And NOVA brings together the most promising research with compelling human stories of the patients and doctors who are devoting themselves to unraveling one of the most complicated mysteries in scientific history. Because Accidents Happen A four part series on survival engineering. In Escape, NOVA goes behind the sensation to explore what good can come out of these senseless tragedies. In this series of four programs, NOVA discovers how engineers draw on the experience of accidents and disasters to redesign or invent new safety features so that when history repeats itself, it does so with less tragic consequences. When the Great Fire of London was raging in 1666, there were no water pumps, no hoses, no hydrants, a limited supply of available water, and, worst of all, no trained firefighters to battle this ferocious enemy.
Fire follows two thousand years of human effort to be safe from fire.
Some of the most ingenious fire fighting inventions have come at a terrible price. Others, like the remarkable story behind the creation of the automatic sprinkler, were born of genius and the unassailable knowledge that the best way to survive a fire is to prevent it. While today's cars are safer than they've ever been, automobile safety has come slowly and at the expense of millions of lives. There are many heroic tales of aviators and aero-engineers who risked their own lives to save others. When a ship founders in mid-ocean, time is the enemy.