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- For other uses, see Nova (disambiguation).
NOVA is a popular science television series from the USA 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. NOVA is the most-watched science television series in the world. It is also one of television's most acclaimed series, having won every major television award, most of them many times over. In 1998, the National Science Board of the National Science Foundation awarded NOVA its first-ever Public Service Award. Narrators include Neil Ross.
Whenever possible, NOVA 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, and Vinland. The NOVA programs are praised for their good pacing, clear writing, and crisp editing, with a website accompanying each segment. Even NOVA's websites win awards.
NOVA was created in 1974 by Michael Ambrosino in imitation of the BBC television series Horizon, and in the early years many NOVA episodes were simply Horizon episodes licensed to Nova with the narration done in American English rather than British English. That practice continues to this day , though to a lesser extent, and some segments now also go in the other direction. Ambrosino was succeeded as executive producer by John Angier, John Mansfield, and Paula S. Apsell (the incumbent).
NOVA is always capitalized despite not being an acronym or initialism. It comes from the term supernova.
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 recountthe 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.
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)
Three episodes were nominated for 2004 Emmys:
- "Mars Dead or Alive"
- "The Crash of Flight 111"
- "The Most Dangerous Woman in America"
Underwriters
NOVA has had many underwriters over its 30+ year history, starting with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the viewers/stations of PBS. Other underwriters included The National Science Foundation, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Exxon (prior to its merger with Mobil), TRW, Johnson & Johnson, AlliedSignal (with Allied Corporation as its precursor; it was bought out by Honeywell in 1999), Prime Computer (before being renamed Computervision in 1999), Lockheed Corporation (before merging with Martin Marietta to become Lockheed Martin in 1995), Merck & Co., Prudential, Northwestern Mutual, CNET, Sprint Corporation, Microsoft, Google, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
See also
External links
References
Documentary television series | PBS network shows | 1970s TV shows in the United States | 1980s TV shows in the United States | 1990s TV shows in the United States | 2000s TV shows in the United States | Popular science
"NOVA (TV series)"