Original subtitles

(ticking)

MAN: When we think of E equals m c-squared,

we have this vision of Einstein as an old, wrinkly man

with white hair.

MAN 2: E equals m c-squared is not about an old Einstein.

It's actually about a young, energetic, dynamic,

even a sexy Einstein.

ACTOR AS EINSTEIN: What would I see if I rode on a beam of light?

MAN: Perhaps some sort

of electrical force is emanating

outwards from the wire.

What?

MAN: Faraday, my dear boy,

electricity flows through a wire,

not sideways to it.

You see, John?

You see?

MAN: It is my great ambition to demonstrate

that nature is a closed system;

that in any transformation,

no amount of matter, no mass, is ever lost,

and none is gained.

The people...

Lavoisier.

It is they who will determine right and wrong.

( both laughing )

MAN: Emilie,

you are being absurd!

Why ascribe to an object

a vague and immeasurable force like vis viva?

It is a return to the old ways!

Are you capable of discovering something of your own?

I discovered you!

WOMAN: There is no right time for the truth.

Fr?ulein Meitner?

Yes?

Otto Hahn.

The nucleus is our focus.

The Jewess endangers our institute.

We can't harbor a Jew!

If she stays, the regime will shut us all down!

They've split the atom.

No, no, no.

You've split the atom!

Energy equals mass times the square of the speed of light!

( laughs )

Would you like me to check your mathematics?

Major funding for NOVA is provided by the following...

Shouldn't what makes each of us unique

supporting NOVA and promoting public understanding of science.

Funding for "Einstein's Big Idea" is provided

by the National Science Foundation,

where discoveries begins.

And by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation,

to portray the lives of men and women

engaged in scientific and technological pursuit.

And the U.S. Department of Energy,

fostering science and security.

And the Universities Research Association.

Major funding for NOVA is also provided

by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting,

and by PBS viewers like you-- thank you.

NARRATOR: A hundred years ago,

a deceptively simple formula revealed a hidden unity

buried deep in the fabric of the universe.

It tells of a fantastic connection

between energy, matter and light.

Its author was a youthful Albert Einstein.

It's the most famous equation in the world:

E equals m c-squared.

MAN: All aboard!

( train whistle toots )

LITHGOW: But while we've all heard

of Einstein's big idea,

very few of us know what it means.

In fact, E equals m c-squared is so remarkable

that even Einstein wasn't sure if it was really true.

WOMAN: Albert, darling,

you're later than I expected.

We've only got sausage and cheese tonight.

What is it?

We need to talk.

Has something happened?

Oh, no, nothing.

Sorry, no.

I spent most of the day

staring out the window at work looking at trains,

and I started to think

about an object and how much energy it had.

Can I explain it to you?

Of course you can.

But first... ( kisses ) dinner!

Hmm? Food, then talk.

I think the gods are laughing at me.

LITHGOW: The gods were not laughing at Einstein.

He'd united in one stunning insight

the work of many who had come before him--

scientists who'd fought and even died

to create each part of the equation.

The story of E equals m c-squared

starts long before Einstein

with the discovery of "E" for energy.

In the early 19th century,

scientists didn't think in terms of "energy";

they thought in terms of individual "powers" or "forces."

These were all disconnected, unrelated things:

the power of the wind, the force of a door closing,

a crack of lightning.

( thunder rumbles )

The idea that there might be

some sort of overarching, unifying energy

which lay behind all these forces had yet to be revealed.

One lowly man's drive

to understand the hidden mysteries of nature

would begin to change all that.

MAN: Young Michael Faraday hated his job.

He was uneducated, the son of a blacksmith.

He'd been lucky to become a bookbinder's apprentice.

But Faraday craved one thing.

He craved knowledge.

He read every book that passed through his hands.

He developed a passion for science.

All of his free time and his meager wages were poured

into his self-education.

He was on the threshold of an incredible journey

into the invisible world of energy.

LITHGOW: Faraday had impressed one of his master's customers

and was rewarded with a ticket that would change his life.

Excuse me, please.

Can I pass, please?

"Can I pass?"

Some of us are trying to improve ourselves,

if people will let us.

Of course, of course-- pass, pass.

This way to a better life.

( chuckles )

MAN: In the early 1800s, science was the pursuit of gentlemen,

something Faraday was clearly not.

He had a rudimentary education,

he'd read widely, he'd gone to public lectures,

but in 1812 he was given tickets to hear Sir Humphry Davy,

the most prominent chemist of the age.

( groans )

( laughing )

LITHGOW: Nineteenth-century scientists were the pop stars of their day.

Their lectures were hugely popular.

Tickets were hard to come by, and Davy reveled in his status.

They're waiting.

I know.

LITHGOW: He was also a keen follower of the latest fashion--

nitrous oxide, or laughing gas.

He said it had all the benefits of alcohol without the hangover.