Original subtitles

Previously on Genius...

As long as you're still married, we cannot be together.

I need to think of my daughters.

I moved my family to Berlin for you.

You came to join the Academy.

I do wish Elsa could have joined us.

Apparently, she's gone away to Essen.

That's where Albert is.

When were you going to tell me about Elsa?

I want a divorce.

I am not letting you walk away from the boys.

Fritz Haber. The man who pulled nitrogen out of thin air.

I'm a proud war veteran.

Really, Fritz? You're proud of your military service?

Walther Rathenau!

The only way to confirm general relativity

is during a solar eclipse.

The Kaiser's declared war on Russia.

Your foundation

for general relativity is flawed.

I could have been ruined.

You wanted me to fail.

You're right.

Mileva's agreed to end things.

There is quite a difference between separation and divorce.

Mileva. I wanted to end our marriage.

I didn't want to lose my whole family.

You can't have everything, Albert.

*

Tonight, I will demonstrate

blackbody absorption, and the forces...

Forgive me,

but there is a more urgent matter to discuss.

My friends, England and all of Europe

is facing catastrophe.

The natural fertilizer that we have long used

to grow our crops is dwindling rapidly.

Without it, our soil becomes barren.

What we are left with

is too many mouths to feed

and not enough food.

Tonight,

I call on the great minds of Europe.

Barring a monumental scientific breakthrough,

in a few short years

Europe will starve.

Did you read what this Crookes fellow claims?

Millions of people will starve

if we don't find a new way to grow crops.

I must do something.

Fritz, you can hardly keep a houseplant alive.

Guano. Do you know what it is?

Of course.

Bat excrement.

And why do we ship bat excrement

to Europe from a world away?

It's a good source of nitrogen.

So is the air.

80% nitrogen, to be exact.

You could never harness enough energy

to break apart nitrogen bonds.

A lightning bolt could do it.

Yes, but you can hardly corral a lightning bolt, now can you?

Not yet.

Gentlemen.

The very fate of our nation

depends on the men in this room.

Our generals have informed me

that the army's ammunition stockpile has dwindled

to a six-month supply.

And I say it's nonsense.

In six weeks our boys

will be hurling rocks instead of firing artillery.

My God.

I have taken it upon myself to fund a military department

devoted to scientific innovation.

Make no mistake,

we are facing a bloody surrender.

I need you.

Germany needs you.

You have my support, Dr. Rathenau.

And I'm surely not alone in that, hmm?

Hear, hear. Yes.

Gentlemen, I am circulating a letter to the Kaiser,

pledging the commitment of the finest minds

of Germany's scientific community,

and I beseech you to sign it.

Stand with the Fatherland in its hour of need.

Dr. Rathenau,

some of us still indulge in the wild notion

that scientists are meant

to unravel the mysteries of the world,

not find new ways to destroy it.

We are all free to make choices.

And history will take note.

You didn't sign it.

Of course I didn't sign it.

I'm not a lemming like the rest of them.

Aren't you worried

it might affect your standing in the Academy?

I won't make weapons, Elsa.

I have actual work to do.

You must miss them terribly.

I'm sure they miss you.

She was welcome to every stick of furniture,

but how...

how could I let her take my boys?

What choice did you have?

It's cruel, isn't it? That...

...what is most important in life

reveals itself to be so only in its absence.

You can't stay here, alone, in this empty apartment.

Are you offering to take me in?

Of course not. You're not divorced.

Don't start this again, Elsa.

There is a flat available in my building.

I could look after you. I am quite capable

of tending to myself, thank you.

Yes, clearly.

No sleep, a bare apartment, a flaring ulcer...

you're the picture of independence.

I know that this empty space

must seem uninhabitable to you,

but to me such a vacuum

is second nature.

Even I know that vacuums can't sustain life.

General relativity

is everything to me now, Elsa.

Once I've solved it, the rest of my life can rush in.

You are unbearable.

It's a pity I love you so much.

Mileva.

How good to see you. Come in.

I'm afraid I don't have time today.

Anna was just setting out breakfast.

Anna!

Anna, Mileva is here. Come.

What a lovely surprise.

