Genius (2017–…): Season 1, Episode 4 - Einstein: Chapter Four - full transcript

Previously on Genius...

This Rontgen fellow, snatched
the credit you justly deserve.

He's a rat, like the Jews.

Rats, must be eradicated.

It's only the very first Nobel,
you will win the next one.

In this class we will deal only with

what has been proven.

The existence of molecules has not.

You brought us Mr. Besso.

Such a charming dinner companion.

I do hope you return sooner



rather than later Mr. Besso.

I will find a formula to freeze time.

You won't even know I'm gone.

What a lovely thought.

Dear Frau Winteler, I write
and ask you to share my

feelings with your dearest Marie.

She deserves more attention
than I have to give.

Mother, you know very well
that I have someone else now.

Milena, you're the love of my life.

That creature, she's
just a nasty little witch.

She's no witch, she's my wife.

He's very busy, Papa.

He can't even get a job.

There is a position I know
of at the patent office.



I'm a scientist, Marcel.

I'm better than a clerkship.

Welcome to the patent
office, Herr Einstein.

May I help you, Mademoiselle?

You gave me a shock.

This is an original
piezoelectric meter, yes?

I'm sorry, but who are you?

As a rudimentary device,
it's quite effective.

But it would be far more
precise with the addition of a

mirrored quadrant electrometer
and an ionization chamber.

When I built the first model,

I considered an ionization
chamber but wasn't convinced

that air would be a
sufficient dielectric.

You invented the piezoelectric meter?

Is there something I can
do for you, mademoiselle?

I'm looking for laboratory space

to conduct my experiments.

I'm studying at the Sorbonne.

Physics?

Magnetism to be specific.

You haven't told me your name.

Marie Sklodowska.

It's a pleasure to meet you.

Pierre Curie.

Here before you sits a
device which purports to

synchronize clock towers
across Switzerland...

It sends an electromagnetic
signal at the speed of light.

A wondrous notion!

As a patent clerk, however, I
must ask myself if this device

can actually deliver on it's promise.

According to Newton, the answer is yes.

Absolute simultaneity
is possible because,

well, time is absolute.

And this all works if
we're sending a signal

from Bern to Zurich, say.

But what happens if we're
sending a signal from Bern

to a clock on a moving train?

Why is a clock on a moving train?

You'd have to disassemble it first.

It's much too large...

No, that's not the point.

What is going on here?

I'm evaluating an application, sir.

The same device which passed

across your desk three weeks ago, I see.

Yes, Herr Haller, although
I'm not convinced it

can actually do what the
patent application claims.

If I can make it work properly.

Herr Einstein,

either a thing works or it does not.

Your job is not to make it better.

How are you progressing
with the signal box

and rail switch applications?

I see.

Have them on my desk
by the end of the day.

Can it wait until tomorrow, sir?

Please, I have a very
important meeting...

You also have a wife and
a new baby at home, yes?

If I were you, I wouldn't
be so cavalier about

the position that pays to support them.

Professor Kleiner, Professor Kleiner,

my sincere apologies.

I was detained at work.

Save your breath, Herr Einstein.

Our time was up an hour ago.

Sir, please.

Just give me five minutes.

I promise my thesis
proposal is unlike anything

you've ever heard.

You have one minute.

One minute, yes, good...

Well, everyone believes
that light is a wave, yes?

Well, I can prove that when
a light ray is propagated from

any point, it consists of a
finite number of energy quanta

which can be produced and
absorbed only as complete units.

That only took ten seconds.

Do you remember Philipp Lenard's paper

on the photoelectric effect?

He demonstrated that light
doesn't always act like a wave.

But he couldn't explain it.

Well guess who can?

You.

No!

No, well, yes, yes, but, no...

Max Planck!

I believe I can use Planck's
constant to demonstrate the

photoelectric effect and
prove the duality of light.

You want to argue, for
your doctoral thesis,

that we have been mistaken
about what has been a

fundamental law of physics since 1678

that's 200...

And 27 years.

Come back when you wish
to be taken seriously.

