WQED Pittsburgh’s “The Valley That Changed the World” is a documentary about the birth of the oil industry in Western Pennsylvania 150 years ago and the developments over the ensuing century and a half. The program explores historical events leading up to 1859 when Edwin Drake and the Seneca Oil Company struck oil near Titusville, Pennsylvania and how that strike changed the world. Through extraordinary photos of the time, archival material, accounts of historians, oil industry experts and oil region constituents, the story of Drake’s oil strike and the impact that the petroleum industry has made on modern life will be told. This is a story of the American spirit, a story of exploration, ingenuity, perseverance in the face of odds, and of the birth of the multi-trillion dollar industry that touches us all everyday. It tells of a vital chapter in Pennsylvania’s history and in world events.