Modern Marvels
Season 1
TV-PG
Fast-paced, fun and informative, Modern Marvels is The History Channel's signature series focusing on historical technology. The series has focused (among other things) on wonders of construction (Erie Canal, the Pentagon, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, the Big Dig), the machinery of war (nuclear submarines, tanks) as well as technology linked to the everyday (power tools, home tech, garbage).
6 Episodes
- The Empire State Building
E2The Empire State BuildingThe remarkable story of how the landmark New York City skyscraper was constructed during the depths of the Depression. Requiring 10 million bricks and 60,000 tons of steel beams and using a revolutionary technique to hold the steel girders in place–hot rivets–the world’s tallest building was completed four months ahead of schedule. - The Panama Canal
E3The Panama CanalChronicles one of the most incredible engineering feats of all time: construction of the 51-mile canal that took 10 years to build and employed over 40,000 workers, 6,000 of whom died of yellow fever, malaria, and other horrors. An earlier, 9-year attempt by the French ended in failure and cost 20,000 lives. - Transatlantic Cable
E5Transatlantic CableLooks at how one man’s vision and the cooperation between the U.S. and England resulted in an instant, reliable transcontinental mode of communication in the mid-1800s. See how wealthy 33-year-old Cyrus West Field endured many failures and lost millions in his attempt to close the communication gap between the Old and New Worlds. - Mt. Rushmore.
E6Mt. Rushmore.The incredible tale of how Gutzon Borglum created the world's largest sculpture by carving the faces of four US presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln) into the Black Hills of South Dakota. The four figures carved in stone pay tribute to the first 150 years of American history. The hour chronicles the "swiveled pointer" that Borglum put in each president's "head", and how workmen hung like spiders 6,000 feet above the ground to blast away 450,000 tons of rock.
