Johns Hopkins history professor Charles A. Barker describes the characteristics and beliefs of Henry David Thoreau, one of the Transcendentalists in Concord, MA. The narrator enumerates Thoreau's life events, including his isolation at Walden Pond and Emerson's influence on him. Dr. Carl Bode, English professor at the University of Maryland, analyzes Thoreau's 26-month Walden venture and suggests that Thoreau was experiencing the cycle of withdrawal and return as described by Arnold Toynbee. Dr. Barker discusses Thoreau's animosity towards his peers and his polemic essays, such as the 1849 "Essay on Civil Disobedience" and the 1859 "A Plea for Captain John Brown," his last outburst of creative energy. Individualistic and dogmatic to the end, Thoreau died of tuberculosis in 1862. Actor Ed Golden portrays Thoreau and recites lines written by him to underscore the scholars' comments.

Dr. Milton S. Eisenhower, president of the Johns Hopkins University, opens the show by explaining the 1701 replica model of the universe, the symbol of this oldest TV series on air. Assisted by costumed reenactors, Sidney Painter, professor of history at Johns Hopkins, describes the history of the Middle Ages, the life of knights, and the development of the feudal system. William the Norman spread the feudal system to Anglo-Saxon England where King John disregarded feudal customs. Dr. Painter tells how the Articles of the Barons, based on feudal law, were drafted by Stephen Langdon, Archbishop of Canterbury, granted under duress by John at Runneymeade in 1215, and ultimately revised into the Magna Carta, guaranteeing liberty to freemen and the Church of England and limiting the king's powers.

The program opens with a film of the firing of a rocket and its subsequent high altitude photos charting the structure of a storm. Lynn Poole shows a model of an early twentieth century satellite and notes its increasing importance in meteorology. Dr. George Benton, Johns Hopkins University professor of meteorology, displays a chart of satellites' distance above the earth's atmosphere and another chart of the electromagnetic spectrum. Dr. Sigmund Fritz, a meteorologist with the U.S. Weather Bureau, lists the advantages of a satellite in weather forecasting, including its high vantage point, rapid mobility, and broad coverage over the globe. Dr. William Kellogg, a meteorologist with the Rand Corp., describes the typical orbits of satellites launched from Cape Canaveral, explaining why an elliptical orbit is generally preferable, but a circular one is best for a weather satellite. He also says that the higher the satellite's elevation, the longer it will take to circle the earth but the longer the satellite's lifespan as well. Dr. Fritz stresses the technological problems that need to be overcome before satellites can become more useful tools: stabilization, to make it constantly look down; transmission, interpretation, and distribution of collected data; and measurement of cloud reflectivity. The satellites' benefits to meteorology will include wide range cloud detection, measurement of the heat balances that drive the storms, and measurement of radiation balance over land and water by latitude. Visuals include a time lapse film of gathering thunderclouds from the ground and 22 miles up, a photo of cloud cover over the entire eastern seaboard from 86 miles up, and an artistic rendition of how the earth might look from 4,000 miles up, by Harry Wexler of the U.S. Weather Bureau.

This program opens with a brief scene from Shakespeare's "Othello" performed in twentieth century dress and setting. Dr. Lawrence Ross, associate professor of English at the Johns Hopkins University, argues that such modern trappings distort Shakespeare's work and Elizabethan times. He explains that the Shakespeare stage was an open air platform with emphasis on the actors and their speech and symbolized the order of the universe with man in the center. The same scene is then performed on the Folger Shakespeare Library's stage in Washington, DC in period costume. Dr. Ross says that Shakespeare's dramatic poetry spoken on the symbolic stage represented the essence of life and that the meanings of Elizabethan words often differed from current ones. Shakespeare's characters are hybrid: part real, part symbol, such as Shylock exacting a pound of flesh in the dramatized scene from "The Merchant of Venice." Dr. Ross analyzes a portrait of Queen Elizabeth as an introduction to the Elizabethan order of natural authority: the king ruled over the state, God over the universe, the sun over the planets, the husband over the family, and reason over man. Actors from Johns Hopkins Play Shop perform five passages from "Macbeth" as Dr. Ross explains the violation of the social, political, and natural worlds, evident in the words and their rhythms, when Macbeth and his wife contemplate and carry out the death of King Duncan.

