All language subtitles for Einstein and Hawking - Masters of Our Universe (2019) - S01E02 - The Hidden Order WEBDL-1080p

--Captions by VITAC--
www.vitac.com

CAPTIONS PAID FOR BY
DISCOVERY COMMUNICATIONS

♪♪

[ CLOCK TICKING ]

Narrator: TIME -- WE THINK OF IT
AS REGULAR AS CLOCKWORK...

...TICKING OUT THE STEADY
PROGRESS OF THE UNIVERSE.

BUT TIME IS NOT CONSTANT.

AND THAT HOLDS THE KEY
TO THE SECRETS OF CREATION.

AND THE TWO PEOPLE WHO HELPED US
UNLOCK THOSE MYSTERIES

ARE JOINED BY
A COSMIC COINCIDENCE OF TIMING.

♪♪

ON MARCH 14, 1879,

ALBERT EINSTEIN WAS BORN
IN ULM, GERMANY.

AND ON MARCH 14, 2018,

STEPHEN HAWKING DIED
IN CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND.

THEY ARE UNDOUBTEDLY
THE MOST RECOGNIZED SCIENTISTS

IN THE WORLD.

AND BETWEEN THEM, THEY HAVE
TRANSFORMED OUR UNDERSTANDING

OF EVERYTHING.

♪♪

Man: IF ALBERT EINSTEIN
HAD NOT LIVED,

IT IS HARD TO IMAGINE

WHAT THE 20th CENTURY
WOULD'VE BEEN LIKE.

Narrator: IN THE EARLY 1900s,

ALBERT EINSTEIN DEVELOPED
AN IDEA SO REVOLUTIONARY

IT CHANGED
THE COURSE OF HISTORY.

IT WAS CALLED RELATIVITY.

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

AT BEST,
THEY'RE COUNTERINTUITIVE.

OTHERS ARE SIMPLY MIND-BENDING.

[ TRAIN WHISTLE BLOWS ]

Narrator: IN THE FIRST PROGRAM,

WE SAW HOW EINSTEIN DISCOVERED
THAT TIME APPEARS TO SLOW DOWN

ON MOVING OBJECTS...

...STRETCHING SO MUCH THAT AT
CLOSE TO THE SPEED OF LIGHT,

A DAY CAN APPEAR TO LAST
20,000 YEARS.

HOW HE REALIZED THE UNIVERSE
IS MADE OF A FLEXIBLE FABRIC

OF SPACE AND TIME.

THAT THE FORCE OF GRAVITY
IS CREATED

BY THE DISTORTION
OF THIS SPACE-TIME

BY STARS AND PLANETS.

AND HOW THOSE DISCOVERIES
INSPIRED STEPHEN HAWKING

TO DEVELOP EINSTEIN'S IDEAS

TO REVEAL THE MOST
EXTRAORDINARY PHENOMENA

IN THE UNIVERSE.

Hawking: BLACK HOLES
ARE STRANGER THAN ANYTHING

DREAMED UP BY SCIENCE-FICTION
WRITERS,

BUT THEY ARE FIRMLY MATTERS OF
SCIENCE FACT.

Levin: HAWKING
IS INCREDIBLY INNOVATIVE,

ABLE TO MAKE DISCOVERIES THAT
SEEMED TOTALLY COUNTERINTUITIVE

AND TOTALLY IMPOSSIBLE.

♪♪

Narrator: IN THIS PROGRAM,

WE WILL DISCOVER
HOW EINSTEIN'S THEORIES

HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED
TO GIVE US THE POWER

TO UNDERSTAND CREATION...

Paramesvaran:
THE POINT OF THE LHC IS
TO TRY AND UNDERSTAND

HOW THE UNIVERSE CAME
INTO ITS CURRENT STATE

FROM THE BIG BANG.

Narrator: ...OR TO UNLEASH
UNIMAGINABLE DESTRUCTION.

AND THAT'S THE POWER OF E=MC2.

Narrator: AND HOW RIGHT UP
TO HIS DEATH,

STEPHEN HAWKING WAS REDEFINING

OUR UNDERSTANDING OF
THE UNIVERSE.

Strominger: HE SAID HE HADN'T
BEEN THIS EXCITED IN 40 YEARS.

WHEN I MISS HIM THE MOST
IS WHEN WE FIGURE SOMETHING OUT.

I'D LIKE TO TELL HIM.

♪♪

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.

♪♪

♪♪

[ RADIO TELESCOPES BEEPING ]

IN THE 1960s, RADIO TELESCOPES
AROUND THE WORLD

STARTED TO PICK UP STRANGE
SIGNALS FROM OUTER SPACE.

THEY APPEAR TO BE COMING FROM
TINY OBJECTS OF MASSIVE DENSITY,

NEUTRON STARS.

THESE MYSTERIOUS OBJECTS
HAD BEEN PREDICTED

BY EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF
RELATIVITY,

AND THEIR DISCOVERY MEANT OTHER
PREDICTIONS OF RELATIVITY

MIGHT ALSO EXIST --

OBJECTS LIKE BLACK HOLES.

UNDERSTANDING THESE MYSTERIOUS
MONSTERS OF THE UNIVERSE

KICKSTARTED THE CAREERS
OF A YOUNG GROUP OF PHYSICISTS,

INCLUDING STEPHEN HAWKING.

IT WAS A GOLDEN AGE,
RELATIVITY,

AS WE STARTED OUT
UNDER HAWKING'S LEADERSHIP,

THE THEORY OF BLACK HOLES.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: IT SOON BECAME CLEAR

THAT BLACK HOLES WERE
VERY PECULIAR PLACES.

♪♪

♪♪

WE THINK OF A BLACK HOLE
AS A THING, AS AN OBJECT,

BUT REALLY, IT'S A REGION
OF SPACE-TIME.

A BLACK HOLE IS A REGION
OF SPACE-TIME

WHERE GRAVITY IS SO STRONG

THAT ONCE YOU ENTER THAT REGION,

YOU JUST CANNOT EVER LEAVE IT.

Narrator:
BLACK HOLES ARE FISSURES

IN THE FABRIC OF THE UNIVERSE.

SURROUNDED
BY AN INVISIBLE BOUNDARY

CALLED THE EVENT HORIZON,

NOTHING THAT CROSSES
THAT HORIZON CAN EVER GET AWAY.

Hawking: FALLING THROUGH
THE EVENT HORIZON

IS A BIT LIKE GOING OVER
NIAGARA FALLS IN A CANOE.

IF YOU ARE ABOVE THE FALLS,

YOU CAN GET AWAY
IF YOU PADDLE FAST ENOUGH.

BUT ONCE YOU ARE OVER THE EDGE,
YOU ARE LOST.

Levin: THE BLACK HOLE IS REALLY
DEFINED BY THAT EVENT HORIZON.

IT SEPARATES US,
FUNDAMENTALLY AND FOREVER,

FROM THE INSIDE
OF THE BLACK HOLE.

YOU CAN FALL IN,
BUT YOU CANNOT COME OUT.

Narrator: THE CONSEQUENCE IS --

ONCE SOMETHING HAS FALLEN
INTO A BLACK HOLE,

IT APPEARS TO BE LOST
FROM THE UNIVERSE FOREVER.

Hawking: FROM THE OUTSIDE,

YOU CAN'T TELL
WHAT IS INSIDE A BLACK HOLE.

YOU CAN THROW TELEVISION SETS,
DIAMOND RINGS,

OR YOUR WORST ENEMIES
INTO A BLACK HOLE,

AND ALL THE BLACK HOLE
WILL REMEMBER

IS THE TOTAL MASS
AND THE STATE OF ROTATION.

