Nova (1974–…): Season 23, Episode 11 - Einstein Revealed - full transcript
WE NOW RETURN TO
"EINSTEIN REVEALED."
HE BECAME THE FIRST
SCIENTIST CELEBRITY
OF THE 20th CENTURY
BUT ALBERT EINSTEIN WAS
NO STRANGER TO HARD WORK
AND HEARTBREAK.
THE CONCLUSION OF
"EINSTEIN REVEALED."
NOVA IS FUNDED BY PRUDENTIAL.
LIVING WELL ISN'T
ABOUT BEING RICH.
IT'S ABOUT FREEDOM
AND INDEPENDENCE
AND TAKING CONTROL
OF YOUR FUTURE.
SO MAKE A PLAN.
AND BY MERCK.
MERCK... PHARMACEUTICAL
RESEARCH.
DEDICATED TO PREVENTING DISEASE.
ALL I HAVE TRIED TO DO IN MY
LIFE IS ASK A FEW QUESTIONS.
COULD GOD HAVE CREATED
THE UNIVERSE ANY OTHER WAY
OR HAD HE NO CHOICE?
AND HOW WOULD I HAVE
MADE THE UNIVERSE
IF I HAD THE CHANCE?
Abraham: IT WAS ALBERT
EINSTEIN'S ASTOUNDING
ALMOST ARROGANT AMBITION,
TO READ THE MIND OF GOD.
AND HE SUCCEEDED, TIME AND AGAIN
COMPLETELY TRANSFORMING
OUR UNDERSTANDING
OF SPACE, TIME, AND LIGHT.
BUT AS HIS NEWLY
PUBLISHED PAPERS REVEAL
THERE WAS A PRICE THAT
HE, AND THOSE CLOSEST TO HIM
HAD TO PAY FOR EACH
AND EVERY TRIUMPH.
Einstein: I HAVE LEARNED
TO ISOLATE MYSELF
FROM THE UNPREDICTABILITY
OF HUMAN RELATIONS.
LIFE TENDS TO GET CLOGGED
UP, ESPECIALLY MARRIAGE.
Abraham: THAT CONFLICT BETWEEN
SCIENCE AND HUMAN RELATIONS
PLAYED OUT ACROSS ALL
OF EINSTEIN'S ADULT LIFE.
IN 1905, HE AND HIS WIFE MILEVA
WERE LIVING A QUIET LIFE IN
BERN WITH THEIR INFANT SON.
EVEN AFTER THE PUBLICATION
OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY
AND THE OTHER DISCOVERIES
OF HIS MIRACLE YEAR
EINSTEIN REMAINED AN EXAMINER
AT THE SWISS PATENT OFFICE.
Einstein: "JANUARY 1907.
"DEAR FRIEND, I AM STILL
A FEDERAL INK PISSER
"WITH A DECENT SALARY.
"I WORK EVERY DAY EIGHT
HOURS AT THE PATENT OFFICE
"AND AT LEAST ONE
HOUR OF PRIVATE LESSONS
YET I ENJOY IT HERE, AND THERE
IS MUCH THINKING TO BE DONE."
Abraham: BUT IN SCIENCE, EINSTEIN
WAS NO LONGER AN OUTSIDER.
A GROWING NUMBER OF PHYSICISTS
MADE THE PILGRIMAGE
TO THE PATENT OFFICE.
THEY WOULD TREK
UP TO THE TOP FLOOR
AND ASK A SMARTLY
DRESSED YOUNG MAN
TO LEAD THEM TO DR. EINSTEIN.
EINSTEIN LATER TOLD A FRIEND
THAT HE HAD NEVER MET
A REAL PHYSICIST BEFORE.
HIS FRIEND RESPONDED,
"DIDN'T YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR?"
BUT EVEN AS HIS REPUTATION
GREW, EINSTEIN BEGAN TO GRASP
THE LIMITATIONS OF HIS
SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY.
IN 1907, EINSTEIN WAS
ASKED TO SUMMARIZE
EVERYTHING THEN KNOWN
ABOUT SPECIAL RELATIVITY
FOR A LEADING PHYSICS JOURNAL.
HE SAW THAT HIS THEORY
ENCOMPASSED ALL OF PHYSICS
EXCEPT FOR ONE CRUCIAL GAP.
HE SAID TO HIMSELF
"NOW I MUST SEE IF I CAN
FIT INTO THAT FRAMEWORK
ALL PHENOMENA ONE CAN THINK OF."
AND EVERYTHING
COULD BE FITTED...
MECHANICS AS IT WAS KNOWN
THE THEORY OF
MAXWELL AS IT WAS KNOWN
THE ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY...
BUT ONE THING HE COULDN'T
FIT IN AND THAT WAS GRAVITATION.
Abraham: GRAVITY SEEMED
STRAIGHTFORWARD ENOUGH.
A POUND OF PORK, A POUND
OF CHERRIES OR OF ANYTHING
WILL MOVE THE SCALES
THE SAME AMOUNT
BECAUSE THE EARTH'S
GRAVITY PULLS ON THEM
ALL IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY.
YET WHAT THE EARTH
DOES TO MAKE ITSELF FELT
BY MEAT, POTATOES AND
US... THAT NO ONE KNEW.
ISAAC NEWTON HAD SHOWN
THAT GRAVITY GOVERNS THE
MOTION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM AS WELL
BUT EVEN NEWTON'S
THEORY COULD NOT EXPLAIN
HOW GRAVITY EXERTS ITS INFLUENCE
THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE.
THAT WAS THE MYSTERY OF GRAVITY:
HOW IS IT THAT THE
HEAVENS STAY ON TRACK?
WHAT IS IT THAT ORDERS
THE UNIVERSE AS A WHOLE?
EINSTEIN, STILL IN HIS 20s
WAS CHASING THE BIGGEST GAME
IN PHYSICS... A TREMENDOUS GAMBLE
AS THE GREAT MAX
PLANCK TRIED TO TELL HIM.
MAX PLANCK WARNED ME NOT TO
WORK ON THE THEORY OF GRAVITY.
THE PROBLEM WAS TOO DIFFICULT,
HE SAID, AND EVEN IF I SUCCEEDED
NO ONE WOULD BELIEVE ME.
BUT I TOOK IT ON ANYWAY
AND NEVER WORKED
SO HARD IN ALL MY LIFE.
THE FIRST THEORY OF
RELATIVITY WAS CHILD'S PLAY
COMPARED TO THE
PROBLEM OF GRAVITATION.
Abraham: GRAVITY IS THE MOST
DEMOCRATIC PHENOMENON IN THE UNIVERSE.
IT TREATS EVERY OBJECT THE SAME
NO MATTER WHAT IT IS MADE
OF, NO MATTER HOW BIG IT IS.
THERE WERE NO EXCEPTIONS TO
GIVE EINSTEIN A PLACE TO START.
HE HAD NO IDEA HOW TO
APPROACH THE PROBLEM, UNTIL...
THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN
IT OCCURRED TO ME.
DER GLUCKLICHSTE
GEDANKE MEINES LEBENS:
THE HAPPIEST THOUGHT OF MY LIFE.
IF A MAN FALLS FROM
THE ROOF OF A HOUSE
HE WILL NOT FEEL HIS OWN WEIGHT.
Abraham: IN ANOTHER OF
HIS THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS
EINSTEIN PUT THE IDEA THIS WAY.
WHAT IF SOMEONE
WERE IN AN ELEVATOR
WHEN THE CABLE SNAPPED?
HE WOULD FLOAT, WEIGHTLESS
AS HE AND THE ELEVATOR BOTH
FREE-FALL AT THE SAME RATE
IN THE EARTH'S
GRAVITATIONAL FIELD.
THEN EINSTEIN CHANGED THE SCENE:
WHAT IF THE PASSENGER
WERE IN A ROCKET SHIP
FAR FROM EARTH?
HE WOULD STILL FLOAT
WITH NO GRAVITATIONAL FIELD
TO HOLD HIS FEET TO THE FLOOR.
BUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF
THE ROCKET BEGAN TO MOVE?
AS IT ACCELERATES, THE
FLOOR OF THE ROCKET RISES.
ON ITS WAY UP, IT WOULD
CATCH THE PASSENGER
AND TO HIM, IT WOULD SEEM
THAT GRAVITY WAS HOLDING
HIS FEET TO THE FLOOR.
AND IF GRAVITY AND
ACCELERATION FEEL THE SAME
PERHAPS THEY ARE THE SAME,
AND THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN ACCELERATING
IN OUTER SPACE
OR STANDING IN THE
EARTH'S GRAVITATIONAL FIELD
WAITING FOR THE
ELEVATOR DOOR TO OPEN.
THIS WAS CLASSIC EINSTEIN.
HIS CONTEMPORARIES FOUND
THIS EQUIVALENCE OF ACCELERATION
AND GRAVITY INTERESTING.
BUT ONLY HE REALIZED
THAT IT COULD SERVE AS THE
FOUNDATION OF WHAT WOULD BECOME
A REVOLUTIONARY NEW
THEORY OF GRAVITY.
Man: IF I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY
OF ASKING EINSTEIN ONE QUESTION
I WOULD ASK HIM HOW
HE COULD BE SO SURE
OF THE PRINCIPLES ON
WHICH HE BUILT HIS THEORIES.
HOW COULD HE BE SO SURE
THAT THE DEAR LORD REQUIRED
THAT THE RELATIVITY POSTULATE
BE SATISFIED THROUGHOUT NATURE?
HOW COULD HE BE SO SURE
THAT THE EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE
REALLY HELD EVERYWHERE
AND AT ALL TIMES?
AND IF HE COULD TELL
US HOW HE DID THAT
THAT WOULD BE... THAT
WOULD BE SOMETHING.
Abraham: WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT HE
DID IT WITH FEROCIOUS CONCENTRATION
TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL ELSE.
WHICH MEANT THAT OVER TIME
HE GAVE LESS AND LESS ATTENTION
HIS WIFE MILEVA.
WHEN THEY COURTED
HE HAD PROMISED THAT THEY
WOULD BE SCIENTIFIC PARTNERS...
TWO AGAINST THE WORLD.
BUT EINSTEIN'S
PRIORITIES HAD CHANGED.
Einstein: I AM NOT MUCH
GOOD WITH PEOPLE
AND I AM NOT A FAMILY MAN.
I WANT MY PEACE.
I FEEL THE INSIGNIFICANCE
OF THE INDIVIDUAL
AND IT MAKES ME HAPPY.
Abraham: RELATIONS BETWEEN
EINSTEIN AND HIS WIFE GREW WORSE
WHEN THEY MOVED
TO PRAGUE IN 1911.
EINSTEIN HAD BEEN
NAMED A FULL PROFESSOR
AT THE GERMAN
UNIVERSITY THERE...
A MAJOR STEP UP THE
PROFESSIONAL LADDER.
BUT FOR MILEVA, CLOISTERED
IN THEIR APARTMENT
AND WITH A SECOND SON TO
CARE FOR, PRAGUE FELT LIKE EXILE.
Schulmann: MILEVA FELT SHE WAS
BEING MARGINALIZED EVER MORE
PUSHED TO THE SIDE,
LESS AND LESS IMPORTANT.
WHEN THE DIVISION OF LABOR
BETWEEN EINSTEIN AND MILEVA
WAS THAT HE DO
THE SCIENTIFIC WORK
AND SHE BE EXPECTED TO DO
THE DOMESTIC SIDE OF THINGS
I THINK THE PRETENSE THEY HAD
TRIED TO MAINTAIN OVER THE YEARS
FELL APART COMPLETELY.
JUST THINK OF IT... SHE HAD
FAILED IN HER AMBITIONS.
WHEN I SAY AMBITIONS, I DON'T
MEAN AMBITIOUS OF GETTING POWER
OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT
BUT BECOMING A NEW KIND OF
WOMAN AMONG... IN A WORLD OF MEN.
THIS HAD COMPLETELY FAILED.
Abraham: RECENTLY
DISCOVERED LETTERS
REVEAL AN UNEASY MIX OF PRIDE,
FEAR AND A HINT OF JEALOUSY.
Mileva: "I AM VERY HAPPY
ABOUT HIS SUCCESS
"WHICH HE HAS REALLY EARNED.
"I ONLY HOPE AND WISH
THAT FAME DOES NOT EXERT
A DETRIMENTAL INFLUENCE
ON HIS HUMAN SIDE."
Abraham: BEHIND THE
WALLS OF THEIR HOME
MILEVA'S DEPRESSION
AND BITTERNESS GREW.
Mileva: "NOT MUCH TIME
REMAINS FOR HIS WIFE.
"I OFTEN ASK MYSELF
WHETHER I AM NOT A PERSON
"WHO FEELS A GREAT DEAL
AND SUFFERS BECAUSE OF THAT.
"I AM STARVED FOR LOVE
AND I ALMOST BELIEVE
WICKED SCIENCE IS GUILTY."
Einstein: WHEN I THINK
SERIOUSLY DAY AND NIGHT
I CANNOT EASILY ENGAGE
IN LOVING CHATTER
IN THE SAME WAY ONE
CAN'T PLAY THE VIOLIN
IF HE HAS JUST BEEN WORKING
WITH A LARGE HAMMER.
Abraham: THERE COULD BE NO COMPROMISE...
SCIENCE WOULD ALWAYS COME FIRST
ESPECIALLY THE
PROBLEM OF GRAVITATION.
EINSTEIN NOW ASKED
IF ACCELERATION AND
GRAVITY ARE EQUIVALENT
WHAT HAPPENS WHILE ACCELERATING
THAT REVEALS SOMETHING
NEW ABOUT GRAVITY?
BACK TO HIS ROCKET SHIP
EINSTEIN RESUMED HIS
THOUGHT EXPERIMENT.
AS THE ROCKET ACCELERATES
A RAY OF LIGHT SHINING THROUGH
THE WINDOW HITS THE OTHER SIDE
AT A LOWER POINT
THAN IT ENTERED.
TO A PASSENGER, THE
LIGHT APPEARS TO CURVE.
IF ACCELERATION CAN BEND LIGHT
THEN BY THE
EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE
GRAVITY MUST DO THE SAME.
IT SEEMED A CRUCIAL CLUE...
BUT WHERE WOULD IT LEAD?
GRAVITY DOES MORE
THAN MAKE THINGS FALL...
THAT MUCH WAS CLEAR...
BUT I STILL HAD NO
IDEA WHAT IT WAS.
MY OFFICE IN PRAGUE
LOOKED OUT OVER AN ASYLUM
AND THERE WERE TIMES
WHEN I FELT A CERTAIN
KINSHIP WITH THE INMATES.
THEY WERE THE MADMEN WHO DID
NOT CONCERN THEMSELVES WITH PHYSICS
I WAS THE MADMAN WHO DID.
Abraham: THE
ASYLUM IS STILL THERE
WALLS, BARS, INMATES AND ALL.
FOR HIS PART, EINSTEIN
WAS ONLY HALF-JOKING.
OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS
GRAVITY BECAME ALMOST
HIS SOLE OBSESSION.
IN 1911, THE FIRST SOLVAY
CONFERENCE IN BRUSSELS
BROUGHT TOGETHER EUROPE'S
MOST FAMOUS PHYSICISTS.
IT WAS AN
INVITATION-ONLY AFFAIR.
EINSTEIN WAS THE
YOUNGEST TO ATTEND.
GABRIELLE OPPENHEIM'S FATHER
WAS RECTOR OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS.
SHE IS NOW 103
BUT SHE WAS 19 WHEN
EINSTEIN CAME TO CALL.
