Einstein and Hawking: Unlocking the Universe

Narrator: ON MARCH 14, 1879,

ALBERT EINSTEIN WAS BORN IN ULM, GERMANY.

AND ON MARCH 14, 2018,

STEPHEN HAWKING DIED IN CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND.

TWO OF THE MOST RECOGNIZED SCIENTISTS IN THE WORLD,

WHO, BETWEEN THEM,

TRANSFORMED OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE

AND THE NATURE OF TIME.

Gates: IF ALBERT EINSTEIN HAD NOT LIVED,

IT IS HARD TO IMAGINE WHAT THE 20th CENTURY

WOULD HAVE BEEN LIKE.

Narrator: IN 1905,

ALBERT EINSTEIN HAD AN IDEA SO REVOLUTIONARY,

IT CHANGED THE COURSE OF HISTORY.

IT WAS CALLED RELATIVITY.

HIS ONE GIANT LEAP OF IMAGINATION

INSPIRED STEPHEN HAWKING,

WHO WOULD DEVELOP EINSTEIN'S IDEAS

TO REVEAL THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENA IN THE UNIVERSE.

Hawking: BLACK HOLES ARE STRANGER THAN ANYTHING

DREAMED OF BY SCIENCE-FICTION WRITERS,

BUT THEY ARE FIRMLY MATTERS OF SCIENCE FACT.

Narrator: THIS IS THE STORY OF HOW

THESE TWO REMARKABLE SCIENTISTS

SHOWED US THAT THE UNIVERSE IS STRANGER

AND MORE WONDERFUL

THAN WE EVER IMAGINED.

CAPTIONS PAID FOR BY DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS

THE STORY STARTS IN THIS APARTMENT

IN BERN, SWITZERLAND.

ALBERT EINSTEIN LIVED HERE WITH HIS FIRST WIFE

AND FELLOW PHYSICIST, MILEVA,

FOR TWO YEARS WHILE HE DID HIS GREATEST WORK.

WE CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE CONVERSATIONS

THESE WALLS HAVE HEARD,

THE MOMENTS OF GENIUS THEY HAVE WITNESSED.

BUT WHEN HE ARRIVED HERE IN 1903,

THERE WAS NO SIGN AT ALL

THAT EINSTEIN WAS DESTINED FOR GREATNESS.

IN FACT, EINSTEIN'S PROGRESS HAD BEEN DISTINCTLY UNDERWHELMING.

Gates: ALBERT EINSTEIN WAS A RATHER UNUSUAL CHILD.

IT WAS VERY LATE IN HIS EARLY LIFE

THAT HE BEGAN TO TALK,

AND SO HIS PARENTS, IN FACT,

WERE WORRIED ABOUT HIM FOR QUITE A WHILE.

Kaiser: SO, EINSTEIN, FROM A VERY EARLY AGE,

WAS INDEPENDENT-MINDED,

FOCUSED ON THINGS THAT CAPTURED HIS IMAGINATION,

BUT VERY QUICK TO IGNORE THINGS IN SCHOOL

THAT HE CONSIDERED LESS IMPORTANT.

HE OFTEN FOUGHT WITH HIS PROFESSORS.

HE BARELY SQUEAKED THROUGH HIS UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

AND HAD A GREAT DEAL OF DIFFICULTY

FINDING A POSITION AFTER UNIVERSITY.

SO, THE ONE POSITION EINSTEIN COULD ACTUALLY ARRANGE

WAS AS AN ENTRY-LEVEL PATENT CLERK

IN THE PATENT OFFICE IN BERN, SWITZERLAND.

AND EINSTEIN ENTERED LITERALLY AT THE BOTTOM.

Narrator: THIS WAS EINSTEIN'S LOT IN 1903 --

AN ACADEMIC UNDERACHIEVER IN A DEAD-END JOB.

BUT IT WAS ALSO A BLESSING IN DISGUISE.

Carroll: IT WAS A PERFECT JOB FOR HIM IN SOME WAYS,

BECAUSE HE COULD GO THROUGH THE DAY AND GET PAID

AND THEN SPEND HIS IMPORTANT TIME

DOING PHYSICS ON THE SIDE.

Greene: HE JUST WAS ABLE TO LIVE WITHIN HIS MIND,

AND THAT, FOR ALL OF HUMANITY, WAS A GREAT BOON.