Lynn Poole discusses the era of American showboats and their on-water performances, such as the melodrama "The Drunkard." The first act of this play is performed in the studio by Naomi Evans, Betty Shaffer, Joe Bandiera, Mel Shaffer, Robert Adams, Maurice Sole, Jane Pollard, Walter Koehler, and Sonny Harmon, and Mr. Poole summarizes the remainder of the plot. Film clips show river boats and a few specialty numbers or entre acts that took place between play scenes. Vaudeville often followed the play, like the program's barbershop quartet singing "Bird in a Gilded Cage." In 1817 Noah Ludlow and his acting troupe boarded a keelboat and performed in halls onshore. Chapman's 1831 Floating Theater was the first pre-Civil War showboat to ply the rivers and entertain culture-hungry audiences with lectures, plays, religious revivals, circuses, and museums. Between 1870-1920, other riverboats, such as Augustus B. French's "New Sensation," were popular floating theaters, their calliopes dignaling the coming of the showboat into town.

The program opens with photos showing the versatility and expression of glass. Host Leo Geier explains that Johns Hopkins University employs full-time glassblower John Lehman because research scientists require intricate, complex glass equipment that no one has ever seen. Mr. Lehman demonstrates "pulling points" as he creates a ring seal for a trap. When Mr. Lehman first started blowing glass, there were only soft, soda, and lime glass varieties; now there are 75 different types and additional refinements are in process. A film covers the discovery of glass, from obsidian, natural glass used to carve weapons, vessels, and decorations, to the first manmade glass in 5000 BC and the Egyptians' glass jewelry and containers. Mr. Lehman demonstrates how to make a manometer from capillary tubing glass as well as the procedure in blowing a flask and a coiled glass tube. To demonstrate non-scientific aspects of the art, Mr. Lehman blows a swan, makes glass Christmas "snow," and completes a glass bird.

Lynn Poole displays the incandescent point source of light from 1909, the 1938 fluorescent line source of light, and the new electro-luminescence flat panel of light. Carl Jensen, a lighting engineer and marketing manager, and Dr. John McNall, the director of research at Westinghouse Electric Corp., discuss how this light is generated by exciting phosphors in alternating electric fields and demonstrate the concept using a tilting board with traps and marbles. Electro-luminescence was first discovered in 1936 by Georges Destriau, shown in a film clip. The guests also make the analogy of keys on a piano to the full electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves to gamma waves. They explain that lumens are units of light and watts are units of power, and they compare the brightness of electro-luminescence to incandescent and fluorescent bulbs. The new product can become brighter by increasing the voltage or frequency or both, but it has limits. Dr. McNall shows the electrical conductors and other layers making up this artificial source of light and notes that it can be made into many shapes or designs and installed in ceilings, walls, stairs, furniture, and even drapery. However, square panels are the most common shape, as shown in the top of a coffee table and on the walls of a model room. Scientific use of electro-luminescence includes astronautical instrumentation, and electro-enhancement will lead to less x-ray exposure by intensification of fluoroscopy screens. Mr. Jensen predicts that in the future this product could be used for a thin, flat, wall-mounted television screen with controls available remotely for the viewer's convenience.