Yes. Well, I only came by to...

borrow some sheet music.

I find myself with some spare time on my hands.

I thought I could teach piano again.

Is everything all right, Mileva?

The money Albert sent for a month only lasted a week.

You must write to him for more.

He wouldn't want you and the boys to suffer.

He sends all he can.

But with the war, the German mark is practically worthless.

I'll go find that sheet music.

Has Albert made any plans to visit the boys?

I'm certain he will soon.

You are too kind to him, Mileva.

I know that you will find students quickly.

Thank you.

*

Mama.

Frau Einstein.

Herr Nicolai.

I was not expecting company.

And apparently, neither were you.

Nicolai is only here bearing news.

Yes.

You see, I am the leader of a new caucus

advocating against the war.

Actually, I was, uh,

wondering if you would introduce me to Professor Einstein.

Ilse tells me you are quite close.

I am told

he was the only scientist

who refused to sign the war manifesto.

The support of a man of his stature

would help my cause greatly.

I'll convey the message.

But Dr. Einstein is a very busy man.

Frau Einstein.

Fraulein Ilse.

You didn't have to treat him with such venom.

He's a cad, groping a young woman half his age.

It's unseemly. You,

of all people, are lecturing me

about what is unseemly?

Don't you dare speak to me in that tone.

And it is careless of you to insinuate to a stranger

that Albert and I are so close.

No one need insinuate anything, Mama. The neighbors have been

gossiping about you two for months.

You shouldn't waste your time worrying over my affairs.

What I worry over is my own mother's behavior

impeding my chances of ever getting married.

You've acted so outrageously

that no self-respecting man will give me a second look.

I will make certain that you and your sister are settled.

But then where will I be?

When you are older, you will realize

there is little for a woman in this world.

One way or another, I must salvage a life for myself.

Eduard.

Is everything all right?

Uncle Michele?

Dear God.

Mileva?

Mileva, can you hear me?

She'll wake up. She always does.

This has happened before?

She says her heart beats fast, and then...

she doesn't remember what happens next.

Help me. Help me lift her.

She'll be all right, won't she?

Professor Hilbert?

Ah, Professor Einstein.

Come, come.

I-I was most taken with your lecture on relativity.

I couldn't wait to meet the man

with such a boundless imagination.

These are calculations for relativity.

Well, I should hope you would recognize your own quagmire.

You know, the prickly points in your theory

have even me at a loss.

Well, for the moment.

I had hoped to show you my most recent work.

I... I never imagined a mathematician

of your stature would actually

put your mind to it before I even arrived.

I've spent the last two days puzzling over it.

I've lost the last few years of my life

trying to complete the damn thing.

I'm overjoyed that you're willing to assist me.

Assist you?

Well, that would be fun,

but that would take far too long.

No, no, I can solve this much more quickly on my own.

On your own?

Professor Einstein, physics is far too complicated

to be left to physicists.

Albert, what are you

so upset about? He's going to finish it first.

Well, consider yourself lucky.

It's not every day that one of the greatest mathematicians

in the world decides to take up the cause of a physicist.

Sit down, Albert, please.

Relativity is the greatest idea I've ever had.

Is it so wrong that I want

to bring it to completion on my own?

Albert, are you really

going to start a public pissing contest

over academic credit when our boys...

my sons...

are out the there fighting an actual war?

Hmm? Besides, Hilbert

is a top-rate mathematician.

You'd be foolish to try and match his pace.

Max, this is all I have.

Life is more than work, Albert.

I am about to embark on a great folly.

This will be the first

of four lectures.

I will certainly be dubbed mad.

But by the last lecture,

I will have either tamed this beast...

...or will have been trampled by it.

The Riemann tensor...

...leads to the consideration

of the Ricci tensors.

In which case,

Grossman was right

to reconsider them.

The Lagrangian

must be constructed

in such a way

as to respect the transformations that we saw.

And now we can attempt to write various

field equations,

analogous to what Maxwell wrote

on electromagnetism.

This equation works for planetary orbits

that never shift.

But here...

the constant shift in Mercury's orbit due to the constant

gravitational pull of the sun should...

*

*

Have you solved it, Professor Einstein?

