NOVA backdrop
Documentary

The Best Episodes of NOVA

Every episode of NOVA ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of NOVA!

Binge this in 39d 5h•Peaking at 10.0/10

PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA demystifies science and technology, and highlights the people involved in scientific pursuits.

Airs on
PBS
BestEpisodes
WorstEpisodes
BestSeasons
AllEpisodes

Seasons53

All1234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132333435363738394041424344454647484950515253

Episode Rankings

  1. #1 Fan Favorite
    Click to reveal
    NOVA Season 1 Episode 12 - Fusion: The Energy of Promise
    10.0/10(1 votes)

    S1:E12

    Nuclear fusion offers the promises of an unlimited, clean source of energy. But achieving fusion has proved one of the most difficult and elusive goals of the physicist. NOVA tells the story of the twists and turns and the international competition along the road toward the achievement of fusion; and details the recent breakthroughs which seem at last to have brought it within reach.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  2. NOVA Season 8 Episode 4 - Anatomy of a Volcano
    9.0/10(10 votes)

    S8:E4

    When Mount St. Helens erupted earlier this year, it focused the attention of the whole world on the almost incredible destructive forces that volcanos can release. Geologists from around the world congregated at the volcano and NOVA joined the vigil for an in-depth look at the incident and its aftermath.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  3. NOVA Season 14 Episode 2 - Children of Eve
    9.0/10(11 votes)

    S14:E2

    NOVA examines a controversial theory that traces our ancestry to a small group of women living in Africa 300,000 years ago.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  4. NOVA Season 14 Episode 7 - Confessions of a Weaponeer
    9.0/10(10 votes)

    S14:E7

    Harvard chemist George Kistiakowsky was an anti-Bolshevik soldier in 1919 Russia, an atomic bomb scientist at Los Alamos, a presidential advisor in the Eisenhower White House and an arms control activist. Shortly before Kistiakowsky death, he recounts his eventful career to interviewer Carl Sagan.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  5. NOVA Season 45 Episode 102 - NOVA Wonders What's Living in You?
    8.9/10(9 votes)

    S45:E102

    Whether they make you fat, fart, or freak out, microbes play a central role in your life. Right beneath your nose—on your face, in your gut, and everywhere in between—trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi are so abundant in your body, they outnumber your human cells. But these aren’t just nasty hitch-hikers. Many are crucial to your survival.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  6. NOVA Season 6 Episode 12 - Life on a Silken Thread
    8.8/10(11 votes)

    S6:E12

    Sinister, sometimes even deadly, spiders have little popular appeal; yet their silken webs are among nature's loveliest creations. NOVA takes a close-look in slow motion, as spiders reveal a delicate grace and beauty, and an amazing array of lifestyles.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

    7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 WORST Episodes of NOVA

    READ
  7. NOVA Season 15 Episode 12 - Pioneers of Surgery: The Brutal Craft
    8.8/10(9 votes)

    S15:E12

    Part one of a four-part series on the pioneers of modern surgery relives the early days, when surgery was practiced without the benefit of anaesthesia or antisceptics and patients usually died.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  8. NOVA Season 15 Episode 13 - Pioneers of Surgery: Into the Heart
    8.8/10(9 votes)

    S15:E13

    Once unthinkable, open-heart surgery is now an everyday miracle. NOVA looks at the brave doctors and patients who make it possible.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  9. NOVA Season 15 Episode 14 - Pioneers of Surgery: New Organs for Old
    8.8/10(9 votes)

    S15:E14

    From kidneys to hearts, NOVA examines the daring attempts to replace diseased organs with transplanted ones.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  10. NOVA Season 15 Episode 15 - Pioneers of Surgery: Beyond the Knife
    8.8/10(9 votes)

    S15:E15

    Surgeons have always been eager to help patients, even at the risk of killing them. NOVA looks at some of the excesses of surgery, and at how new drugs and technologies are rendering some operations obsolete.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  11. NOVA Season 18 Episode 12 - So You Want to Be a Doctor?
    8.8/10(10 votes)

    S18:E12

    In a two-hour special, NOVA follows seven aspiring doctors through four years of medical school. The first examination, the anatomy lab, the first death, the first baby-it's all part of becoming a doctor. Neil Patrick Harris, star of ABC's Doogie Howser, MD hosts. (Follow-up to the program 1521 "Can We Make a Better Doctor?")

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  12. NOVA Season 29 Episode 6 - Bioterror
    8.7/10(44 votes)

    S29:E6

    The film follows three New York Times reporters as they delve into the murky past of bioweapons research and grapple with the current threat of anthrax and other attacks.