WHEN WE HAD BIG SOIREE
BECAUSE MY FATHER AND
MOTHER INVITED MANY PEOPLE
AND THEY WERE ALL, THAT
DAY, THEY WERE ALL PHYSICISTS
BECAUSE THERE WAS A
CONGRESS OF PHYSICS
AND MY HUSBAND SAID
"THAT GENTLEMAN"...
HE POINTED HIM OUT...
WILL BE ONE OF THE GREATEST
OF THOSE PHYSICISTS."
Abraham: THE FORMER PATENT
CLERK NOW TRADED IDEAS
WITH THE LIKES OF MADAME CURIE
WITH THE GREAT DUTCH
PHYSICIST, HENDRIK LORENTZ
AND THE ENGLISH ATOMIC
SCIENTIST, ERNEST RUTHERFORD.
EVEN IN SUCH COMPANY
EINSTEIN WAS RECOGNIZED
AS FIRST AMONG EQUALS.
Oppenheim: MY HUSBAND
SAID, "THAT GENTLEMAN
HE... WILL BE ONE
OF THE GREATEST."
SO I GAVE HIM ONE SANDWICH MORE.
AND IT... IT'S TRUE.
Abraham: THERE WAS ONE PERSON
WHO MISSED EINSTEIN'S TRIUMPH: MILEVA.
Mileva: IT MUST HAVE
BEEN VERY INTERESTING.
I WOULD HAVE LOVED ONLY TOO
WELL TO HAVE LISTENED A LITTLE
AND TO HAVE SEEN
ALL THOSE FINE PEOPLE.
IT'S BEEN AN ETERNITY SINCE
WE'VE SEEN EACH OTHER.
WILL YOU STILL RECOGNIZE ME?
Abraham: WHAT EINSTEIN WANTED IN
MARRIAGE WAS DOMESTIC COMFORT
NOT AN INTELLECTUAL PARTNER.
Einstein: "OCTOBER
1911, EN ROUTE.
"MY DEAR LITTLE WIFE...
"AROUND 1:00 IN THE
MORNING I FOUND THE HAM
"AND IMMEDIATELY
POLISHED IT OFF.
"THE APPLES ALSO DID AN
INFINITE AMOUNT OF GOOD
"IN THIS FRIGHTFUL STEAM BATH.
MANY KISSES TO YOU
AND THE CHILDREN."
Abraham: AS THE MONTHS PASSED,
MILEVA'S ISOLATION DEEPENED
BUT THE WORST SHOCK
WAS STILL TO COME.
ON A VISIT TO GERMANY, EINSTEIN
MET A COUSIN, ELSA EINSTEIN
WHO CAME FROM A TOWN AND
BACKGROUND SIMILAR TO HIS OWN.
EINSTEIN SAW IN ELSA
A CHANCE FOR A DOMESTIC LIFE
FREE OF DEMANDS AND CONFLICT.
Schulmann: HE HAD IN ELSA
A LINK TO THIS PLACE.
SHE SHARED A LOT OF THE TRAITS
THAT ARE COMMONLY
ASSOCIATED WITH THIS
AND THAT HE WOULD HAVE
IDENTIFIED WITH VERY STRONGLY:
A CERTAIN KIND OF
UNAFFECTED PLEASURE
IN THE SIMPLE THINGS IN LIFE
AND ENJOYMENT OF FOOD AND DRINK
AND I THINK THAT SHE REPRESENTED
THAT FOR HIM WHEREVER HE WENT
AND THAT SENSE OF PLACE THAT
SHE REPRESENTED WENT WITH HIM.
Abraham: MILEVA HAD LITTLE CHANCE
AGAINST ELSA'S UNCOMPLICATED APPEAL.
THE TWO COUSINS BEGAN
A CORRESPONDENCE
THAT REVEALS THEIR GROWING BOND.
Einstein: "DEAR ELSA, THANK
YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LETTER.
"THERE IS NO BOOK ON RELATIVITY
COMPREHENSIBLE TO LAYMEN
"BUT WHAT DO YOU
HAVE A COUSIN FOR?
"IF YOU EVER HAPPEN
TO BE IN ZURICH
"THEN WE... WITHOUT MY WIFE, WHO
IS UNFORTUNATELY VERY JEALOUS...
"WILL TAKE A NICE WALK,
AND I'LL TELL YOU ABOUT
THOSE CURIOUS THINGS
I HAVE DISCOVERED."
"DEAR ELSA, BOTH OF
US ARE POOR DEVILS
"EACH SHACKLED TO
OUR UNRELENTING DUTIES
"BUT I MUST TELL YOU
ONCE AGAIN, I LOVE YOU.
"I WOULD BE SO HAPPY TO WALK
JUST A FEW STEPS AT YOUR SIDE.
I SUFFER BECAUSE I LOVE
ONE AT WHOM I CAN ONLY LOOK."
Abraham: THAT WAS IT FOR A TIME.
IN 1912, EINSTEIN BROKE WITH
ELSA AND MOVED TO ZURICH
TO TEACH AT THE E.T.H.,
THE FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC
WHERE HE AND MILEVA HAD STUDIED.
EINSTEIN HAD BEEN AN
UNDISTINGUISHED STUDENT.
NOW HE WAS COMING BACK
AS A FULL PROFESSOR
OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS.
HERE HE EMBARKED ON THE
MOST INTENSE EFFORT OF HIS LIFE
RENEWING HIS ATTACK
ON THE GRAVITY PROBLEM.
HE STARTED WITH AN IDEA
FROM A FORMER TEACHER,
HERMANN MINKOWSKI
WHO HAD DOUBTS ABOUT
HIS TROUBLESOME PUPIL
UNTIL HE READ EINSTEIN'S 1905
PAPER ON SPECIAL RELATIVITY.
AFTER EINSTEIN HAD CREATED
THE THEORY OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY
IT HAPPENED THAT HIS
OLD MATH TEACHER...
WHOSE LECTURES HE'D SKIPPED...
LOOKED AT EINSTEIN'S
PAPERS, AND SAID
"WELL, I WOULDN'T HAVE
THOUGHT HE WAS CAPABLE OF THIS.
THIS IS REALLY GOOD."
MINKOWSKI CALLED ME A LAZY
DOG, AND PERHAPS HE WAS RIGHT
BUT RELATIVITY
SEEMED TO IMPRESS HIM.
I WOULD HAVE FELT
SOME SENSE OF TRIUMPH
ONLY THEN HE TRANSLATED
IT INTO MATHEMATICAL TERMS
WHEREUPON EVEN I COULDN'T
UNDERSTAND MY THEORY.
Abraham: EINSTEIN MAY
NOT HAVE UNDERSTOOD IT
BUT TO MINKOWSKI, IT WAS CLEAR:
SPACE AND TIME
ARE FUSED TOGETHER
INTO A SINGLE, FOUR-DIMENSIONAL
PICTURE OF THE WORLD.
THINK OF A VAST ARENA...
A VAST ARENA WHERE
FOUR NUMBERS CAN RECORD
THE UNIQUE LOCATION
OF ANY EVENT.
FOR EXAMPLE, WITH
JUST THREE NUMBERS
WE CAN LOCATE ANY
OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE
FROM THE TIP OF YOUR NOSE
TO THE FARTHEST GALAXY.
THREE NUMBERS... LENGTH,
WIDTH AND HEIGHTH...
ALLOW US TO RECORD THE
POSITION OF ALL OBJECTS.
NOW ADD TIME.
WITH THIS FOURTH DIMENSION
WE'RE ABLE TO RECORD
ANY EVENT IN THE UNIVERSE
FROM THE EXPLOSION OF A STAR
TO A HOT SATURDAY NIGHT DATE.
Abraham: HERE IS ONE OF THE MOST
COMMON SPACE-TIME EXPERIENCES:
MEETING A FRIEND
ON A SUMMER DAY.
THIS MEETING TAKES PLACE
AT A PARTICULAR LOCATION:
THE INTERSECTION
OF THE TWO PATHS
AND, ONE HOPES, AT 10:10.
AS MINKOWSKI RECOGNIZED,
EVERY EVENT FORMS
A UNIQUE MATHEMATICAL
PICTURE IN SPACE-TIME.
HERE, AS THE SECONDS PASS
THE MAN STAYS IN
ONE PLACE IN SPACE...
BUT MOVES CONTINUOUSLY
THROUGH THE TIME DIMENSION
UNTIL...
HIS DATE ARRIVES.
AS THE IDEA OF
SPACE-TIME SUNK IN
EINSTEIN REALIZED HE
COULD GO ONE STEP BEYOND.
HE HAD THIS WONDERFUL
PIECE OF WORK
WHICH MINKOWSKI HAD DONE IN
TRANSFORMING HIS OWN WORK
INTO THE IDEA OF A
FOUR-DIMENSIONAL SPACE-TIME.
BUT THEN EINSTEIN
HIT ON THE IDEA
THAT THIS WASN'T A RIGID
STRAIGHT SPACE-TIME.
IT MUST BE CURVED
AND IT MUST HAVE VARIATIONS
OF CURVATURE WITHIN IT.
Abraham: THAT WAS PERHAPS
EINSTEIN'S MOST INSPIRED LEAP OF LOGIC.
WHAT IF THE SHAPE OF SPACE
AND TIME COULD WARP AND CURVE?
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN THEN?
GRAVITY HAPPENS.
EINSTEIN'S BRILLIANT IDEA...
THE IDEA THAT MAKES
THE WHOLE THING WORK...
WAS THE FACT THAT IT IS MATTER
MATTER AND ENERGY WHICH DRIVES
THE BENDING OF SPACE AND TIME.
THROW A ROCK INTO
A POND, FOR EXAMPLE.
WHEN YOU THROW A ROCK INTO
A POND, RIPPLES START TO FORM.
IT IS THE ROCK WHICH CREATES
THE RIPPLES ON THE
SURFACE OF THE POND.
THEREFORE, THE PRESENCE
OF A ROCK CREATES
RIPPLES IN SPACE AND
TIME THAT WE CALL GRAVITY.
Abraham: SPACE-TIME
WITHOUT MATTER IS FLAT
BUT ADD A ROCK OR A STAR AND
THE WHOLE PICTURE CHANGES.
THE ENORMOUS MASS OF THE
STAR CREATES A HUGE DENT.
ANYTHING THAT PASSES
CLOSE ENOUGH WILL ROLL
DOWN AND AROUND
THAT WARP IN SPACE-TIME.
THE STRAIGHTEST PATH THROUGH
THE CURVES IN SPACE-TIME
CREATED BY MATTER AND ENERGY.
IT WAS THIS PICTURE
THAT SHOWED EINSTEIN
HOW GRAVITY HOLDS
THE EARTH IN ORBIT.
THE EARTH SIMPLY FOLLOWS
THE WARP IN SPACE-TIME
CREATED BY THE SUN.
EINSTEIN PUBLISHED
AN EARLY VERSION OF HIS
NEW THEORY OF GRAVITY IN 1913.
THERE WERE STILL PIECES MISSING
BUT HE IMPRESSED THE ONE
AUDIENCE THAT MATTERED.
IN THAT YEAR, MAX PLANCK,
GERMANY'S LEADING PHYSICIST
MADE THE PILGRIMAGE TO
ZURICH WITH A COLLEAGUE
TO OFFER EINSTEIN
A JOB IN BERLIN.
PLANCK AND NERNST LOOKED
ME OVER AS IF I WERE A PRIZE HEN
BUT I DIDN'T KNOW IF I
COULD LAY ANOTHER EGG.
I TOLD THEM I NEEDED
TO THINK ABOUT IT
AND WOULD MEET THEM AT
THE STATION THE NEXT DAY.
IF MY ANSWER WAS NO, I WOULD
WEAR A WHITE FLOWER IN MY LAPEL
BUT IF THE FLOWER WAS
RED, THEN BERLIN IT WOULD BE.
Abraham: IT WAS THE
CLIMAX OF A CAREER:
BERLIN WAS THE WORLD'S LEADING
CENTER FOR THEORETICAL PHYSICS.
WITHOUT DOUBT, THE FORMER
PATENT CLERK HAD ARRIVED.
BUT FOR MILEVA, THE PROMISE
OF BERLIN HELD NO ATTRACTION.
THE MARRIAGE LAY IN SHAMBLES.
THE INTENSE CONCENTRATION
ON GRAVITY HAD ERODED
ALL THAT REMAINED
OF A FAMILY LIFE.
Einstein: IN MY CIRCUMSTANCES,
I TURN TOWARDS SCIENCE
WHICH RAISES ME UP
FROM THE VALLEY OF TEARS
INTO THE QUIET ATMOSPHERE...
IMPERSONAL, WITHOUT
SWEARING AND YAMMERING.
Abraham: BY 1913, HE AND MILEVA
WERE COMPLETELY ESTRANGED
AND EINSTEIN RESUMED
CONTACT WITH ELSA.
Einstein: "DECEMBER 1913.
"DEAR ELSA, IT ISN'T
EASY TO GET A DIVORCE
"IF ONE DOES NOT HAVE ANY
PROOF OF THE OTHER PARTY'S GUILT.
"SO I TREAT MY WIFE AS AN
EMPLOYEE WHOM I CANNOT FIRE.
"I HAVE MY OWN BEDROOM AND
AVOID BEING ALONE WITH HER.
"BUT HOW NICE IT WOULD
BE IF ONE OF THESE DAYS
WE COULD SHARE A SMALL,
UNASSUMING HOUSEHOLD."
Abraham: THE EINSTEIN FAMILY
MOVED TO BERLIN IN APRIL 1914.
IN JULY, AFTER JUST THREE
MONTHS, MILEVA GAVE UP.
SHE AND HER SONS
RETURNED TO ZURICH.
IT WAS OVER.
IT'S STILL A GREAT SORROW TO ME
THAT I HAVE BEEN CUT
OFF FROM MY SONS.
I EVEN THOUGHT OF SEEKING
CUSTODY OF HANS ALBERT
BUT IT WAS OUT OF THE QUESTION.
MILEVA POISONED THE MINDS
OF BOTH BOYS AGAINST ME.
SHE WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO LIVE WITH
JEALOUS OF EVERYONE, EVERYTHING.
HOW COULD I HAVE MARRIED HER?
Abraham: DESPITE HIS SENSE OF
LOSS, THE HARSH TRUTH REMAINED:
EINSTEIN NEVER HAD MUCH
PATIENCE FOR EVERYDAY DEMANDS
EVEN THOSE OF HIS SONS.
Schulmann: THE DEMANDS
OF THE CHILDREN WERE
SOMETHING THAT HE FELT
BADLY ABOUT REJECTING
BUT HE SAID HIMSELF THAT
HE WAS NOT A GOOD FATHER.
I THINK THAT EINSTEIN REALLY
WANTED TO MAKE A GO OF IT
IN THE FIRST MARRIAGE
BUT ONE HAS TO BE
CAREFUL, OF COURSE
TO ASK WHAT WAS HE PREPARED
TO SACRIFICE TO MAKE IT WORK
AND THERE I THINK HE
FAILS RATHER MISERABLY.
Abraham: AMIDST
SUCH PRIVATE TURMOIL
EINSTEIN FACED HIS FIRST
PUBLIC MORAL CHALLENGE.
IN AUGUST 1914,
WORLD WAR I BEGAN.
THE WAR FEVER THAT GRIPPED
GERMANY DISGUSTED EINSTEIN
AND WHEN 93 LEADING ACADEMICS,
INCLUDING HIS FRIEND MAX PLANCK
ISSUED A MANIFESTO IN
DEFENSE OF GERMAN AGGRESSION
EINSTEIN HELPED LAUNCH A
COUNTERPETITION URGING PEACE.
