The Inquiring Mind

This short film from 1960 highlights some of the modern navigational aids that have alleviated some of the problems in arctic navigation. With increased interest in northern resources, there's renewed interest in devising safe and efficient methods of exploration and transportation.

In this installment of the Eye Witness series from 1947, we visit Chalk River, Canada's atomic energy project, for an update. We see the production and handling of radioactive isotopes destined for medical and agricultural research. Then we visit South Africa for a report on the Canadian trade mission while surveying the industrialization that's taken place and affected the Commonwealth nation.

This documentary from 1960 forms a two-part study of nuclear power in Canada, guided by Larry Henderson, skilled observer, analyst, and commentator on public affairs. The first part shows civilian applications of nuclear power outside Canada, while the second part shows the history of atomic energy development in Canada, from the outset of WWII to the installations at Chalk River.

This short film explores the effects of atomic radiation on living things. It starts off with a discussion on the most familiar form of radiant energy (the sun) and goes on to include a demonstration of radiation. A discussion of the possible genetic alterations follows.

Film report from a Canadian scientific expedition that put a plastic bubble on the floor of the Arctic Ocean to serve as workshop and rest station for scientists working below the Arctic ice. What it took, in both planning and on-the-spot improvisation, to chop through the heavy ice, and to lower and anchor the huge dome in place in the dark and cold of Resolute Bay, is fully illustrated by film and commentary.

This documentary follows a convoy carrying a calandria, the 70-ton heart of a Canadian nuclear reactor, to Rajasthan, in India, in 1968. Even the biggest traditional juggernauts could not match this one, passing over roads specially strengthened and through city walls torn down to make way.

A vignette with Dr. Joe MacInnis and his diving team assembling a "Bubble" in the Arctic Ocean.

A vignette showing Dr. Joe MacInnis and his diving team placing a Canadian flag at the North Pole.

This feature-length documentary offers a glimpse at the unknown world that lies beneath the Arctic ice. Arctic IV follows Dr. Joseph MacInnis, a specialist in underwater medicine, as he probes and explores the polar depths. Filmed at Resolute Bay, Dr. MacInnis and his team must chip through over 2 metres of ice and dive into the frigid, watery depths at the North Pole - all in the name of science.

This short documentary offers a look at Canada’s Chalk River Project in the late 1940s. While humanity pondered the ultimate threat or promise of atomic energy, Chalk River scientists worked on the first set of experiments that attempted to apply atomic energy to medical and biological uses. Inside the Atom examines this frontier of science and assesses its value in terms of human progress.

The NFB’s 7th Academy-Award winning film. This short film is comprised of a lecture given to students by outspoken nuclear critic Dr. Helen Caldicott, president of Physicians for Social Responsibility in the USA. Her message is clear: disarmament cannot be postponed. Archival footage of the bombing of Hiroshima and images of its survivors seven months after the attack heighten the urgency of her message.