Not quite yet,

but the beast is cowering,

that's for sure.

If only they'd let women

into the Academy. What I wouldn't give

to see Albert sweat out his calculations

in front of an audience.

It says here he-he doesn't sleep,

stays up all hours of the night, working.

He should be applying himself to more urgent matters.

You certainly are

puffing yourself up

just for making gunpowder, aren't you?

I'm doing much more than making gunpowder.

By forcing air

over the iron and potassium hydroxide promoter

at such intense pressure,

hydrogen from natural gasses

combines with nitrogen from the air,

producing pure liquid ammonia...

...containing the form of nitrogen

most easily consumed by plant life.

That is not enough to feed one common ficus.

We will build a large-scale, high-pressure reactor

that would...

Blow up a small town? The pressure you would need

to produce ammonia in large quantities

would explode any reactor on Earth.

Were you going to inform us of this risk, Herr Haber?

We... can build

a new reactor. Bigger, stronger.

Of course, it will take money, quite a lot of it.

But gentlemen, Germany will go hungry

without fertilizer.

And I do understand the difficulty

of industrializing such a process.

But what's in this beaker

is most of the way toward a feat no one thought possible.

I have devised a way to pull nitrogen out of thin air.

I imagine there would be profit

to be had in feeding the world, no?

Albert.

Dear God, have you been eating?

With the war rations, nobody's been eating.

You need rest. Your ulcer...

Relativity is at my fingertips, Elsa.

I can-I can almost touch it.

The universe isn't going anywhere, Albert.

A little sleep will do you good.

I had a glorious breakthrough today, Elsa.

Michele wrote to you five times.

You'd know if you didn't disappear under a rock

when you throw yourself into work.

When you didn't answer, he finally wrote to me.

Has something happened? The boys... They're fine.

It's Mileva.

She's been suffering from heart troubles

and is recovering in the hospital.

Who-Who's taking care of Eduard and Hans Albert?

Michele is looking after them. Oh, they're in good hands.

Don't worry yourself about Mileva. She'll be fine.

She does this. The woman craves attention.

But your boys need you.

I'll write to Michele at once.

And I'll be there for them as soon as I finish my lectures.

Uh, Dr. Einstein?

Georg Nicolai.

I am acquainted with Elsa.

Surely she has mentioned me? The committee?

I'm afraid I have no idea what you're talking about, sir.

Y-You see, I am the leader

of a new caucus advocating against the war.

I wish you good luck with it.

All it would take is a signature.

To show that men of science, like yourself,

stand against the treachery of war.

It's not that I don't sympathize with your mission, sir.

But I am a scientist, not a politician.

I've made a name for myself by refusin to sign my name.

Good day.

Albert.

This just came for you.

From Hilbert.

He's done it.

He's completed the last equation.

He's defeated me.

I am so sorry, Albert.

I was so close, Max.

The theory is still yours.

No one can take that away from you.

The final calculation?

Merely a footnote. And at least now

you can go and see your boys.

Yes?

Thank you for looking after them, Michele.

But you won't have to be burdened

with these two rascals much longer.

The doctor says I can go home in two days.

Just in time.

Just in time for what?

I received a letter.

From Albert.

He is coming to Zurich.

Isn't it wonderful, Mama?

By order of the federal council, all Swiss borders

have been closed due to the war.

This train and all passengers will be turned back to Germany.

Excuse me.

I have a S... a Swiss passport.

Here, let-let me show you. The train

is going back, sir. But I must see my sons.

Their mother is ill. No exceptions, sir.

By order of the federal council,

all Swiss borders have been closed due to the war.

It's getting cold.

Come inside, Hans. Have some cocoa.

Just a little longer, Uncle Michele.

He's coming.

I know it.

Good evening, sir.

Frau Haber, I presume. I have an appointment

with your husband.

At this hour?

Would you inform him that

General Lehning is here to see him?

No need.

This way.

*

A glorious day!

It's raining, Professor Einstein.

Let it rain!

Hilbert made a mistake!

And so, when the next eclipse is upon us,

these calculations will explain, once and for all,

relativity

and the reason for Mercury's pesky orbit around the sun.

There.

It is complete.