IT GOT THREE SIGNATURES.
Einstein: EUROPE,
IN ALL HER INSANITY
HAS STARTED
SOMETHING UNBELIEVABLE.
IN LIVING THROUGH THIS
SO-CALLED GREAT EPOCH
I FIND IT DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE
THAT I BELONG TO SUCH AN
IDIOTIC, ROTTEN SPECIES...
THE SPECIES THAT ACTUALLY
BOASTS OF ITS FREEDOM OF WILL
HEROISM ON COMMAND,
SENSELESS VIOLENCE
AND ALL THE LOATHSOME NONSENSE
THAT GOES BY THE
NAME OF PATRIOTISM.
Abraham: A PACIFIST
IN AN ARMED CAPITAL
EINSTEIN LIVED AND
WORKED IN ISOLATION
ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF BERLIN.
AMIDST EUROPE'S FOLLY, HE TURNED
AGAIN TO HIS THEORY OF GRAVITY.
HE FACED ONE LAST HURDLE.
HE COULD NOT SOLVE
THE MATHEMATICS OF
CURVED SPACE-TIME.
THE PROBLEM HAD STUMPED
HIM FOR THREE YEARS.
THERE WAS NOT JUST
ONE FLASH OF INSIGHT
WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT
GENERAL RELATIVITY.
EINSTEIN HAD TO COPE WITH
THE MATHEMATICAL DIFFICULTIES.
HE HAD TO REVISE HIS PHYSICAL
IDEAS A NUMBER OF TIMES
AND HE WAS READY TO GIVE UP,
AT A CERTAIN POINT, DESPERATELY.
I THINK, GUYS, WE NEED
TO CHANGE THE PAGE.
WE NEED TO LOOK AT
THE PREVIOUS PAGE FIRST.
Abraham: RENN AND HIS COLLEAGUES
IN BERLIN HAVE BEEN STUDYING
EINSTEIN'S NOTEBOOKS
AND EINSTEIN'S STRUGGLES FROM
1912 FORWARD LEAP OFF THE PAGE.
AND HERE YOU SEE
THE KIND OF OBJECT
THAT HE WANTS TO ISOLATE.
THIS IS THE OBJECT
WHICH WOULD LEAD HIM
TO THE CLASSICAL
THEORY OF GRAVITATION.
Renn: WHAT YOU SEE IN THESE
PAGES IS A HUMAN DRAMA UNFOLDING
AND A DRAMA THAT MIGHT
HAVE HAD MANY ENDINGS
AND NOT ONLY GOOD ONES.
HE WAS AT TIMES DESPERATE
AND YOU CAN SEE ON
CERTAIN OF THESE PAGES
THAT HE TURNED TO A FRIEND TO
HELP HIM WITH THE MATHEMATICS
BECAUSE HE WAS NO LONGER
KNOWING WHERE TO GO.
Abraham: EINSTEIN'S FRIEND
WAS MARCEL GROSSMAN
HIS COLLEGE CLASSMATE WHOSE
MATH NOTES HE HAD ONCE BORROWED.
GROSSMAN AGAIN TUTORED EINSTEIN
THIS TIME IN THE COMPLEX
GEOMETRY OF CURVED SURFACES.
Renn: GROSSMAN, YOU SEE?
IT SEEMS HE HAS SET
HIM ON THE ROYAL ROAD
TOWARDS THE CORRECT
SOLUTION OF 1915.
Abraham: GROSSMAN GAVE
EINSTEIN THE TOOL HE NEEDED
TO COMPLETE HIS
ANALYSIS OF GRAVITY.
THE MISSING PIECES
WERE FALLING INTO PLACE.
IT'S THE FIRST
TIME HE HAS SEEN IT
BUT IT'S NOT THE FIRST TIME
HE'S LOOKING AT THESE TERMS
BECAUSE HE ENCOUNTERED
THEM ON THE PREVIOUS PAGES.
THERE HE WAS STUMBLING WITHOUT
THE MATHEMATICAL TOOLS HE NEEDED
AND THIS IS THE FIRST
TIME HE GETS REALLY...
Renn: AND ONCE HE
STARTED TO SPEAK, SO TO SAY
IN THIS NEW
MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE
HE ACHIEVED RESULTS
THAT HE FIRST HAD TO
GROPE TO UNDERSTAND.
ONE OF THE THINGS WE CAN STUDY
ON THE BASIS OF THE
NOTEBOOKS THAT HAVE SURVIVED
IS ACTUALLY THE CORRECT SOLUTION
WHICH THREE YEARS LATER HE
WOULD PUBLISH TRIUMPHANTLY
AS THE GENERAL
THEORY OF RELATIVITY.
BUT WHEN HE FIRST EXPRESSED
IT IN THIS NEW LANGUAGE
HE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND IT HIMSELF.
Abraham: IT TOOK
EINSTEIN THREE YEARS
TO MASTER ALL THE SUBTLETIES.
BY THE FALL OF 1915
HE WAS READY TO PUT
THE THEORY TO THE TEST.
THE ORBITS OF THE PLANETS
WERE UNDERSTOOD WITH
EXTRAORDINARY PRECISION
WITH ONE EXCEPTION.
MERCURY'S ORBIT
SHIFTED SLIGHTLY...
UNACCOUNTABLY... EVERY YEAR.
Klein: IT'S A VERY SMALL NUMBER
PREVIOUSLY TOTALLY UNEXPLAINED.
NOW, HERE, ON THE
BASIS OF THIS THEORY
WHICH HE HAD INVENTED OUT
OF NOTHING IN A CERTAIN SENSE
OUT OF HIS VIEW OF HOW GOD WOULD
HAVE HAD TO MAKE THE UNIVERSE
TO MAKE IT RIGHT
HE'S ABLE TO CALCULATE
THIS VERY REAL, SMALL EFFECT
AND GET THE RIGHT ANSWER.
THAT COULD GIVE
YOU PALPITATIONS.
AND I BELIEVE AT THAT
MOMENT EINSTEIN SAID
"I DON'T CARE WHAT
THE WORLD WILL SAY.
"I AM RIGHT, BECAUSE
THE LORD HAS TOLD ME:
'CALCULATE THE PERIHELION MOTION
OF MERCURY AND YOU WILL SEE.'"
AND HE DID!
AND IT CAME OUT.
WHEN I FOUND THAT
MY CALCULATIONS
PREDICTED THE MOTION
OF MERCURY EXACTLY
SOMETHING SNAPPED INSIDE ME.
THE FEELING WAS
SO... SO EXTREME.
I COULDN'T WORK FOR
DAYS, I WAS BESIDE MYSELF.
IN ALL MY LIFE I
NEVER FELT SUCH JOY.
Abraham: THE CALCULATION
VINDICATED EINSTEIN'S RADICAL IDEA
THAT SPACE-TIME IS CURVED.
MERCURY, THE INNERMOST
PLANET, SHIFTS ITS ORBIT
AS IT TRAVELS AROUND
THE DENT IN SPACE AND TIME
CREATED BY THE SUN'S HUGE MASS.
MASS EVERYWHERE DEFORMS
THE SPACE AROUND IT.
EVEN LIGHT, AS EINSTEIN HAD
RECOGNIZED YEARS BEFORE
MUST FOLLOW ALL THE
CURVES IN SPACE AND TIME
MAPPING THE SHAPE OF
THE UNIVERSE AS A WHOLE.
IT IS THIS UNDERSTANDING
THAT DRIVES THE SCIENTIFIC
STORY OF CREATION.
THE BIG BANG, THE
EXPANDING UNIVERSE
THE STRUCTURE OF GALAXIES
THE GREAT SWEEP OF
MODERN COSMOLOGY
DERIVES DIRECTLY FROM
THIS SINGLE EQUATION:
SPACE AND TIME ON THE LEFT,
MATTER AND ENERGY ON THE RIGHT.
THIS IS THE GENERAL
THEORY OF RELATIVITY
EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF GRAVITY.
Kaku: GENERAL RELATIVITY
IS IN A CLASS ALL BY ITSELF.
WE ARE JUST STUNNED,
EVEN DECADES LATER
THAT HE COULD COME OUT
WITH THAT THEORY BACK IN 1916.
I WOULD SAY HE WAS 50
YEARS AHEAD OF HIS TIME.
Abraham: EIGHT YEARS OF
SUSTAINED EFFORT TOOK THEIR TOLL.
EINSTEIN COLLAPSED,
NEAR DEATH, IN 1917.
HIS ILLNESS MARKED HIM.
THIS PHOTOGRAPH FROM
1920 SHOWS THE CHANGE.
HE WAS NURSED BACK TO
HEALTH BY HIS COUSIN ELSA.
THEIR RELATIONSHIP HAD
COOLED DURING THE WAR
BUT NOW HE NEEDED HER.
Einstein: I HAVE GAINED FOUR
POUNDS SINCE LAST SUMMER
THANKS TO ELSA'S GOOD CARE.
SHE HERSELF COOKS
EVERYTHING FOR ME.
Abraham: HER INFLUENCE SHOWED
IN EINSTEIN'S RENEWED
ATTENTION TO HIS APPEARANCE.
FINALLY IN 1919, THE
COUPLE DECIDED TO MARRY.
EINSTEIN'S DIVORCE
SETTLEMENT WITH MILEVA
REVEALED CHARACTERISTIC
SELF-CONFIDENCE.
HE PROMISED HER THE
MONEY FROM HIS NOBEL PRIZE
DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE WOULD
NOT WIN THE AWARD UNTIL 1922.
EINSTEIN NEVER LACKED
SELF-CONFIDENCE
BUT THE SPRING OF 1919
WAS SPECIAL... EVEN FOR HIM.
A SILENT FILM EXPLAINED
EINSTEIN'S BREAKTHROUGH
TO THE PUBLIC
WITH ANIMATION BY MAX
FLEISCHER, CREATOR OF BETTY BOOP.
GENERAL RELATIVITY PREDICTED
THAT STARLIGHT PASSING
CLOSE TO THE SUN
WOULD CURVE AROUND
THE WARP IN SPACE-TIME
CREATED BY THE SUN'S MASS.
THAT BENDING OF THE LIGHT WOULD
MAKE THE STAR SEEM TO OCCUPY
A NEW POSITION IN THE SKY
TO AN OBSERVER ON EARTH.
THIS COULD ONLY BE SEEN
DURING A TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.
A BRITISH EXPEDITION TRAVELED
TO THE SOUTH ATLANTIC IN 1919
TO PHOTOGRAPH AN ECLIPSE.
IT WOULD BE THE FIRST PUBLIC
TEST OF EINSTEIN'S THEORY.
MAY 29 DAWNED OVERCAST
OVER THE ATLANTIC.
BUT THEN THE SKY CLEARED...
AND IN THE SHADOW OF THE ECLIPSE
LIGHT WARPED AROUND THE SUN.
GRAVITY BENDS LIGHT
EXACTLY AS EINSTEIN
HAD PREDICTED.
AND WHAT WOULD I HAVE THOUGHT
IF THE ENGLISH HAD FOUND NOTHING?
I SAID AT THE TIME, "I WOULD
FEEL SORRY FOR THE DEAR LORD.
THE THEORY IS CORRECT."
FOR ME, GENERAL RELATIVITY
WAS SIMPLY TOO
BEAUTIFUL TO BE FALSE.
IT WAS INCONCEIVABLE
THAT THE ENGLISH WOULD
COME BACK PROVING ME WRONG.
Abraham: THE ECLIPSE RESULTS
WERE ANNOUNCED IN NOVEMBER.
LITERALLY OVERNIGHT,
EINSTEIN BECAME WORLD FAMOUS
THE FIRST SCIENTIST
CELEBRITY OF THE 20th CENTURY.
THIS WAS THE BIRTH
OF EINSTEIN THE ICON
THE EMBODIMENT OF
SCIENTIFIC WISDOM...
A FRIENDLY,
INCOMPREHENSIBLE SAGE.
IN THE AFTERMATH
OF A DEVASTATING WAR
HE WAS THE PERFECT
HERO FOR HIS DAY.
Pais: THE YEAR WAS 1919.
THE WORLD WAS IN A CHAOS BECAUSE
THE FIRST WORLD WAR HAD ENDED
NATIONS WERE TIRED
EMPIRES HAD FALLEN AND THERE
COMES THIS LITTLE MAN WHO SAYS
"I PROCLAIM THERE ARE
NEW LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE."
IT WAS A HISTORIC
MOMENT, YOU KNOW
AGAINST A BACKGROUND
OF CONFUSION.
IT'S LIKE MOSES COMING DOWN
THE MOUNTAIN WITH THE TABLETS.
Abraham: EINSTEIN, THE GERMAN,
ACCEPTING HONORS AT A FRENCH UNIVERSITY
WAS MORE THAN A SCIENTIST.
HE WAS A SYMBOL OF
THE HOPE FOR PEACE.
Children: EINSTEIN! EINSTEIN!
RA, RA, RA-RA-RA!
RA, RA, RA-RA-RA!
Abraham: NO SCIENTIST HAD EVER
RECEIVED SUCH PUBLIC ADULATION.
YES, THAT WAS REAL NICE, YES.
LOVED THE CHILDREN... AND
SO HEALTHY, SO HEALTHY.
Abraham: WHEN EINSTEIN AND
FELLOW SUPERSTAR CHARLIE CHAPLIN
CROSSED PATHS, THE
TWO COMPARED NOTES.
WITH FAME I HAVE BECOME
MORE AND MORE STUPID
WHICH, OF COURSE, IS A
VERY COMMON PHENOMENON
BUT YOU HAVE TO TAKE
IT ALL WITH GOOD HUMOR.
CHARLIE CHAPLIN HAD IT RIGHT.
WHEN HE AND I MET
WE WERE SURROUNDED BY
PEOPLE CALLING OUR NAMES.
"WHAT DOES IT ALL
MEAN?" I ASKED HIM.
"NOTHING," HE REPLIED.
Abraham: NOT QUITE NOTHING.
EINSTEIN DID ENJOY SOME OF THE
PLEASURES THAT FAME CAN BRING
AS HE BEGAN TO STEP
OUT IN BERLIN SOCIETY.
BUT EINSTEIN'S BASIC
STYLE REMAINED UNCHANGED
ESPECIALLY AT HIS COUNTRY HOUSE
AS PETER PLESCH, SON OF
EINSTEIN'S DOCTOR, RECALLS.
Plesch: HE NEVER CARRIED A
HAT WHEN HE WAS OUT IN THE SUN
WHEN HE WAS SAILING
WHEN HE WAS IN THE COUNTRYSIDE.
AND IF THE SUN, HE THOUGHT,
GOT A BIT TOO STRONG FOR HIM
HE WOULD TAKE OUT
HIS HANDKERCHIEF
AND HE WOULD, UH, PROCEED
TO MAKE A HAT FOR HIMSELF
BY KNOTTING THE CORNERS.
AND THIS ACTUALLY
IS VERY INTERESTING
BECAUSE THE TURNING OF A FLAT
SURFACE INTO A CURVED SURFACE
IS REALLY A VERY INTERESTING
PHYSICAL PHENOMENON
SINCE RELATIVITY THEORY
HAS AS ONE OF ITS INGREDIENTS
THE CURVATURE OF SPACE.
AND THE PRACTICAL
DEVICE WAS VERY PRACTICAL
AND IT WORKED LIKE THAT
WITH THE FOUR CORNERS
AND THAT WAS HIS HAT.
