Man's Right to Knowledge

Last updated

Man's Right to Knowledge was a radio program that ran from January 3, 1954 to December 26, 1954 on CBS. Created by Columbia University on the occasion of its bicentennial, the show consisted of two weekly lecture series, each episode featuring a different prominent academic or world leader. The university's president, Grayson L. Kirk, hosted the series. The content of each lecture centered around the university's bicentennial theme, "Man's Right to Knowledge and the Free Use Thereof". The first series, titled Man's Right to Knowledge: Tradition and Change, ran for thirteen weeks beginning on January 3. [1] The second, titled Man's Right to Knowledge: Present Knowledge and Future Directions, ran for another thirteen weeks beginning on October 3. [2] The final lecture, delivered by J. Robert Oppenheimer in his first public appearance since the end of his security hearings earlier that year, marked the official end of the Bicentennial. [3]

Contents

The show was wildly successful—within three months of the show's debut, the university had already received 10,000 requests for reprints of the talks; its episodes were eventually transcribed and published in two volumes. [4] By September 1954, the book version of the first series had sold over 22,000 copies. [2] The series was translated and rebroadcast across the world, and won a 1954 Peabody Award for its "unprecedented impact", and the way it "stimulated a crusade for free inquiry and free expression—and helped to give to millions of individuals a deeper understanding of their rights to knowledge." [5]

Episodes

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Photograph of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan presented to First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy in 1962.jpg
Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
Wolfgang Pauli Pauli.jpg
Wolfgang Pauli
J. Robert Oppenheimer Robert Oppenheimer 1964 Com M13-0401-0001-0002 (cropped).tif
J. Robert Oppenheimer

Man's Right to Knowledge: Tradition and Change

#LecturerSubtopicTitleOriginal air date
1 Arnold J. Toynbee [2] "The Idea of Man""The Ancient Mediterranean View of Man"January 3, 1954
2 Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan [2] "The Ancient Asian View of Man"January 10, 1954
3 William F. Albright [2] "The Judeo-Christian View of Man"January 17, 1954
4 Joseph Wood Krutch [2] "The Modern View of Man"January 24, 1954
5 William Linn Westermann [2] "The Idea of Society""Authority and Freedom in the Ancient Mediterranean World"January 31, 1954
6 Hu Shih [2] "Authority and Freedom in the Ancient Asian World"February 7, 1954
7 Martin D'Arcy [2] "Authority and Freedom in Medieval Europe"February 14, 1954
8 Robert Morrison MacIver [2] "Authority and Freedom in the Modern World"February 21, 1954
9 George Sarton [2] "The Idea of the Universe""The Old World and the New Humanism"February 28, 1954
10 Swami Nikhilananda [2] "The Universe as Pure Being"March 7, 1954
11 François Louis Ganshof [2] "Knowledge and Faith in Medieval Europe"March 14, 1954
12 Homi J. Bhabha [2] "Inquiry and Reason Today"March 21, 1954
13 Grayson L. Kirk [2] "The Idea of the University""The Idea of the University"March 28, 1954

Man's Right to Knowledge: Present Knowledge and Future Directions

#LecturerSubtopicTitleOriginal air date
1 Howard P. Robertson [6] "The Nature of Things""The Nature of the Universe"October 3, 1954
2 Wolfgang Pauli [6] "The Nature of Matter"October 10, 1954
3 Hermann Joseph Muller [6] "The Nature of Life"October 17, 1954
4 Henry Murray [6] "Versions of Man"October 24, 1954
5 John Lord O'Brian [6] "Human Organization""Law and Freedom"October 31, 1954
6 Jean Monnet [6] "Use of Resources"November 7, 1954
Eli Ginzberg [6] [7] "Human Potential"
7 Brock Chisholm [6] "Physical Well-Being"November 14, 1954
8 Hans Speier [6] "War and Peace"November 21, 1954
9 Paul Tillich [6] "The Human Spirit""Religion as an Aspect of the Human Spirit"November 28, 1954
10 William George Constable [6] "Visual Arts as an Aspect of the Human Spirit"December 5, 1954
11 Herbert Read [6] "Literature as an Aspect of the Human Spirit"December 12, 1954
12 Aaron Copland [6] "Music as an Aspect of the Human Spirit"December 19, 1954
13 J. Robert Oppenheimer [6] "Prospects in the Arts and Sciences""Prospects in the Arts and Sciences"December 26, 1954

