IN MY GRANDFATHER'S TIME,
AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
THE NIGHT SKY IS
THE GREATEST SHOW AROUND.
IT PLAYS WEEK AFTER WEEK.
EVEN ON SUNDAYS,
ASSUMING THE WEATHER HOLDS.
PART OF ITS POWER IS
ITS INFINITE MYSTERY.
NO ONE KNOWS WHERE STARS
COME FROM OR WHY THEY SHINE.
FEW BELIEVE
WE WILL EVER UNDERSTAND
WHAT THE UNIVERSE IS MADE OF--
WHAT THE TRUE NATURE
OF MATTER REALLY IS.
BUT THEN, WITHIN A FEW YEARS,
ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE.
THERE ARE REVOLUTIONS
IN ASTRONOMY AND PHYSICS
AND LONG-CHERISHED IDEAS
ARE SHATTERED
ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE
AND SPACE AND TIME
AND EVEN REALITY ITSELF.
THE ONLY THING
THAT REMAINS THE SAME
IS THE GLORY OF THE VIEW.
Osgood:
FROM THE MOMENT
THE TELESCOPE IS INVENTED
IT'S OUR WINDOW ON THE UNIVERSE.
IN THE 18th AND 19th CENTURIES
EVER LARGER
AND MORE ELABORATE TELESCOPES
REVEAL EVER MORE STARS.
BY THE END OF THE 19th CENTURY
TELESCOPES ARE SO LARGE
AND REVEAL SO MANY STARS
ASTRONOMERS ARE WORKING OVERTIME
JUST TO CATALOGUE THEM.
THERE SEEMS LITTLE NEED TO BUILD
EVEN BIGGER INSTRUMENTS
IF ALL THEY CAN DO IS
FIND MORE STARS TO CATALOGUE.
BUT GEORGE ELLERY HALE
DISAGREES.
HE'S PASSIONATELY CONVINCED
A BIG ENOUGH TELESCOPE
WILL CHANGE ASTRONOMY
IN WAYS IT'S IMPOSSIBLE
TO ANTICIPATE
AND HE'S DETERMINED
TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN.
THAT PASSION BRINGS HIM TO MOUNT
WILSON IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
E AIR IS ALMOST ALWAYS
FREE OF TURBULENCE AND CLOUDS.
IT'S THE PERFECT SPOT
FOR AN OBSERVATORY.
WITH FUNDS FROM THE LIKES
OF STEEL TYCOON AND
PHILANTHROPIST ANDREW CARNEGIE
HALE SETS OUT IN 1908
TO BUILD ON MOUNT WILSON
THE WORLD'S LARGEST TELESCOPE.
THE INSTRUMENT HE ENVISIONS
WILL BE ALMOST TWICE THE SIZE
OF ANY THEN IN USE.
IT WILL COLLECT AND FOCUS LIGHT
WITH A MIRROR 100 INCHES WIDE.
HALE'S ENTHUSIASM IS
INFECTIOUS AND PERSUASIVE.
IT ALSO MASKS THE ENORMITY
OF THE TECHNOLOGICAL CHALLENGE
HE'S UNDERTAKING.
Man:
NOBODY IS POURING GLASS,
MOLTEN GLASS
THE SIZE THAT
IS GOING TO BE NECESSARY.
NOBODY IS CREATING THE KINDS
OF BEAMS AND GIRDERS
AND THE SUPER GOING TO BE N
ECESSARY.
THESE THINGS WEIGH HUNDREDS,
THOUSANDS OF TONS.
YOU ALSO HAVE THE DIFFICULTY
THAT THEY'RE LOCATED
ON MOUNTAINTOPS.
YOU HAVE TO BUILD THE ROADS.
YOU HAVE TO BUILD THE LIVING
QUARTERS FOR THE ASTRONOMERS.
YOU HAVE TO HAVE
MACHINE SHOPS ON SITE.
IT JUST GOES ON AND ON AND ON.
THESE ARE ALMOST KIND
OF TECHNOLOGICAL KINGDOMS
IN THEIR OWN RIGHT
AND THEY'VE NEVER BEEN DESIGNED
ON THIS SCALE BEFORE.
