The Man and the Challenge is a 36-segment half-hour television adventure/science fiction series which ran new episodes on NBC from September 12, 1959, to June 11, 1960. It starred George Nader as Dr. Glenn Barton, a research scientist for the Institute of Human Factors, an agency that conducted experiments designed to measure human endurance for the United States government. The series was produced by Ivan Tors.
Nader's costars included Jack Ging as Dan Wright, Michael Masters as Bill Locke, the Canadian-born Joyce Meadows as Lynn Allen, and Michael Keith as Matt Adams. The episodes focused on various individuals setting world records of strength, endurance, and mastery of various difficult skills.
The program also featured appearances by Bethel Leslie as Eleanor Beck in "The Early Warning", Ted Knight, as Dr. Herter in the episode "Daredevils", and Raymond Bailey, in the role of Dr. Kramer on the series opener "The Sphere of No Return". Joining Knight in that segment was Paul Burke.
In order to test human stamina at high altitudes, Barton and two other men go up in a balloon. When one panics and fails the required standards he is replaced by a woman which draws a hostile response from the remaining pilot.
Barton sends two men into the frozen north to test their endurance in extreme levels of cold and isolation. He wants to determine the best way to train men for high security jobs in the Arctic.
To study the effects of gravity on potential astronauts, Barton goes to France to learn free fall parachuting from a brother-and-sister team of skydivers: Suzanne and Georges Bolet.
In a hostile country, three Americans are being held captive. Barton is asked by a Washington official to form a clandestine athletic unit to free them.
In order to test the U2-21 drug which supposedly increases a man's ability to retain oxygen at great heights, Barton puts a group of mountaineers through a rigorous test in the Rockies before sending them to the Himalayas for a final test.
Barton researches hypothermia in Antarctica by reducing the body temperature of two doctors. He hopes the experiment will lead to an understanding of how to freeze astronauts to withstand certain aspects of interplanetary flight.
Barton uses a chemical names LSD-25 on a firefighter. The chemical removes fear, but raging forest fires prove that fear is a necessary part of courage.
A crack test pilot crashes his aircraft. After the crash he experiences a self-induced paralysis that slowly destroys his career and marriage. Barton restores the pilot's confidence by using hypnotic techniques.