♪♪

Narrator: IT WAS THESE MONSTERS
THAT STEPHEN HAWKING

WAS WORKING ON IN CAMBRIDGE
IN THE MID-1970s.

AND IN 1974, HE MADE
AN ENORMOUS BREAKTHROUGH.

Hawking: UP TO 1974,
EVERYONE, INCLUDING ME,

THOUGHT THAT NOTHING COULD
GET OUT OF A BLACK HOLE.

THEN I DISCOVERED
THAT THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE

OF QUANTUM MECHANICS
ALLOWED PARTICLES TO LEAP OUT.

BY ADDING QUANTUM MECHANICS,

HAWKING MADE
THE STUNNING DISCOVERY

THAT, ACTUALLY, BLACK HOLES
COULD EVAPORATE.

BLACK HOLES ARE NOT
WHAT YOU THOUGHT THEY WERE.

BLACK HOLES
CAN ACTUALLY RADIATE.

YEAH, THAT WAS AN IN-YOUR-FACE,

SHOCKING IDEA
THAT HE PUT FORWARD.

Hawking: QUANTUM MECHANICS
IMPLIES THAT THE WHOLE OF SPACE

IS FILLED WITH PAIRS
OF VIRTUAL PARTICLES

AND ANTIPARTICLES

THAT ARE CONSTANTLY
MATERIALIZING IN PAIRS

AND ANNIHILATING EACH OTHER.

NOW, IN THE PRESENCE
OF A BLACK HOLE,

ONE MEMBER OF A PAIR
OF VIRTUAL PARTICLES

MAY FALL INTO THE HOLE,

LEAVING THE OTHER MEMBER
WITHOUT A PARTNER.

AS PARTICLES ESCAPE
FROM A BLACK HOLE,

THE HOLE WILL LOSE MASS
AND SHRINK.

EVENTUALLY, THE BLACK HOLE WILL
LOSE ALL ITS MASS AND DISAPPEAR.

♪♪

Narrator: THE DISCOVERY THAT
BLACK HOLES EMITTED PARTICLES

WAS SOON NAMED
HAWKING RADIATION.

IT SHOWED THAT BLACK HOLES
WERE EVEN STRANGER

THAN WE HAD IMAGINED.

Levin:
HOW CAN A BLACK HOLE EVAPORATE?

IT SEEMED SO PECULIAR
AND VERY COUNTERINTUITIVE,

BUT IT MADE SENSE.

THE CALCULATIONS WERE CHECKED
OVER AND OVER AGAIN,

AND IT MADE SENSE.

THIS IS COMPLETELY COUNTER
TO EVERYTHING

WE THOUGHT THAT WE UNDERSTOOD
ABOUT BLACK HOLES

IN THE YEAR 1970.

♪♪

Narrator:
BY COMBINING GENERAL RELATIVITY
WITH QUANTUM MECHANICS,

HAWKING HAD SHOWN THE ENDURING
POWER OF EINSTEIN'S THEORY.

♪♪

BUT AS EINSTEIN HIMSELF
WOULD DISCOVER,

THAT THEORY
ALSO HAD A DARK SIDE.

IT COULD BE USED TO UNLEASH
DEVASTATION ON THE EARTH.

♪♪

Narrator: BACK IN THE 1920s,

EINSTEIN FOUND
THAT INTEREST IN HIS WORK

HAD EXTENDED BEYOND THE WORLD
OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS

AND INTO THE REALM
OF POPULIST POLITICS.

[ CROWD CHANTING "SIEG HEIL!" ]

♪♪

Kaiser: LONG BEFORE THERE WAS
EVEN A FORMAL NAZI PARTY,

AS EARLY AS SPRING OF 1920,

THERE WERE RALLIES TO DENOUNCE
NOT JUST ALBERT EINSTEIN,

BUT RATHER,
TO DENOUNCE GENERAL RELATIVITY.

THEY WOULD RENT OUT
SPORTS ARENAS AND OPERA HOUSES

AND LARGE, LARGE STADIUMS --

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE
IN ATTENDANCE --

TO BASICALLY CHANT,
"DOWN WITH WARPING SPACE-TIME."

IT WAS SEEN AS A SYMBOL
OF ALL THAT HAD GONE WRONG

WITH SO-CALLED JEWISH PHYSICS.

IT BECAME CLEAR IT WAS NOT
GONNA BE SAFE FOR HIM.

Narrator:
AFTER THE NAZIS CAME TO POWER,

EINSTEIN FLED GERMANY IN 1933

AND SETTLED HERE,
IN PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY,

WORKING AT THE INSTITUTE
FOR ADVANCED STUDY.

AND AS A LIFELONG PACIFIST,

HE WAS APPALLED AT THE PROSPECT
OF ANOTHER WAR,

ESPECIALLY SINCE HE KNEW
HIS OWN WORK

COULD HAVE A DEVASTATING IMPACT
ON ITS OUTCOME.

EINSTEIN DID NOT WANT TO GET
THAT INVOLVED IN THE WAR EFFORT.

I THINK EVERYONE
WAS EXTREMELY SURPRISED

THAT THIS 1905 PAPER --
E=MC2 --

COULD HAVE AN IMPLICATION
FOR KILLING PEOPLE.

SO, WE COME TO EINSTEIN'S
MOST FAMOUS EQUATION --

E=MC2.

AND LIKE MANY OF HIS EQUATIONS,

IT HAS THIS MAGICAL PROPERTY
OF EQUATING TWO THINGS

THAT YOU WOULDN'T EXPECT
TO BE EQUAL.

ON THE LEFT-HAND SIDE,
WE FIND "E," THE ENERGY.

ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE,
"M," THE MASS.

AND SO THIS EQUATION TELLS US
THAT ENERGY AND MASS

ARE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME.

THEY'RE EQUIVALENT.
THEY CAN BE EXCHANGED.

AND THE EXCHANGE RATE
IS "C" SQUARED.

"C" IS THE SPEED OF LIGHT.

IT'S HUGE. SO "C" SQUARED IS
A TREMENDOUSLY LARGE NUMBER.

SO, ONE WAY TO READ THE EQUATION

IS THAT A HUGE AMOUNT OF ENERGY
CAN BE CONVERTED

INTO A SMALL AMOUNT OF MATTER.

BUT READING THE EQUATION
FROM THE OPPOSITE END,

IT TELLS US THAT A SMALL AMOUNT
OF MATTER

CAN BE CONVERTED
INTO A HUGE AMOUNT OF ENERGY.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: THE POWER OF E=MC2
WENT FAR BEYOND THE THEORETICAL.

IN THE EARLY 1920s,

EINSTEIN'S FRIEND
ARTHUR EDDINGTON

REALIZED
THAT THIS FAMOUS EQUATION

WAS THE SECRET TO HOW STARS,
LIKE OUR SUN,

PRODUCE SUCH VAST AMOUNTS
OF HEAT AND LIGHT.

Oluseyi:
DEEP IN THE HEARTS OF STARS,

PRESSURES AND TEMPERATURES
ARE SO HIGH

THAT HYDROGEN NUCLEI SLAM
INTO EACH OTHER, FUSING,

AND EVENTUALLY CREATING
HELIUM NUCLEI.

AND IN THAT PROCESS,
A TINY AMOUNT OF MASS

IS CONVERTED INTO ENERGY.

ALBERT EINSTEIN REALIZED
THAT, PERHAPS,

WE COULD HARNESS THAT PROCESS
HERE ON EARTH

AND CREATE ENERGY
OF OUR OWN.