See also

Related Research Articles

Frontline is an investigative documentary program distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. The series has covered a variety of domestic and international issues, including terrorism, elections, environmental disasters, and other sociopolitical issues. Since its debut in 1983, Frontline has aired in the U.S. for 39 seasons, and has won critical acclaim and awards in broadcast journalism. It has produced over 750 documentaries from both in-house and independent filmmakers, 200 of which are available online.

<i>This American Life</i> Short stories radio program and podcast

This American Life (TAL) is an American weekly hour-long radio program produced in collaboration with Chicago Public Media and hosted by Ira Glass. It is broadcast on numerous public radio stations in the United States and internationally, and is also available as a free weekly podcast. Primarily a journalistic non-fiction program, it has also featured essays, memoirs, field recordings, short fiction, and found footage. The first episode aired on November 17, 1995, under the show's original title, Your Radio Playhouse. The series was distributed by Public Radio International until June 2014, when the program became self-distributed with Public Radio Exchange delivering new episodes to public radio stations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WNYC</span> AM and FM radio stations in New York City

WNYC is the trademark and a set of call letters shared by WNYC (AM) and WNYC-FM, a pair of nonprofit, noncommercial, public radio stations located in New York City. WNYC is owned by New York Public Radio (NYPR), a nonprofit organization that did business as "WNYC RADIO" until March 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Hitt</span> American author

Jack Hitt is an American author. He has been a contributing editor to Harper's, The New York Times Magazine, This American Life, and the now-defunct magazine Lingua Franca. His work has appeared in such publications as Outside Magazine, Rolling Stone, Wired, Mother Jones, Slate, and Garden & Gun.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Kuralt</span> American journalist (1934–1997)

Charles Bishop Kuralt was an American television, newspaper and radio journalist and author. He is most widely known for his long career with CBS, first for his "On the Road" segments on The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite, and later as the first anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning, a position he held for fifteen years. In 1996, Kuralt was inducted into Television Hall of Fame of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Samuel Holmes Sheppard, D.O. was an American neurosurgeon. He was exonerated in 1966, having been convicted of the 1954 murder of his pregnant wife, Marilyn Reese Sheppard. The case was controversial from the beginning, with extensive and prolonged nationwide media coverage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eric Sevareid</span> American journalist (1912–1992)

Arnold Eric Sevareid was an American author and CBS news journalist from 1939 to 1977. He was one of a group of elite war correspondents who were hired by CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and nicknamed "Murrow's Boys." Sevareid was the first to report the Fall of Paris in 1940, when the city was captured by German forces during World War II.

<i>Lets Pretend</i> US radio series

Let's Pretend, created and directed by Nila Mack, was a CBS radio series for children. Prior to being renamed Let's Pretend, the program had a variety of titles and formats. In its most famous form, Let's Pretend, the Peabody Award-winning series ran from 1934 to 1954.

<i>Lassie</i> (1954 TV series) 1954 TV series

Lassie is an American television series that follows the adventures of a female Rough Collie dog named Lassie and her companions, both human and animal. The show was the creation of producer Robert Maxwell and animal trainer Rudd Weatherwax and was televised from September 12, 1954, to March 25, 1973. The seventh longest-running U.S. primetime television series after The Simpsons, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Gunsmoke, Law & Order, Family Guy and NCIS, the show ran for 17 seasons on CBS before entering first-run syndication for its final two seasons. Initially filmed in black and white, the show transitioned to color in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Grauer</span>

Benjamin Franklin Grauer was an American radio and television personality, following a career during the 1920s as a child actor in films and on Broadway. He began his career as a child in David Warfield's production of The Return of Peter Grimm. Among his early credits were roles in films directed by D.W. Griffith.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Richard Engel</span> American journalist and author