The Johns Hopkins University president Milton S. Eisenhower introduces this program about the Fund for Adult Education, an independent philanthropic organization sponsored by the Ford Foundation to extend liberal education to adults. He explains that as a society becomes more complex, its need for good leaders increases. Charles H. Percy, president of the Bell and Howell Co. and chairman of the board for the Fund, describes leadership in the United States and public responsibility of its citizens. He points out that particularly because we now have the power to destroy ourselves, the future of society depends on the effectiveness of key people in organizations' leadership roles. The president of the Fund, C. Scott Fletcher, says that leadership comes from a multiple, fluid society, offering a constant supply of fresh people with new ideas. A short film shows how uneducated leaders in a village are unable to meet the challenge of change and take a long-range view. Harry A. Bullis, director of the Fund, explains that leadership training is available to Armed Forces staff and at most private organizations, but top government employees only receive on the job training via trial and error, often at the public's expense. The Fund intends to prepare such individuals for public responsibilities. President of Vassar College and vice-chair of the Fund's board Sarah Gibson Blanding describes leadership in Thomas Jefferson's days and how it developed as society became more complex. While there are opportunities for many types of training, adult leadership training is lacking. She reiterates that continuing liberal adult education is necessary. Leaders must be educated to be dedicated, courageous, and imaginative. Mr. Percy concludes that the threat of Soviet Russia and its success with communism will exist for a long time, so we must educate our leaders as efficiently as they do theirs. He suggests non-commercial educational television as a possible education vehicle. In closing, Lynn Poole offers a free copy of the Fund's booklet "The Great Awakening" to the viewing audience.

Lynn Poole discusses the history of and variety of calendars, including Edmund Osborne's scenic calendars, Benjamin Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanac", the evolution of calendar girls from 1899 to present, the perpetual calendar, Stonehenge as a calendar, and a deck of cards representing a calendar. He also explains how primitive man reckoned time, the Babylonian astrologers' influence, and the origins of sennight and fortnight. Words for the days of the week in French, Italian, and Anglo-Saxon reflect their origins in the Romans' naming of days for the moon, Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Saturn, and the sun. Years can be considered as anomalistic, tropical, or sidereal. The tropical year is explained with a globe and photographer's lamp as the earth orbits around the sun from vernal equinox to vernal equinox every 365.2422 days, requiring a leap year day to catch up. Calendars based on the moon are soon out of sync with the seasons as they're based on the 29.5-day lunar month, which is why the dates of Passover and Easter fluctuate. Mr. Poole displays an American Indian lunar calendar drawn on buckskin for the period 1865-1892. Julius Caesar abandoned the lunar calendar and decreed that the year would run from vernal equinox to vernal equinox; however, by 1582 this Julian calendar was off by ten days, and Pope Gregory decreed the Gregorian calendar, still used today.

Lynn Poole uses film clips, sketches, and photos to discuss pre-Columbian discoveries of the new world. In the seventh century BC, the Phoenicians circumnavigated Africa and may have sailed to the Azores and Canary Islands. They were followed by the Celts, who journeyed to Iceland and Greenland according to accounts by St. Brendan, who set sail from Ireland between 565-573 and encountered a crystal column in the sea, either an iceberg or glacier. He also possibly sailed to the Azores and Canaries and possibly to Mexico since Cortez discovered, in 1519, that the Aztecs celebrated a blend of paganism and Christianity and spoke of Quetzalcoatl, a legendary white priest. The Vikings or Norse also migrated to Iceland in 874. Around 900 they discovered Vitramannaland, or "white man's land," possibly an Irish settlement in North America. In 930 Gunnbjorn discovered Greenland, and in 982 Erik the Red colonized it. Bjarni Herjulfsson, blown off course, explored part of the American coast unknowingly in 985. Leif Erikson also sailed along the shores of the American continent and established a colony named Vinland the Good, its exact location disputed. Other evidence of pre-Columbian Viking discovery includes maps and the existence of the stone Newport Tower in Rhode Island. Edmund Plowden referred to the tower in a 1632 petition, but this may have been elsewhere than Newport. Additional exploration included that of Giovanni da Verrazzano in 1524, the Venetian expedition in 1398 described in "The Zeno Narrative", and the Portuguese discovery of Newfoundland in 1450 and Labrador in 1492.