The BEST episodes of Modern Marvels

Every episode of Modern Marvels ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best episodes of Modern Marvels!

Celebrating ingenuity, invention and imagination brought to life on a grand scale, MODERN MARVELS tells the fascinating stories of the doers, dreamers and sometime-schemers who created everyday items, technological breakthroughs and man-made wonders.

Last Updated: 3/11/2024Network: HistoryStatus: Continuing
Share:
Hoover Dam
star
9.73
33 votes

#1 - Hoover Dam

Season 6 - Episode 25 - Aired 7/12/1999

By any measure, it was a daunting task to tame the Colorado River, the waterway that had carved out the Grand Canyon. To make things worse, the site chosen was in the middle of the desert, far removed from any towns or infrastructure. This episode ventures into the Southwestern Desert to tell the complete story of one of the seven engineering wonders of the world -- Hoover Dam. See incredible footage that documents every step of the monumental work of taming the Colorado to provide water and power to California, Nevada and Arizona. From the blueprints to reality, this is the story of the ingenuity and manpower that literally moved a river and sculpted a mountain of concrete. That it was completed in only seven years is all the more remarkable.

Watch Now:Amazon
Oil
star
9.00
5 votes

#2 - Oil

Season 3 - Episode 7 - Aired 11/9/1995

From the first well in Pennsylvania to the gushing Spindletop and modern supertankers, the story of oil is the story of civilization as we know it. We'll take a look at the ingenious and outrageous men who risked everything for "black gold" and unimaginable wealth.

Watch Now:Amazon
The Phonograph
star
9.00
3 votes

#3 - The Phonograph

Season 5 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/1/1997

Thomas Edison registered over 1,000 patents, but his favorite invention was one of his first. Rare photographs and early recordings show how the young inventor and his team outfoxed Alexander Graham Bell.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Carbon
star
9.00
4 votes

#4 - Carbon

Season 15 - Episode 2 - Aired 1/14/2008

Carbon is the chemical basis of all known life and yet this simple element is also the foundation of modern technology. Carbon burns hotter, cuts deeper, insulates more thoroughly and absorbs more fully than any other material. See why carbon is the key both in heavy-duty industries, as well as in tools like the graphite pencil, the charcoal water filter, and the diamond saw blade.

Watch Now:Amazon
Tower Bridge
star
8.80
5 votes

#5 - Tower Bridge

Season 7 - Episode 13 - Aired 5/25/2000

A look at London's Tower Bridge, a fine example of Victorian engineering and architecture that has attracted tourists since its inauguration on June 30, 1894, by Edward, the Prince of Wales.

Watch Now:Amazon
Oakland Bay Bridge
star
8.80
5 votes

#6 - Oakland Bay Bridge

Season 6 - Episode 27 - Aired 7/20/1999

The great bridge of San Francisco, not the Golden Gate, this one: The San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Over 500 feet above the water, more than 8 miles long. One of the Seven Engineering Wonders of the modern world.

Watch Now:Amazon
New York Subways
star
8.75
4 votes

#7 - New York Subways

Season 3 - Episode 8 - Aired 1/6/1999

New York subway system's riders, workers and street performers make it a microcosm of city life.

Directors: Carl Schultz
Watch Now:Amazon
Glass
star
8.67
3 votes

#8 - Glass

Season 8 - Episode 39 - Aired 12/1/2001

Glass may be our most versatile material. It sheathes skyscrapers, contains liquids, aids vision, allows communication at unimaginable speeds, and yet remains a medium for artistic expression. We see how, when man learned that heating certain rocks and minerals together could produce glass, this remarkably transparent yet strong material began working its way into our culture and everyday life. As we look to its future, we learn that the only limit to what glass may do is our ability to imagine it!

Watch Now:Amazon
Radar
star
8.67
9 votes

#9 - Radar

Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired 9/21/1997

Examine the history of this landmark technology, from its role in the Allied victory in World War II, to its widespread use in air traffic control, ocean surveillance, astronomy, geology and meteorology.