Osgood:
THINGS SEEM TO GO WRONG
FROM THE START.
THE MIRROR HAS TO BE THE LARGEST
SOLID PIECE OF GLASS EVER MADE.
A FRENCH GLASSMAKER POURS
ENOUGH GREEN GLASS FOR
10,000 CHAMPAGNE BOTTLES
INTO A HUGE MOLD
AND THEN PACKS THE WHOLE THING
IN MANURE TO SLOWLY COOL IT.
UNFORTUNATELY,
IT COMES OUT FLAWED.
TWICE MORE THEY TRY
AND EACH TIME, THE GIANT DISKS
CRACK AS THEY COOL.
LACKING THE MONEY TO TRY AGAIN
HALE ORDERS HIS OPTICIANS
TO GRIND THE FIRST
IN THE HOPE ITS FLAWS
AREN'T FATAL.
IT TAKES FOUR YEARS
OF GRINDING AND POLISHING
TO FINISH THE MIRROR...
AND EVEN LONGER TO BUILD
T OF THE TELESCOPE
AND ITS DOME.
HUNDREDS OF TONS
OF STEEL AND CONCRETE
ARE HAULED UP THE MOUNTAIN ROAD
AT A CAUTIOUS
TEN MILES PER HOUR.
EVEN AT THAT SPEED,
ACCIDENTS HAPPEN.
THE STEEL SECTIONS
OF THE TELESCOPE ITSELF
ARE BUILT AT
AN EAST COAST SHIPYARD.
SOME ARE SO BIG THEY MUST BE
SHIPPED BY BOAT TO CALIFORNIA.
WORLD WAR I HAS BROKEN OUT
AND GERMAN SUBMARINES
ARE A CONSTANT THREAT.
LONG PRONE TO BOUTS
OF DEPRESSION
HALE'S WORRIES ABOUT THE PROJECT
BEGIN TO AFFECT HIS HEALTH.
THAT HE HAD BEEN VISITED
BY A COMPANION--
SORT OF DESCRIBED
AS A LITTLE GREEN ELF
WHO MIGHT COME TO HIS BED
OR SIT ON HIS SHOULDER
PERHAPS TO GIVE HIM ADVICE
ABOUT HOW TO RUN HIS LIFE
AND HOW TO RAISE MONEY,
WHO TO TALK TO.
IT'S HARD TO SAY.
THE ELF PERHAP WORK OUT SOME
OF THIS STRESS.
Osgood:
WHATEVER IT IS
THAT CARRIES HALE THROUGH
ON NOVEMBER 2, 1917, THE
100-INCH TELESCOPE IS FINISHED.
ITS 100 TONS
OF IRON AND STEEL MOVE
WITH THE PRECISION
OF A FINE WATCH.
ITS 9,000-POUND MIRROR
CAN DETECT A CANDLE
5,000 MILES AWAY.
WHAT HALE HAS BUILT IS ONE OF
THE MARVELS OF THE 20th CENTURY.
IT WILL REIGN FOR DECADES AS
THE BEST TELESCOPE IN THE WORLD
AND PROVE BEYOND DOUBT
THE WORTH OF BIG TELESCOPES.
TO SPEND A NIGHT HERE
IS THE DREAM OF ASTRONOMERS
THE WORLD OVER.
Christianson:
YOU WOULD OPEN THE DOME--
A KIND OF ROLLING LIKE THUNDER.
YOU WERE ALONE ON THE MOUNTAIN
WITH A TELESCOPE.
IT'S JUST YOU AND THE UNIVERSE
OR YOU AND GOD, SO TO SPEAK.
Baliunas:
YOU'D SIT AT THE PLATFORM
AT THE TELESCOPE
GUIDING, MAKING
VERY FINE ADJUSTMENTS
ON THIS MAGNIFICENT INSTRUMENT
WITH A LITTLE HAND PADDLE
WITH YOUR EYE STARING DOWN
ONTO THE ILLUMINATED CROSS HAIRS
AND WORK THERE
EIGHT, TEN, 12 HOURS.
