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The Best Episodes of The Day the Universe Changed

Every episode of The Day the Universe Changed ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of The Day the Universe Changed!

Binge this in 7h 30m•Peaking at 9.2/10

Documentary series about the effect of advances in science and technology on western society in its philosophical aspects.

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  1. #1 Fan Favorite
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    The Day the Universe Changed Season 1 Episode 7 - What the Doctor Ordered: Impacts of New Medical Knowledge
    9.2/10(28 votes)

    #1 - What the Doctor Ordered: Impacts of New Medical Knowledge

    S1:E7

    Traces modern society’s recognition of the value of statistics to medical advances stemming from responses to the French Revolution and an English cholera epidemic. Identifies the origins of medicine as a science with the discovery of anesthesia, antiseptics, and bacteriology.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  2. The Day the Universe Changed Season 1 Episode 8 - Fit to Rule: Darwin's Revolution
    9.2/10(23 votes)

    #2 - Fit to Rule: Darwin's Revolution

    S1:E8

    Tracks the expectation of change, fundamental to contemporary society, through the developing sciences of botany, geology, and biology to Darwin’s theory of evolution. Darwin’s theory, in turn, has been used as a justification for Nazism, communism, and cut-throat capitalism.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  3. The Day the Universe Changed Season 1 Episode 5 - Infinitely Reasonable: Science Revises the Heavens
    8.9/10(23 votes)

    #3 - Infinitely Reasonable: Science Revises the Heavens

    S1:E5

    Notes that investigators such as Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton evolved better explanations of natural phenomena than those of Aristotle. Highlights the theories that led to a new conception of how the universe works and of man’s place in it.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  4. The Day the Universe Changed Season 1 Episode 4 - A Matter of Fact: Printing Transforms Knowledge
    8.8/10(20 votes)

    #4 - A Matter of Fact: Printing Transforms Knowledge

    S1:E4

    Observes that the invention of printing and the advent of cheap paper forever transformed the nature of knowledge from the local and traditional to the systematic and testable. Nationalism, public relations, and propaganda are among the results.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  5. The Day the Universe Changed Season 1 Episode 10 - Worlds Without End: Changing Knowledge, Changing Reality
    8.8/10(23 votes)

    #5 - Worlds Without End: Changing Knowledge, Changing Reality

    S1:E10

    Observes that over the centuries Western civilization has regularly shifted its conception of the nature of truth. The series closes with host James Burke's remarkably prescient assessment of the role in which modern computer networks are beginning to now play in shaping man's current conception of his reality as well as how they may well define the fundamental nature of all future human interaction. And while his message is ultimately a positive one, it is tempered with the warning that while the promise of the computer may indeed provide a framework for a future anarchism where human freedom is nourished and where every individual conception of reality is a valid one, it could conversely become of tool of totalitarian repression and conformity.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  6. The Day the Universe Changed Season 1 Episode 3 - Point of View: Scientific Imagination in the Renaissance
    8.7/10(21 votes)

    #6 - Point of View: Scientific Imagination in the Renaissance

    S1:E3

    Shows that Western Europe’s rediscovery of perspective through the study of Arab optics led to revolutions in art and architecture. The West’s new-found ability to control things at a distance resulted in new methods of warfare and the confidence to make long voyages of exploration.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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    The 20 WORST Episodes of The Day the Universe Changed

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  7. The Day the Universe Changed Season 1 Episode 6 - Credit Where It's Due: The Factory and Marketplace Revolution
    8.7/10(21 votes)

    #7 - Credit Where It's Due: The Factory and Marketplace Revolution

    S1:E6

    Locates the origins of contemporary consumerism in the English industrial Revolution, powered by religious dissenters barred from all activities except trade. The invention of the steam engine, new forms of credit, surplus wealth, and opening markets laid the foundation for industrial society.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  8. The Day the Universe Changed Season 1 Episode 9 - Making Waves: The New Physics: Newton Revised
    8.7/10(20 votes)

    #8 - Making Waves: The New Physics: Newton Revised

    S1:E9

    Points out that studies of the properties of magnetism, electricity, and light have led scientists to the realization that Newtonian physics is inadequate to explain all that they observe. The public, meanwhile, has continued to concentrate on the technological by-products of science.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  9. The Day the Universe Changed Season 1 Episode 2 - In the Light of the Above: Medieval Conflict: Faith and Reason
    8.4/10(26 votes)

    #9 - In the Light of the Above: Medieval Conflict: Faith and Reason

    S1:E2

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    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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  10. The Day the Universe Changed Season 1 Episode 1 - The Way We Are: It Started with the Greeks
    8.2/10(30 votes)

    #10 - The Way We Are: It Started with the Greeks

    S1:E1

    Written and presented by James Burke, this 10-part series traces the development of Western thought through its major transformations since the days of ancient Greece. Program one is an overview of the series, showing how a culture’s view of the world around it determines how it sees itself, and is reflected even in the smallest details of its customs and habits.

    Director:Unknown
    Writer:Unknown

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Best Episodes Summary

"What the Doctor Ordered: Impacts of New Medical Knowledge" is the best rated episode of "The Day the Universe Changed". It scored 9.2/10 based on 28 votes. Directed by Unknown and written by Unknown, it aired on 4/30/1985. This episode scored 0.0 points higher than the second highest rated, "Fit to Rule: Darwin's Revolution".