♪♪

OR CREATE A WEAPON.

♪♪

Narrator:
WORRIED THE GERMANS

HAD ALREADY STARTED
A NUCLEAR PROGRAM,

EINSTEIN AND FELLOW
PHYSICIST LEO SZILARD

WROTE TO PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT,
URGING HIM TO DEVELOP A BOMB.

ROOSEVELT RESPONDED BY SETTING
UP THE MANHATTAN PROJECT.

♪♪

THEY ACHIEVED THEIR GOAL
IN JUST THREE YEARS.

♪♪

Oluseyi:
THIS IS THE TRINITY MONUMENT.

ON JULY 16, 1945,

THE WORLD'S
VERY FIRST NUCLEAR BOMB

WAS SET OFF
RIGHT HERE IN THIS SPOT.

THE BOMB, NICKNAMED "GADGET,"

WAS WINCHED TO THE TOP
OF A 100-FOOT TOWER

THAT STOOD RIGHT HERE.

THE OBSERVERS RETREATED
AND, JUST BEFORE DAWN,

THE BOMB WAS DETONATED.

[ EXPLOSION ]

AT 5:29 A.M.,

THE DEVICE EXPLODED
WITH AN ENERGY EQUIVALENT

TO 20 KILOTONS OF TNT.

[ EXPLOSION ]

THE ROAR OF THE SHOCK WAVE
WAS FELT OVER 100 MILES AWAY.

THE SURROUNDING MOUNTAINS

WERE ILLUMINATED
BRIGHTER THAN DAYTIME

AND THE MUSHROOM CLOUD
REACHED 7 1/2 MILES IN HEIGHT.

ALL THAT POWER WAS RELEASED
WHEN, INSIDE THE BOMB,

JUST 0.9 GRAMS OF MATTER
WERE CONVERTED INTO ENERGY.

AND THAT'S THE POWER OF E=MC2.

♪♪

Narrator:
JUST THREE WEEKS LATER,

ON AUGUST 6, 1945,

ANOTHER BOMB WAS DROPPED,

OVER THE JAPANESE CITY
OF HIROSHIMA.

AT EXACTLY 8:15 IN THE MORNING,

0.6 GRAMS OF MATTER
WAS CONVERTED INTO ENERGY,

INCINERATING 70,000 PEOPLE.

♪♪

[ EXPLOSION ]

THE DEVASTATING POWER
OF EINSTEIN'S EQUATION

HAD BEEN UNLEASHED.

♪♪

NOW, IT'S ALWAYS BEEN
A MIXED LEGACY

FOR THE HISTORY
OF PHYSICS, RIGHT?

LIKE, WE LIKE TO THINK
OF OURSELVES

AS DISCOVERING SECRETS
OF THE UNIVERSE,

NOT AS BLOWING THINGS UP.

BUT THERE IS
THIS NECESSARY INTERPLAY

BETWEEN THE DISCOVERIES WE MAKE

AND THE TECHNOLOGICAL
CAPABILITIES

THAT WE HAVE HERE ON EARTH
THAT PHYSICISTS HAVE TO ACCEPT.

AND, OF COURSE, EINSTEIN ALWAYS
HAD MIXED FEELINGS

ABOUT IT LATER ON, 'CAUSE
HE WAS, AT HEART, A PACIFIST.

♪♪

Narrator:
FOR THE REST OF HIS LIFE,

EINSTEIN CAMPAIGNED FOR NUCLEAR
DISARMAMENT AND PEACE.

♪♪

♪♪

THE NUCLEAR BOMB WAS
A DEVASTATING DEMONSTRATION

OF HOW EINSTEIN'S THEORIES
COULD BE USED

TO PRACTICAL EFFECT.

♪♪

EVER SINCE THEN,
HUMANITY HAS BEEN BUILDING

INCREASINGLY
COMPLICATED MACHINES

THAT USE EINSTEIN'S THEORY,
NOT FOR DESTRUCTION,

BUT TO UNLOCK THE MYSTERIES
OF THE UNIVERSE.

♪♪

♪♪

THIS IS THE ENTRANCE
TO THE LARGE HADRON COLLIDER.

BURIED DEEP BELOW THE
SWISS-FRENCH BORDER,

IT IS THE WORLD'S
BIGGEST MACHINE.

♪♪

SUDAN PARAMESVARAN
IS A SCIENTIST

WHO USES THE LHC
TO TRAVEL BACK IN TIME.

♪♪

Paramesvaran:
THE POINT OF THE LHC IS
TO TRY AND UNDERSTAND

HOW THE UNIVERSE CAME
INTO ITS CURRENT STATE

FROM THE BIG BANG ALL THOSE
BILLIONS OF YEARS AGO,

AND ONE WAY
THAT WE CAN DO THAT IS

TO TRY AND RECREATE SOME
OF THOSE EARLY CONDITIONS.

Narrator:
SUDAN'S WORK RELIES ON THE
CONCEPT OF TIME DILATION

DEVELOPED BY ALBERT EINSTEIN.

TIME DILATION IS ONLY NOTICEABLE
AT CLOSE TO THE SPEED OF LIGHT,

BUT IN THE LHC,
WE CAN SEE IT IN ACTION.

BEAMS OF PROTONS ARE FIRED
THROUGH THESE TUBES

AND SMASHED INTO EACH OTHER
AT VERY HIGH SPEED.

Paramesvaran:
IN THE MIDDLE OF THIS PIPE

IS WHERE THE ACTUAL PROTONS
ARE TRAVELING.

WE ACCELERATE THEM
USING VERY POWERFUL MAGNETS.

THEY'RE ACTUALLY TRAVELING
ROUND THE RING

11,000 TIMES A SECOND,

VERY, VERY CLOSE
TO THE SPEED OF LIGHT.

♪♪

SO WHEN THE PROTONS COLLIDE,
THEY ACTUALLY SMASH UP

INTO LOTS OF LITTLE
DIFFERENT THINGS.

A LOT OF NEW PARTICLES
ARE CREATED.

♪♪

Narrator:
WE THINK THE PARTICLES CREATED
IN THESE COLLISIONS

ARE SIMILAR TO THOSE
THAT EXISTED

IN THE MOMENTS
AFTER THE BIG BANG.

STUDYING THEM CAN HELP US
UNDERSTAND THE EARLY UNIVERSE,

AND THAT'S WHERE
TIME DILATION COMES IN.

OKAY, SO WHAT WE HAVE HERE

IS A VISUAL REPRESENTATION
OF A COLLISION.

THE PROTONS ARE COLLIDING RIGHT
IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR DETECTOR

AND THEN EVERYTHING COMES
OUT FROM THAT POINT.

♪♪

Narrator:
EACH OF THESE TRACKS
REPRESENTS

AN INDIVIDUAL PARTICLE CREATED
IN THE COLLISIONS.

MANY OF THEM BLINK
OUT OF EXISTENCE

IN A FRACTION OF A SECOND.

THIS IS ACTUALLY
THE DECAY OF A B MESON.

IT'S TYPICAL LIFETIME IS ONLY

A MILLIONTH OF A MILLIONTH
OF A SECOND, SO IT'S TINY,

AND THAT WOULD MAKE IT
VERY DIFFICULT FOR US

TO ACTUALLY INVESTIGATE IT.

IT WOULD DECAY VERY CLOSE
TO THE PRIMARY POINT, HERE.

NOW, BECAUSE IT'S TRAVELING
CLOSE TO THE SPEED OF LIGHT,

ITS CLOCK IS RUNNING
A LITTLE BIT SLOWER.