Narrator: ALMOST SIX DECADES LATER,

ON THE 300th ANNIVERSARY OF THE DEATH OF GALILEO,

EINSTEIN'S INTELLECTUAL HEIR WAS BORN.

UNLIKE EINSTEIN,

STEPHEN HAWKING EXCELLED ACADEMICALLY FROM A YOUNG AGE.

AND ALTHOUGH A RESPECTED SCIENTIST IN HIS OWN RIGHT,

HE FIRST HIT THE HEADLINES IN 1984

WITH THE PUBLICATION OF "A BRIEF HISTORY OF TIME,"

WHICH TRIED TO BRING THE THEORIES OF ALBERT EINSTEIN

TO A WIDER AUDIENCE.

Levin: HAWKING IS SUCH A FASCINATING HUMAN BEING.

YOU CAN'T REALLY EXAGGERATE THE POWER OF THAT INTELLECT.

AND A COMPLICATED MAN, YOU KNOW, A COMPLICATED CHARACTER.

STEPHEN WAS A LOVER OF LIFE.

HE TOOK ME WITH HIM TO ANTARCTICA.

HE, OF COURSE, WENT UP IN A SUBORBITAL FLIGHT,

SO HE WAS WEIGHTLESS.

HE ENJOYED LIFE TO THE FULL.

Narrator: AS A TEENAGER,

HE WAS KNOWN TO HIS CLASSMATES AS "EINSTEIN."

AND IN COLLEGE, HE OFTEN DELIGHTED

IN DOING AS LITTLE WORK AS POSSIBLE.

Hawking: THE PHYSICS COURSE AT OXFORD AT THAT TIME

WAS RIDICULOUSLY EASY.

YOU DIDN'T NEED TO REMEMBER MANY FACTS,

JUST A FEW EQUATIONS.

Narrator: BUT IN 1961, WHEN HE WAS JUST 21,

HAWKING'S HAPPY-GO-LUCKY LIFESTYLE

CAME GRINDING TO A HALT.

HE WAS DIAGNOSED WITH MOTOR NEURON DISEASE

AND GIVEN JUST TWO YEARS TO LIVE.

ITS FIRST EFFECT WAS TO DEPRESS ME.

I SEEMED TO BE GETTING WORSE FAIRLY RAPIDLY.

Narrator: BUT HAWKING WAS NOT ONE

TO LET ADVERSITY STAND IN HIS WAY.

Thorne: STEPHEN WAS THE MOST STUBBORN MAN I HAVE EVER MET.

HE JUST ABSOLUTELY REFUSED TO LET HIS PHYSICAL DISABILITY

GET IN THE WAY OF DOING ANYTHING.

Narrator: THROUGH THE POWER OF HIS MIND,

STEPHEN HAWKING JOURNEYED THROUGH THE UNIVERSE

TO THE FURTHEST CORNERS OF SPACE AND TIME.

Hawking: I CERTAINLY AM HAPPIER NOW.

BEFORE I GOT MOTOR NEURON DISEASE,

I WAS BORED WITH LIFE.

BUT THE PROSPECT OF AN EARLY DEATH

MADE ME REALIZE LIFE WAS REALLY WORTH LIVING.

Narrator: STEPHEN HAWKING AND ALBERT EINSTEIN NEVER MET,

BUT THEY WERE JOINED TOGETHER BY AN ABILITY

TO CONCEPTUALIZE THE UNIVERSE IN NEW AND RADICAL WAYS.

THIS NEW VISION OF REALITY BEGAN IN SWITZERLAND IN 1905.

Gates: 1905 -- THAT'S THE YEAR THAT WE PHYSICISTS REFER TO

AS "THE YEAR OF MIRACLES."

HE WROTE FOUR PAPERS THAT YEAR.

ANY ONE OF THEM WAS WORTHY OF A NOBEL PRIZE.

Narrator: IN MAY 1905, EINSTEIN WROTE TO A FRIEND.

Einstein: I PROMISE YOU FOUR PAPERS.

THE FIRST DEALS WITH THE RADIATION

AND ENERGY PROPERTIES OF LIGHT.

THE SECOND IS A DETERMINATION OF THE TRUE SIZE OF ATOMS.

Narrator: THE THIRD EXPLAINED THE MOTION OF PARTICLES

IN A LIQUID.