Abraham: THROUGHOUT THE 1920s
ELSA REVELED IN HER HUSBAND'S
INCREASINGLY PROMINENT POSITION.
BUT EINSTEIN DREW
SHARP LINES BETWEEN THEM.
THEY HAD SEPARATE BEDROOMS,
SHE WAS NOT TO ENTER HIS STUDY
AND EINSTEIN KEPT COMPANY
WITH OTHER, YOUNGER WOMEN.
Einstein: MARRIAGE IS THE
UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT
TO MAKE SOMETHING
LASTING OUT OF AN INCIDENT.
ALL MARRIAGES ARE DANGEROUS.
Schulmann: EINSTEIN HAD WANTED
SEX WITHOUT COMPLICATIONS.
HE ALSO WANTED RELATIONSHIPS
WITH HIS CLOSEST FAMILY MEMBERS
WITHOUT COMPLICATIONS.
THE PURSUIT OF LADIES
IN THIS CONTEXT, THEN
IS ONE WHERE THE SENSE
OF OBLIGATION IS AT A MINIMUM
BUT THE PURSUIT OF
PLEASURE IS MAINTAINED
AND THE PURSUIT OF THE
GREATEST PRIORITY, PHYSICS
IS NEVER IN QUESTION.
MY FRIEND BESSO
HAS LIVED HAPPILY
WITH THE SAME WOMAN FOR
THE WHOLE OF HIS ADULT LIFE.
I FAILED TWICE,
RATHER DISGRACEFULLY.
I CAN LOVE HUMANITY, IT SEEMS
BUT WHEN IT COMES
TO CLOSE PERSONAL TIES
WITH INDIVIDUAL MEN AND WOMEN
I AM A HORSE FOR SINGLE HARNESS
NOT CUT OUT FOR
TANDEM OR TEAMWORK.
Abraham: BUT FOR
IMPORTANT CAUSES
EINSTEIN WOULD BREAK
HIS SOLITARY RULE.
AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR
HE CAME INCREASINGLY
TO ALLY HIMSELF
WITH A GROUP HE HAD
LEFT BEHIND IN CHILDHOOD...
THE COMMUNITY OF EUROPEAN JEWS.
ANTI-SEMITISM WAS SPREADING
VIRULENTLY IN GERMANY.
SOME GERMAN SCIENTISTS
EVEN ATTACKED EINSTEIN HIMSELF
FOR WHAT THEY CALLED HIS
IMMORAL, "JEWISH" PHYSICS.
IN RESPONSE, EINSTEIN,
EVER MORE PUBLICLY
IDENTIFIED HIMSELF AS A JEW.
I AM GLAD THAT YOU HAVE
ME GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY
OF EXPRESSING TO YOU HERE
MY DEEP SENSE OF GRATITUDE
AS A MAN, AS A GOOD
EUROPEAN, AND AS A JEW.
I AM A JEW, CERTAINLY,
BUT NOT A PRACTICING ONE.
IT WAS DIFFERENT
WHEN I WAS A BOY...
I WAS VERY FERVENT.
I EVEN SANG RELIGIOUS
SONGS ON MY WAY TO SCHOOL
BUT THEN I READ MY
FIRST BOOKS ON SCIENCE.
SO MUCH FOR THE FACE OF ABRAHAM.
AND YET OVER TIME I'VE COME TO
REALIZE THAT BEHIND ANYTHING...
BEHIND EVERYTHING... IS AN ORDER
THAT WE GLIMPSE ONLY INDIRECTLY.
THIS IS RELIGIOUSNESS.
IN THIS SENSE, I AM
A RELIGIOUS MAN.
Abraham: IT WAS EINSTEIN'S DEEP
BELIEF IN THE ORDER OF NATURE
THAT LED HIM FIRST TO
PONDER THE MYSTERY OF LIGHT
AND TO ARRIVE AT HIS
SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY.
IT LED HIM ON TO INCLUDE GRAVITY
IN HIS EXPANDING
PICTURE OF THE UNIVERSE.
BUT EINSTEIN'S ABIDING FAITH
THAT NATURE MUST MAKE SENSE
SET HIM ON A COLLISION COURSE
WITH THE NEXT GREAT
BREAKTHROUGH IN PHYSICS.
IN 1927, THE FIFTH
SOLVAY CONFERENCE
BROUGHT EINSTEIN TOGETHER
WITH THE LEADING PROPONENTS
OF THE REVOLUTIONARY
THEORY OF QUANTUM MECHANICS...
THE DESCRIPTION OF NATURE
AT THE VERY SMALLEST SCALE.
WHILE EINSTEIN HAD FOCUSED
ON THE LARGE-SCALE
STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE
YOUNGER SCIENTISTS, LED BY
WERNER HEISENBERG AND NIELS BOHR
EXPLORED THE ATOM
AND THE TINY BUILDING
BLOCKS OF ENERGY AND MATTER
CALLED "QUANTA."
THESE YOUNG RESEARCHERS FOUND
THAT UNCERTAINTY AND
RANDOMNESS GOVERN
THE PHYSICS OF THE VERY SMALL.
EINSTEIN HIMSELF HAD PIONEERED
THE STUDY OF THE QUANTUM
BUT HE LOATHED THE NOTION
THAT THERE WAS ANYTHING
UNCERTAIN IN NATURE.
I DON'T DENY THAT QUANTUM
MECHANICS IS USEFUL
UP TO A POINT
BUT I AM CONVINCED
THERE IS A DEEPER THEORY
THAT WILL REPLACE THE
UNCERTAINTY AT THE CENTER OF IT.
AS I TOLD NIELS BOHR
GOD DOES NOT PLAY
DICE WITH THE UNIVERSE.
UNFORTUNATELY, I
FAILED TO CONVINCE HIM.
Abraham: BOHR'S REPLY: WHO WAS
EINSTEIN TO TELL THE LORD WHAT TO DO?
IT IS A CERTAIN ARROGANCE
IN THE SENSE, YOU
KNOW, THAT HE...
THAT EINSTEIN SAYS,
"GOD DOES NOT PLAY DICE."
HOW DOES HE KNOW?
AND BOHR, OF COURSE,
IS ENTIRELY RIGHT.
YOU CAN'T KNOW WHAT
THE LORD HAS UP HIS SLEEVE.
Abraham: EINSTEIN NEVER
WARMED TO QUANTUM MECHANICS
DESPITE A LIFETIME OF
ARGUMENTS WITH BOHR.
HE HAD GRANDER AMBITIONS...
A THEORY THAT WOULD UNIFY THE
FUNDAMENTAL FORCES OF NATURE
WITHIN A SINGLE,
COMPREHENSIVE PICTURE.
FEW OF HIS
CONTEMPORARIES THOUGHT
SUCH A UNIFICATION POSSIBLE.
NO MATTER.
EINSTEIN HAD GONE
HIS OWN WAY BEFORE.
HE WOULD DO SO AGAIN.
Einstein: I HAVE BECOME
AN OBSTINATE HERETIC IN
THE EYES OF MY COLLEAGUES.
I'M GENERALLY REGARDED AS
A SORT OF PETRIFIED OBJECT
RENDERED BLIND AND
DEAF BY THE YEARS.
I FIND THIS ROLE
NOT TOO DISTASTEFUL
AS IT CORRESPONDS VERY
WELL WITH MY TEMPERAMENT.
IT WAS A WILLED
CHOICE ON HIS PART
TO DO WHAT HE FELT
ONLY HE COULD DO
BECAUSE MOST OF PHYSICS
MOST OF THE PHYSICS COMMUNITY
WASN'T INTERESTED IN PURSING
HIS IDEA OF A
UNIFIED FIELD THEORY.
HE FELT THAT IT OUGHT TO BE DONE
BECAUSE IT COULD LEAD TO A NEW
FOUNDATION FOR QUANTUM MECHANICS
AT LEAST, HE HOPED IT WOULD
AND, UM... HE WOULD DO IT
AND IF THEY DIDN'T
LIKE IT, WELL, TOO BAD.
Abraham: "UNIFIED FIELD THEORY"
WAS WHAT EINSTEIN CALLED
HIS STILL-UNFORMED IDEA.
IT WOULD SUBSUME RELATIVITY
AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
WITHIN A FORMULATION SIMPLER AND
MORE COMPREHENSIVE THAN EITHER.
HE WOULD SEEK HIS UNIFIED
VISION FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE...
BUT ALONE, IN EXILE.
IN THE LATE 1920s, THE NAZI
PARTY'S POWER GREW STEADILY.
BY 1932, ADOLF HITLER
WAS ON THE VERGE
OF BECOMING GERMANY'S DICTATOR.
NO ENEMY WAS SAFE...
ESPECIALLY THE MOST
FAMOUS JEW IN THE WORLD.
EINSTEIN HIMSELF HAD ALREADY
RECEIVED DEATH THREATS.
AND AS HE HAD AS A BOY, HE ONCE
AGAIN PREPARED TO FLEE GERMANY.
LEAVING WAS ALMOST A RELIEF.
Einstein: I HAVE NEVER REALLY
BELONGED TO ANY COUNTRY OR STATE
TO MY CIRCLE OF FRIENDS...
OR EVEN MY FAMILY.
IN FACT, MY NEED TO WITHDRAW
WITHIN MYSELF HAS INCREASED
OVER THE YEARS.
MY ISOLATION IS OFTEN
BITTER TO BE SURE
BUT I'VE NEVER REGRETTED IT.
IF I AM CUT OFF FROM
THE UNDERSTANDING
AND SYMPATHY OF OTHERS
I AM ALSO INDEPENDENT OF
THEIR OPINIONS AND PREJUDICES.
Abraham: IN EARLY 1933, EINSTEIN AND
ELSA SET SAIL FOR THE UNITED STATES.
THEY NEVER RETURNED TO EUROPE.
Reporter: WHAT DO YOU THINK
OF PROHIBITION, PROFESSOR?
ICH TRINKE NICHT
ALSO IST MIR DAS GANZ GLEICH.
HE DOESN'T DRINK AT ALL
SO HE IS NOT INTERESTED
IN THIS QUESTION.
Abraham: EINSTEIN NEVER LOST
THE ABILITY TO PLEASE A CROWD.
BUT HIS NEED FOR
SOLITUDE BROUGHT HIM
TO THE QUIET COLLEGE TOWN
OF PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY.
EINSTEIN SETTLED
QUICKLY INTO A ROUTINE
WALKING EVERY
MORNING TO HIS OFFICE
AT THE INSTITUTE
FOR ADVANCED STUDY
AND RETURNING IN THE AFTERNOON
TO HIS MODEST HOME
ON MERCER STREET.
HE NEVER LEARNED TO DRIVE.
IN AMERICA, EINSTEIN GAVE FREE
REIN TO HIS ECCENTRIC STREAK
SHOWING UP WITHOUT SOCKS
FOR HIS INDUCTION AS A
CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES.
EINSTEIN ALWAYS
REFUSED TO PLAY THE ROLE
OF THE PROPER PROFESSOR.
THIS WAS EINSTEIN,
THE WISE SPRITE.
BUT ALL THIS GOOD HUMOR
MASKED GROWING ISOLATION.
IN 1936, HIS WIFE ELSA
DIED AFTER A BRIEF ILLNESS.
EINSTEIN WROTE TO A FRIEND
THAT HIS BEARISHNESS WAS
ACCENTUATED BY ELSA'S DEATH
WHO, HE SAID, "WAS MORE
ATTACHED TO HUMAN BEINGS THAN I."
EINSTEIN NEVER SAW MILEVA AGAIN.
SHE DIED IN 1949.
HIS SON EDWARD, A
SCHIZOPHRENIC, REMAINED CONFINED
TO AN ASYLUM IN SWITZERLAND
UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1966.
HIS OLDER SON, HANS ALBERT
BECAME A PROFESSOR OF
ENGINEERING IN CALIFORNIA
BUT SAW HIS FATHER ONLY RARELY.
THE QUEST FOR A UNIFIED
THEORY CONTINUED.
EINSTEIN NEVER FOUND IT
BUT HIS SENSE FOR THE IMPORTANT
QUESTION REMAINED UNSURPASSED.
Kaku: SOME PEOPLE THINK
THAT EINSTEIN WASTED THE
LAST 30 YEARS OF HIS LIFE
CHASING AFTER THIS
UNIFIED FIELD THEORY.
WELL, I BELIEVE THAT WE
ARE ALL GREATLY INDEBTED
BECAUSE EINSTEIN
SHOWED US THE WAY.
TODAY, UNIFICATION IS
THE NAME OF THE GAME.
WE HAVE HUNDREDS OF
PHYSICISTS NOW TRYING TO UNITE
THE NUCLEAR FORCE WITH GRAVITY
AND THE ELECTROMAGNETIC FORCE.
WE ARE ALL INDEBTED.
WE ARE ALL
ESSENTIALLY INHERITING
THE MANTLE THAT
EINSTEIN LEFT FOR US.
Abraham: EINSTEIN PASSED
THE WAR YEARS QUIETLY.
HIS FAMOUS LETTER TO ROOSEVELT
URGED NUCLEAR RESEARCH
BUT EINSTEIN HIMSELF HAD
NO ROLE IN BUILDING THE BOMB.
AFTER THE WAR, THE OUTSIDE
WORLD WOULD SEEK OUT EINSTEIN
FOR VIEWS ON
CAUSES OF ALL SORTS.
DAVID BEN GURION EVEN
CAME TO MERCER STREET
TO OFFER EINSTEIN THE PRESIDENCY
OF THE NEW STATE OF ISRAEL.
TO THE RELIEF OF
BOTH, EINSTEIN DECLINED.
SCIENCE STILL CAME FIRST
EVEN IF HIS UNIFIED THEORY
STUBBORNLY REFUSED
TO TAKE SHAPE.
FINALLY, IN THE SPRING OF 1955
EINSTEIN'S HEART BEGAN TO FAIL.
HE ENTERED THE HOSPITAL,
AND THEN, ON APRIL 15...
Pais: HE CALLED HIS SECRETARY.
HE WANTED HIS FOUNTAIN
PEN, HIS GLASSES
AND HIS LATEST PIECE OF NOTES.
AND EINSTEIN, OF COURSE, KNEW
THAT HIS TIME WAS IMMINENT TO GO
BUT HE WANTED TO CALCULATE
AND HE SAT DOWN ON
THE BED AND CALCULATED.
THAT IS A STORY THAT
MAKES YOU SHUDDER.
IT MAKES ME SHUDDER.
HE KNEW HE WOULD NOT SEE
WHATEVER WOULD COME
OUT OF THESE CALCULATIONS
BY WAY OF ACHIEVEMENT.
IT DIDN'T MATTER TO HIM.
Abraham: EINSTEIN DIED JUST
AFTER MIDNIGHT, APRIL 16, 1955.
HE WAS 76.
ALBERT EINSTEIN CHANGED FOREVER
OUR CONCEPTION OF SPACE, TIME,
THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE.
TO HIM, THAT WAS
WHAT TRULY MATTERED.
"THE REST," HE SAID,
"COULD BE FORGOTTEN."
Einstein: IN MY LIFE, I HAVE
ALWAYS SOUGHT TO GAIN
JUST A GLIMPSE OF THE ORDER
THAT LIES HIDDEN IN NATURE.
ALL SCIENCE REQUIRES FAITH IN
THE INNER HARMONY OF THE WORLD.
OUR LONGING FOR
UNDERSTANDING IS ETERNAL.
SPACE, TIME, LIGHT, MATTER.
LEARN MORE ABOUT THE THEORIES
AND THE MAN THAT CHANGED OUR
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OF YOUR FUTURE.