THIS MEANS
THAT IT'S ACTUALLY ABLE

TO TRAVEL THIS DISTANCE
BEFORE DECAYING.

AND SO THE FACT THAT IT
UNDERGOES TIME DILATION

GIVES US AN AVENUE
OF PHYSICS TO EXPLORE

WHICH WE OTHERWISE
WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO DO.

♪♪

Narrator:
THE TIME DILATION WE SEE
IN THE LHC

IS EINSTEIN'S THEORY
OF RELATIVITY IN ACTION.

♪♪

THIS TIME,
FOR PEACEFUL MEANS.

♪♪

WE HAVE ANSWERED MANY MYSTERIES
ABOUT THE UNIVERSE

USING EINSTEIN'S THEORIES.

♪♪

BUT EVEN IN THE 21st CENTURY,

THERE ARE STILL MORE
DISCOVERIES TO BE MADE.

♪♪

DISCOVERIES THAT WILL
ELEGANTLY TIE TOGETHER

THE WORK OF ALBERT EINSTEIN
ON RELATIVITY

AND STEPHEN HAWKING
ON BLACK HOLES.

♪♪

Hawking:
BLACK HOLES ARE STRANGER

THAN ANYTHING DREAMED UP
BY SCIENCE FICTION WRITERS...

♪♪

...BUT THEY ARE FIRMLY MATTERS
OF SCIENCE FACT.

♪♪

Narrator:
DESPITE ALL OUR ADVANCES
IN TECHNOLOGY,

UNTIL RECENTLY,
WE HAD NEVER SEEN A BLACK HOLE

AND IT IS THAT SEARCH,

FOR AN ELUSIVE GLIMPSE
OF A BLACK HOLE,

THAT HAS BROUGHT DAN MARRONE
TO THE MOUNTAINS OF ARIZONA.

♪♪

BLACK HOLES ARE ONE
OF THOSE THINGS

THAT I FEEL LIKE EVERYONE
IS INTERESTED IN, RIGHT?

THE FACT THAT WE'VE NEVER EVEN
SEEN ONE IS KIND OF AMAZING.

WE'RE SO CONFIDENT
THEY'RE THERE,

BUT, YET, "SHOW ME A PICTURE,"
AND YOU CAN'T.

Narrator:
DAN IS ON A MISSION
TO DO SOMETHING

NO ONE HAS EVER DONE BEFORE --

TAKE A PICTURE
OF A BLACK HOLE.

♪♪

ORDINARILY,
IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE

TO PHOTOGRAPH A BLACK HOLE,

LIKE PICKING OUT A SHADOW
ON AN ALREADY DARK SKY.

♪♪

BUT DAN IS HOPING TO CAPTURE
A BLACK HOLE

IN A PARTICULAR PHASE
OF LIFE --

WHILE IT IS FEEDING.

♪♪

THE GRAVITATIONAL PULL
OF BLACK HOLES IS SO STRONG

THAT THEY CAN CONSUME
ENTIRE STARS.

♪♪

THIS SIMULATION SHOWS
WHAT WE THINK HAPPENS

AS A STAR IS RIPPED APART.

♪♪

Levin:
WHAT YOU SEE
IS THE BRIGHT SPLATTER

OF THE DEBRIS FALLING
AROUND THE BLACK HOLE

FROM THE NEIGHBORING STAR.

AND IT TURNS OUT,
MAYBE EVEN IRONICALLY,

THAT THE DARKEST OBJECTS
FUNDAMENTALLY CONCEIVABLE

BECOME THE BRIGHTEST BEACONS
IN THE UNIVERSE.

♪♪

Narrator:
THE EVENT HORIZON WHERE
THE WHIRLPOOL IS AT ITS FIERCEST

IS ONE OF THE MOST EXTREME
ENVIRONMENTS IN THE UNIVERSE.

♪♪

IT IS WHAT DAN
AND HIS COLLEAGUES

ARE TRYING
TO TAKE A PICTURE OF.

♪♪

THIS IS THE
SUBMILLIMETER TELESCOPE

ON MOUNT GRAHAM,
IN ARIZONA.

♪♪

A RADIO TELESCOPE, IT CAN PROBE
THE DEPTHS OF THE UNIVERSE

IN BROAD DAYLIGHT.

♪♪

WE'D LIKE TO SEE THAT MATERIAL

CIRCLING THE DRAIN
AND DISAPPEARING.

WE'D LIKE TO SEE
THE LIGHT ITSELF

NOT ESCAPING A SHADOW
IN FRONT OF THE BLACK HOLE

WHERE THE LIGHT
IS DISAPPEARING INTO IT.

♪♪

Narrator:
TO FIND HIS BLACK HOLE,

DAN HAS SET HIS SIGHTS
ON THE VERY HEART OF GALAXIES.

♪♪

ASTRONOMERS HAVE BEEN
TRACKING THE MOTION OF THE STARS

AROUND THE CORE OF OURGALAXY
FOR MORE THAN 20 YEARS.

♪♪

HOW'S THE WEATHER
THIS EVENING?

THE WEATHER'S GOOD.

THE ENORMOUSSPEED AT WHICH
THEY ARE MOVING SUGGESTS

THAT THEY ARE ORBITING
SOMETHING HUGE AND UNSEEN.

THEY BELIEVE IT IS
A SUPERMASSIVE BLACK HOLE,

OVER 40 MILLION KILOMETERS
ACROSS

AND FOUR MILLION TIMES
THE MASS OF OUR SUN.

IT IS KNOWN
AS SAGITTARIUS A[STAR].

♪♪

THE EVENT HORIZON AROUND IT

SHOULD BE ONE OF THE BRIGHTEST
SPOTS IN THE GALAXY.

♪♪

BUT IT IS STILL SO SMALL
AND SO FAR AWAY

THAT TO IMAGE IT TAKES THE
LARGEST TELESCOPE EVER BUILT.

♪♪

SO, RIGHT, NOW THE TELESCOPE'S
POINTED AT SAGITTARIUS A[STAR].

WE HAVE TO LOOK THROUGH THE
ENTIRE PLANE OF THE GALAXY

AND SO, IF YOU LOOK
WITH A VISIBLE-LIGHT TELESCOPE,

YOU CAN'T ACTUALLY SEE
THE BLACK HOLE.

ALL THE DUST IN THE WAY
BLOCKS THE LIGHT

AND SO WE HAVE TO DO THIS
WITH A RADIO TELESCOPE.

♪♪

AND, IN FACT, WE'RE NOT
JUST LOOKING WITH ONE,

BUT WE'RE LOOKING
WITH A WHOLE ARRAY OF THEM

SCATTERED OVER THE EARTH.

♪♪

Narrator:
THE EVENT HORIZON TELESCOPE
IS A HUGE NETWORK.

AS WELL AS THIS DISH
ON MOUNT GRAHAM,

THERE ARE DISHES IN EUROPE,
ON HAWAII, IN CHILE,

AND AT THE SOUTH POLE,

ALL OF WHICH ARE SIMULTANEOUSLY

POINTED AT THE SAME TARGET.

♪♪

WHEN THE DATA FROM ALL
OF THEM IS COMBINED,

IT CREATES A TELESCOPE
THE SIZE OF THE EARTH.

BUT THIS TELESCOPE
WAS NOT JUST TRYING

TO IMAGE THE CENTER
OF OURGALAXY.

THEY HAD ALSO BEEN STUDYING
A MUCH LARGER GALAXY,

OVER 50 MILLION
LIGHT-YEARS AWAY,

CALLED M87.

