not overly complicated.

Very nice film on the temperature in science since 19th century.

An enthralling 2 disc (120 minutes...) discussion of both the history of thermodynamic research and recent achievements. One wishes for more 'fourth state of matter' information, but perhaps further experiments are required for such broadcasts. Fairly compelling viewing.