SO MAKE A PLAN.
AND BY MERCK.
MERCK... PHARMACEUTICAL
RESEARCH.
DEDICATED TO PREVENTING DISEASE.
ALL I HAVE TRIED TO DO IN MY
LIFE IS ASK A FEW QUESTIONS.
COULD GOD HAVE CREATED
THE UNIVERSE ANY OTHER WAY
OR HAD HE NO CHOICE?
AND HOW WOULD I HAVE
MADE THE UNIVERSE
IF I HAD THE CHANCE?
Abraham: IT WAS ALBERT
EINSTEIN'S ASTOUNDING
ALMOST ARROGANT AMBITION,
TO READ THE MIND OF GOD.
AND HE SUCCEEDED, TIME AND AGAIN
COMPLETELY TRANSFORMING
OUR UNDERSTANDING
OF SPACE, TIME, AND LIGHT.
BUT AS HIS NEWLY
PUBLISHED PAPERS REVEAL
THERE WAS A PRICE THAT
HE, AND THOSE CLOSEST TO HIM
HAD TO PAY FOR EACH
AND EVERY TRIUMPH.
Einstein: I HAVE LEARNED
TO ISOLATE MYSELF
FROM THE UNPREDICTABILITY
OF HUMAN RELATIONS.
LIFE TENDS TO GET CLOGGED
UP, ESPECIALLY MARRIAGE.
Abraham: THAT CONFLICT BETWEEN
SCIENCE AND HUMAN RELATIONS
PLAYED OUT ACROSS ALL
OF EINSTEIN'S ADULT LIFE.
IN 1905, HE AND HIS WIFE MILEVA
WERE LIVING A QUIET LIFE IN
BERN WITH THEIR INFANT SON.
EVEN AFTER THE PUBLICATION
OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY
AND THE OTHER DISCOVERIES
OF HIS MIRACLE YEAR
EINSTEIN REMAINED AN EXAMINER
AT THE SWISS PATENT OFFICE.
Einstein: "JANUARY 1907.
"DEAR FRIEND, I AM STILL
A FEDERAL INK PISSER
"WITH A DECENT SALARY.
"I WORK EVERY DAY EIGHT
HOURS AT THE PATENT OFFICE
"AND AT LEAST ONE
HOUR OF PRIVATE LESSONS
YET I ENJOY IT HERE, AND THERE
IS MUCH THINKING TO BE DONE."
Abraham: BUT IN SCIENCE, EINSTEIN
WAS NO LONGER AN OUTSIDER.
A GROWING NUMBER OF PHYSICISTS
MADE THE PILGRIMAGE
TO THE PATENT OFFICE.
THEY WOULD TREK
UP TO THE TOP FLOOR
AND ASK A SMARTLY
DRESSED YOUNG MAN
TO LEAD THEM TO DR. EINSTEIN.
EINSTEIN LATER TOLD A FRIEND
THAT HE HAD NEVER MET
A REAL PHYSICIST BEFORE.
HIS FRIEND RESPONDED,
"DIDN'T YOU LOOK IN THE MIRROR?"
BUT EVEN AS HIS REPUTATION
GREW, EINSTEIN BEGAN TO GRASP
THE LIMITATIONS OF HIS
SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY.
IN 1907, EINSTEIN WAS
ASKED TO SUMMARIZE
EVERYTHING THEN KNOWN
ABOUT SPECIAL RELATIVITY
FOR A LEADING PHYSICS JOURNAL.
HE SAW THAT HIS THEORY
ENCOMPASSED ALL OF PHYSICS
EXCEPT FOR ONE CRUCIAL GAP.
HE SAID TO HIMSELF
"NOW I MUST SEE IF I CAN
FIT INTO THAT FRAMEWORK
ALL PHENOMENA ONE CAN THINK OF."
AND EVERYTHING
COULD BE FITTED...
MECHANICS AS IT WAS KNOWN
THE THEORY OF
MAXWELL AS IT WAS KNOWN
THE ELECTROMAGNETIC THEORY...
BUT ONE THING HE COULDN'T
FIT IN AND THAT WAS GRAVITATION.
Abraham: GRAVITY SEEMED
STRAIGHTFORWARD ENOUGH.
A POUND OF PORK, A POUND
OF CHERRIES OR OF ANYTHING
WILL MOVE THE SCALES
THE SAME AMOUNT
BECAUSE THE EARTH'S
GRAVITY PULLS ON THEM
ALL IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY.
YET WHAT THE EARTH
DOES TO MAKE ITSELF FELT
BY MEAT, POTATOES AND
US... THAT NO ONE KNEW.
ISAAC NEWTON HAD SHOWN
THAT GRAVITY GOVERNS THE
MOTION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM AS WELL
BUT EVEN NEWTON'S
THEORY COULD NOT EXPLAIN
HOW GRAVITY EXERTS ITS INFLUENCE
THROUGHOUT THE UNIVERSE.
THAT WAS THE MYSTERY OF GRAVITY:
HOW IS IT THAT THE
HEAVENS STAY ON TRACK?
WHAT IS IT THAT ORDERS
THE UNIVERSE AS A WHOLE?
EINSTEIN, STILL IN HIS 20s
WAS CHASING THE BIGGEST GAME
IN PHYSICS... A TREMENDOUS GAMBLE
AS THE GREAT MAX
PLANCK TRIED TO TELL HIM.
MAX PLANCK WARNED ME NOT TO
WORK ON THE THEORY OF GRAVITY.
THE PROBLEM WAS TOO DIFFICULT,
HE SAID, AND EVEN IF I SUCCEEDED
NO ONE WOULD BELIEVE ME.
BUT I TOOK IT ON ANYWAY
AND NEVER WORKED
SO HARD IN ALL MY LIFE.
THE FIRST THEORY OF
RELATIVITY WAS CHILD'S PLAY
COMPARED TO THE
PROBLEM OF GRAVITATION.
Abraham: GRAVITY IS THE MOST
DEMOCRATIC PHENOMENON IN THE UNIVERSE.
IT TREATS EVERY OBJECT THE SAME
NO MATTER WHAT IT IS MADE
OF, NO MATTER HOW BIG IT IS.
THERE WERE NO EXCEPTIONS TO
GIVE EINSTEIN A PLACE TO START.
HE HAD NO IDEA HOW TO
APPROACH THE PROBLEM, UNTIL...
THEN ALL OF A SUDDEN
IT OCCURRED TO ME.
DER GLUCKLICHSTE
GEDANKE MEINES LEBENS:
THE HAPPIEST THOUGHT OF MY LIFE.
IF A MAN FALLS FROM
THE ROOF OF A HOUSE
HE WILL NOT FEEL HIS OWN WEIGHT.
Abraham: IN ANOTHER OF
HIS THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS
EINSTEIN PUT THE IDEA THIS WAY.
WHAT IF SOMEONE
WERE IN AN ELEVATOR
WHEN THE CABLE SNAPPED?
HE WOULD FLOAT, WEIGHTLESS
AS HE AND THE ELEVATOR BOTH
FREE-FALL AT THE SAME RATE
IN THE EARTH'S
GRAVITATIONAL FIELD.
THEN EINSTEIN CHANGED THE SCENE:
WHAT IF THE PASSENGER
WERE IN A ROCKET SHIP
FAR FROM EARTH?
HE WOULD STILL FLOAT
WITH NO GRAVITATIONAL FIELD
TO HOLD HIS FEET TO THE FLOOR.
BUT WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF
THE ROCKET BEGAN TO MOVE?
AS IT ACCELERATES, THE
FLOOR OF THE ROCKET RISES.
ON ITS WAY UP, IT WOULD
CATCH THE PASSENGER
AND TO HIM, IT WOULD SEEM
THAT GRAVITY WAS HOLDING
HIS FEET TO THE FLOOR.
AND IF GRAVITY AND
ACCELERATION FEEL THE SAME
PERHAPS THEY ARE THE SAME,
AND THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE
BETWEEN ACCELERATING
IN OUTER SPACE
OR STANDING IN THE
EARTH'S GRAVITATIONAL FIELD
WAITING FOR THE
ELEVATOR DOOR TO OPEN.
THIS WAS CLASSIC EINSTEIN.
HIS CONTEMPORARIES FOUND
THIS EQUIVALENCE OF ACCELERATION
AND GRAVITY INTERESTING.
BUT ONLY HE REALIZED
THAT IT COULD SERVE AS THE
FOUNDATION OF WHAT WOULD BECOME
A REVOLUTIONARY NEW
THEORY OF GRAVITY.
Man: IF I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY
OF ASKING EINSTEIN ONE QUESTION
I WOULD ASK HIM HOW
HE COULD BE SO SURE
OF THE PRINCIPLES ON
WHICH HE BUILT HIS THEORIES.
HOW COULD HE BE SO SURE
THAT THE DEAR LORD REQUIRED
THAT THE RELATIVITY POSTULATE
BE SATISFIED THROUGHOUT NATURE?
HOW COULD HE BE SO SURE
THAT THE EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE
REALLY HELD EVERYWHERE
AND AT ALL TIMES?
AND IF HE COULD TELL
US HOW HE DID THAT
THAT WOULD BE... THAT
WOULD BE SOMETHING.
Abraham: WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT HE
DID IT WITH FEROCIOUS CONCENTRATION
TO THE EXCLUSION OF ALL ELSE.
WHICH MEANT THAT OVER TIME
HE GAVE LESS AND LESS ATTENTION
HIS WIFE MILEVA.
WHEN THEY COURTED
HE HAD PROMISED THAT THEY
WOULD BE SCIENTIFIC PARTNERS...
TWO AGAINST THE WORLD.
BUT EINSTEIN'S
PRIORITIES HAD CHANGED.
Einstein: I AM NOT MUCH
GOOD WITH PEOPLE
AND I AM NOT A FAMILY MAN.
I WANT MY PEACE.
I FEEL THE INSIGNIFICANCE
OF THE INDIVIDUAL
AND IT MAKES ME HAPPY.
Abraham: RELATIONS BETWEEN
EINSTEIN AND HIS WIFE GREW WORSE
WHEN THEY MOVED
TO PRAGUE IN 1911.
EINSTEIN HAD BEEN
NAMED A FULL PROFESSOR
AT THE GERMAN
UNIVERSITY THERE...
A MAJOR STEP UP THE
PROFESSIONAL LADDER.
BUT FOR MILEVA, CLOISTERED
IN THEIR APARTMENT
AND WITH A SECOND SON TO
CARE FOR, PRAGUE FELT LIKE EXILE.
Schulmann: MILEVA FELT SHE WAS
BEING MARGINALIZED EVER MORE
PUSHED TO THE SIDE,
LESS AND LESS IMPORTANT.
WHEN THE DIVISION OF LABOR
BETWEEN EINSTEIN AND MILEVA
WAS THAT HE DO
THE SCIENTIFIC WORK
AND SHE BE EXPECTED TO DO
THE DOMESTIC SIDE OF THINGS
I THINK THE PRETENSE THEY HAD
TRIED TO MAINTAIN OVER THE YEARS
FELL APART COMPLETELY.
JUST THINK OF IT... SHE HAD
FAILED IN HER AMBITIONS.
WHEN I SAY AMBITIONS, I DON'T
MEAN AMBITIOUS OF GETTING POWER
OR SOMETHING LIKE THAT
BUT BECOMING A NEW KIND OF
WOMAN AMONG... IN A WORLD OF MEN.
THIS HAD COMPLETELY FAILED.
Abraham: RECENTLY
DISCOVERED LETTERS
REVEAL AN UNEASY MIX OF PRIDE,
FEAR AND A HINT OF JEALOUSY.
Mileva: "I AM VERY HAPPY
ABOUT HIS SUCCESS
"WHICH HE HAS REALLY EARNED.
"I ONLY HOPE AND WISH
THAT FAME DOES NOT EXERT
A DETRIMENTAL INFLUENCE
ON HIS HUMAN SIDE."
Abraham: BEHIND THE
WALLS OF THEIR HOME
MILEVA'S DEPRESSION
AND BITTERNESS GREW.
Mileva: "NOT MUCH TIME
REMAINS FOR HIS WIFE.
"I OFTEN ASK MYSELF
WHETHER I AM NOT A PERSON
"WHO FEELS A GREAT DEAL
AND SUFFERS BECAUSE OF THAT.
"I AM STARVED FOR LOVE
AND I ALMOST BELIEVE
WICKED SCIENCE IS GUILTY."
Einstein: WHEN I THINK
SERIOUSLY DAY AND NIGHT
I CANNOT EASILY ENGAGE
IN LOVING CHATTER
IN THE SAME WAY ONE
CAN'T PLAY THE VIOLIN
IF HE HAS JUST BEEN WORKING
WITH A LARGE HAMMER.
Abraham: THERE COULD BE NO COMPROMISE...
SCIENCE WOULD ALWAYS COME FIRST
ESPECIALLY THE
PROBLEM OF GRAVITATION.
EINSTEIN NOW ASKED
IF ACCELERATION AND
GRAVITY ARE EQUIVALENT
WHAT HAPPENS WHILE ACCELERATING
THAT REVEALS SOMETHING
NEW ABOUT GRAVITY?
BACK TO HIS ROCKET SHIP
EINSTEIN RESUMED HIS
THOUGHT EXPERIMENT.
AS THE ROCKET ACCELERATES
A RAY OF LIGHT SHINING THROUGH
THE WINDOW HITS THE OTHER SIDE
AT A LOWER POINT
THAN IT ENTERED.
TO A PASSENGER, THE
LIGHT APPEARS TO CURVE.
IF ACCELERATION CAN BEND LIGHT
THEN BY THE
EQUIVALENCE PRINCIPLE
GRAVITY MUST DO THE SAME.
IT SEEMED A CRUCIAL CLUE...
BUT WHERE WOULD IT LEAD?
GRAVITY DOES MORE
THAN MAKE THINGS FALL...
THAT MUCH WAS CLEAR...
BUT I STILL HAD NO
IDEA WHAT IT WAS.
MY OFFICE IN PRAGUE
LOOKED OUT OVER AN ASYLUM
AND THERE WERE TIMES
WHEN I FELT A CERTAIN
KINSHIP WITH THE INMATES.
THEY WERE THE MADMEN WHO DID
NOT CONCERN THEMSELVES WITH PHYSICS
I WAS THE MADMAN WHO DID.
Abraham: THE
ASYLUM IS STILL THERE
WALLS, BARS, INMATES AND ALL.
FOR HIS PART, EINSTEIN
WAS ONLY HALF-JOKING.
OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS
GRAVITY BECAME ALMOST
HIS SOLE OBSESSION.
IN 1911, THE FIRST SOLVAY
CONFERENCE IN BRUSSELS
BROUGHT TOGETHER EUROPE'S
MOST FAMOUS PHYSICISTS.
IT WAS AN
INVITATION-ONLY AFFAIR.
EINSTEIN WAS THE
YOUNGEST TO ATTEND.
GABRIELLE OPPENHEIM'S FATHER
WAS RECTOR OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF BRUSSELS.
SHE IS NOW 103
BUT SHE WAS 19 WHEN
EINSTEIN CAME TO CALL.
WHEN WE HAD BIG SOIREE
BECAUSE MY FATHER AND
MOTHER INVITED MANY PEOPLE
AND THEY WERE ALL, THAT
DAY, THEY WERE ALL PHYSICISTS
BECAUSE THERE WAS A
CONGRESS OF PHYSICS
AND MY HUSBAND SAID
"THAT GENTLEMAN"...
HE POINTED HIM OUT...