OFTENTIMES IT WAS
EXTREMELY COLD.
IN WINTER THEY WORE HEAVY COATS.
SOMETIMES THEY WORE BEARSKIN
OR SHEEPSKIN COATS.
YOU COULD LITERALLY HAVE YOUR
TEARS FREEZE TO THE EYEPIECE
AND THEY WANTED HOT COFFEE
BUT HALE WOULDN'T ALLOW IT.
HE THOUGHT IT WAS POISONOUS
TO THE SYSTEM.
20 HOURS...
Osgood:
COFFEE ISN'T ALL THAT
HALE KEEPS OFF THE MOUNTAINTOP.
IN THE 1920s, I WOULD NOT HAVE
BEEN ALLOWED TO WORK UP HERE.
IN FACT, I WOULDN'T
HAVE BEEN WELCOME
EVEN AS A WIFE OR A VISITOR
OF ANY OF THE SCIENTISTS.
HALE IN HIS DAYS AT YERKES
HAD FOUND THAT THE WIVES
OF SOME OF THE ASTRONOMERS
BECAME A DISTRACTION TO THEIR
MONASTIC SCHOLARLY STUDIES
AND SO THEY WERE ESSENTIALLY
BANNED FROM THE MOUNTAINTOP.
Osgood:
IRONICALLY, WITHOUT THE
CONTRIBUTION MADE BY A WOMAN
THE FIRST GREAT DISCOVERY MADE
WITH THE 100-INCH
MIGHT NOT HAVE BEEN POSSIBLE.
Man:
THE CLOSEST A WOMAN
COULD GET TO THE FIELD
WAS, AT THE TIME, AT
THE HARVARD COLLEGE OBSERVATORY
WHERE MAJOR DATA-COLLECTING
PROJECTS WERE IN PROGRESS.
HIRED ON
TO HELP TO ANALYZE THE DATA
WHERE MAJOR DATA-COLLECTING
PROJECTS WERE IN PROGRESS.WERE
TO DO ALL THE MENIAL TASKS
THAT WERE BELOW
THE DUTIES OF THE MEN.
Osgood:
HENRIETTA LEAVITT IS
ONE OF A DOZEN WOMEN
WHO STUDIED TENS OF THOUSANDS
OF PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATES
TAKEN BY MEN
AT DISTANT OBSERVATORIES.
LEAVITT'S TASK IS TO EXAMINE
PLATES TAKENS
AND LOOK FOR STARS
THAT VARY IN BRIGHTNESS.
SHE NOTICES A PATTERN IN ONE
CLASS OF STARS CALLED "CEPHEIDS"
AND REALIZES
THE TIME IT TAKES THEM
TO REACH THEIR
MAXIMUM BRIGHTNESS
CAN BE USED TO DETERMINE
HOW FAR AWAY THEY ARE.
IT'S A LANDMARK DISCOVERY.
BEFORE LEAVITT, ASTRONOMERS
COULDN'T CALCULATE THE DISTANCE
TO ANY BUT THE CLOSEST STARS.
Tyson:
WHAT HENRIETTA LEAVITT DID
WAS PROVIDE ONE OF THE FIRST
AND STILL TO THIS DAY
ONE OF THE MOST FUNDAMENTAL
YARDSTICKS IN THE UNIVERSE.
IT IS THE MEASURE BY WHICH
ALL DISTANCES ARE DETERMINED.
WITHOUT THAT, WE'D BE CLUELESS.
Osgood:
ALL THE ASTRONOMERS GEORGE HALE
BRINGS TO MOUNT WILSON
WILL, AT SOME POINT
IN THEIR CAREERS
MAKE USE OF LEAVITT'S
CELESTIAL YARDSTICK.
BUT THERE'S ONE FOR WHOM IT
WILL HAVE SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE--
EDWIN HUBBLE.
A STAR ATHLETE IN COLLEGE
HUBBLE HAD WON
A RHODES SCHOLARSHIP
AND STUDIED LAW AT OXFORD
UNIVERSITY IN ENGLAND.