AND, IN APRIL 2019,

THEY RELEASED THIS IMAGE --

THE FIRST VIEW
OF A BLACK HOLE

AND THE MATERIAL AROUND IT
SPIRALING INTO OBLIVION.

BUT, WHILE THIS IMAGE
IS REMARKABLE,

THERE WAS ALREADY ANOTHER
TECHNOLOGY THAT COULD DETECT

STEPHEN HAWKING'S
BELOVED BLACK HOLES

AND WHICH MAY ANSWER ONE
OF THE FINAL GREAT MYSTERIES

OF EINSTEIN'S THEORY
OF RELATIVITY.

♪♪

[ ELEVATOR CHIMES ]
NOW,

THESE ARE OFFICES AT LIGO.

WE CAN USE ANY OF THESE ROOMS,
IF YOU WANT.

BUT, IF YOU WANT MY OFFICE,
WE'RE HEADING THERE.

[ CHUCKLES ]

♪♪

IT'S FULL OF JUNK.
[ LAUGHS ]

THIS IS THE OFFICE THEY GIVE
EMERITUS OLD PROFESSORS.

THAT'S WHAT THEY GIVE US.
-[ LAUGHS ]

SO, A LOT OF MY PAPERS
AND JUNK IS ALL AROUND.

♪♪

THERE'S A PICTURE OF MY MENTOR
RIGHT OVER THERE.

YOU CAN SEE HIM.
HIS NAME IS JERROLD ZACHARIAS.

HE'S THE FIRST GUY
WHO EVER SAID TO ME

THAT, YOU KNOW, "YOU'RE NOT
AS DUMB AS YOU LOOK."

THAT WAS VERY IMPORTANT.

YOU NEED SOMEBODY IN YOUR LIFE
TO TELL YOU THAT.

♪♪

Narrator:
RAINER WEISS,
"RAI" TO HIS FRIENDS,

IS NOW A NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING
EMERITUS PROFESSOR AT M.I.T.

BUT IN 1967, HE WAS JUST
A JUNIOR FACULTY MEMBER

WHO WAS FASCINATED
BY A PARTICULAR PIECE

OF EINSTEIN'S THEORY --

GRAVITATIONAL WAVES.

IN 1916,

EINSTEIN HIMSELF HAD CALCULATED

THAT OBJECTS MOVING THROUGH
THE FABRIC OF SPACE-TIME

SHOULDCAUSE IT TO RIPPLE,
LIKE WAVES ON A POND.

AT FIRST, EINSTEIN THOUGHT THAT
THESE WAVES WOULD BE SO TINY,

THEY WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE
TO MEASURE.

LATER IN LIFE, HE WAS NOT SURE
THEY EXISTED AT ALL.

♪♪

Einstein:
IF YOU ASK ME WHETHER THERE ARE
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES OR NOT,

I MUST ANSWER THAT I DON'T KNOW,

BUT IT IS A HIGHLY
INTERESTING PROBLEM.

♪♪

Narrator:
RAI THOUGHT GRAVITATIONAL
WAVES DIDEXIST

AND HAS SPENT A LIFETIME
TRYING TO FIND THEM.

SO HE CAME UP WITH A SYSTEM
THAT COULD POTENTIALLY DETECT

THE MOST MINISCULE WAVES
IN SPACE-TIME.

IT WAS CALLED
LASER INTERFEROMETRY.

Weiss:
SO, HERE'S THE IDEA.

THERE'S A LASER,
WHICH IS THIS CYLINDER.

THERE'S SOMETHING CALLED
A BEAM SPLITTER,

WHICH DIVIDES THE LIGHT.

♪♪

HALF OF THE LIGHT
WILL GET REFLECTED

TO A MIRROR
THAT'S OVER HERE

AND THEN SENT BACK
TO THIS BEAM SPLITTER.

AND THE OTHER HALF
HITS THIS MIRROR

AND COMES BACK
TO THE BEAM SPLITTER.

THEN, TWO BEAMS WILL HEAD
TOWARD A PHOTO DETECTOR,

AND YOU'LL SEE SOMETHING
INTERESTING.

NO LIGHT GOES
TO THE PHOTO DETECTOR.

LIGHT CANCELS.

NOW WHAT HAPPENS IS YOU
CHANGE THE LENGTH ON ONE ARM,

MAKE IT LONGER,

MAKE THE LIGHT SHORTER
ON THE OTHER ARM.

YOU SEE LIGHT DOES GO
TO THE PHOTO DETECTOR

WHEN THE PATHS
ARE NOT EQUAL ANYMORE.

AND THAT, THE FACT
THAT LIGHT GOES

THROUGH THE PHOTO DETECTOR HERE

WHEN THE PATHS
ARE NO LONGER EQUAL

AND THEY HAVE BEEN DISTURBED

BY THAT GRAVITATIONAL WAVE
TO DO THIS,

THAT'S THE WAY
THE DETECTION IS MADE.

IT'S REALLY AS SIMPLE AS THAT.

♪♪

Narrator:
IF RAI'S CALCULATIONS
WERE RIGHT,

HIS SYSTEM WOULD BE ABLE TO PICK
UP MOVEMENTS IN THE MIRRORS

OF JUST A FEW TRILLIONTHS
OF A METER.

I HEARD ABOUT THE IDEA.
I DID SOME NUMBERS

AND IT WAS OBVIOUS THAT RAI
HAD GONE CRAZY OR SOMETHING.

I JUST COULDN'T BELIEVE
THAT HE COULD REALLY --

ANYONE COULD REALLY
PULL THIS OFF.

AND THEN I SPENT THE REST
OF MY CAREER EATING CROW

AND TRYING TO HELP HIM
PULL IT OFF.

♪♪

Narrator:
WHEN KIP THORNE,
A THEORETICAL PHYSICIST

AND CLOSE FRIEND
OF STEPHEN HAWKING,

JOINED THE PROJECT,

HIS JOB WAS TO WORK OUT WHETHER

THERE WERE ANY EVENTS
IN THE UNIVERSE

POWERFUL ENOUGH TO PRODUCE
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES

THAT RAI'S SYSTEM COULD DETECT.

♪♪

AS A THEORIST, I HAD
THE BEST HANDLE ANYONE HAD.

IT WAS NOT A GREAT HANDLE,
BUT THE BEST HANDLE ANYONE HAD

ON THE STRENGTHS OF THE SOURCES.

♪♪

Narrator:
WHAT KIP NEEDED WAS A SOURCE

OF GRAVITATIONAL ENERGY
SO STRONG,

IT WOULD SHAKE THE FABRIC
OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.

THE SORT OF ENERGY
THAT WOULD BE RELEASED

IF TWO BLACK HOLES COLLIDED.

YOU BEGAN
WITH TWO MASSIVE STARS.

THIS ONE COLLAPSED,
FORMED A BLACK HOLE;

AND THEN, LATER, THAT ONE
COLLAPSED, FORMED A BLACK HOLE.

AND THEN, CREATE A BINARY GOING
AROUND EACH OTHER.

THAT BINARY EMITS
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES,

SPIRALS TOGETHER
CLOSER AND CLOSER

AND THE BLACK HOLES COLLIDE.

BUT WE'D NEVER SEEN PAIRS
OF BLACK HOLES.

WE COULDN'T SEE
PAIRS OF BLACK HOLES

BECAUSE BLACK HOLES DON'T EMIT
ANY ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES.

AS THEY GO AROUND EACH OTHER,

THEY ONLY PRODUCE
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES,

SO THE ONLY WAY WE WOULD EVER
SEE THEM WAS WITH OUR DETECTORS.