Look, Hans, Papa's home!

How did it go with the professor?

Wonderfully, thank you.

Not even a kiss for your son?

Do you mind, Mama?

He shut me out, Dollie.

He didn't even read my proof.

Albert.

I'm right, I'm sure of it.

But no one will ever know
it if the bloated windbags

of academia won't even
consider my proposal.

What are you aiming for, Albert?

A piece of paper you can
frame and hang on the wall?

I, I want my ideas to be heard.

To be acknowledged and discussed.

To be recognized.

Then forget Professor Kleiner.

You must get your work noticed
by more important scientists.

Publish your paper.

Who would publish the work

of a thirdclass patent clerk?

I've spent my entire life being

overlooked and underestimated.

Giving up is a luxury
I could never afford.

You can either wait for
those dinosaurs to give you

permission to engage
in the scientific world,

or you can show them.

That your ideas can not
be snuffed out by those

who lack imagination.

I have no time to for research

I'll go to the library.

And my math.

I'll proof everything.

My handwriting is an embarrassment.

Albert, shut your mouth.

I'll help you.

Read this.

Herr professor?

Have you read this?

Some fellow in Bern has used
your discovery of light quanta

to prove Professor Lenard's

findings on the photoelectric effect.

Impossible.

Quanta are a mathematical construct.

They're not a real phenomenon.

Read it, sir.

Albert Einstein.

"On a heuristic point of view
concerning the production and

transformation of light."

It's a bit lofty, don't you think?

His proof is quite impressive.

Well we both know what sort of nonsense

you can prove with proofs.

You must admit, it's tantalizing.

Yes, well I suppose you
have a little bit of space

in the next issue, but
I'll be rather surprised

if anyone gives it a second thought.

Four weeks since I was published!

Four weeks and not a peep!

Were you expecting a parade?

Papa.

No, no, no, your father's right, Dollie,

and so were you.

It was one paper.

I'll simply write another.

And if no one takes any
notice, I'll write another.

They can't ignore me forever.

We only need to find a problem.

It seems to me you have
an ample supply of those.

An incongruence, a paradox
that nobody else sees

molecular mechanics, the
ether, light, space...

Yes, the whole of physics.

Shouldn't be too difficult.

It won't be, Dollie.

Not with you helping me.

No, it must be an anomaly.

Try it again.

I already have, 20 times.

It's not an anomaly.

This sample must contain a new element.

A radioactive element.

It would have to be hundreds, no

thousands of times stronger than uranium.

We must isolate it.

Well then, I suppose we're going to need

our own laboratory...

Pierre?

Pierre.

Do you remember the Curies'
paper on radioactivity?

Working tirelessly, side by side,

without heat in their lab or
funding for their research.

It's romantic, no?

The Curies spent four
years on that paper.

I have only three hours
until the patent office opens.

You should get some rest.

You can't think properly without sleep.

I don't need sleep.

I need more coffee.

What is it?

Do you remember our thought experiments

on gas theory at university?

Those weeks we spent holed up in my room?

I remember quite a lot
of experimentation, yes.

Not all of it to do with science.

What if we were going about it all wrong?

What if, instead of studying gases,

we studied a cup of coffee?

You really must sleep, Albert.

Jacobus v'ant Hoff's
Nobel paper from 1901:

Particles in a solution
behave like a gas.

When sugar dissolves in coffee,

water surrounds glucose and tears it

from the sugar crystal, correct?

The more sugar I add, the
thicker the coffee becomes.

If we can calculate the osmotic pressure,

perhaps we can deduce
the precise number of...

You want to prove the
existence of molecules...

Too ambitious?

No.

It's brilliant...

May I ask you, what are you doing?

I'm about to start work, sir, on a

fascinating application for a...

Nickelzinc battery.

That battery was patented
last year, Einstein.

I beg you.

I'm well ahead of schedule.

If I could be granted the
smallest parcel of time...

Time, Herr Einstein, is a
privilege you relinquished

when you accepted this position.

He's a tyrant!

It's unbearable!

