The History® Channel (Firm)

From the earliest known lighthouses, such as the Pharos of Alexandria, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, to modern-day automated buoys and solar-powered lantern rooms, this history of lighthouses is rich with personal stories of lighthouse keepers, daring construction efforts, and ingenious optical discoveries. Today, as lighthouses are usurped by more efficient aids to navigation, these elegant structures are being converted to bed-and-breakfast...

Join us as we span the history of one of the world's most famous bridges, London's Tower Bridge. The world's largest bascule bridge (a counterweighted drawbridge), when it was erected in 1892, it became a postcard image of London. The famed gothic towers of this pioneering steel structure, sheathed in stone, are purely decorative.

The incredible tale of how Gutzon Borglum created the world’s largest sculpture by carving the faces of four US presidents (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln) into the Black Hills of South Dakota. The four figures carved in stone pay tribute to the first 150 years of American history. The hour chronicles the “swiveled pointer” that Borglum put in each president’s “head”, and how workmen hung like...

The story of the construction of our grand national highway system, from its beginnings in 1912 (it was conceived by auto and headlight tycoons) to its completion in 1984 (when the last stoplight was removed--and buried).

Can Josh and Smokey champion the oldest cereal ever eaten' Then, they examine a Vietnam-era ration, but could the 40-year old meat inside possibly be preserved' And later, they try a 40-year-old hot sauce to determine whether it gets hotter with age.

Mankind controls the environment in a variety of ways, whether by capturing the force of a river, harnessing the power in coal or oil, controlling a nuclear reaction, or transforming the light of the sun into electricity. From Thomas Edison and Nikola Fermi and Albert Einstein, the world's greatest minds have enabled us to acquire light, heat and power with a simple flip of the switch. Join us for an electrifying hour as we review the foundation for...

A fun-filled glimpse into the not so distant history of video games. Since inception, the gaming industry has been a driving force in computer technology and video games are one of today's dominant entertainment mediums. We'll talk to creators of many of the most popular games in an hour packed with thrilling visuals from the virtual world of video games.

The ability to transmit sound in stereo transformed the music of life into a rich symphony of sound. For over 100 years, enthusiasts and scientists have worked to create the ideal listening experience. From Thomas Edison's early phonograph to today's digital revolution, we examine this multi-billion dollar business.

From amazing ancient Roman aqueducts and arch bridges, romantic Renaissance spans, 19th-century railroad crossovers, to monumental marvels of our time, bridges played a key role in the human quest to connect and unify. We'll trace the history of bridge types, including suspension, arch, beam, truss, and cantilever designs.

Houston, we have a potato. Old Smokey and Josh travel to the final frontier for some spacey spuds. Then they cook up some revolutionary rice, and visit an estate sale to find forgotten goodies.