Nova (TV series)

Nova
The current Nova logo
Format	Science Documentary
Created by	Michael Ambrosino
Developed by	Michael Ambrosino
Opening theme	Walter Werzowa, John Luker, Musikvergnuegen, Inc., Ray Loring (additional)
Country of origin	United States
No. of seasons	38
No. of episodes	698 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Paula Apsell
Running time	55 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel	PBS
Picture format	HDTV
Original run	March 3, 1974 – present
External links
Website

Nova is a popular science television series from the U.S. produced by WGBH Boston. It can be seen on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States, and in more than 100 other countries. It has also won a variety of major television awards, most of them many times over.

Nova often includes interviews with scientists directly involved in the subject, and occasionally footage from the actual moment of a particular discovery. Some episodes have focused on historical aspects of science. Examples of topics include Colditz Castle, Drake equation, elementary particles, 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens, Fermat's Last Theorem, global warming, moissanite, Project Jennifer, storm chasing, Unterseeboot 869, Vinland, and the Tarim mummies.

The Nova programs are praised for their good pacing, clear writing, and crisp editing, with a website accompanying each segment. Nova's websites have also won awards.

Episodes

Main article: List of NOVA episodes

History

Nova was created in 1974 by Michael Ambrosino, inspired by the BBC 2 television series Horizon, 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. Of the first 50 programs, only 19 were original WGBH productions, and the very first Nova episode, "The Making of a Natural History Film", was originally an episode of Horizon. 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) or Los Angeles or New York. Ambrosino was succeeded as executive producer by John Angier, John Mansfield, and Paula S. Apsell.

Awards

Nova has been recognized with multiple Peabody Awards and Emmy Awards. The series 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". The episode also won an Emmy.
• "Spy Machines" (1987) was cited for "neatly recount[ing] the key events of the Cold War and look[ing] into the future of American/Soviet SDI competition."
• "The Elegant Universe" (2003) was cited for exploring "science’s most elaborate and ambitious theory, the string theory" while making "the abstract concrete, the complicated clear, and the improbable understandable" by "blending factual story telling with animation, special effects, and trick photography." The episode also won an Emmy and a Peabody Award.

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (responsible for documentary Emmys) recognized the series 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: 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's Battle for the Heavens", "Mountain of Ice", "Shackleton's Voyage of Endurance", "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"

Three episodes were nominated for 2004 Emmys:

• "Mars Dead or Alive"
• "The Crash of Flight 111"
• "The Most Dangerous Woman in America"

In 1998, the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation awarded Nova its first-ever Public Service Award.

Underwriters

Funding for Nova is provided by David H. Koch, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and Viewers Like You.

Series funding was also provided by the following:

• Corporation for Public Broadcasting (1974-77, 1991-present)
• viewers/stations
• National Science Foundation (1974-1982)
• Polaroid (1974-1977)
• Exxon (1978–1981)
• TRW (1978-1980)
• The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations (1982-1985)
• Johnson & Johnson (1981–1994)
• AlliedSignal (1985–1988)
• Prime Computer (1988–1989)
• Lockheed Corporation (1989–1995)
• Raytheon (1995–1996)
• Merck & Co. (1994–1997)
• Prudential (1996–1997)
• Park Foundation (1997–2005)
• Iomega Corporation. (1998-1999)
• Northwestern Mutual Financial Network (1998-2002)
• CNET (1999–2000)
• Sprint Corporation (2000-2005)
• Microsoft (2003–2005)
• Google (2005–2006)
• BP (2006)
• Dow Chemical Company (2007)
• ExxonMobil (2008-2010)
• Pacific Life (2009-2010)
• Merrill Lynch (2009-2010)

Non-series underwriting supporters:

• National Science Foundation
• The Arthur Vining Davis Foundations
• Dave Johnson Foundation
• EarthLink
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Morgan Stanley
• the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
• Volkswagen of America
• George D. Smith
• U.S. Department of Energy
• Marguerite and Jerry Lenfest
• John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
• Richard Goldman
• Goldman Environmental Prize
• William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
• NASA
• National Endowment for the Humanities
• National Library of Medicine
• Kavli Foundation
• The Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation
• American Chemical Society
• Solow Art & Architecture Foundation
• the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund
• Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
• Invitrogen Educational Foundation
• Morehead Planetarium and Science Center
• Teach Green Charitable Foundation
• Nurture Nature Foundation
• Pfizer

See also

• NOVA scienceNOW (a spinoff of this program airing from 2005–present)
• Equinox - Channel 4 popular science series, last aired in 2001.
• Horizon (BBC TV series) comparable BBC2 strand, on air since 1964.
• Q.E.D. (BBC TV series) more populist BBC1 science documentary series, which ran from 1982 to 1999.

External links

• Nova's Official Website
• Nova at the Internet Movie Database
• Nova at TV.com
• Nova show on YouTube