UPON RETURNING HOME, HOWEVER
HE DECIDES AGAINST
BECOMING A LAWYER
AND HEADS OFF TO GRADUATE SCHOOL
TO TAKE SERIOUSLY
A FASCINATION WITH THE STARS
THAT HE HAS FELT
SINCE CHILDHOOD.
WHEN HUBBLE ARRIVES
AT MOUNT WILSON IN 1919
HE'S A SMART BUT ARROGANT
29-YEAR-OLD
WHO HAS TAKEN PAINS
TO ADOPT WHAT HE SEES
AS THE PROPER IMAGE
OF AN ASTRONOMER.
Christianson:
WHAT HE TRIES TO DO
IS TO CREATE THIS
PORTRAIT OF HIMSELF
AS A KIND OF
NATURAL-BORN PATRICIAN.
HE TRIES TO LOSE
HIS MISSOURI ROOTS
BECAUSE I THINK HE'S EMBARRASSED
ABOUT THOSE THINGS.
HE SEES THE ENGLISH GENTLEMAN
AS BEING THE PROTOTYPE
OF WHAT HE WANTS TO BECOME.
HE WEARS ENGLISH TWEEDS.
HE WEARS KNICKERS, WHICH
HAVE GONE OUT OF FASHION
EXCEPT ON THE GOLF COURSE.
HE SMOKES A PIPE.
HE SPOKE WITH
AN AFFECTED BRITISH ACCENT.
HE HAD DUELING SCARS, WHICH
WERE SAID TO BE SELF-INFLICTED
WHEN WHISPERED AMONG THE STAFF.
Christianson:
HE LOVES BEING SEPARATE
AND APART FROM
HIS FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS
AND HE PLAYS THAT TO THE HILT.
Osgood:
IN TIME
MOST OF HUBBLE'S PERSONALITY
QUIRKS ARE OVERLOOKED
BECAUSE HE'S
AN EXCELLENT ASTRONOMER
WITH A GIFT FOR ASKING
THE RIGHT QUESTIONS.
HUBBLE WANTS TO UNLOCK
THE SECRETS OF THE NEBULAE--
FAINT, FUZZY SMEARS OF LIGHT
THAT HAVE PUZZLED ASTRONOMERS
FOR A THOUSAND YEARS.
EVEN WITH HALE'S
MAGNIFICENT 100-INCH
THEIR TRUE NATURE ELUDES HIM
FOR FOUR LONG YEARS.
FINALLY, IN OCTOBER OF 1923
WHILE PHOTOGRAPHING
ONE OF THE SPIRAL ARMS
OF THE GREAT NEBULA IN ANDROMEDA
HUBBLE CATCHES A BREAK.
Baliunas:
HE TOOK A 40-MINUTPHIC PLA
TE
AND DEVELOPED IT THE NEXT DAY
AND LOOKED AT IT
AND THOUGHT HE SAW
WHAT WAS THEN KNOWN AS A "NOVA."
THAT WAS ANOTHER HOT TOPIC--
THAT IS, WHAT WERE NOVAE?
WHAT WERE STARS
THAT BRIGHTENED UNEXPECTEDLY?
SO, HIS CURIOSITY PIQUED
HE DECIDED THE NEXT NIGHT--
WHICH WAS A BETTER NIGHT--
TO TAKE ANOTHER EXPOSURE
AND TOOK A DEEPER
PHOTOGRAPHIC PLATE.
Osgood:
THIS PLATE HAS WHAT HE BELIEVES
ARE THREE NOVAE.
YET AN EVEN GREATER SURPRISE
AWAITS HIM.
WHEN HE GOT DOWN TO THE MOUNTAIN
AND BEGAN TO COMPARE THE PLATES
WITH THOSE THAT
HAD BEEN TAKEN EARLIER
HE DISCOVERED THAT ONE
OF THE THREE NOVAE
WAS NOT IN FACT A NOVA
BUT IT WAS A CEPHEID
AND IT'S A EUREKA MOMENT.
HE WRITES IN CAPITAL LETTERS
ON THE SLIDE ITSELF
"V-A-R!"
