Episode
Modern Marvels: West Point
Overview
For nearly 200 years, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, has trained students in the art of war. Located 50 miles north of New York City, its 25 buildings overlook the Hudson River on a 16,000-acre government reserve. During the Revolutionary War, West Point stood guard over the river, protecting it with artillery and a 136-ton chain! From humble beginnings, the academy grew with the nation, as each war forced changes to keep pace with America’s expanding world responsibilities.
Details
- Series
- Modern Marvels
- Season
- Season 8
- Episode
- Episode 27
- Air date
- 2001-09-11
- Runtime
- 44 min
Episode context
West Point is Episode 27 in Season 8 of Modern Marvels. It aired on 2001-09-11. The runtime is 44 min.
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Episode 26: Air Shows
From barnstormers to Blue Angels, antique aircraft to supersonic jets, each year there are an astonishing 425 air shows in America alone, entertaining over 18-million spectators. From futuristic festivals to billion-dollar expos, we explore the world of amazing aerobatics and their ever-evolving aircraft and see how aviation technology has affected air shows–and how air shows have advanced aviation. Find out why these high-flying events are second only to baseball as America’s favorite family event.
Episode 28: Quarries.
Dynamite explodes hills to bits, drills divide sheer stone walls, 400,000-pound blocks are pulled from pits by giant cranes, and men work around the clock to wrest rock out of the earth. Not diamonds or gold…rock, the raw material of civilization! Without rock, modern society wouldn't exist. Roads, sewers, dams, bridges, buildings, paint, glue, make-up, antacids, and even chewing gum need crushed stone. From ancient days to the present, we explore the evolution of quarrying techniques.
More episodes from this season
Episode 25: Nuclear Subs
The most priceless jewels in the arsenals of a handful of countries, some nuclear submarines carry more firepower than all the bombs dropped in history. Since the 1950s, these lethal steel sharks have been a cornerstone of U.S. defense policy. The Cold War launched an underwater race for supremacy with the Soviet Union. The result: engineering miracles, which roam 70% of the earth’s surface, providing deterrence to enemies, intelligence about adversaries, and an abiding sense of dread.
Episode 29: Diamond Mines
Half a mile below the earth’s surface, men mine for rough diamonds–a pure carbon substance. Brilliant when cut and polished, they are marketed as the most precious gem in the world. From the earliest mines of the 4th century BC to today’s technological wonders in South Africa, we explore the history and technology of the diamond mine.
Episode 24: Cannons.
Cannons have fired balls of iron and atomic bombs, changed the way wars are fought, and now come equipped with smart weapons. Beginning with 13th-century cannons that were designed to penetrate forts of the day, we'll see how cannons were first cast and later forged, and show how large cannons terrorized civilians and soldiers in WWI and WWII. Moving to the present, we feature the 40-ton self-propelled Crusader that launches 100-pound steel artillery shells more than 33 miles.
Episode 30: The House
If walls could speak…And in the next two hours they will, as we build a house literally from the ground up, step by step, room by room. We’ll pour the foundation, frame the walls, wire the electricity, install the heating, hang the drywall, tile the roof, and carpet the floors. All to show you how and why it’s done. We even take you back in time to see the bitter power struggles, accidental discoveries, and monumental breakthroughs behind today’s building methods and materials.
Episode 23: Cattle Ranches
From the 19th century’s legendary cattle drives to the million-acre ranch kingdoms that sprang to life with the end of the Open Range to 21st-century techniques that include artificial insemination, embryo transplants, and genetic engineering, we review the history of cattle ranching. We’ll ride herd with modern cowboys as they twirl ropes and brand calves, and look to the cattle ranch of the future, where cloning will produce the ideal meat-producing steer with a consistently juicy, low-fat carcass.
Episode 31: Work Clothes
From the riveted blue jeans of the old ’49ers, working the gold mines of California, to the million-dollar suits astronauts wear in outer space, we see how “dressing for success” often means being able to get the job done. With the right work clothes, people have been able to go anywhere and do any job.
Episode 22: More Gadgets
A salute to the tools and toys that have stood the test of time–from the Zippo lighter to the Palm Pilot, the 21st century’s first great gadget. As we focus on the technology behind familiar gadgets, we see the subtle ways they have changed our lives. Other items include the flashlight, transistor radio, safety razor, and the metronome. We also go behind the scenes at Herbst-Lazar-Bell, a cutting-edge industrial design firm, and Gadget Universe, a fledgling retailer trying to topple the Sharper Image.
Episode 32: Bunkers.
From the earliest bunkers of WWI through the ultra-futuristic ones of tomorrow's wars, we trace the story of defensive fortifications. In the constant struggle to hold off ever more potent forms of attack, bunkers function in a variety of forms. Three mammoth block structures comprise a submarine bunker at Lorient, France, able to house 20 subs. We visit Churchill's Cabinet War Room and Hitler's Berlin bunker, as well as backyard Cold War bunkers and those that protect nuclear weapons themselves.
Episode 21: Saloons
From a computerized liquor-dispensing system in modern L.A., to a ladle and a tin cup in an 1850′s mining camp, MODERN MARVELS investigates the history and technology of the American saloon.
Episode 33: Cemeteries.
More than 2-million people die in the U.S. each year. That works out to about 5,500 burials a day, with roughly 80 percent taking the long goodbye in a casket, and the remaining 20 percent electing to be cremated or finding some alternative method of crossing eternity's threshold. We take a look at dealing with the dead throughout the centuries, and at today's $20-billion funeral industry. Any way you look at it, it's a healthy business, with new generations of customers year after year!