He gives me four times
the work as the other dolts

in the office because I'm the only one

who understands mechanical engineering!

Poor thing.

A boss who respects your intellect

and a full time job that
pays twice as much as mine?

I don't care about money, Marcel.

I've been toiling in
obscurity for ten hours a day,

six days a week for the past two years

and I never see my family,
I never see my baby.

Albert, you of all people have

no interest in a baby.

Now what do you want?

I want what Lorentz and
Becquerel and Lenard have.

Whatever they say, whatever they write,

people pay attention.

I want to wake up in the
morning to pursue my passions

instead of being confronted
with a constant sense of dread

that I, that I'm wasting my life.

I meant what do you want from me?

Your father still has connections

at the patent office?

I need help.

Someone to work alongside me,
to ease my load until I can

make a mark with my ideas.

Do you have someone particular in mind?

I'm very lucky.

It's a good job.

Second class patent clerk in

the mechanical engineering division.

Will you be working with Albert?

Yes.

In fact, he was
instrumental in helping me

secure the position.

How does it feel
accepting a favor from the

swine who dishonored
your sisterinlaw?

Julius, please.

I think it's very kind of Albert.

Anna, have you found an apartment?

Why yes, we have.

We have.

- It's very modest but...
- I'd check your walls.

What?

Your walls.

You never know what might
be crawling around in them.

Roaches, mice, Lucifer himself.

Julius, that's enough.

No, the devil is conspiring
to turn this world

into hatred and sin.

His agents are among us.

I hear them.

Open your ears!

Julius.

It's growing colder, isn't it?

I don't mind.

You never did.

Do you remember when you
dug a trench in the snow,

covered it with a canvas and
declared it your winter palace?

I wanted to sleep there.

But mama wouldn't have it.

You were always so independent, Miza.

So strong.

You seem happy again.

I am.

And what about resuming your studies?

I'm working with Albert every day,

exploring the most
fascinating topics in physics.

I don't need a degree for that.

And that's really enough for you?

What's bothering you, papa?

Your mother and I must go home.

I don't understand, you said...

I've been called back to work.

But Albert and I are
writing an important paper.

I can't abandon everything
to look after Hans all day.

He only stops crying when
mother holds him, and...

Don't worry, Miza.

I'll make sure you have
whatever you need...

How could you refuse him?

I didn't marry you for a dowry, Dollie.

I married you because I love you.

It was 20,000 francs!

Our marriage is not a
business transaction!

You are not a prized
heifer to be bought and sold.

That's very noble of you, Albert,

but your lofty principles
will not help me cook, clean,

and raise a child all
while midwifing your papers.

Pick up the baby, Albert!

How are we to manage?

Do you think I don't
already have a solution to

that problem, dear Dollie?

I will ask my mother to come.

She knows how to run a household,

how to care for a child,

she will make it possible for you and

I to continue our work.

She despises me.

She doesn't even know you.

And how could she despise
the woman who gave birth

to her only grandson?

Look at those cheeks!

He's the spit and image
of his grandfather.

Dollie, have you seen my tie?

I believe I saw it hanging over

the bathroom door, darling.

We clean up after our husbands
more than our children.

That one is terribly wrinkled.

Don't you have a pressed one?

It will suffice.

Good day to you Frau Einstein.

And to you Frau Einstein!

Thank you for coming.

We do appreciate the help.

Of course, darling.

I remember when Albert was born.

Such an exciting time.

But also a difficult one.

I had no idea how to care for myself,

not to mention a child.

It isn't easy, is it?

I made so many mistakes!

With any luck I can help
spare you the worst of them.

I appreciate that...

Of course, darling!

What else am I here for?

Now, shall we go to the
market to stock your pantry?

That's very generous, but I'm afraid

I've got to go to the library.

I was hoping you could look
after Hans for a few hours?

But I've only just arrived.

Yes, but Albert and I are finishing

an important paper.

Mileva, darling, if there's one thing

my Albert doesn't need
help with, it's his science.

But with the rest of his life?

He's quite hopeless.

Lucky for him, he has a wife.

