''Nova'' (stylized as ''NOVΛ'') is an American

popular science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

television program produced by WGBH in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, since 1974. It is broadcast on PBS in the United States, and in more than 100 other countries. The program has won many major television awards. ''Nova'' often includes interviews with scientists doing research in the subject areas covered and occasionally includes footage of a particular discovery. Some episodes have focused on the history of science. Examples of topics covered include the following: Colditz Castle, the Drake equation,

elementary particle In particle physics, an elementary particle or fundamental particle is a subatomic particle that is not composed of other particles. The Standard Model presently recognizes seventeen distinct particles—twelve fermions and five bosons. As a c ...

s, the

1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens In March 1980, a series of volcanic explosions and pyroclastic flows began at Mount St. Helens in Skamania County, Washington, United States. A series of Phreatic eruption, phreatic blasts occurred from the summit and escalated until a major ...

Fermat's Last Theorem In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) states that no three positive number, positive integers , , and satisfy the equation for any integer value of greater than . The cases ...

, the

AIDS epidemic The global pandemic of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) began in 1981, and is an ongoing worldwide public health issue. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), by 2023, HIV/AIDS ...

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

, moissanite,

Project Jennifer Project Azorian (also called "Jennifer" by the press after its Top Secret Security Compartment) was a U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) project to recover the sunken Soviet submarine ''K-129'' from the Pacific Ocean floor in 1974 using the ...

, storm chasing, Unterseeboot 869,

Vinland Vinland, Vineland, or Winland () was an area of coastal North America explored by Vikings. Leif Erikson landed there around 1000 AD, nearly five centuries before the voyages of Christopher Columbus and John Cabot. The name appears in the V ...

Tarim mummies The Tarim mummies are a series of Mummy, mummies discovered in the Tarim Basin in present-day Xinjiang, China, which date from Tarim Basin#Early periods, 1800 BCE to the first centuries BCE, with a new group of individuals recently dated to betw ...

, and the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The ''Nova'' programs have been praised for their pacing, writing, and editing. Websites that accompany the segments have also won awards.

Episodes

History

''Nova'' was first aired on March 3, 1974. The show was created by Michael Ambrosino, inspired by the BBC 2 television series ''

Horizon The horizon is the apparent curve that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This curve divides all viewing directions based on whethe ...

'', which Ambrosino had seen while working in the UK. In the early years, many ''Nova'' episodes were either co-productions with the BBC ''Horizon'' team, or other documentaries originating outside of the United States, with the narration re-voiced in

American English American English, sometimes called United States English or U.S. English, is the set of variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United States. English is the Languages of the United States, most widely spoken lang ...

. Of the first 50 programs, only 19 were original WGBH productions, and the first ''Nova'' episode, "The Making of a Natural History Film", was originally an episode of ''Horizon'' that premiered in 1972. The practice continues to this day. All the producers and associate producers for the original ''Nova'' teams came from either England (with experience on the ''Horizon'' series), Los Angeles or New York. Ambrosino was succeeded as executive producer by John Angier, John Mansfield, and Paula S. Apsell, acting as senior executive producer.

Reception

Rob Owen of ''

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette The ''Pittsburgh Post-Gazette'', also known simply as the PG, is the largest newspaper serving Greater Pittsburgh, metropolitan Pittsburgh in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Descended from the ''Pittsburgh Gazette'', established in 1786 as the fi ...

'' wrote, "Fascinating and gripping." Alex Strachan of ''

Calgary Herald The ''Calgary Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Publication began in 1883 as ''The Calgary Herald, Mining and Ranche Advocate, and General Advertiser''. It is owned by the Postmedia Network. History ''The C ...

'' wrote,"TV for people who don't normally watch TV." Lynn Elber of the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

wrote of the episode " The Fabric of the Cosmos", "Mind-blowing TV." ''

The Futon Critic ''The Futon Critic'' is a website that provides articles and information regarding prime time programming on broadcast and cable networks in the United States. The site publishes reviews of prime time programming and interviews of people in th ...

'' wrote of the episode "Looking for Life on Mars", "Astounding ndexhilarating."

Awards

''Nova'' has been recognized with multiple

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Foster Peabody, George Peabody, honor what are described as the most powerful, enlightening, and in ...

s and

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

s. The program won a Peabody in 1974, citing it as "an imaginative series of science adventures," with a "versatility rarely found in television." Subsequent Peabodys went to specific episodes: * " The Miracle of Life" (1983) was cited as a "fascinating and informative documentary of the human reproductive process," which used "revolutionary microphotographic techniques." This episode also won an Emmy. * "Spy Machines" (1987) was cited for "neatly recount ngthe key events of the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

and look nginto the future of American/

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

SDI competition." * " The Elegant Universe" (2003) was lauded for exploring "science's most elaborate and ambitious theory, the

string theory In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and intera ...

" while making "the abstract concrete, the complicated clear, and the improbable understandable" by "blending factual story telling with animation,

special effect Special effects (often abbreviated as F/X or simply FX) are illusions or visual tricks used in the theatre, film, television, video game, amusement park and simulator industries to simulate the fictional events in a story or virtual world. ...

s, and trick photography." The episode also won an Emmy for editing. The

National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS), also known as the National Television Academy until 2007, is an American professional service organization founded in 1955 for "the advancement of the arts and sciences of televisio ...

(responsible for documentary Emmys) recognized the program with awards in 1978, 1981, 1983, and 1989. Julia Cort won an Emmy in 2001 for writing "Life's Greatest Miracle." Emmys were also awarded for the following episodes: * 1982 "Here's Looking at You, Kid" * 1983 "The Miracle of Life" (also won a Peabody) * 1985 "AIDS: Chapter One", "

Acid Rain Acid rain is rain or any other form of Precipitation (meteorology), precipitation that is unusually acidic, meaning that it has elevated levels of hydrogen ions (low pH). Most water, including drinking water, has a neutral pH that exists b ...

: New Bad News" * 1992 "Suicide Mission to Chernobyl", "The Russian Right Stuff" * 1994 "Secret of the Wild Child" * 1995 " Siamese Twins", "Secret of the Wild Child" * 1999 "Decoding Nazi Secrets" * 2001 " Bioterror" * 2002 "

Galileo Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642), commonly referred to as Galileo Galilei ( , , ) or mononymously as Galileo, was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a poly ...

's Battle for the Heavens", " Mountain of Ice", " Shackleton's Voyage of

Endurance Endurance (also related to sufferance, forbearance, resilience, constitution, fortitude, persistence, tenacity, steadfastness, perseverance, stamina, and hardiness) is the ability of an organism to exert itself and remain active for a ...

", "Why the Towers Fell" * 2003 "Battle of the X-planes", " The Elegant Universe" (also won a Peabody) * 2005 "Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge" In 1998, the National Science Board of the

National Science Foundation The U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is an Independent agencies of the United States government#Examples of independent agencies, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that su ...

awarded ''Nova'' its first-ever Public Service Award.

References

External links

* * {{WGBH 1974 American television series debuts 1970s American documentary television series 1980s American documentary television series 1990s American documentary television series 2000s American documentary television series 2010s American documentary television series 2020s American documentary television series American educational television series Emmy Award–winning programs American English-language television shows PBS original programming Peabody Award–winning television programs Science education television series Physics education Television series by WGBH Documentary television shows about evolution