Clara?

Clara, what a nice surprise.

But there's little use in freezing to death

before our time. Shall we?

How are the boys?

Do tell me some news of them.

Clara, what is it?

Surely you haven't come for news of my boys.

I-I'm worried about Fritz.

He disappears all hours of the day and night, and

he's always wearing that damn uniform,

like a child playing dress-up.

I wouldn't be concerned.

He's-he's only helping Rathenau produce gunpowder.

He's working on something else, Albert.

Something terrible.

I cannot live with a man who engineers death.

It's abominable.

Have you ever seen men twisting in agony

on the battlefield, shot through with bullets?

Or witnessed the horror in an infirmary

after sepsis overtakes a body?

That's abominable, Albert.

This... this is humane.

You would burn a man's insides,

make him drown in his own phlegm?

They're slaughtering our boys.

Because we attacked them!

Are you taking their side?

I'm taking the side of humanity.

Sitting on your hands.

That's a convenient vantage point from which to judge.

Great men of history aren't remembered

for doing nothing, Albert.

They are remembered for taking action when no one else would.

I see. So you're doing this for glory.

No, I am doing it to save lives.

Fritz, you're not making any sense.

We will only need to use it once.

The French, the Russians...

they will see the power we wield,

and will have no choice but to surrender

before any more people die.

My friend, listen to me.

You don't have to go through with this.

It's-it's not too late.

We're-we're scientists,

not purveyors of death and destruction.

During times of peace, a scientist belongs to the world,

but during times of war, he belongs to his country.

Peace cannot be kept by force, Fritz.

It can only be achieved by understanding.

Do you know, Max, what Fritz has been working on?

Max? They say

they will give him a medal.

A... a medal.

Oh, Max.

He was killed

in a battle in Verdun.

They told me he faced his final moments with great courage.

I'm sure he did.

You really think so?

Because all I can picture is the little boy

who ran into my arms when the neighbor's dog barked at him.

That little boy, lying...

in a cold field without his papa to hold him.

God.

I can only imagine how scared he must have...been.

You should be with your family.

Come.

Come, I'll take you home.

You-you were right to defy Rathenau's call to arms.

Right and wrong become blurred in times like these.

I signed their damn war manifesto.

And now I feel I have signed my own son's death warrant.

We cannot just stand by any longer, can we?

Your good name will draw the attention we need.

I'm afraid the attention may not be what you want.

Many of my opponents think I'm a traitor

for opposing the war.

To stand for your principles

when all others have forgotten theirs...

isn't traitorous.

It's patriotic.

The wind is picking up, sir.

Inform the general we are ready.

To a true hero!

The English papers are calling Captain Haber's gas

the "death cloud."

The enemy will surely surrender soon

thanks to our gracious host. To Captain Haber!

To Captain Haber.

Yes, well, um, thank you, but even victory

isn't worth letting a fine lamb shank turn cold, so, please.

I've heard rumors

the Kaiser himself is to bestow a medal on your husband.

You must be very proud, Frau Haber.

Whatever grand invention will you

contrive next, Captain Haber?

At the moment, I'm still trying to perfect this one.

We need a more efficient means to deploy the gas.

I think it's quite efficient already.

Clara!

No. No!

No! Oh, my...

The war is over!

Troops return home!

Armistice signed! The war is over!

Albert?

The Kaiser has fled.

The war is finished.

Thank God, Elsa.

It says here we are a democracy now.

Demokratia... rule by the people.

Let us hope the people have their heads on straight.

Oh, my love,

don't fill your brilliant head with gloomy thoughts.

It's finally finished.

Hmm.

Yet I cannot help but feel that it's only just begun.

Troops return home!

Armistice signed!

The war is over!

One loaf of bread per family!

Please, ma'am, can you spare some coin?

Albert,

there's a telegram for you.

Britain, the United States, Russia...

they all want reparations.

France is threatening to occupy the Ruhr if we don't pay.

Forgiveness never comes cheap.

It's from Arthur Eddington.

What is it? A silver lining, it seems.

"U-boats no longer threat. Stop.

Will sail to Africa. Will photograph eclipse. Stop."

Albert, that's wonderful news.

