The First Robot

The First Robot

Author: The HISTORY® Channel | Back Pocket Studios March 23, 2026 Duration: 32:40
HISTORY This Week
HistoryCultureEducationSocietySociety & Culture
March 29th, 1923. A new play opens in Berlin, and quietly changes the future. Onstage are workers who never tire, never complain, and never stop. They’re faster, stronger, and more efficient than humans in every way. They’re called robots. A sci-fi play born out of war and industrialization sparks a global obsession and a lasting fear. Because from the very beginning, the robot wasn’t just a technological breakthrough. It was a rebellion waiting to happen. How did a playwright invent the robot? Why did his idea spread so quickly? And what does it reveal about the way we think about the future of science? Special thanks to Dennis Jerz, Professor of English and Media at Seton Hill University; John Jordan, author of Robots; and Jitke Cejkova, editor of R.U.R. and the Vision of Artificial Life. Get in touch: historythisweek@history.com  Follow on Instagram: @historythisweekpodcast Follow on Facebook: ⁠HISTORY This Week Podcast⁠ To stay updated: http://historythisweekpodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week, something big happened. You might have never heard of it, but this moment changed the course of history. A HISTORY Channel original podcast, HISTORY This Week gives you insight into the people—both famous and unknown—whose decisions reshaped the world we live in today. Through interviews with experts and eyewitnesses, each episode will give you a new perspective on how history is written. Stay up-to-date at historythisweekpodcast.com and to get in touch, email us at historythisweek@history.com.HISTORY This Week is a production of Back Pocket Studios in partnership with the History Channel.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Official website RSS
HISTORY This Week
Podcast Episodes
A Scrooge for the Ages [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 26:53
December 27, 1853. On a freezing, snowy night in Birmingham, England, 2,000 people have lined up outside the town hall. They’ve braved the temperatures for a landmark performance, Charles Dickens’ first reading of A Chri…
Sam Adams Brews Rebellion in Boston Harbor [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 36:37
December 16, 1773. Samuel Adams sits in a crowded meeting of American colonists at Boston’s Old South Meeting House. He’s watching small groups of men slip quietly out the door. Once outside, the men don disguises and ma…
The Thalidomide Disaster and the Doctors Who Uncovered the Truth [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 25:57
December 18, 1970. Decades after the end of WWII, a Nazi doctor is on trial. Today is judgment day in a long, difficult legal battle, but this case isn’t about war crimes. The German pharmaceutical company Grunenthal is…
How a Forgotten Explorer’s Secret Mission Unlocked the Pacific [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 35:05
December 1, 1564. Spanish vessels left a secret port in Mexico about two weeks ago. Their goal: to sail across the Pacific and back, charting a new route for international trade, and giving Spain an edge against its chie…
A Meteorite Hits Ann Hodges [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 37:23
November 30, 1954. At about 12:45 in the afternoon, a space rock comes plummeting through the roof of a house in Sylacauga, Alabama. It bounces off a stand-up radio, ricochets around the living room, and collides with th…
The Grinnell 14 Take On the Bomb (feat. Peter Coyote) [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 27:56
November 16, 1961. Fourteen college students from Iowa have driven nearly a thousand miles to the White House. They’re fasting, protesting, and calling for an end to nuclear bomb testing. These students, later known as t…
The Haunting Case of H.H. Holmes [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 33:58
October 28, 1895. It’s the first day of a murder trial in Philadelphia, and H.H. Holmes has been left to represent himself. His lawyers say they haven’t had time to prepare for his case, although they may just want to av…

«1234567...10»