One of von Däniken’s major pieces of evidence for his theory, originally presented in his bestselling book Chariots Of The Gods, was the a remarkable clockwork device that was dredged up just off the Greek island of Antikythera in 1900. Created some 2000 years ago, this anomalous, ancient machine – whose intricate mesh of cogs predated the earliest clocks by centuries – was von Däniken’s proof that aliens were abroad in the ancient world. After all, how could mankind create such a remarkable specimen without the aid of extra terrestrials? The Story Of Science lacks the smouldering man candy that formed the centre of the BBC’s recent Wonders Of The Solar System, and it’s unfortunate for Michael Mosley that his show follows so closely on the heels of such an excellent series. But it holds up well nevertheless, with compelling writing and the kind of continent-spanning reportage that marks out the channel’s more expensive edutainment output. Cramming approximately 2,000 years’ worth of astronomical history into an hour while preventing the whole enterprise from falling utterly flat couldn’t have been a simple task, but Mosley cleverly keeps the human element at the forefront of his story, weaving an entertaining yarn of Bohemian cosmologists with metal noses, psychic dwarves, Polish clerics with crazy cosmological theories, and quixotic, observatory-building men in jodhpurs. For the first time, Galileo could observe in detail the phases of the moon and, in the process, produced some of the most exquisitely detailed maps of the lunar surface of the age. Unfortunately for Galileo, he became the target of a resurgent Catholic church. His second book, the Dialogo, which argued that the Sun was at the centre of our solar system, so enraged the Pope that Galileo was dragged to Rome, subjected to the dreaded Inquisition, and sentenced to life in prison. From the ancient Greek myths of the Solar System, via the revolutionary theories of Isaac Newton, to the work of Edwin Hubble, Mosley presents the lineage of astronomy which, while lacking the epic sweep of Wonders, weaves an enthralling spell of its own. The story of astronomy is one of slowly evolving ideas rather than overnight revolutions, and, as Mosley explains, our understanding of the universe isn’t thanks to one specific historical figure, and certainly isn’t due to the intervention of aliens from a distant galaxy. The Story Of Science airs on BBC2 Tuesdays at 9pm and BBC HD at 10:30pm.
