File 6 - "Letters re series: Selected letters, The Ascent of Man"

1 file

Comprises letters and copies of letters (with replies from Bronowski) mainly on: appreciation of 'The Ascent of Man' films and book; sympathy on Bronowski's illness (1973) and regrets that Bronowski could not attend the Copernicus symposium in Washington D C as planned; seeing 'The Ascent of Man' films at the Copernicus symposium, the University of California at San Diego and a meeting of the Association for the Advancement of Science [in San Francisco]; related articles in 'The Listener'; congratulations on the preview at the Royal Society; and thanks for sending copies of 'The Ascent of Man' book.

Correspondents are Feliks Topolski, John Archibald Wheeler (department of physics, Princeton University), Diana and Wilton Dillon (the Smithsonian), Gerald Holton (department of physics, Harvard University), Philip Handler (President, National Academy of Sciences, Washington D C), Niko Tinbergen, Jerome B Wiesner (President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Michael Swann (Chairman, BBC), Reg ? (BBC), Anthony Lewis (The New York Times), Max Nicholson (Director-General of The Nature Conservancy, London), Kathleen Raine (Andrew Mellon Foundation), Walter A Rosenblith (Provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Lord Taylor (Vice Chancellor, Memorial University of Newfoundland), Claude E Hamilton (Barrister and Solicitor, Vancouver), Vincent Tovell (Executive Producer, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), Harold Keeble (Editor, The Daily Mail), Braxton M Alfred (department of anthropology and sociology, The University of British Columbia), Eric and Freda Roll, Charles Curran (Director-General of the BBC), Professor H I Winner (Medical Microbiology, University of London), Ronald Mansbridge (worked for Cambridge University Press), Hugh Alexander [Conel Hugh O'Donel Alexander, chess player], Gertrud Weiss Szilard, René Dubos (The Rockefeller University), Robert B Livingston (Professor of Neurosciences, University of California at San Diego), Anthony Hopkins, Michael Gill (producer of Kenneth Clark's 'Civilisation'), Francis Crick, Sam Wanamaker and Ashley Montagu.

Additional correspondents on specific subjects are: Kendrick Frazier (Editor, 'Science News') sending Bronowski copies of 'Science News' (5 May 1973, not included) which mentioned 'The Ascent of Man' films; David Taplin (Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada) on using 'The Hidden Structure' (programme 4) as the beginning and end for an undergraduate course on 'The Structure and Properties of Materials'; Adrian Malone (Deputy Head of Science, BBC) on being worried about Bronowski's health; Gustav Born (department of pharmacology, University of Cambridge) on Bronowski discussing his father, Max Born, in 'The Ascent of Man' television series and on dates of photographs used in the book; Dr David Muller (Consultant Psychiatrist, Addenbrooke's Hospital) on when the behavioural sciences should be introduced to medical students; Elaine Morgan (author of 'The Descent of Women') on being quoted in a letter to 'The Listener' about 'The Ascent of Man' and on not thinking that 'The Ascent of Man' was sexist; Miriam Stoppard on her and her husband (Tom Stoppard) meeting Bronowski outside a theatre and asking Bronowski to sign a copy of 'The Ascent of Man' book; George Steedman (BBC) on attending the preview at the Royal Society and giving Bronowski a full account of the event; Anthony Jay suggesting that 'The Ascent of Man' programmes should be used as the basis for a school course; Robert Reid on criticisms of the visuals and audio in the programmes; Frances Burton (Associate Professor of Anthropology, University of Toronto) sending Bronowski a paper on primates and Bronowski sending her his paper on 'Current trends in Linguistics'; Christopher Longuet-Higgins on an idea about how Pythagoras discovered his theorem; Thomas M Cover (Professor of Statistics and Electrical Engineering, Stanford University) on Bronowski's article on 'The Principle of Tolerance' and sending a paper of his (not included).

Also includes copies of letters from Bronowski to: Mr A C Withall on filming the closing episode at Auschwitz concentration camp; Dr Clara Johns on her comments on the apparent neglect of women in 'The Ascent of Man'; and Dr Abraham Kalish on the principle of tolerance and philosophy of truth.

Where there was more than 1 photocopy of a letter the duplicates have been removed.

2 original files have been combined as one was a near copy of the other, and letters and the reply were often split across the 2 files.

Letters from Michael Gill, Gertrud Weiss Szilard, René Dubos, Sam Wanamaker and Ashley Montagu are copies of those in Bronowski 6/10/4.