♪♪

Narrator:
TO TRY TO DETECT
THE GRAVITATIONAL SIGNALS

FROM COLLIDING BLACK HOLES,

KIP THORNE AND RAI WEISS
EMBARKED ON ONE

OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE SCIENTIFIC
VENTURES EVER ATTEMPTED.

♪♪

AFTER YEARS OF PLANNING,

CONSTRUCTION STARTED
IN LIVINGSTON, LOUISIANA,

IN 1994.

♪♪

THE LASERS WOULD BE FIRED
UP THESE ARMS,

EACH 4 KILOMETERS LONG,

BEFORE REFLECTING
OFF THE MIRRORS

AND RETURNING TO SENSORS
SO FINELY TUNED,

THEY COULD, IN THEORY,

DETECT A SHORTENING
OF THE ARMS CAUSED

BY GRAVITATIONAL WAVES

OF JUST A MILLION-MILLION-
MILLIONTH OF A METER.

♪♪

3,000 MILES AWAY,
IN HANFORD, WASHINGTON,

AN IDENTICAL FACILITY
WAS BUILT.

♪♪

FOR ANY DETECTION
TO BE CONFIRMED,

IT WOULD HAVE TO BE PICKED UP

BY BOTH DETECTORS
AT THE SAME TIME.

♪♪

THE INSTRUMENTS
WERE ACTIVATED IN 2002.

FOR EIGHT YEARS, THEY LISTENED
TO THE UNIVERSE.

BY 2010, THEY HAD HEARD
ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

♪♪

FOR THE LIGO TEAM,
THE PRESSURE WAS MOUNTING.

♪♪

Thorne:
WE HAD CONVINCED THE NSF
AND CONGRESS

THAT THEY SHOULD SPEND
$1 BILLION ON THIS,

AND WE HAD NOTHING
TO SHOW FOR IT.

♪♪

Narrator:
DOUBLING DOWN,
THEY SHUT THE PROJECT

FOR ANOTHER FIVE YEARS,

TO INSTALL AN EVEN MORE
PRECISE SET OF DETECTORS.

♪♪

IT WAS A HIGH-STAKES GAMBLE.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:
IN SEPTEMBER 2015,

ALMOST EXACTLY 100 YEARS
AFTER EINSTEIN PUBLISHED

HIS THEORY
OF GENERAL RELATIVITY,

RAI WEISS' DETECTORS
WERE REACTIVATED.

JUST TWO DAYS LATER,

BOTH SITES RECORDED
AN UNUSUAL SIGNAL.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

WE HAVE DETECTED
GRAVITATIONAL WAVES.

WE DID IT.

[ CHEERS AND APPLAUSE ]

Narrator:
AFTER WORKING ON THE PROBLEM
FOR ALMOST 50 YEARS,

IT WAS A MASSIVE VINDICATION
FOR RAI AND HIS FRIEND KIP.

I WANT TO FIRST REMIND YOU
OF EINSTEIN'S 1915 BIG DISCOVERY

WAS REALLY THE FORMULATION
OF THESE FIELD EQUATIONS.

HE APPLIED THESE FIELD EQUATIONS

TO THE IDEA
OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVES.

♪♪

Weiss:
ALMOST THE FIRST DAY
OF THE REAL RUN,

WE SAW WHAT IS IN FRONT OF YOU
ON THE SCREEN HERE.

AND LET ME PLAY IT FOR YOU.

[ THUMPING ]

THAT ISN'T MUCH.
IT'S A LITTLE BLIP.

THAT'S ALL YOU HEARD.

BUT LET ME CHANGE --
AND THIS IS THE TRICK.

WE MADE IT SO THAT YOU COULD
HEAR IT BETTER

BY CHANGING THE FREQUENCY
OF EVERYTHING.

[ BLIPS ]

AND THAT CHIRP
IS THE CHARACTERISTIC

OF THIS PARTICULAR SOURCE.

AND THAT WAS SOMETHING WHICH
WAS QUITE ASTOUNDING TO US.

[ BLIPS ]

♪♪

Narrator:
LONG, LONG AGO,
IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY,

A PAIR OF BLACK HOLES,

EACH AROUND 30 TIMES
THE MASS OF THE SUN,

CIRCLED EACH OTHER,
MOVING FASTER AND CLOSER.

♪♪

Thorne:
THE POINT WHEN WE FIRST SEE
THE GRAVITATIONAL WAVES,

THEY'RE MAYBE 1,000 KILOMETERS
APART,

EACH ONE ROUGHLY
100 KILOMETERS IN SIZE.

THEY'RE GOING
AROUND AND AROUND,

CREATING STRONGER AND STRONGER
WARPING OF SPACE AND TIME.

AS THEY NEAR EACH OTHER,

THEY WARP SPACE AND TIME
IN A WILD WAY,

VERY MUCH LIKE A STORM AT SEA.

Narrator:
AND THEN, THE BLACK HOLES
COALESCE.

♪♪

IN THAT INSTANT,
THREE TIMES THE MASS OF THE SUN

IS CONVERTED INTO PURE ENERGY.

♪♪

BUT NONE OF THAT ENERGY
IS EMITTED AS LIGHT.

IT IS ALL RELEASED
AS GRAVITATIONAL WAVES.

SO THE HUGE AMOUNT OF ENERGY

TURNS OUT TO BE 50 TIMES HIGHER
THAN THE TOTAL POWER OUTPUT

OF ALL THE STARS IN THE UNIVERSE
PUT TOGETHER.

♪♪

BY FAR, THE LARGEST EXPLOSION,
IN TERMS OF POWER OUTPUT,

EXCEPT THE BIG BANG,

THAT WE EVER HAD
ANY EVIDENCE OF.

♪♪

Narrator:
AS THEY TRAVEL THROUGH SPACE
AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT,

THE WAVES DISSIPATE,
GETTING SMALLER AND SMALLER,

UNTIL,
1.3 BILLION YEARS LATER,

THEY PASSED
THROUGH RAI'S DETECTORS.

[ BLIPS ]

I WISH I COULD HAVE TOLD
EINSTEIN DIRECTLY

THAT WE HAD SEEN
A BLACK HOLE DOING THIS.

THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN
JUST A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE,

TO SEE THE EXPRESSION
ON HIS FACE

AFTER WE'D TOLD HIM THAT.

[ BLIPS ]

Narrator:
THE DISCOVERY
OF GRAVITATIONAL WAVES

IS THE ULTIMATE TRIUMPH

OF EINSTEIN'S THEORY
OF RELATIVITY,

A THEORY THAT HAS BEEN
REPEATEDLY TESTED

AND PROVEN TO BE CORRECT.

♪♪

EINSTEIN DIED IN 1955.

IN JUST HALF A CENTURY,

HE HAD REIMAGINED
THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.

WELL, ALBERT EINSTEIN ENTERS
THE WORLD WHEN IT'S ONE WAY

AND, BY THE TIME
HE LEAVES THE WORLD,

IT'S COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.

WE NOW LIVE IN A WORLD
WHERE WE UNDERSTAND

THE UNIVERSE HAD A BEGINNING

AND WE CAN TELL
HOW LONG AGO IT WAS.

THOSE ARE STUNNING ACHIEVEMENTS
AND STUNNING SHIFTS,

BOTH IN OUR SCIENTIFIC
AND OUR CULTURAL PERSPECTIVE.

Green:
HE WAS A FIGURE
THAT IS RARE, YOU KNOW,

ONCE IN A HUNDRED YEARS,
MAYBE ONCE IN 500 YEARS.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator:
STEPHEN HAWKING'S GREATEST
CONTRIBUTION TO PHYSICS

WAS HIS DISCOVERY THAT
BLACK HOLES COULD EVAPORATE.