FOR "VARIABLE STAR."
Osgood:
HUBBLE KNOWS INSTANTLY--
THANKS TO HENRIETTA LEAVITT'S
DISCOVERY ABOUT CEPHEIDS--
THAT THIS STAR
AND THE SYSTEM IT'S A PART OF
MUST BE VERY FAR AWAY
AND THE UNIVERSE MUST BE FAR
LARGER THAN ANYONE HAD DREAMED.
Man:
YEAH, IT MUST HAVE BEEN
A GOOD MOMENT FOR HIM.
(chuckling)
WHAT HE FOUND WAS THAT
THE DISTANCE TO M-31--
THE ANDROMEDA GALAXY,
ONE OF, IT TURNS OUT
OUR NEAREST NEIGHBORS-- IS
ABOUT TWO MILLION LIGHT-YEARS.
SO PEOPLE HAD BEEN TALKING
ABOUT THE SCALE OF OUR GALAXY--
10,000, 20,000, 30,000
MAYBE 100,000 LIGHT-YEARS.
WHAT THIS MEANT WAS THAT M-31
AND ALL THOSE OTHER GALAXIES
WERE NOT PART OF OUR SYSTEM;
THEY WERE THEMSELVES
BIG SYSTEMS
EQUAL TO THE MILKY WAY.
Osgood:
THERE ARE, IN FACT,
BILLIONS OF GALAXIES
EACH ONE CONTAINING HUNDREDS
OF BILLIONS OF STARS.
HUBBLE'S DISCOVERY OF THE
STUNNING SIZE OF THE UNIVERSE
AND THE MULTITUDE OF STARS
AND STAR SYSTEMS
THAT CAN BE FOUND WITHIN IT
CHANGES FOREVER
OUR PICTURE OF THE COSMOS.
THAT DISCOVERY ALONE
WOULD HAVE MADE HUBBLE
ONE OF THE GRAT ASTRONOMERS
OF THE CENTURY.
BUT HE CONTINUES TO STUDY
DISTANT GALAXIES
AND MAKES AN EVEN
GREATER DISCOVERY.
FOR FIVE YEARS, HE GATHERS DATA
ON THE MOVEMENTS OF GALAXIES
RECORDING WHERE THEY'RE HEADED
AND HOW FAST.
IF A GALAXY IS MOVING AWAY,
ITS LIGHT IS STRETCHED.
THE INTERVAL BETWEEN
WAVE CRESTS GETS LONGER;
THE LIGHT APPEARS REDDER.
THE FASTER IT'S MOVING,
THE REDDER THE LIGHT.
IF A GALAXY IS MOVING CLOSER
THE LIGHT IS COMPRESSED
AND APPEARS BLUER.
AFTER MANY YEARS,
HUBBLE COULD SIT DOWN
AND LOOK AT THIS
GREAT QUANTITY OF INFORMATION
AND HE PLOTTED A CHART.
HE PLOTTED FOR THE NEBULAE
THE MOTIONS
AGAINST THE DISTANCES
AND HE FOUND SOMETHING TRULY
AMAZING-- A STRAIGHT LINE.
HE FOUND THAT THE DISTANCE
OF A GALAXY
IT TURNS OUT,
THE VELOCITY'S TWICE AS BIG.
U GO THREE TIMES AS FAR OUT
IT TURNS OUT,
THE VELOCITY'S TWICE AS BIG.YO
THE VELOCITY'S
THREE TIMES AS BIG.
WE LIVE IN A WORLD-- I MEAN,
A BIG WORLD, A UNIVERSE--
WHERE EVERYTHING'S RUSHING APART
AND IT'S HAPPENING IN A WAY
WE CALL HUBBLE'S LAW
WHERE THE VELOCITY IS
PROPORTIONAL TO THE DISTANCE.
AN EXPANDING UNIVERSE.
HOW COULD THAT BE
WHEN THE WHOLE HISTORY
OF HUMAN THOUGHT ASSUM
JUST TOOK FOR GRANTED--
THAT THE UNIVERSE IS THIS FIXED
THING, AND HOW COULD IT CHANGE?