Watch Now:AmazonApple TV
Rocks
star
8.67
3 votes

#10 - Rocks

Season 14 - Episode 41 - Aired 12/3/2007

From the Stone Age, to the Space Age, we've built our world from rocks. With moon rocks located at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Watch Now:Amazon
World's Strongest (3)
star
8.60
5 votes

#11 - World's Strongest (3)

Season 15 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/6/2008

Witness some mind-blowing feats of strength starting with the world's most powerful elevators. Discover the world's strongest tire, the strongest mountain bike, the world's strongest land transport vehicle that carries the Space Shuttle & strongest home blender.

Watch Now:Amazon
Diamond Mines
star
8.50
4 votes

#12 - Diamond Mines

Season 8 - Episode 29 - Aired 9/19/2001

Half a mile below the earth's surface, men mine for rough diamonds--a pure carbon substance. Brilliant when cut and polished, they are marketed as the most precious gem in the world. From the earliest mines of the 4th century BC to today's technological wonders in South Africa, we explore the history and technology of the diamond mine.

Watch Now:Amazon
Winter Tech
star
8.50
4 votes

#13 - Winter Tech

Season 16 - Episode 5 - Aired 2/11/2010

From building cutting-edge competition venues to the latest sports science training, winter sports use more technology than ever. This episode takes you behind the scenes of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter games. Olympic organizers race against the clock to build venues, expand transportation and security, and add futuristic touches to the ultimate Olympic icon--the Olympic torch. Meanwhile, US Olympic hopefuls use high-tech training tools to gain a competitive edge. Take in breathtaking views from the world's highest unsupported gondola and rocket down a bobsled track at 80 miles per hour, as we show you winter sports like you've never seen them before.

Watch Now:Amazon
Steam
star
8.50
4 votes

#14 - Steam

Season 16 - Episode 16 - Aired 5/27/2010

It's full steam ahead when we drop in at Jay Leno's garage as Jay fires up two of his classic steam cars and takes viewers for a couple of rides. Jay also shows off his 11-ton steam engine built in 1860, back when pigs had to be slaughtered to keep it lubricated. In northern Nevada, fire up a coal burning boiler and get a 100-year-old steam locomotive chugging across the rugged landscape. In New Orleans, board an authentic paddlewheel steamboat. Trek to the Southern California desert where geothermal steam rushes up from the ground and drives electricity producing turbines, powering over 300,000 homes. In New York City, find out why manmade steam surges into some of the world's most famous skyscrapers. Steam clean some very dirty machines, and do a little laundry, too. And ride a steam-driven carousel and play with some strange, steam-powered robots that are part of a movement called--what else--"steampunk."

Watch Now:Amazon
Quarries
star
8.33
6 votes

#15 - Quarries

Season 8 - Episode 28 - Aired 9/18/2001

Without rock, modern society wouldn't exist.

Watch Now:Amazon
Eiffel Tower
star
8.33
6 votes

#16 - Eiffel Tower

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/22/1995

This episode of Modern Marvels provides an historical tour of Paris's Eiffel Tower. Completed in 1889, the Eiffel Tower remains a symbolic icon of France's history and the industrial age. Modern Marvels takes you on a tour of this world famous monument from its inception to the present day.

Watch Now:Amazon
Tennessee Valley Authority
star
8.33
6 votes

#17 - Tennessee Valley Authority

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/2/1996

During the depths of the Great Depression, it was FDR's greatest triumph: A massive public works project that took a 40,000 square mile, disaster-prone river basin, and turned it into a model of industrial progress.

Watch Now:Amazon
Power Plants
star
8.33
3 votes

#18 - Power Plants

Season 7 - Episode 38 - Aired 12/5/2000

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 Tesla to Enrico Fermi and Albert Einstein, the world's greatest minds have enabled us to acquire our light, heat, and power with a simple flip of the switch. Join us for an electrifying hour as we review the foundation for all of this--power plants.