Are you working with Stokes' law?

Michele, Haller despises fraternizing,

and I'm one misstep
away from being ousted.

So if you wouldn't mind...

Albert, I know why I'm here.

Marcel told me everything.

It's quite all right

I don't mind easing your burden,

and I'm grateful just to have the job.

But of course, I'm curious...

I'm trying to prove molecules exist.

How?

I'd love to tell you, but
I really need you to review

those applications.

Of course.

It really is good to
have you here, Michele.

Did you mix in the Castile?

Castile?

I, I'm sorry, what is Castile?

Soap, dear.

Did you tell your mother why you asked

her to come?

Of course.

I told her we needed help
with the house and the baby.

She seems to believe
her sole purpose is to

instruct me how to cook,
clean, and care for the child.

She's trying to turn me into a hausfrau.

She's downstairs watching the little one

right now, is she not?

You must talk to her.

Tell her that our work
together is important.

That my part in it is important.

I will, but indulge her a little.

Make her feel appreciated.

Now...

Look.

You used Kirchoff's
hydrodynamic techniques...

Which you introduced me to at university.

My God, Albert...

Heir professor, Einstein has just

proven the existence of molecules, sir.

What?

That cannot...

Who did you say?

Einstein.

The fellow from Bern.

Bern...

I lectured there recently.

I don't recall any Einstein...

He's not a professor.

He's a patent clerk.

A patent clerk.

It's a brilliant paper, Albert.

I'm sorry you didn't receive
the response you anticipated.

Apparently, it's not enough to

have an original thought.

The old masters demand data.

Well, perhaps the third
time will be the charm,

as they say...

Third?

My God, Albert, you're
writing another one?

If I can find another good idea,

something provable
through experimentation.

Mileva's doing some research for me...

Einstein.

Your mother is here.

She abandons her boy for hours on end,

she refuses to be taught how to cook,

and she leaves all the cleaning to me.

Now is that fair?

Mother, we spoke about this.

And I agreed to indulge the notion that

you could use some
assistance writing your essay.

It's a scientific paper, mother,

published in a prestigious journal.

But you finished it weeks ago.

And now I'm writing another one.

Albert, I don't understand

I don't expect you to.

You have a solid position.

A good income.

Your father would be very proud.

That I'd given up my dreams and

settled for a bourgeois existence?

Look at me, darling.

Pursue your dreams if you wish.

But don't give Mileva false expectations.

I will not be here forever.

She must be taught to run a house.

I have to go back to work.

It's hypnotic...

A single pollen particle is
bombarded by water molecules

tentothetwentyfour
times per second.

How am I going to predict
that many movements

per second in a three dimensional space?

Here, what if you tried using...

Your child needs you, Mileva.

Mileva.

Yes one moment, we're
just in the middle of...

The baby isn't crying in a moment.

He's crying now.

Frau Einstein, I do appreciate

all you're doing for us.

But right now Albert needs my help.

Your boy needs you.

This home needs you.

Yes, but at the moment I'm working...

Frankly, my dear, it is time to put away

such indulgences.

I'm not your maid, nor
your child's wet nurse.

You just sit there, silent.

What do you want me to do?

I want you to defend me!

Early morning or late night?

I've run away from home.

Is it really so terrible?

When my mother and Mileva are not

at each other's throats, they
take turns lunging at mine.

Brownian motion.

Very ambitious.

If I can prove it mathematically,

it could be confirmed with the naked eye.

Well, good luck.

What?

What?

What?

Nothing.

What?

You're making it too complicated.

It is ridiculously complicated!

A single pollen particle is
bombarded by water molecules.

Tentothetwentyfour
times per second, yes.

And trying to solve those equations

in three dimensions will drive you mad.

Why not construct a
onedimensional model.

It's much simpler and would
still prove your thesis.

Would you be willing to
help me solve it, Michele?

My, the weather is turning.

The wind nearly threw me off my feet.

You promised you'd be home an hour ago.

Well, I suppose we all fall short

of expectations now and then.

I'm late for Albert.

And threexbytsquared equals

r by tsquared...