IF HIS THEORY
OF HAWKING RADIATION
WAS CORRECT,

IT WOULD HAVE
PROFOUND IMPLICATIONS

FOR THE WAY WE UNDERSTAND
THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.

♪♪

IN HAIFA, ISRAEL,

JEFF STEINHAUER
HAS SPENT A DECADE SEARCHING

FOR EVIDENCE
OF HAWKING RADIATION,

USING ARTIFICIAL BLACK HOLES
THAT HE MAKES OUT OF SOUND.

♪♪

Steinhauer:
SO, HERE WE GO.

ALL THE EQUIPMENT
THAT YOU SEE

IS FOR THE SAKE OF THE SMALL
POINT RIGHT IN THERE

WHERE THE ARTIFICIAL
BLACK HOLE IS.

WE START OUT WITH THESE
VERY COLD ATOMS

IN THIS TUBE-LIKE VOLUME

AND IT'S ONLY
0.1 MILLIMETERS LONG.

WE THEN APPLY

A BLUE LASER BEAM
WHICH CAUSES SOME

OF THE ATOMS TO BE ACCELERATED
TO SUPERSONIC SPEEDS.

SO, IN THIS REGION,

THEY'RE FLOWING SLOWER
THAN THE SPEED OF SOUND

AND, HERE, THEY'RE FLOWING
FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF SOUND.

SO, HERE,
IN THE SUPERSONIC REGION,

A SOUND WAVE TRYING TO MOVE
AGAINST THE FLOW

WILL ACTUALLY FALL BACK.

IT CAN'T GO FORWARD
AGAINST THE VERY FAST FLOW.

♪♪

Narrator:
IN HIS ARTIFICIAL BLACK HOLE,

JEFF HAS CREATED
AN EVENT HORIZON.

ONCE THE SOUND WAVE IS
OVER THAT LINE,

IT CANNOT ESCAPE,

JUST AS LIGHT CANNOT ESCAPE
A REAL BLACK HOLE.

AND, WHEN JEFF TAKES PHOTOS
OF HIS SONIC EVENT HORIZON,

HE SEES SOMETHING
VERY STRANGE --

THE TELLTALE SIGNS
OF HAWKING RADIATION.

Steinhauer:
YOU SEE THIS BAND?

THIS BAND IS AN OBSERVATION
OF SOUND WAVES BEING EMITTED

FROM THE HORIZON
OF THE BLACK HOLE.

♪♪

THIS EXPERIMENT IS
THE FIRST TIME

THAT HAWKING RADIATION'S
BEEN OBSERVED.

♪♪

Narrator:
IT IS AN AMAZING DISCOVERY,

WHICH SUGGESTS
THAT HAWKING RADIATION

MAY BE A FUNDAMENTAL FEATURE
OF BLACK HOLES.

IF THAT'S TRUE,

IT MEANS THAT,
GIVEN ENOUGH TIME,

ALL BLACK HOLES WILL EVAPORATE.

AND THAT PROSPECT
HAS TROUBLING IMPLICATIONS

FOR THE REST OF PHYSICS.

[ FLAMES CRACKLING ]

♪♪

♪♪

A CENTRAL PRINCIPLE
OF ALL PHYSICS --

IN FACT, IT'S WRITTEN INTO THE
LAWS OF QUANTUM THEORY --

IS THAT INFORMATION
CANNOT BE DESTROYED.

CONSIDER THIS NEWSPAPER.

IT HAS INFORMATION
ON EVERY PAGE

AND, IF I WERE TO THROW IT
ON THIS FIRE,

IT'S QUICKLY CONSUMED
BY THE FLAMES

AND IT LOOKS LIKE
THE INFORMATION IS DESTROYED.

BUT IF I WERE ABLE TO TAKE
ALL THE ASHES,

COLLECT ALL THE SMOKE
AND ALL THE HEAT,

AND ANALYZE AND RECONSTRUCT
THE PATHS OF ALL THE PARTICLES,

I SHOULD BE ABLE TO RECONSTRUCT
WHAT'S ON EVERY PAGE.

AND THIS IS BECAUSE
THE LAWS OF PHYSICS ALLOW US

TO TELL THE ENTIRE FUTURE

AND THE ENTIRE PAST
OF ANY SYSTEM.

NO ONE'S SAYING IT'S EASY,
BUT IT IS POSSIBLE,

AS LONG AS YOU HAVE
ALL THE INFORMATION.

WE CALL THIS DETERMINISM.

[ FLAMES CRACKLING ]

Narrator:
SCIENTISTS BELIEVE THAT
THE PRINCIPLE OF DETERMINISM

APPLIES TO ALL SYSTEMS,

NO MATTER HOW BIG
OR HOW COMPLEX.

IT SHOULD EVEN APPLY
TO THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.

SO, IF I WERE TO SOMEHOW KNOW
THE POSITION AND STATE

OF EVERY PARTICLE
IN THE UNIVERSE,

I COULD APPLY
THE LAWS OF PHYSICS

AND KNOW THE ENTIRE FUTURE
OF THE UNIVERSE

AND THE ENTIRE PAST
OF THE UNIVERSE.

BUT THERE'S A CATCH,
BECAUSE IF,

AS HAWKING PREDICTED,
BLACK HOLES COULD EVAPORATE

IN SUCH A WAY
THAT THEY LEAVE BEHIND

NO TRACE OF THE MATERIAL
THAT WAS INSIDE,

THEN INFORMATION COULD BE LOST

AND, EVEN IF ONLY A SMALL AMOUNT
OF INFORMATION IS LOST,

THEN EVERYTHING IS LOST.

YOU CAN'T RECONSTRUCT THE PAST

AND YOU CAN'T PREDICT
THE FUTURE.

IT SEEMS TRIVIAL,

BUT, ACTUALLY,
IT WAS A MASSIVE PROBLEM

THAT SHOOK THE VERY
FOUNDATIONS OF PHYSICS

AND THIS BECAME KNOWN
AS THE INFORMATION PARADOX.

♪♪

Hawking:
IF DETERMINISM,

THE PREDICTABILITY
OF THE UNIVERSE,

BREAKS DOWN WITH BLACK HOLES,

IT COULD BREAK DOWN
IN OTHER SITUATIONS.

EVEN WORSE,
IF DETERMINISM BREAKS DOWN,

WE CAN'T BE SURE
OF OUR PAST HISTORY, EITHER.

♪♪

THE HISTORY BOOKS
AND OUR MEMORIES

COULD JUST BE ILLUSIONS.

IT IS THE PAST THAT TELLS US
WHO WE ARE.

WITHOUT IT,
WE LOSE OUR IDENTITY.

♪♪

Narrator:
THE INFORMATION PARADOX

HAS TROUBLED PHYSICISTS
FOR DECADES.

IF HAWKING WAS RIGHT

AND BLACK HOLES DID DESTROY
THE INFORMATION THEY CONTAINED,

THEN THEY WOULD ALSO DESTROY

ALMOST EVERYTHING WE KNOW
ABOUT MODERN PHYSICS.

IT CREATED THIS BIG RIFT
BETWEEN THOSE

WHO WERE ADHERENTS
TO QUANTUM THINKING

AND THOSE WHO WERE ADHERENTS
TO RELATIVITY.

THE QUANTUM PEOPLE SAYING,
"THE INFORMATION MUST GET OUT.

