This is the concentration camp and crematorium at Auschwitz. This is where people were turned into numbers. Into this pond were flushed the ashes of some four million people. And that was not done by gas. It was done by arrogance. It was done by dogma. It was done by ignorance. When people believe that they have absolute knowledge, with no test in reality, this is how they behave.

During the Second World War Bronowski worked in operations research for the UK's Department of Home Security where he developed mathematical approaches to bombing strategy for RAF Bomber Command. He died in 1974 of a heart attack in East Hampton New York a year after The Ascent of Man was completed and was buried in the western side of London's Highgate Cemetery near the entrance. New York: Julian Messner Inc.

He is best remembered as the presenter and writer of the 1973 BBC television documentary series The Ascent of Man and the accompanying book.