And then apply it back
to three dimensions

and the coefficient...

Michele, you're brilliant!

Michele, what a nice surprise.

Sorry I'm late.

One dimension, Mileva.

Michele's great insight.

We calculate in one dimension!

It's so...

Elegant.

I'm not sure I understand...

Here, pretend I'm drunk.

You don't drink.

Pretend!

If I had as much to drink as Michele,

I'd be staggering everywhere, yes?

Like pollen wiggling in the water.

But where am I going?

To the bar, the toilet, to the street?

It's impossible to predict.

We've been over this...

Precisely.

Michele helped me see that
we can't predict exactly where

I'll go, but using simpler math,

we can calculate how far
I'll go over a period of time.

Turns out it's six microns per minute.

Exactly.

Six microns per minute!

I proved the existence of molecules and

nobody believed me.

And now I've proved how they move,

and it can be confirmed
with an ordinary microscope!

That's wonderful...

To Albert!

Congratulations,
Philipp, the Nobel prize.

You don't have to be polite, Max.

We both know it was only
a gesture of consolation.

Well you're still not sour about Rontgen.

Philipp, that was four years ago.

And yet it still stings.

Perhaps if I had
received more recognition

from my colleagues...

Philipp, you read the journals

your name is invoked
with great regularity.

Of course you are right.

This patent clerk in Bern for instance.

He's cited both of us in a paper on...

Light quanta, yes, indeed.

You see?

I dismissed him at first.

But clearly he's an intellect.

He's very clever.

I've been in correspondence
with him in fact.

He wants the footlights,
that much is clear.

I only hope he doesn't
try to take recognition

for your work like Rontgen did to me.

Einstein.

It is fascinating what one can deduce

about a man just by knowing his name.

I don't believe it...

What?

Lenard.

They're giving him the Nobel.

For cathode ray tubes

a tenyearold innovation.

Suddenly you care about awards?

I care about science living and breathing

in the present and not
suffocating in the past.

And yes, I'm not ashamed to say,

I want some recognition
for my contributions.

I understand how you must feel.

But here I am, three published papers,

and nothing to show for it.

It's as if I am...

Invisible?

Perhaps my mother's right.

It's time to put away such
indulgences and concentrate

on what's expected of me.

Einstein, I need yesterday's...

Yesterday's, today's and tomorrow's.

Where are you going?

I have no idea.

Albert?

Albert?

I'm worried about you...

I approved a patent for a device

that's now inside that very clock tower.

Every minute, it sends a
signal at the speed of light

to clocks in Geneva, Basel
and Zurich, synchronizing them.

But what if we sent a signal
to a clock on a moving train?

Albert, you could use a good sleep.

Turn your mind off for a bit.

I can't.

Now listen.

A clock is here, stationary.

And now I attempt to synchronize it

with one that is moving.

What happens?

The clocks would synchronize.

Because space and time are absolute,

according to Newton.

According to everyone.

But for that to be true...

Light would have to speed up or slow down

to keep the clocks synchronized.

But James Clark Maxwell says that light

only moves at one speed.

Now either Maxwell is
correct, or Newton is.

But it can't be both.

Well if it's a duel
between Newton and Maxwell?

I'm afraid poor Maxwell
gets it between the eyes.

Maybe so...

Are you considering another paper?

No I'm just thinking, Michele.

Come on.

I'll buy you dinner, and
we can think some more.

The bloated windbags can't
stop us from doing that,

can they?

Maybe the bloated windbags can't stop us.

But Anna can.

Never miss a family meal.

Julius!

Your eggs are getting cold!

Must we do this every morning?

The doctor says routine
is important for him.

Well, I can't keep my students waiting...

Julius, come and eat!

Sit down.

Eat your breakfast.

Julius.

Death to satan's messengers!

No.

Julius!

No.

My God, what are you doing?

No.

O God, who brought us to birth,

and in whose arms we die, in
our grief and shock comfort us;

Give us hope in our confusion and grace

to enter a new life;
Through Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Amen.

That poor family.

