Need help finding specific science documentary

November 3, 2012 9:57 PM

Looking for the name of a science/cosmos documentary from the early/mid-90s that compared medieval cathedrals to super colliders.

In 1995, at age 16 or so, I saw a documentary about space, the cosmos, subatomic particles, and super colliders and they compared our modern hunt for understanding with that of the old cathedrals: super massive structures. The vibe of the documentary seemed more like an ethereal and mystic pairing of science and religion, with generous use of low note synthesizer sounds.

There was a male host and at some point he was walking down a spiral staircase. There was heavy reference to CERN.

My searches over the years have turned up nothing. Any idea what the name of this could have been?

posted by l2p to science & nature (3 answers total)

I don't recall the specific sequence, but it wouldn't be Connections with James Burke? (Ep1)
posted by carsonb at 10:17 PM on November 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

The host was younger, and even though there are several episodes of Connections, I'm certain this is not it. I think it was a standalone documentary, not part of a series.
posted by l2p at 11:11 PM on November 3, 2012

The original metaphor is from Victor Weisskopf. This seems to be a favorite anecdote of Lawrence Krauss (the author of the above piece), but he doesn't seem to have appeared in many documentaries.
posted by Johnny Assay at 6:22 AM on November 4, 2012