"Relativity proof imminent. Stop."

I cannot wait to read that in the scientific journals.

Hopefully with a little... a little more flair.

What is it?

You can forget about the journals, Albert.

When you're proved right,

your name is going to be printed in every newspaper

around the entire globe.

You'll be famous. Don't be silly.

I'm a scientist. They'll want interviews.

They'll want to know about your life, your family.

Me.

We'll tell them you're my social secretary.

It took the neighbors a couple of months.

Imagine a journalist clamoring for a story.

How long before they discover that you are...

you are living in sin

Who cares what they think?

I care.

Elsa, I have asked Mileva for a divorce in every way imaginable.

Then you must ask her again.

Make her an offer of some kind.

We don't have any more deutsche marks to give.

Fritz does. He would lend to you. No.

I cannot take blood money from that warmonger.

Well, you had better think of something.

Because it's one thing for me to withstand

the shaming stares of our neighbors.

But you cannot expect me to do that

in front of the entire world.

I need the divorce.

Are you asking me?

Or is it Elsa?

I'm sorry I couldn't be what you needed, Mileva.

What about Hans and Eduard?

All they needed was a reliable father.

You took them away from me.

I didn't...

A British astronomer is heading for Africa

in a few months' time to capture the solar eclipse.

The first one in years.

Are you sure you're right this time?

Your equations are covariant? Yes.

They will define the general relativity

of all forms of motion.

It's an extraordinary achievement.

And you were there to help me from the beginning of it all.

I will never forget that.

Recognition from the greatest scientist in the world.

At last. My career is complete.

There's already much discussion of a Nobel.

You know it comes with a great deal of prize money.

I want you to have it. All of it.

You want to pay me for a divorce. Mm-mm.

You deserve to be taken care of, Dollie.

Don't call me that. I'm offering you

more money than either of us

have ever seen, Mileva.

You need this. Don't be proud.

Get out.

If not for you, do it for the boys.

Get out!

What more do you want from me?

Why are you doing this to yourself, Mother?

He obviously wants nothing to do with us.

He hasn't since he left me sitting on that step.

Just give him what he wants.

He'll be out of our lives and we can all move forward,

once and for all.

Well?

She finally agreed.

But it comes with a terrible price.

State the reason for your divorce.

Adultery,

Herr Richter.

And who is the guilty party?

I am, Herr Richter.

I have been living with Elsa Einstein,

divorced Lowenthal,

for approximately four years

and have had continued intimate relations with her.

Have you proof? She's the woman

s-seated behind me, Herr Richter.

Well, please indicate to the court where she is.

Is this true, Madame?

Yes, Herr Richter.

The provisions of the divorce state that Mileva Maric,

married Einstein,

will receive an annual stipend of 9,000 deutsche marks.

Adding to this, Professor Einstein promises her

the full proceeds

of a Nobel Prize, should he be awarded it.

Very well.

On to the children.

Mileva Maric is to retain full custody in Zurich,

and the boys shall not be permitted

to visit their father in Berlin.

Professor, do you object?

No, I do not object.

Dr. and Mrs. Einstein. Over here.

Dr. Einstein. Dr. Einstein!

What did you do when you first heard

Mr. Eddington proved your theory correct?

Well, I went back to work.

And I bought myself a new violin.

Uh, Mr. Eddington, uh, what did your photographs prove, exactly?

That gravity bends light passing next to the sun

by approximately 1.7 arc seconds,

just as Dr. Einstein predicted.

Uh, meaning what? Meaning,

gentlemen, that the greatest of all scientific generalizations,

the laws of Sir Isaac Newton, have just received

their first major modification in over two centuries.

We are all witness to one of the most resplendent achievements

of human thought

in our lifetime.

Write that down.

Relativity is a hoax.

Dr. Lenard, it was just proven by Arthur Eddington.

What happens at the next eclipse, when the results vary,

hmm?

You will look like fools.

Our discoveries changed science

because they were grounded in facts.

They weren't philosophical conjectures

cloaked in equations designed to deceive, hmm?

As the Nobel selection committee, it is

your duty to know the difference.

They're giving it

to Max Planck.