    Director:Kirk Wolfinger
    Writer:Matthew Collins

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  13. NOVA Season 8 Episode 13 - The Great Violin Mystery
    8.6/10(14 votes)

    S8:E13

    A great secret lies locked inside the master Violins created by Italian craftsmen like Antonio Stradivari in the 17th and 18th centuries. Now, a Wisconsin physicist, working alone in his cellar, may have solved the violin mystery.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  14. NOVA Season 12 Episode 11 - The National Science Test II
    8.6/10(9 votes)

    S12:E11

    In NOVA's special sequel to 1984's National Science Test, viewers can match wits with celebrity panelists David Attenborough, Michelle Johnson, Edwin Newman and Alvin Poussaint and a live studio audience. Art Fleming hosts.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  15. NOVA Season 12 Episode 20 - The Plane that Changed the World
    8.6/10(21 votes)

    S12:E20

    NOVA joins the 50th anniversary celebration of the DC-3—the plane that revolutionized commercial air travel, served gallantly in World War II and is called the most important plane ever built.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  16. NOVA Season 15 Episode 18 - Do Scientists Cheat?
    8.6/10(8 votes)

    S15:E18

    NOVA examines the troubling question of scientific fraud: How prevalent is it? Who commits it? And what happens when the perpetrators are caught?

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  17. NOVA Season 18 Episode 1 - Return to Mt. St. Helens
    8.6/10(14 votes)

    S18:E1

    NOVA returns to Mount St. Helens a decade after its cataclysmic eruption to learn how nature is recovering from the disaster.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  18. NOVA Season 18 Episode 13 - Secrets of the Dead Sea Scrolls
    8.6/10(15 votes)

    S18:E13

    Forty years after they were discovered, the Dead Sea Scrolls have yet to be published in their entirety. NOVA looks at the laborious-some say scandalous-process of compiling and releasing this religious treasure.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  19. NOVA Season 20 Episode 15 - The Real Jurassic Park
    8.6/10(14 votes)

    S20:E15

    With help from director Steven Spielberg, author Michael Crichton and a host of scientific experts , NOVA investigates what it would take to recreate the dinosaur theme park in Jurassic Park. It won't be as easy as it was for Hollywood.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  20. NOVA Season 24 Episode 14 - Secrets of Lost Empires: Stonehenge (1)
    8.6/10(17 votes)

    S24:E14

    A distinctive feature of this stone site are the trilithons, which consist of two upright stones topped by a horizontal lintel stone. In this program, the NOVA team considers how to transport and raise the massive stones, as well as how to place the lintel stone on top. By comparing different strategies and adapting ramps, levers, and other tools that might have been available to the ancient builders, the team works to meet the challenge.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  21. NOVA Season 25 Episode 5 - Wild Wolves With David Attenborough
    8.6/10(10 votes)

    S25:E5

    Sir David Attenborough hosts a never-before-seen look at one of the most misunderstood creatures in nature. Special photography, including infrared photography, exposes the secret life of the wolf pack.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  22. NOVA Season 2 Episode 11 - Take the World From Another Point of View
    8.5/10(17 votes)

    S2:E11

    NOVA profiles two very different scientists: Richard Feynman, a theoretical physicist, at the pinnacle of his career—a Nobel prizewinner; and Richard Lewontin, a biologist and highly regarded population geneticist from Harvard University.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  23. NOVA Season 3 Episode 8 - The Race for the Double Helix
    8.5/10(18 votes)

    S3:E8

    Author Isaac Asimov joins NOVA in the retelling of the remarkable story of the discovery of the structure of DNA. James Watson and his ex-colleague Francis Crick exchange memories of the events which led to their winning the race for the structure of the gene.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  24. NOVA Season 7 Episode 17 - Moving Still
    8.5/10(10 votes)

    S7:E17

    NOVA tells the story of still and cine photography in science—from the extraordinary work of the pioneers in the early 1800s to how the ability to freeze time on film in ever shorter periods has given scientists remarkable new insights. Today photography enables us to analyze (frame by frame) the thousands of molecular reactions that can happen in less time than the blink of an eye.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

  25. NOVA Season 24 Episode 6 - Shark Attack
    8.5/10(16 votes)

    S24:E6

    Sharks are known as the "perfect predators," but sometimes they slip up and attack the wrong prey—people.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

    Be the first to start the conversation for this episode

Best Episodes Summary

"Fusion: The Energy of Promise" is the best rated episode of "NOVA". It scored 10/10 based on 1 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 5/19/1974. This episode scored 1.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Anatomy of a Volcano".