WILL BE ONE OF THE GREATEST
OF THOSE PHYSICISTS."
Abraham: THE FORMER PATENT
CLERK NOW TRADED IDEAS
WITH THE LIKES OF MADAME CURIE
WITH THE GREAT DUTCH
PHYSICIST, HENDRIK LORENTZ
AND THE ENGLISH ATOMIC
SCIENTIST, ERNEST RUTHERFORD.
EVEN IN SUCH COMPANY
EINSTEIN WAS RECOGNIZED
AS FIRST AMONG EQUALS.
Oppenheim: MY HUSBAND
SAID, "THAT GENTLEMAN
HE... WILL BE ONE
OF THE GREATEST."
SO I GAVE HIM ONE SANDWICH MORE.
AND IT... IT'S TRUE.
Abraham: THERE WAS ONE PERSON
WHO MISSED EINSTEIN'S TRIUMPH: MILEVA.
Mileva: IT MUST HAVE
BEEN VERY INTERESTING.
I WOULD HAVE LOVED ONLY TOO
WELL TO HAVE LISTENED A LITTLE
AND TO HAVE SEEN
ALL THOSE FINE PEOPLE.
IT'S BEEN AN ETERNITY SINCE
WE'VE SEEN EACH OTHER.
WILL YOU STILL RECOGNIZE ME?
Abraham: WHAT EINSTEIN WANTED IN
MARRIAGE WAS DOMESTIC COMFORT
NOT AN INTELLECTUAL PARTNER.
Einstein: "OCTOBER
1911, EN ROUTE.
"MY DEAR LITTLE WIFE...
"AROUND 1:00 IN THE
MORNING I FOUND THE HAM
"AND IMMEDIATELY
POLISHED IT OFF.
"THE APPLES ALSO DID AN
INFINITE AMOUNT OF GOOD
"IN THIS FRIGHTFUL STEAM BATH.
MANY KISSES TO YOU
AND THE CHILDREN."
Abraham: AS THE MONTHS PASSED,
MILEVA'S ISOLATION DEEPENED
BUT THE WORST SHOCK
WAS STILL TO COME.
ON A VISIT TO GERMANY, EINSTEIN
MET A COUSIN, ELSA EINSTEIN
WHO CAME FROM A TOWN AND
BACKGROUND SIMILAR TO HIS OWN.
EINSTEIN SAW IN ELSA
A CHANCE FOR A DOMESTIC LIFE
FREE OF DEMANDS AND CONFLICT.
Schulmann: HE HAD IN ELSA
A LINK TO THIS PLACE.
SHE SHARED A LOT OF THE TRAITS
THAT ARE COMMONLY
ASSOCIATED WITH THIS
AND THAT HE WOULD HAVE
IDENTIFIED WITH VERY STRONGLY:
A CERTAIN KIND OF
UNAFFECTED PLEASURE
IN THE SIMPLE THINGS IN LIFE
AND ENJOYMENT OF FOOD AND DRINK
AND I THINK THAT SHE REPRESENTED
THAT FOR HIM WHEREVER HE WENT
AND THAT SENSE OF PLACE THAT
SHE REPRESENTED WENT WITH HIM.
Abraham: MILEVA HAD LITTLE CHANCE
AGAINST ELSA'S UNCOMPLICATED APPEAL.
THE TWO COUSINS BEGAN
A CORRESPONDENCE
THAT REVEALS THEIR GROWING BOND.
Einstein: "DEAR ELSA, THANK
YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR LETTER.
"THERE IS NO BOOK ON RELATIVITY
COMPREHENSIBLE TO LAYMEN
"BUT WHAT DO YOU
HAVE A COUSIN FOR?
"IF YOU EVER HAPPEN
TO BE IN ZURICH
"THEN WE... WITHOUT MY WIFE, WHO
IS UNFORTUNATELY VERY JEALOUS...
"WILL TAKE A NICE WALK,
AND I'LL TELL YOU ABOUT
THOSE CURIOUS THINGS
I HAVE DISCOVERED."
"DEAR ELSA, BOTH OF
US ARE POOR DEVILS
"EACH SHACKLED TO
OUR UNRELENTING DUTIES
"BUT I MUST TELL YOU
ONCE AGAIN, I LOVE YOU.
"I WOULD BE SO HAPPY TO WALK
JUST A FEW STEPS AT YOUR SIDE.
I SUFFER BECAUSE I LOVE
ONE AT WHOM I CAN ONLY LOOK."
Abraham: THAT WAS IT FOR A TIME.
IN 1912, EINSTEIN BROKE WITH
ELSA AND MOVED TO ZURICH
TO TEACH AT THE E.T.H.,
THE FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC
WHERE HE AND MILEVA HAD STUDIED.
EINSTEIN HAD BEEN AN
UNDISTINGUISHED STUDENT.
NOW HE WAS COMING BACK
AS A FULL PROFESSOR
OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS.
HERE HE EMBARKED ON THE
MOST INTENSE EFFORT OF HIS LIFE
RENEWING HIS ATTACK
ON THE GRAVITY PROBLEM.
HE STARTED WITH AN IDEA
FROM A FORMER TEACHER,
HERMANN MINKOWSKI
WHO HAD DOUBTS ABOUT
HIS TROUBLESOME PUPIL
UNTIL HE READ EINSTEIN'S 1905
PAPER ON SPECIAL RELATIVITY.
AFTER EINSTEIN HAD CREATED
THE THEORY OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY
IT HAPPENED THAT HIS
OLD MATH TEACHER...
WHOSE LECTURES HE'D SKIPPED...
LOOKED AT EINSTEIN'S
PAPERS, AND SAID
"WELL, I WOULDN'T HAVE
THOUGHT HE WAS CAPABLE OF THIS.
THIS IS REALLY GOOD."
MINKOWSKI CALLED ME A LAZY
DOG, AND PERHAPS HE WAS RIGHT
BUT RELATIVITY
SEEMED TO IMPRESS HIM.
I WOULD HAVE FELT
SOME SENSE OF TRIUMPH
ONLY THEN HE TRANSLATED
IT INTO MATHEMATICAL TERMS
WHEREUPON EVEN I COULDN'T
UNDERSTAND MY THEORY.
Abraham: EINSTEIN MAY
NOT HAVE UNDERSTOOD IT
BUT TO MINKOWSKI, IT WAS CLEAR:
SPACE AND TIME
ARE FUSED TOGETHER
INTO A SINGLE, FOUR-DIMENSIONAL
PICTURE OF THE WORLD.
THINK OF A VAST ARENA...
A VAST ARENA WHERE
FOUR NUMBERS CAN RECORD
THE UNIQUE LOCATION
OF ANY EVENT.
FOR EXAMPLE, WITH
JUST THREE NUMBERS
WE CAN LOCATE ANY
OBJECT IN THE UNIVERSE
FROM THE TIP OF YOUR NOSE
TO THE FARTHEST GALAXY.
THREE NUMBERS... LENGTH,
WIDTH AND HEIGHTH...
ALLOW US TO RECORD THE
POSITION OF ALL OBJECTS.
NOW ADD TIME.
WITH THIS FOURTH DIMENSION
WE'RE ABLE TO RECORD
ANY EVENT IN THE UNIVERSE
FROM THE EXPLOSION OF A STAR
TO A HOT SATURDAY NIGHT DATE.
Abraham: HERE IS ONE OF THE MOST
COMMON SPACE-TIME EXPERIENCES:
MEETING A FRIEND
ON A SUMMER DAY.
THIS MEETING TAKES PLACE
AT A PARTICULAR LOCATION:
THE INTERSECTION
OF THE TWO PATHS
AND, ONE HOPES, AT 10:10.
AS MINKOWSKI RECOGNIZED,
EVERY EVENT FORMS
A UNIQUE MATHEMATICAL
PICTURE IN SPACE-TIME.
HERE, AS THE SECONDS PASS
THE MAN STAYS IN
ONE PLACE IN SPACE...
BUT MOVES CONTINUOUSLY
THROUGH THE TIME DIMENSION
UNTIL...
HIS DATE ARRIVES.
AS THE IDEA OF
SPACE-TIME SUNK IN
EINSTEIN REALIZED HE
COULD GO ONE STEP BEYOND.
HE HAD THIS WONDERFUL
PIECE OF WORK
WHICH MINKOWSKI HAD DONE IN
TRANSFORMING HIS OWN WORK
INTO THE IDEA OF A
FOUR-DIMENSIONAL SPACE-TIME.
BUT THEN EINSTEIN
HIT ON THE IDEA
THAT THIS WASN'T A RIGID
STRAIGHT SPACE-TIME.
IT MUST BE CURVED
AND IT MUST HAVE VARIATIONS
OF CURVATURE WITHIN IT.
Abraham: THAT WAS PERHAPS
EINSTEIN'S MOST INSPIRED LEAP OF LOGIC.
WHAT IF THE SHAPE OF SPACE
AND TIME COULD WARP AND CURVE?
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN THEN?
GRAVITY HAPPENS.
EINSTEIN'S BRILLIANT IDEA...
THE IDEA THAT MAKES
THE WHOLE THING WORK...
WAS THE FACT THAT IT IS MATTER
MATTER AND ENERGY WHICH DRIVES
THE BENDING OF SPACE AND TIME.
THROW A ROCK INTO
A POND, FOR EXAMPLE.
WHEN YOU THROW A ROCK INTO
A POND, RIPPLES START TO FORM.
IT IS THE ROCK WHICH CREATES
THE RIPPLES ON THE
SURFACE OF THE POND.
THEREFORE, THE PRESENCE
OF A ROCK CREATES
RIPPLES IN SPACE AND
TIME THAT WE CALL GRAVITY.
Abraham: SPACE-TIME
WITHOUT MATTER IS FLAT
BUT ADD A ROCK OR A STAR AND
THE WHOLE PICTURE CHANGES.
THE ENORMOUS MASS OF THE
STAR CREATES A HUGE DENT.
ANYTHING THAT PASSES
CLOSE ENOUGH WILL ROLL
DOWN AND AROUND
THAT WARP IN SPACE-TIME.
THE STRAIGHTEST PATH THROUGH
THE CURVES IN SPACE-TIME
CREATED BY MATTER AND ENERGY.
IT WAS THIS PICTURE
THAT SHOWED EINSTEIN
HOW GRAVITY HOLDS
THE EARTH IN ORBIT.
THE EARTH SIMPLY FOLLOWS
THE WARP IN SPACE-TIME
CREATED BY THE SUN.
EINSTEIN PUBLISHED
AN EARLY VERSION OF HIS
NEW THEORY OF GRAVITY IN 1913.
THERE WERE STILL PIECES MISSING
BUT HE IMPRESSED THE ONE
AUDIENCE THAT MATTERED.
IN THAT YEAR, MAX PLANCK,
GERMANY'S LEADING PHYSICIST
MADE THE PILGRIMAGE TO
ZURICH WITH A COLLEAGUE
TO OFFER EINSTEIN
A JOB IN BERLIN.
PLANCK AND NERNST LOOKED
ME OVER AS IF I WERE A PRIZE HEN
BUT I DIDN'T KNOW IF I
COULD LAY ANOTHER EGG.
I TOLD THEM I NEEDED
TO THINK ABOUT IT
AND WOULD MEET THEM AT
THE STATION THE NEXT DAY.
IF MY ANSWER WAS NO, I WOULD
WEAR A WHITE FLOWER IN MY LAPEL
BUT IF THE FLOWER WAS
RED, THEN BERLIN IT WOULD BE.
Abraham: IT WAS THE
CLIMAX OF A CAREER:
BERLIN WAS THE WORLD'S LEADING
CENTER FOR THEORETICAL PHYSICS.
WITHOUT DOUBT, THE FORMER
PATENT CLERK HAD ARRIVED.
BUT FOR MILEVA, THE PROMISE
OF BERLIN HELD NO ATTRACTION.
THE MARRIAGE LAY IN SHAMBLES.
THE INTENSE CONCENTRATION
ON GRAVITY HAD ERODED
ALL THAT REMAINED
OF A FAMILY LIFE.
Einstein: IN MY CIRCUMSTANCES,
I TURN TOWARDS SCIENCE
WHICH RAISES ME UP
FROM THE VALLEY OF TEARS
INTO THE QUIET ATMOSPHERE...
IMPERSONAL, WITHOUT
SWEARING AND YAMMERING.
Abraham: BY 1913, HE AND MILEVA
WERE COMPLETELY ESTRANGED
AND EINSTEIN RESUMED
CONTACT WITH ELSA.
Einstein: "DECEMBER 1913.
"DEAR ELSA, IT ISN'T
EASY TO GET A DIVORCE
"IF ONE DOES NOT HAVE ANY
PROOF OF THE OTHER PARTY'S GUILT.
"SO I TREAT MY WIFE AS AN
EMPLOYEE WHOM I CANNOT FIRE.
"I HAVE MY OWN BEDROOM AND
AVOID BEING ALONE WITH HER.
"BUT HOW NICE IT WOULD
BE IF ONE OF THESE DAYS
WE COULD SHARE A SMALL,
UNASSUMING HOUSEHOLD."
Abraham: THE EINSTEIN FAMILY
MOVED TO BERLIN IN APRIL 1914.
IN JULY, AFTER JUST THREE
MONTHS, MILEVA GAVE UP.
SHE AND HER SONS
RETURNED TO ZURICH.
IT WAS OVER.
IT'S STILL A GREAT SORROW TO ME
THAT I HAVE BEEN CUT
OFF FROM MY SONS.
I EVEN THOUGHT OF SEEKING
CUSTODY OF HANS ALBERT
BUT IT WAS OUT OF THE QUESTION.
MILEVA POISONED THE MINDS
OF BOTH BOYS AGAINST ME.
SHE WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO LIVE WITH
JEALOUS OF EVERYONE, EVERYTHING.
HOW COULD I HAVE MARRIED HER?
Abraham: DESPITE HIS SENSE OF
LOSS, THE HARSH TRUTH REMAINED:
EINSTEIN NEVER HAD MUCH
PATIENCE FOR EVERYDAY DEMANDS
EVEN THOSE OF HIS SONS.
Schulmann: THE DEMANDS
OF THE CHILDREN WERE
SOMETHING THAT HE FELT
BADLY ABOUT REJECTING
BUT HE SAID HIMSELF THAT
HE WAS NOT A GOOD FATHER.
I THINK THAT EINSTEIN REALLY
WANTED TO MAKE A GO OF IT
IN THE FIRST MARRIAGE
BUT ONE HAS TO BE
CAREFUL, OF COURSE
TO ASK WHAT WAS HE PREPARED
TO SACRIFICE TO MAKE IT WORK
AND THERE I THINK HE
FAILS RATHER MISERABLY.
Abraham: AMIDST
SUCH PRIVATE TURMOIL
EINSTEIN FACED HIS FIRST
PUBLIC MORAL CHALLENGE.
IN AUGUST 1914,
WORLD WAR I BEGAN.
THE WAR FEVER THAT GRIPPED
GERMANY DISGUSTED EINSTEIN
AND WHEN 93 LEADING ACADEMICS,
INCLUDING HIS FRIEND MAX PLANCK
ISSUED A MANIFESTO IN
DEFENSE OF GERMAN AGGRESSION
EINSTEIN HELPED LAUNCH A
COUNTERPETITION URGING PEACE.
IT GOT THREE SIGNATURES.
Einstein: EUROPE,
IN ALL HER INSANITY
HAS STARTED
SOMETHING UNBELIEVABLE.