Well, you always said it was a shame

how the Nobel committee overlooked him all these years.

They're giving it to Fritz, too.

In chemistry. Hmm.

For his nitrogen trick.

Hmm.

Quite a year for the Prussian Academy.

Well,

I'm sure a lovely celebration will be in order.

I'm not going if Fritz is to be honored.

Albert, if you insist on condemning a man

for his mistakes, you must be willing

to applaud him for his triumphs.

Fritz didn't start the war.

He's responsible for thousands of deaths.

He also saved half of Europe from starvation.

Doesn't that mean something?

I cannot congratulate a killer

and call myself a pacifist.

But if you insist that the worst disputes

between warring nations can be resolved,

then... can't two old friends make peace?

Albert.

What can I say, old friend?

It's about time they honored you.

How many years has it been since you discovered light quanta?

About 3,000.

Truly, Max, congratulations.

It should have been yours. Nonsense.

You deserve it more than any man in this room.

Excuse me, uh, Dr. Planck?

We'll talk.

Albert.

A Nobel

in chemistry.

That is something.

I'm not a genius like you, Albert.

All I did was see a problem and find a way to fix it.

That's what I try to do, I suppose... fix things.

Yes, of course.

Or destroy them.

That is entirely unfair.

Did you not invent a new way to destroy human life?

Yes, but that was not my only innovation.

I am being honored tonight for the good I've done.

Life cannot be balanced like an equation, Fritz.

Good deeds do not erase the evil ones.

I certainly pray to God you're wrong for once, Albert.

Perhaps I've been too harsh.

Perhaps you haven't.

I never told you, Fritz, how sorry I was about Clara.

We couldn't manage to hold on to the more brilliant ones,

could we?

Gentlemen,

smile.

He didn't even win the Nobel,

and yet he still graces our front pages.

Not only in Berlin. Frankfurt, Paris, London,

New York, Tokyo.

I could go on.

All about general relativity, yes.

Relativity, politics, his hair, what he ate for breakfast.

It's despicable.

It's to be expected.

He's a Jew.

A publicity-seeking Jew who uses

his influence for his own profit.

Well, now, Herr Weyland,

I didn't quite say all that. You are standing

in the German National People's Party headquarters, Dr. Lenard.

We are not afraid to speak the truth here.

In fact, I imagine my candor is

the very reason that you've come to see me.

Now, please,

what can I do for you?

I have a proposition to make,

but one with which

I cannot afford to be publicly associated.

You can be assured of my discretion.

I read your paper denouncing relativity.

I think you deserve a wider audience.

Albert Einstein has engaged in a profit-grubbing promotion

of his theory, as our country suffers

deprivation and indignity.

And for what?

For a lie.

For a hoax.

For a deception unlike any other!

Over the next two days,

you will hear from Germany's most preeminent scholars,

who will show you exactly how we've all been hoodwinked

by one enormous bluff.

Hear, hear!

Oh, apologies. Continue, Dr. Weyland.

We all eagerly await your scholarly proof.

I'm sure it will be very interesting.

What in God's name were you thinking?

It was a public lecture and I was curious, so I went.

I didn't expect much. I also didn't expect

a packed house of anti-Semitic imbeciles.

What are you doing?

Writing to the Berliner Tageblatt

to give them my honest critique.

Albert, stop. You are sticking your hand into a hornet's nest.

These men are vindictive and dangerous. This world

is dangerous, Elsa.

Not because of those who do evil,

but because of those who look on and do nothing.

I cannot do nothing.

"I admire Lenard

"as a master of experimental physics,

"but he has not yet produced anything outstanding

in theoretical physics."

He wrote that?

On the front of the damn newspaper.

Jewish publishers, of course.

"Lenard's objections to the general theory of relativity

"are of such superficiality that, up until now,

"I did not think it necessary to answer them.

I intend to make up for this."

It's an affront!

I will not stand for it!

Why would he assume that you had anything to do

with that lecture series?

You did not even attend.

That huckster Weyland listed me as a coming lecturer

in the programme. No doubt trying to add my prestige

to his cause.

But it doesn't matter.

Einstein obviously desires a public battle.

Perhaps it's time I enlisted some public allies.