Richard Engel is an American journalist and author who is the chief foreign correspondent for NBC News. He was assigned to that position on April 18, 2008 after serving as the network's Middle East correspondent and Beirut bureau chief. Before joining NBC in May 2003, Engel reported on the start of the 2003 war in Iraq for ABC News as a freelance journalist in Baghdad.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred Coe</span> American film director

Frederick Hayden Hughs Coe was an American television producer and director most famous for The Goodyear Television Playhouse/The Philco Television Playhouse in 1948-1955 and Playhouse 90 from 1957 to 1959. Among the live TV dramas he produced were Marty and The Trip to Bountiful for Goodyear/Philco, Peter Pan for Producers' Showcase, and Days of Wine and Roses for Playhouse 90.

The year 1954 saw a number of significant happenings in radio broadcasting history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William Spier</span> American film director (1906–1973)

William Hannan Spier was an American writer, producer, and director for television and radio. He is best known for his radio work, notably Suspense and The Adventures of Sam Spade.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William N. Robson</span> American radio director

William N. Robson was a director and producer of radio programs.

WNYC Studios is a producer and distributor of podcasts and on-demand and broadcast audio. WNYC Studios is a subsidiary of New York Public Radio and is headquartered in New York City.

Allan Everett Sloane was an American writer for radio and television. His career was significantly affected by the Hollywood blacklist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James F. Burke (musician)</span> American musician (1923-1981)

James Francis Burke was an American cornet soloist. He was the principal cornet soloist with the Goldman Band from 1943 to 1974. He was also the principal trumpet with The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra from 1943 to 1949. Mr. Burke, who had the use of only one arm, was considered the greatest virtuoso of his time on the instrument, according to Ainslee Cox, conductor of the Guggenheim Memorial Band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Columbia University Bicentennial</span> Series of celebrations for the anniversary of the founding of Columbia University

The Columbia University Bicentennial was a series of celebrations in 1954 commemorating the 200th anniversary of the founding of Columbia University. Its scale was global, with participation from over 750 domestic and 350 foreign universities, libraries, and museums. In New York City, bicentennial events centered around three convocations in January, June, and October, interspersed with conferences, concerts, and other ceremonies. In order to spread the theme of the Bicentennial, "Man's Right to Knowledge and the Free Use Thereof", across the United States, the university created several network television and radio shows, including the Peabody Award-winning series Man's Right to Knowledge. The celebrations received heavy media coverage, both in the United States and abroad.

The Columbia Lectures in International Studies, also known as the Columbia Seminars in International Studies or as just the Columbia Seminars, was an educational television series of the early 1960s. It consisted of a series of half-hour broadcasts delivered by the faculty of Columbia University and prepared in cooperation with the university's School of International Affairs and Regional Institutes, with professors from other parts of the university also sometimes taking part. The series was produced by a commercial station, WNEW-TV Channel 5 in New York, and aired in early morning time slots on that station and others owned by Metromedia.

References

  1. "Dr. Kirk to Preside at Radio Lectures". The New York Times. December 20, 1953. Archived from the original on July 18, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 "C.B.S. Will Resume Series of Lectures". The New York Times. September 18, 1954. Archived from the original on July 18, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  3. "1954: Nuclear Scientist Speaks". The New York Times. December 27, 2004. Retrieved July 18, 2022.
  4. "'Knowledge' Theme Wins Columbia U. Air Time Bonanza". Billboard . March 27, 1954. Archived from the original on July 17, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  5. "Man's Right to Knowledge". The Peabody Awards. Archived from the original on July 10, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Grams, Martin (2008). Radio Drama: A Comprehensive Chronicle of American Network Programs, 1932–1962. McFarland Publishing. p. 319. ISBN   978-0-7864-3871-6.
  7. Man's Right to Knowledge: Second Series: Present Knowledge and New Directions; an International Symposium Presented in Honor of the Two-hundredth Anniversary of Columbia University 1754–1954. Columbia University Press. 1954.