I should be at the funeral.

You are free to go, Frau Einstein.

No, no, my dear.

I couldn't possibly leave
you alone with the child.

If I really am so unfit to be a mother,

you could have gone to Aarau
and Albert could have stayed

home with me.

No, my dear.

Albert is exactly where
he needs to be right now.

Do you remember what you promised me...

When you left for university?

I...

I don't, I'm sorry.

You said you would come up

with a formula to freeze time.

I'm afraid I'm...

I'm not as brilliant
as I thought I was...

I'm sorry, Marie.

For everything.

So sorry.

Talk to him.

He misses you.

Jost, I am so deeply...

Sorry, yes, everyone says that.

Is there anything that I can do?

You are an intelligent man.

So perhaps you can explain to me this:

How could my bright, beautiful son

so suddenly turn into a monster?

What did I do wrong?

You musn't blame yourself.

I wish I could be half
the father that you are.

Yes, I heard you had a son.

Hold him tight, Albert.

You think his childhood
will last forever,

but I promise you, it will
pass in a fraction of a second.

You said you'd be home last night.

I'm sorry.

By the time it seemed
appropriate to leave,

I'd already missed my last train.

Of course you did.

I'm sure you were terribly
disappointed to have to spend

the night with your beloved Wintelers.

Mileva, please, they're grieving...

I can take him, dear.

Don't touch my son.

I'm only trying to help.

You've been shoving your
'help' down my throat

since you arrived.

Mileva, calm yourself.

That's quite easy for
you to say, isn't it?

You do what you want,
go where you please.

And I'm here.

Not in a laboratory or

in front of a classroom as I should be...

Perhaps I'm mistaken,

but didn't you fail your exams?

Mother, please.

The girl needs to face the truth, Albert.

You need a wife to make
you a home, not a...

I'm sorry I'm not Marie Winteler.

So am I.

Mother, apologize.

I knew from the moment my son wrote to me

about you, you would never
make him a suitable wife.

Albert didn't marry me
because he wanted a housewife.

We're partners.

Darling, open your eyes.

You are not his partner.

You are his librarian.

You are his clerk.

Mother, you should go.

Go, go where?

Home.

If you think this creature
can make you happy,

then I promise you, son, you
are in for a life of misery.

He won't sleep.

I don't know what to do...

Go to bed, Dollie.

I can take him.

Thank you...

I made you something.

Choochoo, choochoo.

It's a train, yes.

I was on one of these this morning,

and I couldn't wait
to get home to see you.

Papa Jost told me that time is fleeting;

We think moments like
these will last forever,

but in fact they'll
pass in a split second.

It's a nice sentiment, but
you and I both know that time

can't move at different speeds.

Unless...

Unless it could.

My...

Albertli, you've done it!

I've completely solved the problem.

What are you talking about?

Close your eyes.

Pretend you're overlooking
a train track...

Imagine a train racing past,

faster than any train you've ever seen.

Now, I want you to imagine,
as the train is flying past,

two lightning bolts
crashing beyond the tracks

at the same time 100 meters apart.

So what?

Patience.

Now imagine that you're
standing in the middle of the

train during the exact same scenario.

Would the lightning
bolts be simultaneous?

Of course.

Not if light moves at one speed.

Close your eyes.

Albert, this is ridiculous...

Put yourself back on the moving train,

and really think about it.

Do it, Michele!

Now watch the lightning bolts!

Were they simultaneous to you?

No!

Because you were moving
towards one and away

from the other.

To me, standing still,
they were simultaneous.

How could the two of us experience

the same event differently?

We couldn't.

Unless...

It's not Maxwell who
gets it between the eyes.

It's Newton.

What are you saying?

Time is not absolute.

Holy hell.

I'm writing the paper, Michele.

I dare them to ignore it.

Ha!

Marie.

Come see what we've found...

Don't look.

You believed it would be 1,000 times

stronger than uranium.

This element is a million times stronger,

and it's not even pure.

It's beautiful.

What shall we call it, my love?

Radium.

Dollie, Dollie, you're awake!

