thu 28/03/2024

My Father, the Bomb and Me, BBC Four | reviews, news & interviews

My Father, the Bomb and Me, BBC Four

My Father, the Bomb and Me, BBC Four

Scientist and broadcaster Jacob Bronowski revisited by his daughter, Lisa Jardine

Jacob Bronowski: Mathematical genius, inspirational TV presenter and strategic bombing expert

It seems like an aeon ago that we had people who dared to make television series with names like Civilisation or The Ascent of Man. The notion of TV as a forum for vigorous intellectual debate and for taking the philosophical measure of human progress has come to seem almost as quaint as the Reithian newsreader being compelled to wear a dinner suit. I don’t think QI really counts, does it?

It seems like an aeon ago that we had people who dared to make television series with names like Civilisation or The Ascent of Man. The notion of TV as a forum for vigorous intellectual debate and for taking the philosophical measure of human progress has come to seem almost as quaint as the Reithian newsreader being compelled to wear a dinner suit. I don’t think QI really counts, does it?

As a Polish Jew whose family was slaughtered in Auschwitz, Bronowski may not have shared his daughter's qualms about pulverising the cities of the Third Reich from the air

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Hypothesis: Jacob Bronowski did the maths that showed lots of little phosphorus bombs did more damage than a few big bang bombs.Experiments at Dresden and Hamburg were satisfactory.The Americans became very interested in these successes and he was invited to lecture on them to various bomber schools in the US...the fire-bombing of tokyo,kobe,yokahama etc. etc followed.He wasn't just holding the ashes of Auschwitz in his hands,but of Dresden,Tokyo and Hiroshima....what a dilemma...no wonder he wanted to keep that secret,if true.

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