WE DON'T KNOW HOW,
WE DON'T SEE HOW, BUT IT MUST."

AND THE RELATIVISTS SAYING,
"YOU KNOW, MAYBE,

MAYBE THE INFORMATION'S
JUST LOST."

I'M INCLINED TO SUSPECT
THAT INFORMATION

IS TRULY LOST DOWN BLACK HOLES,

BUT MINE IS
THE MINORITY POINT OF VIEW.

WHO CARES IF BLACK HOLES
EVAPORATE

AND SWALLOW LITTLE BITS
OF INFORMATION AS THEY GO?

BUT, IN THE 40-PLUS YEARS
SINCE THEN,

IT'S KIND OF BEEN LIKE
A SNOWBALL,

THE IMPORTANCE OF THIS PROBLEM,
AND HAS GROWN AND GROWN.

♪♪

Narrator:
THE INFORMATION PARADOX
WAS A PROBLEM

THAT STEPHEN HAWKING WORKED ON
FOR OVER FOUR DECADES.

♪♪

AND, IN 2015, HE CAME UP
WITH A MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH.

♪♪

Hawking:
MANY SCIENTISTS FELT THAT
INFORMATION SHOULD NOT BE LOST,

BUT NO ONE COULD SUGGEST
A MECHANISM

BY WHICH
IT COULD BE PRESERVED.

THE ARGUMENTS WENT ON FOR YEARS.

FINALLY, I FOUND WHAT I THINK
IS THE ANSWER.

I REALIZED THAT A BLACK HOLE

CAN STORE THE INFORMATION
IN WHAT IS CALLED

SUPERTRANSLATIONS
OF THE HORIZON.

♪♪

Narrator:
HAWKING'S NEW IDEA

WAS THAT, AS OBJECTS FALL
INTO A BLACK HOLE,

THEY DISTURB THE EVENT HORIZON,

LEAVING BEHIND A PATTERN
OF TURBULENCE,

WHICH COULD PRESERVE
THE INFORMATION

ABOUT EVERYTHING
THAT'S FALLEN INSIDE.

♪♪

Hawking:
I'M NOW WORKING
WITH MY COLLEAGUES

MALCOLM PERRY AT CAMBRIDGE

AND ANDREW STROMINGER
AT HARVARD

ON WHETHER THIS CAN RESOLVE
THE PARADOX.

Perry:
IF INFORMATION IS STUCK
ON THE HORIZON,

IT HAS NOT FALLEN
INTO THE BLACK HOLE.

AND YOU CAN'T DIRECTLY
OBSERVE IT FROM THE OUTSIDE,

BUT WHAT WILL HAPPEN IS
IT WILL INFLUENCE

THE HAWKING RADIATION THAT COMES
OUT OF THE BLACK HOLE

AND THAT MAY BE ENOUGH
TO HELP YOU RESOLVE

THE INFORMATION PARADOX.

♪♪

Strominger:
WHEN WE FIRST CAME UPON IT,
WE WERE UP UNTIL LATE AT NIGHT.

HE SAID HE HADN'T BEEN
THIS EXCITED IN 40 YEARS.

♪♪

AND HE STARTED WORKING ON IT
BASICALLY FULL-TIME.

♪♪

Narrator:
TOGETHER, THE SCIENTISTS WROTE
THREE PAPERS ON THE SUBJECT...

♪♪

...EDGING CLOSER TO A SOLUTION
TO THE INFORMATION PARADOX.

♪♪

IT WAS HAWKING'S
LAST GREAT IDEA.

♪♪

SADLY, THIS IS THE LAST PAPER
THAT STEPHEN WROTE.

HE WAS FULL ENGAGED WITH IT
RIGHT TILL THE VERY END.

♪♪

Narrator:
HAWKING DIED IN MARCH 2018

AT THE AGE OF 76,

OVER HALF A CENTURY

AFTER HE HAD BEEN GIVEN
JUST TWO YEARS TO LIVE.

♪♪

Strominger:
HE WAS KIND OF MAGICAL
TO BE AROUND.

WHEN I MISS HIM THE MOST IS
WHEN WE FIGURE SOMETHING OUT,

I'D LIKE TO TELL HIM.

♪♪

Narrator:
SUCH WAS HIS CONTRIBUTION
TO SCIENCE,

HIS ASHES WERE INTERRED
IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY,

ALONGSIDE SIR ISAAC NEWTON
AND CHARLES DARWIN...

♪♪

STEPHEN WAS ONE OF THE GREAT
MINDS OF THE 20th CENTURY,

IN TERMS OF HIS IMPACT
ON OUR UNDERSTANDING

OF THE LAWS
THAT GOVERN THE UNIVERSE.

I MISS STEPHEN GREATLY.

IT WAS A TREMENDOUS LOSS
FOR ME, PERSONALLY.

♪♪

Narrator:
...HIS GRAVESTONE ENGRAVED

WITH THE EQUATION DESCRIBING
HAWKING RADIATION.

♪♪

STEPHEN HAWKING'S LEGACY
WILL CLEARLY BE A VITAL PART

IN THE UNFOLDING STORY

OF PUTTING GRAVITY
AND QUANTUM MECHANICS TOGETHER.

♪♪

AND, AS WE GO FORWARD,
EVERYTHING THAT WE DO,

IN SOME SENSE, WILL GO
RIGHT BACK TO STEPHEN HAWKING.

[ CLOCK TICKING ]

Narrator:
TIME -- WE THINK OF IT
AS REGULAR AS CLOCKWORK...

♪♪

...TICKING OUT THE STEADY
PROGRESS OF THE UNIVERSE.

♪♪

BUT TIME IS NOT CONSTANT.

IT HOLDS THE KEY TO THE
SECRETS OF THE UNIVERSE.

♪♪

AND THE TWO PEOPLE WHO HELPED US
UNLOCK THOSE MYSTERIES

ARE JOINED BY A COSMIC
COINCIDENCE OF TIMING.

♪♪

ON MARCH 14, 1879,

ALBERT EINSTEIN WAS BORN.

♪♪

Kaiser:
EINSTEIN GAVE TO US ALL
A SET OF TOOLS

THAT LITERALLY HELP US ORGANIZE
THE WORLD AROUND US TO THIS DAY.

Narrator:
AND, ON MARCH 14, 2018,

STEPHEN HAWKING DIED.

♪♪

I THINK STEPHEN
SHOULD BE REMEMBERED

AS ONE OF THE MOST REMARKABLE
PEOPLE OF THE 21st CENTURY.

HE IS SOMEONE WHO,
IN A THOUSAND YEARS FROM NOW,

WILL BE REMEMBERED.

HIS NAME WILL BE KNOWN.

THAT'S NOT TRUE
FOR MOST OF US.

♪♪

Narrator:
BETWEEN THEM,
THEY HAVE TRANSFORMED

OUR UNDERSTANDING
OF THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE.

♪♪

AS A WORKING PHYSICIST,
I LOOK AT THESE TWO GIANTS

AND I HAVE NOTHING
BUT GRATITUDE

THAT THEY REVEALED THE WORLD
TO BE SO MUCH MORE

THAN IT WOULD HAVE BEEN.

AND, WITHOUT THEM, WHO KNOWS
IF WE WOULD'VE GOTTEN

TO THIS WONDROUS STAGE
IN OUR UNDERSTANDING.

♪♪

Hawking:
I HAVE A REAL FEELING
OF ACHIEVEMENT

THAT I HAVE MADE A MODEST,
BUT SIGNIFICANT,

CONTRIBUTION
TO HUMAN KNOWLEDGE

DESPITE MY CONDITION.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