Thank God.

Since I first imagined
riding alongside a light beam,

it's been bothering me.

How could light freeze in time?

Well, it couldn't!

You're gone before I wake,
home after I'm asleep.

Do I not at least deserve a "hello?"

Hello, my darling Mileva, now listen...

300 years ago, Galileo devised
his principle of relativity...

Now Newton built on these theories

to devise his own laws;
Motion, gravitation,

and absolute time.

I know all of that.

But neither man took into account

the true nature of light.

So, I've devised my own
principle of relativity.

Lorentz transformations?

Yes.

He saw time dilation
as a mathematical quirk.

It's not.

The faster we move through space,

the slower we move through time.

It is extraordinary, Albert...

It's more than that.

It's the redefinition of the universe.

All the work.

All the late nights.

This, Mileva.

This is what we've been chasing...

Will you proof it for me?

Am I your clerk?

Is that it?

No, of course not, Dollie.

You're my partner.

Albertli, you brilliant little man!

Doctor Lauret.

Doctor Curie.

I just received a letter from Stockholm.

You are to be awarded the 1903
Nobel prize in physics for your

contributions to the research
of radiation phenomena.

A hearty congratulations, Pierre.

Will my wife be given the prize, as well?

Pierre, we all know madame Curie has been

a valuable assistant.

But it's the tools you invented

that are responsible
for discovering radium.

No, no, tools don't
make discoveries, doctor.

People do.

Madam Curie and I are partners.

Please inform the Nobel
committee that I will not

accept the prize if they do
not honor my wife alongside me.

"The introduction of a luminiferous ether

will prove to be superfluous."

Superfluous!

I love that word.

I preferred 'idiotic', but alas.

"In conclusion, I wish to
say that in working at the"

problem here dealt with, I
have had the loyal assistance

of my friend and colleague M. Besso...

And that I am indebted to him for several

"valuable suggestions."

You thank Michele.

Of course I thanked him.

His advice was instrumental.

But I've helped you with so many papers.

Including this one.

Of course you have.

But you never thought to
put my name in any of them.

Well, I suppose it
never occurred to me...

No, I don't suppose it did...

No, because in my heart,
the two of us are one.

It's our name.

Einstein, 'one stone.'

this paper, every paper, it's both of us.

I couldn't do any of it without you.

You know that.

No one else does.

Mileva.

You're going to be late for work, Albert.

'On the electrodynamics of moving bodies'

by Albert Einstein?

His fourth paper this year.

I haven't seen anything like this

since Newton's annus mirabilis.

Doctor Laue, are you honestly comparing

Einstein to sir Isaac Newton?

Read it.

He provides no footnotes.

That's because he has answered a question

no one was asking.

Herr Einstein?

Max Laue, I work for
Professor Max Planck at the.

Prussian Academy.

A sincere pleasure to...

I believe you're looking for him.

I've tried to get him to brush his hair

and smarten himself up.

But the man is hopeless.

Albert Einstein?

Author of the principle of relativity?

Well, Galileo is the author

of the principle of relativity.

I simply provided a revision.

My, you are modest.

He most certainly is not.

May I ask why you are
working at a patent office?

History is full of bad jokes, I suppose.

My name is Max Laue.

I am here at the behest
of Professor Max Planck.

Max Planck?

The father of Prussian physics?

He greatly admires your
work, Herr Einstein.

You've achieved more in one
year than most scientists do

in a lifetime.

However did you accomplish it?

Curiosity, I suppose.

That and he wanted to be noticed.

Well, you've succeeded.

We would like to help
you further your career.

Tell me, are you
working on anything else?

Yes, in fact.

I've realized that the
relativity principle,

combined with the Maxwell's equations,

requires that mass be a direct measure

of the energy contained in a body.

I'm not sure I follow...

Light carries mass.

But that's impossible.

Perhaps!

For all I know,

the good lord might be
laughing at the whole matter.

I believe this theory
could be tested using

elements whose energy is highly unstable.

Madame Curie's radium, for example...

Herr Einstein, it's...

It's genius.

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