IN LIVING THROUGH THIS
SO-CALLED GREAT EPOCH
I FIND IT DIFFICULT TO BELIEVE
THAT I BELONG TO SUCH AN
IDIOTIC, ROTTEN SPECIES...
THE SPECIES THAT ACTUALLY
BOASTS OF ITS FREEDOM OF WILL
HEROISM ON COMMAND,
SENSELESS VIOLENCE
AND ALL THE LOATHSOME NONSENSE
THAT GOES BY THE
NAME OF PATRIOTISM.
Abraham: A PACIFIST
IN AN ARMED CAPITAL
EINSTEIN LIVED AND
WORKED IN ISOLATION
ON THE OUTSKIRTS OF BERLIN.
AMIDST EUROPE'S FOLLY, HE TURNED
AGAIN TO HIS THEORY OF GRAVITY.
HE FACED ONE LAST HURDLE.
HE COULD NOT SOLVE
THE MATHEMATICS OF
CURVED SPACE-TIME.
THE PROBLEM HAD STUMPED
HIM FOR THREE YEARS.
THERE WAS NOT JUST
ONE FLASH OF INSIGHT
WHICH BROUGHT ABOUT
GENERAL RELATIVITY.
EINSTEIN HAD TO COPE WITH
THE MATHEMATICAL DIFFICULTIES.
HE HAD TO REVISE HIS PHYSICAL
IDEAS A NUMBER OF TIMES
AND HE WAS READY TO GIVE UP,
AT A CERTAIN POINT, DESPERATELY.
I THINK, GUYS, WE NEED
TO CHANGE THE PAGE.
WE NEED TO LOOK AT
THE PREVIOUS PAGE FIRST.
Abraham: RENN AND HIS COLLEAGUES
IN BERLIN HAVE BEEN STUDYING
EINSTEIN'S NOTEBOOKS
AND EINSTEIN'S STRUGGLES FROM
1912 FORWARD LEAP OFF THE PAGE.
AND HERE YOU SEE
THE KIND OF OBJECT
THAT HE WANTS TO ISOLATE.
THIS IS THE OBJECT
WHICH WOULD LEAD HIM
TO THE CLASSICAL
THEORY OF GRAVITATION.
Renn: WHAT YOU SEE IN THESE
PAGES IS A HUMAN DRAMA UNFOLDING
AND A DRAMA THAT MIGHT
HAVE HAD MANY ENDINGS
AND NOT ONLY GOOD ONES.
HE WAS AT TIMES DESPERATE
AND YOU CAN SEE ON
CERTAIN OF THESE PAGES
THAT HE TURNED TO A FRIEND TO
HELP HIM WITH THE MATHEMATICS
BECAUSE HE WAS NO LONGER
KNOWING WHERE TO GO.
Abraham: EINSTEIN'S FRIEND
WAS MARCEL GROSSMAN
HIS COLLEGE CLASSMATE WHOSE
MATH NOTES HE HAD ONCE BORROWED.
GROSSMAN AGAIN TUTORED EINSTEIN
THIS TIME IN THE COMPLEX
GEOMETRY OF CURVED SURFACES.
Renn: GROSSMAN, YOU SEE?
IT SEEMS HE HAS SET
HIM ON THE ROYAL ROAD
TOWARDS THE CORRECT
SOLUTION OF 1915.
Abraham: GROSSMAN GAVE
EINSTEIN THE TOOL HE NEEDED
TO COMPLETE HIS
ANALYSIS OF GRAVITY.
THE MISSING PIECES
WERE FALLING INTO PLACE.
IT'S THE FIRST
TIME HE HAS SEEN IT
BUT IT'S NOT THE FIRST TIME
HE'S LOOKING AT THESE TERMS
BECAUSE HE ENCOUNTERED
THEM ON THE PREVIOUS PAGES.
THERE HE WAS STUMBLING WITHOUT
THE MATHEMATICAL TOOLS HE NEEDED
AND THIS IS THE FIRST
TIME HE GETS REALLY...
Renn: AND ONCE HE
STARTED TO SPEAK, SO TO SAY
IN THIS NEW
MATHEMATICAL LANGUAGE
HE ACHIEVED RESULTS
THAT HE FIRST HAD TO
GROPE TO UNDERSTAND.
ONE OF THE THINGS WE CAN STUDY
ON THE BASIS OF THE
NOTEBOOKS THAT HAVE SURVIVED
IS ACTUALLY THE CORRECT SOLUTION
WHICH THREE YEARS LATER HE
WOULD PUBLISH TRIUMPHANTLY
AS THE GENERAL
THEORY OF RELATIVITY.
BUT WHEN HE FIRST EXPRESSED
IT IN THIS NEW LANGUAGE
HE DIDN'T UNDERSTAND IT HIMSELF.
Abraham: IT TOOK
EINSTEIN THREE YEARS
TO MASTER ALL THE SUBTLETIES.
BY THE FALL OF 1915
HE WAS READY TO PUT
THE THEORY TO THE TEST.
THE ORBITS OF THE PLANETS
WERE UNDERSTOOD WITH
EXTRAORDINARY PRECISION
WITH ONE EXCEPTION.
MERCURY'S ORBIT
SHIFTED SLIGHTLY...
UNACCOUNTABLY... EVERY YEAR.
Klein: IT'S A VERY SMALL NUMBER
PREVIOUSLY TOTALLY UNEXPLAINED.
NOW, HERE, ON THE
BASIS OF THIS THEORY
WHICH HE HAD INVENTED OUT
OF NOTHING IN A CERTAIN SENSE
OUT OF HIS VIEW OF HOW GOD WOULD
HAVE HAD TO MAKE THE UNIVERSE
TO MAKE IT RIGHT
HE'S ABLE TO CALCULATE
THIS VERY REAL, SMALL EFFECT
AND GET THE RIGHT ANSWER.
THAT COULD GIVE
YOU PALPITATIONS.
AND I BELIEVE AT THAT
MOMENT EINSTEIN SAID
"I DON'T CARE WHAT
THE WORLD WILL SAY.
"I AM RIGHT, BECAUSE
THE LORD HAS TOLD ME:
'CALCULATE THE PERIHELION MOTION
OF MERCURY AND YOU WILL SEE.'"
AND HE DID!
AND IT CAME OUT.
WHEN I FOUND THAT
MY CALCULATIONS
PREDICTED THE MOTION
OF MERCURY EXACTLY
SOMETHING SNAPPED INSIDE ME.
THE FEELING WAS
SO... SO EXTREME.
I COULDN'T WORK FOR
DAYS, I WAS BESIDE MYSELF.
IN ALL MY LIFE I
NEVER FELT SUCH JOY.
Abraham: THE CALCULATION
VINDICATED EINSTEIN'S RADICAL IDEA
THAT SPACE-TIME IS CURVED.
MERCURY, THE INNERMOST
PLANET, SHIFTS ITS ORBIT
AS IT TRAVELS AROUND
THE DENT IN SPACE AND TIME
CREATED BY THE SUN'S HUGE MASS.
MASS EVERYWHERE DEFORMS
THE SPACE AROUND IT.
EVEN LIGHT, AS EINSTEIN HAD
RECOGNIZED YEARS BEFORE
MUST FOLLOW ALL THE
CURVES IN SPACE AND TIME
MAPPING THE SHAPE OF
THE UNIVERSE AS A WHOLE.
IT IS THIS UNDERSTANDING
THAT DRIVES THE SCIENTIFIC
STORY OF CREATION.
THE BIG BANG, THE
EXPANDING UNIVERSE
THE STRUCTURE OF GALAXIES
THE GREAT SWEEP OF
MODERN COSMOLOGY
DERIVES DIRECTLY FROM
THIS SINGLE EQUATION:
SPACE AND TIME ON THE LEFT,
MATTER AND ENERGY ON THE RIGHT.
THIS IS THE GENERAL
THEORY OF RELATIVITY
EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF GRAVITY.
Kaku: GENERAL RELATIVITY
IS IN A CLASS ALL BY ITSELF.
WE ARE JUST STUNNED,
EVEN DECADES LATER
THAT HE COULD COME OUT
WITH THAT THEORY BACK IN 1916.
I WOULD SAY HE WAS 50
YEARS AHEAD OF HIS TIME.
Abraham: EIGHT YEARS OF
SUSTAINED EFFORT TOOK THEIR TOLL.
EINSTEIN COLLAPSED,
NEAR DEATH, IN 1917.
HIS ILLNESS MARKED HIM.
THIS PHOTOGRAPH FROM
1920 SHOWS THE CHANGE.
HE WAS NURSED BACK TO
HEALTH BY HIS COUSIN ELSA.
THEIR RELATIONSHIP HAD
COOLED DURING THE WAR
BUT NOW HE NEEDED HER.
Einstein: I HAVE GAINED FOUR
POUNDS SINCE LAST SUMMER
THANKS TO ELSA'S GOOD CARE.
SHE HERSELF COOKS
EVERYTHING FOR ME.
Abraham: HER INFLUENCE SHOWED
IN EINSTEIN'S RENEWED
ATTENTION TO HIS APPEARANCE.
FINALLY IN 1919, THE
COUPLE DECIDED TO MARRY.
EINSTEIN'S DIVORCE
SETTLEMENT WITH MILEVA
REVEALED CHARACTERISTIC
SELF-CONFIDENCE.
HE PROMISED HER THE
MONEY FROM HIS NOBEL PRIZE
DESPITE THE FACT THAT HE WOULD
NOT WIN THE AWARD UNTIL 1922.
EINSTEIN NEVER LACKED
SELF-CONFIDENCE
BUT THE SPRING OF 1919
WAS SPECIAL... EVEN FOR HIM.
A SILENT FILM EXPLAINED
EINSTEIN'S BREAKTHROUGH
TO THE PUBLIC
WITH ANIMATION BY MAX
FLEISCHER, CREATOR OF BETTY BOOP.
GENERAL RELATIVITY PREDICTED
THAT STARLIGHT PASSING
CLOSE TO THE SUN
WOULD CURVE AROUND
THE WARP IN SPACE-TIME
CREATED BY THE SUN'S MASS.
THAT BENDING OF THE LIGHT WOULD
MAKE THE STAR SEEM TO OCCUPY
A NEW POSITION IN THE SKY
TO AN OBSERVER ON EARTH.
THIS COULD ONLY BE SEEN
DURING A TOTAL ECLIPSE OF THE SUN.
A BRITISH EXPEDITION TRAVELED
TO THE SOUTH ATLANTIC IN 1919
TO PHOTOGRAPH AN ECLIPSE.
IT WOULD BE THE FIRST PUBLIC
TEST OF EINSTEIN'S THEORY.
MAY 29 DAWNED OVERCAST
OVER THE ATLANTIC.
BUT THEN THE SKY CLEARED...
AND IN THE SHADOW OF THE ECLIPSE
LIGHT WARPED AROUND THE SUN.
GRAVITY BENDS LIGHT
EXACTLY AS EINSTEIN
HAD PREDICTED.
AND WHAT WOULD I HAVE THOUGHT
IF THE ENGLISH HAD FOUND NOTHING?
I SAID AT THE TIME, "I WOULD
FEEL SORRY FOR THE DEAR LORD.
THE THEORY IS CORRECT."
FOR ME, GENERAL RELATIVITY
WAS SIMPLY TOO
BEAUTIFUL TO BE FALSE.
IT WAS INCONCEIVABLE
THAT THE ENGLISH WOULD
COME BACK PROVING ME WRONG.
Abraham: THE ECLIPSE RESULTS
WERE ANNOUNCED IN NOVEMBER.
LITERALLY OVERNIGHT,
EINSTEIN BECAME WORLD FAMOUS
THE FIRST SCIENTIST
CELEBRITY OF THE 20th CENTURY.
THIS WAS THE BIRTH
OF EINSTEIN THE ICON
THE EMBODIMENT OF
SCIENTIFIC WISDOM...
A FRIENDLY,
INCOMPREHENSIBLE SAGE.
IN THE AFTERMATH
OF A DEVASTATING WAR
HE WAS THE PERFECT
HERO FOR HIS DAY.
Pais: THE YEAR WAS 1919.
THE WORLD WAS IN A CHAOS BECAUSE
THE FIRST WORLD WAR HAD ENDED
NATIONS WERE TIRED
EMPIRES HAD FALLEN AND THERE
COMES THIS LITTLE MAN WHO SAYS
"I PROCLAIM THERE ARE
NEW LAWS OF THE UNIVERSE."
IT WAS A HISTORIC
MOMENT, YOU KNOW
AGAINST A BACKGROUND
OF CONFUSION.
IT'S LIKE MOSES COMING DOWN
THE MOUNTAIN WITH THE TABLETS.
Abraham: EINSTEIN, THE GERMAN,
ACCEPTING HONORS AT A FRENCH UNIVERSITY
WAS MORE THAN A SCIENTIST.
HE WAS A SYMBOL OF
THE HOPE FOR PEACE.
Children: EINSTEIN! EINSTEIN!
RA, RA, RA-RA-RA!
RA, RA, RA-RA-RA!
Abraham: NO SCIENTIST HAD EVER
RECEIVED SUCH PUBLIC ADULATION.
YES, THAT WAS REAL NICE, YES.
LOVED THE CHILDREN... AND
SO HEALTHY, SO HEALTHY.
Abraham: WHEN EINSTEIN AND
FELLOW SUPERSTAR CHARLIE CHAPLIN
CROSSED PATHS, THE
TWO COMPARED NOTES.
WITH FAME I HAVE BECOME
MORE AND MORE STUPID
WHICH, OF COURSE, IS A
VERY COMMON PHENOMENON
BUT YOU HAVE TO TAKE
IT ALL WITH GOOD HUMOR.
CHARLIE CHAPLIN HAD IT RIGHT.
WHEN HE AND I MET
WE WERE SURROUNDED BY
PEOPLE CALLING OUR NAMES.
"WHAT DOES IT ALL
MEAN?" I ASKED HIM.
"NOTHING," HE REPLIED.
Abraham: NOT QUITE NOTHING.
EINSTEIN DID ENJOY SOME OF THE
PLEASURES THAT FAME CAN BRING
AS HE BEGAN TO STEP
OUT IN BERLIN SOCIETY.
BUT EINSTEIN'S BASIC
STYLE REMAINED UNCHANGED
ESPECIALLY AT HIS COUNTRY HOUSE
AS PETER PLESCH, SON OF
EINSTEIN'S DOCTOR, RECALLS.
Plesch: HE NEVER CARRIED A
HAT WHEN HE WAS OUT IN THE SUN
WHEN HE WAS SAILING
WHEN HE WAS IN THE COUNTRYSIDE.
AND IF THE SUN, HE THOUGHT,
GOT A BIT TOO STRONG FOR HIM
HE WOULD TAKE OUT
HIS HANDKERCHIEF
AND HE WOULD, UH, PROCEED
TO MAKE A HAT FOR HIMSELF
BY KNOTTING THE CORNERS.
AND THIS ACTUALLY
IS VERY INTERESTING
BECAUSE THE TURNING OF A FLAT
SURFACE INTO A CURVED SURFACE
IS REALLY A VERY INTERESTING
PHYSICAL PHENOMENON
SINCE RELATIVITY THEORY
HAS AS ONE OF ITS INGREDIENTS
THE CURVATURE OF SPACE.
AND THE PRACTICAL
DEVICE WAS VERY PRACTICAL
AND IT WORKED LIKE THAT
WITH THE FOUR CORNERS
AND THAT WAS HIS HAT.
Abraham: THROUGHOUT THE 1920s
ELSA REVELED IN HER HUSBAND'S
INCREASINGLY PROMINENT POSITION.