Writer: Sean Dash
Watch Now:Amazon
U.S. Mints: Money Machines
star
8.33
3 votes

#19 - U.S. Mints: Money Machines

Season 6 - Episode 21 - Aired 4/26/1999

They are the physical engines of America's money machine, secretive agencies that design and manufacture the greenbacks that keep the nation's and the world's economy moving. This episode ventures inside these vital fortresses for a privileged glimpse of the work of making money. From engraving to circulation, watch as fortunes are created in instants, and see how new bills are put into circulation. Hear from Philip N. Diehl, Director of the United States Mint, and Robert Chandler, a historian for Wells Fargo, as they trace the fascinating history of the government's money business. And discover what the future may hold for American currency.

Writer: Tom Jennings
Watch Now:Amazon
Battlefield Medicine
star
8.33
3 votes

#20 - Battlefield Medicine

Season 6 - Episode 20 - Aired 3/30/1999

"He who would become a surgeon should join the army and follow it," Hippocrates counseled nearly 2,500 years ago. In this history of medicine under fire, we see how a small army of medics, nurses, surgeons, stretcher-bearers, and ambulance drivers, races to keep pace with the deadly advances of war.

Watch Now:Amazon
World Trade Center
star
8.33
6 votes

#21 - World Trade Center

Season 8 - Episode 20 - Aired 6/25/2001

For a time, its towers were the tallest buildings on Earth. The World Trade Center, an engineering marvel, came to symbolize American prosperity and strength. Recalling a more innocent era, this new production from The History Channel – filmed just months before the towers’ tragic demise – charts the history of their construction, revealing the controversies, decisions, and innovations that surrounded the project. Includes interviews with the engineers, architects, politicians, and contractors who dreamed, designed, and built the complex.

Watch Now:Amazon
Nuclear Subs
star
8.29
7 votes

#22 - Nuclear Subs

Season 8 - Episode 25 - Aired 8/28/2001

The most priceless jewels in the arsenals of a handful of countries, some nuclear submarines carry more firepower than all the bombs dropped in history. Since the 1950s, these lethal steel sharks have been a cornerstone of American defense policy. The Cold War launched an underwater race for supremacy with the Soviet Union. The result: engineering miracles, which roam 70% of the earth's surface, providing deterrence to enemies, intelligence about adversaries, and an abiding sense of dread.

Writer: Adrian Maher
Watch Now:Amazon
Body Shop (2)
star
8.25
4 votes

#23 - Body Shop (2)

Season 7 - Episode 29 - Aired 10/16/2000

Watch Now:Amazon
George Washington Carver Tech
star
8.25
4 votes

#24 - George Washington Carver Tech

Season 12 - Episode 8 - Aired 2/15/2005

One of the 20th century's greatest scientists, George Washington Carver's influence is still felt. Rising from slavery to become one of the world's most respected and honored men, he devoted his life to understanding nature and the many uses for the simplest of plant life. His scientific research in the late 1800s produced agricultural innovations like crop rotation and composting. Part of the "chemurgist" movement that changed the rural economy, he found ingenious applications for the peanut, soybean, and sweet potato. At Tuskegee Institute, Dr. Carver invented more than 300 uses for the peanut, while convincing poor farmers to rotate cotton crops with things that would add nutrients to the soil. A visionary, Carver shared his knowledge free of charge, happy in his Tuskegee laboratory where he could use his gifts to help others.

Watch Now:Amazon
The World's Biggest Machines (1)
star
8.25
4 votes

#25 - The World's Biggest Machines (1)

Season 9 - Episode 18 - Aired 5/14/2002

Join us for a look at the biggest, heaviest, tallest, longest, meanest machines on the planet! We'll see what these monsters do and how they operate, and how they're designed and assembled. Machines investigated include the largest draglines, excavators used in mining; the biggest dump truck; port cranes; a front-end loader with an 80-ton bucket and the largest tires of any vehicle; the cruise ship, the Voyager of the Seas; a 240-foot tall wind generator; and a fusion reaction machine the size of a football field.

Watch Now:Amazon