BUT IT WAS THE FOURTH PAPER,

HIS THEORY OF SPECIAL RELATIVITY,

THAT WOULD CHANGE THE WORLD.

Einstein: THE FOURTH IS A MODIFICATION

OF THE THEORY OF SPACE AND TIME.

Narrator: EINSTEIN WROTE ABOUT HOW THIS MEDIEVAL CLOCK TOWER

IN BERN INSPIRED HIM TO THINK ABOUT THE NATURE OF TIME.

TIME -- THE THING WE USE TO MARK THE PASSAGE OF DAYS AND YEARS,

THE ONE THING WE RELY ON TO BE CONSTANT AND UNCHANGING.

EINSTEIN WAS GOING TO SHOW

THAT WE'VE BEEN GETTING THAT ALL WRONG.

HE PUBLISHED HIS PAPER ON SEPTEMBER 26, 1905.

IT WAS THE BEGINNING OF HIS RELATIVITY REVOLUTION,

AND NOTHING WOULD EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN.

Levin: THERE'S BEFORE RELATIVITY AND AFTER RELATIVITY.

ONCE YOU LEARN IT, YOUR WHOLE WORLD VIEW CHANGES.

AND THAT WAS THE IMPACT ON THE SCIENTIFIC COMMUNITY --

THAT THE WHOLE WORLD CHANGED.

Greene: THAT'S, YOU KNOW,

A SPECTACULAR MOMENT FOR THE SPECIES,

WHEN WE CAN SEE WHAT A HUMAN MIND IS CAPABLE OF

WHEN ALL OF THE PIECES COME TOGETHER IN THE RIGHT WAY.

Oluseyi: MANY OF EINSTEIN'S IDEAS ARE OUT THERE.

AT BEST, THEY'RE COUNTERINTUITIVE.

OTHERS ARE SIMPLY MIND-BENDING.

BUT THAT'S JUST THE REFLECTION OF A FACT

THAT EINSTEIN UNDERSTOOD VERY WELL,

WHICH IS -- WHAT IS GOING ON AT THE FUNDAMENTAL STRUCTURE

OF OUR UNIVERSE IS VERY DIFFERENT

FROM WHAT OUR EYES AND EARS ARE TELLING US.

Narrator: TO UNDERSTAND HOW EINSTEIN CHANGED

OUR CONCEPT OF TIME,

WE FIRST NEED TO UNDERSTAND SOMETHING FUNDAMENTAL

ABOUT LIGHT AND THE WAY WE SEE THE WORLD.

Oluseyi: IN THE EVERYDAY WORLD AROUND US,

EVERYTHING THAT'S NOT LIGHT

MOVES IN PRETTY MUCH THE SAME WAY.

AND I'M GONNA USE THIS TENNIS-BALL MACHINE HERE

TO SHOW YOU EXACTLY WHAT I MEAN.

IF I FIRE OFF THESE BALLS FROM THE BACK

OF THIS STATIONARY PICKUP TRUCK,

THEY FLY OFF AT 25 MILES PER HOUR.

BUT HERE'S THE THING --

NO MATTER IF I'M ON THE BACK OF THIS PICKUP TRUCK

OR IF THERE IS A PERSON STANDING ON THE GROUND,

EVERYONE SEES THE SAME THING --

THE BALLS FLYING OFF INTO THE DISTANCE IN THE SAME WAY.

BUT THAT CHANGES IF THE TRUCK STARTS TO MOVE.

AS WE ACCELERATE, THE MOTION OF THE TRUCK

AFFECTS THE APPARENT TRAJECTORY OF THE BALLS.

IF SOMEONE IS STANDING ON THE BACK OF THE TRUCK,

THE BALLS WOULD APPEAR TO FLY OFF WITH THE SAME SPEED

AND TAKE THE SAME PATH THROUGH THE AIR.

BUT FOR SOMEONE ON THE GROUND,

THEY SEE SOMETHING VERY DIFFERENT.

THE BALLS DON'T TRAVEL NEARLY AS FAR.

AND WHEN THE SPEED OF THE TRUCK MATCHES THE SPEED OF THE BALLS,

IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE THEY TRAVEL ANYWHERE.

FOR THE STATIONARY OBSERVER,

THE BALLS JUST DROP STRAIGHT TO THE GROUND.

AS THEY SAY, IT'S ALL RELATIVE.

Narrator: EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE BEHAVES LIKE THIS --