BUT EINSTEIN DREW
SHARP LINES BETWEEN THEM.
THEY HAD SEPARATE BEDROOMS,
SHE WAS NOT TO ENTER HIS STUDY
AND EINSTEIN KEPT COMPANY
WITH OTHER, YOUNGER WOMEN.
Einstein: MARRIAGE IS THE
UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPT
TO MAKE SOMETHING
LASTING OUT OF AN INCIDENT.
ALL MARRIAGES ARE DANGEROUS.
Schulmann: EINSTEIN HAD WANTED
SEX WITHOUT COMPLICATIONS.
HE ALSO WANTED RELATIONSHIPS
WITH HIS CLOSEST FAMILY MEMBERS
WITHOUT COMPLICATIONS.
THE PURSUIT OF LADIES
IN THIS CONTEXT, THEN
IS ONE WHERE THE SENSE
OF OBLIGATION IS AT A MINIMUM
BUT THE PURSUIT OF
PLEASURE IS MAINTAINED
AND THE PURSUIT OF THE
GREATEST PRIORITY, PHYSICS
IS NEVER IN QUESTION.
MY FRIEND BESSO
HAS LIVED HAPPILY
WITH THE SAME WOMAN FOR
THE WHOLE OF HIS ADULT LIFE.
I FAILED TWICE,
RATHER DISGRACEFULLY.
I CAN LOVE HUMANITY, IT SEEMS
BUT WHEN IT COMES
TO CLOSE PERSONAL TIES
WITH INDIVIDUAL MEN AND WOMEN
I AM A HORSE FOR SINGLE HARNESS
NOT CUT OUT FOR
TANDEM OR TEAMWORK.
Abraham: BUT FOR
IMPORTANT CAUSES
EINSTEIN WOULD BREAK
HIS SOLITARY RULE.
AFTER THE FIRST WORLD WAR
HE CAME INCREASINGLY
TO ALLY HIMSELF
WITH A GROUP HE HAD
LEFT BEHIND IN CHILDHOOD...
THE COMMUNITY OF EUROPEAN JEWS.
ANTI-SEMITISM WAS SPREADING
VIRULENTLY IN GERMANY.
SOME GERMAN SCIENTISTS
EVEN ATTACKED EINSTEIN HIMSELF
FOR WHAT THEY CALLED HIS
IMMORAL, "JEWISH" PHYSICS.
IN RESPONSE, EINSTEIN,
EVER MORE PUBLICLY
IDENTIFIED HIMSELF AS A JEW.
I AM GLAD THAT YOU HAVE
ME GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY
OF EXPRESSING TO YOU HERE
MY DEEP SENSE OF GRATITUDE
AS A MAN, AS A GOOD
EUROPEAN, AND AS A JEW.
I AM A JEW, CERTAINLY,
BUT NOT A PRACTICING ONE.
IT WAS DIFFERENT
WHEN I WAS A BOY...
I WAS VERY FERVENT.
I EVEN SANG RELIGIOUS
SONGS ON MY WAY TO SCHOOL
BUT THEN I READ MY
FIRST BOOKS ON SCIENCE.
SO MUCH FOR THE FACE OF ABRAHAM.
AND YET OVER TIME I'VE COME TO
REALIZE THAT BEHIND ANYTHING...
BEHIND EVERYTHING... IS AN ORDER
THAT WE GLIMPSE ONLY INDIRECTLY.
THIS IS RELIGIOUSNESS.
IN THIS SENSE, I AM
A RELIGIOUS MAN.
Abraham: IT WAS EINSTEIN'S DEEP
BELIEF IN THE ORDER OF NATURE
THAT LED HIM FIRST TO
PONDER THE MYSTERY OF LIGHT
AND TO ARRIVE AT HIS
SPECIAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY.
IT LED HIM ON TO INCLUDE GRAVITY
IN HIS EXPANDING
PICTURE OF THE UNIVERSE.
BUT EINSTEIN'S ABIDING FAITH
THAT NATURE MUST MAKE SENSE
SET HIM ON A COLLISION COURSE
WITH THE NEXT GREAT
BREAKTHROUGH IN PHYSICS.
IN 1927, THE FIFTH
SOLVAY CONFERENCE
BROUGHT EINSTEIN TOGETHER
WITH THE LEADING PROPONENTS
OF THE REVOLUTIONARY
THEORY OF QUANTUM MECHANICS...
THE DESCRIPTION OF NATURE
AT THE VERY SMALLEST SCALE.
WHILE EINSTEIN HAD FOCUSED
ON THE LARGE-SCALE
STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE
YOUNGER SCIENTISTS, LED BY
WERNER HEISENBERG AND NIELS BOHR
EXPLORED THE ATOM
AND THE TINY BUILDING
BLOCKS OF ENERGY AND MATTER
CALLED "QUANTA."
THESE YOUNG RESEARCHERS FOUND
THAT UNCERTAINTY AND
RANDOMNESS GOVERN
THE PHYSICS OF THE VERY SMALL.
EINSTEIN HIMSELF HAD PIONEERED
THE STUDY OF THE QUANTUM
BUT HE LOATHED THE NOTION
THAT THERE WAS ANYTHING
UNCERTAIN IN NATURE.
I DON'T DENY THAT QUANTUM
MECHANICS IS USEFUL
UP TO A POINT
BUT I AM CONVINCED
THERE IS A DEEPER THEORY
THAT WILL REPLACE THE
UNCERTAINTY AT THE CENTER OF IT.
AS I TOLD NIELS BOHR
GOD DOES NOT PLAY
DICE WITH THE UNIVERSE.
UNFORTUNATELY, I
FAILED TO CONVINCE HIM.
Abraham: BOHR'S REPLY: WHO WAS
EINSTEIN TO TELL THE LORD WHAT TO DO?
IT IS A CERTAIN ARROGANCE
IN THE SENSE, YOU
KNOW, THAT HE...
THAT EINSTEIN SAYS,
"GOD DOES NOT PLAY DICE."
HOW DOES HE KNOW?
AND BOHR, OF COURSE,
IS ENTIRELY RIGHT.
YOU CAN'T KNOW WHAT
THE LORD HAS UP HIS SLEEVE.
Abraham: EINSTEIN NEVER
WARMED TO QUANTUM MECHANICS
DESPITE A LIFETIME OF
ARGUMENTS WITH BOHR.
HE HAD GRANDER AMBITIONS...
A THEORY THAT WOULD UNIFY THE
FUNDAMENTAL FORCES OF NATURE
WITHIN A SINGLE,
COMPREHENSIVE PICTURE.
FEW OF HIS
CONTEMPORARIES THOUGHT
SUCH A UNIFICATION POSSIBLE.
NO MATTER.
EINSTEIN HAD GONE
HIS OWN WAY BEFORE.
HE WOULD DO SO AGAIN.
Einstein: I HAVE BECOME
AN OBSTINATE HERETIC IN
THE EYES OF MY COLLEAGUES.
I'M GENERALLY REGARDED AS
A SORT OF PETRIFIED OBJECT
RENDERED BLIND AND
DEAF BY THE YEARS.
I FIND THIS ROLE
NOT TOO DISTASTEFUL
AS IT CORRESPONDS VERY
WELL WITH MY TEMPERAMENT.
IT WAS A WILLED
CHOICE ON HIS PART
TO DO WHAT HE FELT
ONLY HE COULD DO
BECAUSE MOST OF PHYSICS
MOST OF THE PHYSICS COMMUNITY
WASN'T INTERESTED IN PURSING
HIS IDEA OF A
UNIFIED FIELD THEORY.
HE FELT THAT IT OUGHT TO BE DONE
BECAUSE IT COULD LEAD TO A NEW
FOUNDATION FOR QUANTUM MECHANICS
AT LEAST, HE HOPED IT WOULD
AND, UM... HE WOULD DO IT
AND IF THEY DIDN'T
LIKE IT, WELL, TOO BAD.
Abraham: "UNIFIED FIELD THEORY"
WAS WHAT EINSTEIN CALLED
HIS STILL-UNFORMED IDEA.
IT WOULD SUBSUME RELATIVITY
AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
WITHIN A FORMULATION SIMPLER AND
MORE COMPREHENSIVE THAN EITHER.
HE WOULD SEEK HIS UNIFIED
VISION FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE...
BUT ALONE, IN EXILE.
IN THE LATE 1920s, THE NAZI
PARTY'S POWER GREW STEADILY.
BY 1932, ADOLF HITLER
WAS ON THE VERGE
OF BECOMING GERMANY'S DICTATOR.
NO ENEMY WAS SAFE...
ESPECIALLY THE MOST
FAMOUS JEW IN THE WORLD.
EINSTEIN HIMSELF HAD ALREADY
RECEIVED DEATH THREATS.
AND AS HE HAD AS A BOY, HE ONCE
AGAIN PREPARED TO FLEE GERMANY.
LEAVING WAS ALMOST A RELIEF.
Einstein: I HAVE NEVER REALLY
BELONGED TO ANY COUNTRY OR STATE
TO MY CIRCLE OF FRIENDS...
OR EVEN MY FAMILY.
IN FACT, MY NEED TO WITHDRAW
WITHIN MYSELF HAS INCREASED
OVER THE YEARS.
MY ISOLATION IS OFTEN
BITTER TO BE SURE
BUT I'VE NEVER REGRETTED IT.
IF I AM CUT OFF FROM
THE UNDERSTANDING
AND SYMPATHY OF OTHERS
I AM ALSO INDEPENDENT OF
THEIR OPINIONS AND PREJUDICES.
Abraham: IN EARLY 1933, EINSTEIN AND
ELSA SET SAIL FOR THE UNITED STATES.
THEY NEVER RETURNED TO EUROPE.
Reporter: WHAT DO YOU THINK
OF PROHIBITION, PROFESSOR?
ICH TRINKE NICHT
ALSO IST MIR DAS GANZ GLEICH.
HE DOESN'T DRINK AT ALL
SO HE IS NOT INTERESTED
IN THIS QUESTION.
Abraham: EINSTEIN NEVER LOST
THE ABILITY TO PLEASE A CROWD.
BUT HIS NEED FOR
SOLITUDE BROUGHT HIM
TO THE QUIET COLLEGE TOWN
OF PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY.
EINSTEIN SETTLED
QUICKLY INTO A ROUTINE
WALKING EVERY
MORNING TO HIS OFFICE
AT THE INSTITUTE
FOR ADVANCED STUDY
AND RETURNING IN THE AFTERNOON
TO HIS MODEST HOME
ON MERCER STREET.
HE NEVER LEARNED TO DRIVE.
IN AMERICA, EINSTEIN GAVE FREE
REIN TO HIS ECCENTRIC STREAK
SHOWING UP WITHOUT SOCKS
FOR HIS INDUCTION AS A
CITIZEN OF THE UNITED STATES.
EINSTEIN ALWAYS
REFUSED TO PLAY THE ROLE
OF THE PROPER PROFESSOR.
THIS WAS EINSTEIN,
THE WISE SPRITE.
BUT ALL THIS GOOD HUMOR
MASKED GROWING ISOLATION.
IN 1936, HIS WIFE ELSA
DIED AFTER A BRIEF ILLNESS.
EINSTEIN WROTE TO A FRIEND
THAT HIS BEARISHNESS WAS
ACCENTUATED BY ELSA'S DEATH
WHO, HE SAID, "WAS MORE
ATTACHED TO HUMAN BEINGS THAN I."
EINSTEIN NEVER SAW MILEVA AGAIN.
SHE DIED IN 1949.
HIS SON EDWARD, A
SCHIZOPHRENIC, REMAINED CONFINED
TO AN ASYLUM IN SWITZERLAND
UNTIL HIS DEATH IN 1966.
HIS OLDER SON, HANS ALBERT
BECAME A PROFESSOR OF
ENGINEERING IN CALIFORNIA
BUT SAW HIS FATHER ONLY RARELY.
THE QUEST FOR A UNIFIED
THEORY CONTINUED.
EINSTEIN NEVER FOUND IT
BUT HIS SENSE FOR THE IMPORTANT
QUESTION REMAINED UNSURPASSED.
Kaku: SOME PEOPLE THINK
THAT EINSTEIN WASTED THE
LAST 30 YEARS OF HIS LIFE
CHASING AFTER THIS
UNIFIED FIELD THEORY.
WELL, I BELIEVE THAT WE
ARE ALL GREATLY INDEBTED
BECAUSE EINSTEIN
SHOWED US THE WAY.
TODAY, UNIFICATION IS
THE NAME OF THE GAME.
WE HAVE HUNDREDS OF
PHYSICISTS NOW TRYING TO UNITE
THE NUCLEAR FORCE WITH GRAVITY
AND THE ELECTROMAGNETIC FORCE.
WE ARE ALL INDEBTED.
WE ARE ALL
ESSENTIALLY INHERITING
THE MANTLE THAT
EINSTEIN LEFT FOR US.
Abraham: EINSTEIN PASSED
THE WAR YEARS QUIETLY.
HIS FAMOUS LETTER TO ROOSEVELT
URGED NUCLEAR RESEARCH
BUT EINSTEIN HIMSELF HAD
NO ROLE IN BUILDING THE BOMB.
AFTER THE WAR, THE OUTSIDE
WORLD WOULD SEEK OUT EINSTEIN
FOR VIEWS ON
CAUSES OF ALL SORTS.
DAVID BEN GURION EVEN
CAME TO MERCER STREET
TO OFFER EINSTEIN THE PRESIDENCY
OF THE NEW STATE OF ISRAEL.
TO THE RELIEF OF
BOTH, EINSTEIN DECLINED.
SCIENCE STILL CAME FIRST
EVEN IF HIS UNIFIED THEORY
STUBBORNLY REFUSED
TO TAKE SHAPE.
FINALLY, IN THE SPRING OF 1955
EINSTEIN'S HEART BEGAN TO FAIL.
HE ENTERED THE HOSPITAL,
AND THEN, ON APRIL 15...
Pais: HE CALLED HIS SECRETARY.
HE WANTED HIS FOUNTAIN
PEN, HIS GLASSES
AND HIS LATEST PIECE OF NOTES.
AND EINSTEIN, OF COURSE, KNEW
THAT HIS TIME WAS IMMINENT TO GO
BUT HE WANTED TO CALCULATE
AND HE SAT DOWN ON
THE BED AND CALCULATED.
THAT IS A STORY THAT
MAKES YOU SHUDDER.
IT MAKES ME SHUDDER.
HE KNEW HE WOULD NOT SEE
WHATEVER WOULD COME
OUT OF THESE CALCULATIONS
BY WAY OF ACHIEVEMENT.
IT DIDN'T MATTER TO HIM.
Abraham: EINSTEIN DIED JUST
AFTER MIDNIGHT, APRIL 16, 1955.
HE WAS 76.
ALBERT EINSTEIN CHANGED FOREVER
OUR CONCEPTION OF SPACE, TIME,
THE STRUCTURE OF THE UNIVERSE.
TO HIM, THAT WAS
WHAT TRULY MATTERED.
"THE REST," HE SAID,
"COULD BE FORGOTTEN."
Einstein: IN MY LIFE, I HAVE
ALWAYS SOUGHT TO GAIN
JUST A GLIMPSE OF THE ORDER
THAT LIES HIDDEN IN NATURE.
ALL SCIENCE REQUIRES FAITH IN
THE INNER HARMONY OF THE WORLD.
OUR LONGING FOR
UNDERSTANDING IS ETERNAL.
SPACE, TIME, LIGHT, MATTER.
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AND THE MAN THAT CHANGED OUR
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