''Scientific American Frontiers'' was an American science television program aired by

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

from 1990 to 2005. The show was a companion program to the ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

'' magazine, and primarily covered new

technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

and discoveries in science and medicine. The Chedd-Angier Production Company, which had recently produced '' Discover: The World of Science'', produced the show for PBS. Frontiers typically aired once every two to four weeks.

Hosts

The show first aired on October 1, 1990, with

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of modern technology and sc ...

professor Woodie Flowers hosting until the spring of 1993. Actor

Alan Alda Alan Alda (; born Alphonso Joseph D'Abruzzo; January 28, 1936) is an American actor. A six-time Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award winner and a three-time Tony Award nominee, he is best known for playing Captain Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pier ...

became the permanent host from the fall season of 1993 and continued until the show ended in 2005. The show was also billed as ''Alan Alda in Scientific American Frontiers''. In one segment, Alda became car sick while driving an experimental,

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a Simulation, simulated experience that employs 3D near-eye displays and pose tracking to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video gam ...

vehicle. In 2005, in his memoir, ''Never Have Your Dog Stuffed: and Other Things I've Learned'', Alda recalls his

intestine The gastrointestinal tract (GI tract, digestive tract, alimentary canal) is the tract or passageway of the digestive system that leads from the mouth to the anus. The tract is the largest of the body's systems, after the cardiovascular system. T ...

s becoming strangulated while in the mountains of

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

for the show, an incident in which he nearly died due to the remote location.

Format

Most programs included three short documentaries, but some shows follow a different pattern. Some young viewers of the program later appeared as adult guests in later series, stating that the program inspired them to continue their scientific pursuits. The shows are now available online at the Chedd-Angier website.

Episodes

Season 1 (1990–91)

Season 2 (1991–92)

Season 3 (1992–93)

Season 4 (1993–94)

Season 5 (1994–95)

Season 6 (1995–96)

Season 7 (1996–97)

Season 8 (1997–98)

Season 9 (1998–99)

Season 10 (1999–2000)

Season 11 (2000–01)

Season 12 (2001–02)

Season 13 (2002–03)

Season 14 (2004)

Season 15 (2005)

Sources

External links

*, where all shows and transcripts are freely available for viewing.
Archived site
- contains extra interviews, behind-the-scenes information. *

References

{{reflist PBS original programming 1990s American documentary television series 2000s American documentary television series 1990 American television series debuts 2005 American television series endings Scientific American Television shows based on magazines