science

People's Century

People's Century is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand People's Century rather than just read about it. In short: People's Century is a television documentary series examining the 20th century. It was a joint production of the BBC in the United Kingdom and PBS member station WGBH Boston in the United States.

Key takeaways

People's Century belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect People's Century to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of People's Century from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

People's Century is a television documentary series examining the 20th century. It was a joint production of the BBC in the United Kingdom and PBS member station WGBH Boston in the United States. The series was first shown on BBC in the 1995, 1996 and 1997 television seasons before being broadcast in the US and elsewhere in the world in 1998.

Premise The 26 one-hour episodes examined the socio-economic, political, and cultural movements that shaped the 20th century. The series represented a departure from documentaries that present history through recounting the actions of great men; People's Century considers the century from the perspective of common people. Most of those interviewed were ordinary men and women who closely witnessed various events and who give personal accounts of the manner in which the developments and disruptions of the 20th century affected their lives. The British version was narrated by Sean Barrett and Veronika Hyks, the American version by actors John Forsythe and Alfre Woodard. People's Century was co-produced by the BBC and WGBH with executive producers Peter Pagnamenta and Zvi Dor-Ner, respectively, along with producer David Espar. The opening credits depict various images from the century, accompanied with a theme music score by Zbigniew Preisner. The documentary won an International Emmy Award, among others.

International versions People's Century was broadcast in several non-English-speaking countries, including Norway (with subtitles, as is normal on Norwegian television). In Germany, the series was dubbed, under its English title, on VOX as a weekly feature on a 4-to-6h slot called DCTP Nachtclub with several episodes in each slot, as part of the channel's Spiegel TV documentaries programme co-operation with Der Spiegel. A Swiss-produced VHS set was released of the German-dubbed version under the title Chronik des 20. Jahrhunderts. The German dub also ran on Austrian and Swiss television.

Interviewees List of People's Century interviewees

The series

Season 1 (1995)

Season 2 (1996)

Season 3 (1997)

VHS and DVD editions In 1997 and 1998, VHS box sets were produced in PAL and NTSC. By 2007, most original episodes remained unavailable on DVD, however in late 2006 DVD editions were released in the US of the two world-war episodes Killing Fields and Total War exclusively in NTSC, with a few cut-down post-war episodes (on a DVD called Young Blood, drawing from the previously released Baby Boomers Boxed Set on VHS that had contained 5 complete episodes), by WGBH Boston.

References

External links People's Century at WGBH-TV about People's Century (PBS-WGBH) People's Century at BBC Online People's Century at IMDb

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with People's Century

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what People's Century claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to People's Century before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about People's Century ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of People's Century

In research: People's Century appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses People's Century in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: People's Century is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1990s British documentary television series, 1995 British television series debuts, 1995 English-language television series debuts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for People's Century outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study People's Century in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what People's Century means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain People's Century out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is People's Century in simple terms?

People's Century is a television documentary series examining the 20th century. It was a joint production of the BBC in the United Kingdom and PBS member station WGBH Boston in the United States.

Why does People's Century matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study People's Century?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on People's Century.