THE UNIVER IS EVERYTHING.
HOW COULD IT HAVE
AN EVOLUTIONARY PATH?
BECAUSE IF YOU HAD
AN EXPANDING UNIVERSE
THAT MIGHT MEAN
IT HAD A BEGINNING.
IT MIGHT MEAN IT'LL END.
THIS IS A DISCOVERY
FOR THE AGES.
BEFORE EDWIN HUBBLE'S DISCOVERY
EVEN THE GREAT PHYSICIST
ALBERT EINSTEIN ASSUMED
THAT THE UNIVERSE
IS FIXED AND ETERNAL.
HIS ORIGINAL EQUATIONS
FOR GENERAL RELATIVITY
HAD PREDICTED A CHANGING COSMOS.
BUT EINSTEIN WAS UNABLE
TO BELIEVE HIS OWN THEORY
SO HE ADDED WHAT HE CALLED
A "COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT"
TO BRING THE UNIVERSE TO REST.
YEARS LATER, IN 1931
EINSTEIN TRAVELS TO MOUNT WILSON
TO MEET HUBBLE.
WHILE THERE, EINSTEIN DECLARES
THAT HIS COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT
IS THE GREATEST BLUNDER
OF HIS SCIENTIFIC CAREER.
OF COURSE, BY THIS TIME
EINSTEIN CAN AFFORD TO ADMIT
TO A MISTAKE OR TWO.
HE'S ALREADY RENOWNED
AS ONE OF HISTORY'S
GREATEST SCIENTISTS--
THE MAN WHO REDEFINES GRAVITY,
SPACE AND EVEN TIME.
Osgood:
AT THE AGE OF 22,
AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY
ALBERT EINSTEIN
IS LIVING IN ZURICH
AND FACING AN UNCERTAIN FUTURE.
HE DREAMS OF BECOMING
A PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS
BUT HE CAN'T GET A JOB.
HE HAS ALIENATED MOST
OF HIS COLLEGE TEACHERS
AND THEY WON'T GIVE HIM
THE RECOMMENDATIONS HE NEEDS.
IN EARLY 1902, HE MOVES TO BERN.
HE'S TIRED OF SCRAPING BY
WITH WHAT HE CAN EARN
GIVING PRIVATE LESSONS
AND A FRIEND'S FATHER
HAS OFFERED TO HELP HIM
GET A JOB THERE.
IT'S WITH
THE SWISS PATENT OFFICE.
HE'S A TECHNICAL CLERK,
THIRD CLASS
REVIEWING APPLICATIONS
FOR PATENTS ON NEW INVENTIONS.
Man:
EINSTEIN WAS A PERFECT FIT
FOR HIS PATENT WORK.
AND THOSE PATEED
WERE, IN MY VIEW,
ABSOLUTELY FORMATIVE
OF HIS SCIENTIFIC STYLE.
HE'D SIT DOWN EVERY DAY
WITH STACKS OF DOCUMENTS
AND HIS JOB WAS TO STRIP AWAY
ALL THE COMPLICATIONS...
TO TAKE A PATENT LIKE THIS
AND FIGURE OUT, DID THIS VIOLATE
THE BASIC LAWS OF PHYSICS?
WHAT WAS ITS CENTRAL IDEA?
WAS THAT CENTRAL IDEA NEW?
OR WAS IT SOMETHING
THAT HAD BEEN KNOWN?
AND THOSE SORTS OF DECISIONS
WHICH HE MADE EVERY DAY
LOOKING AT THESE NEW DEVICES
SHAPED HIS SENSE OF HOW
TO STRIP DOWN A PHYSICAL PROBLEM
DOWN TO ITS ABSOLUTE ESSENTIALS.
WHAT ARE THE PRINCIPLES?
THAT COMPELS EINSTEIN
TO REEXAMINE
FUNDAMENTAL ASSUMPTIONS
OF CLASSICAL PHYSICS
INCLUDING IDEAS
ABOUT SPACE AND TIME
THAT SEEM TO EVERYONE ELSE
INESCAPABLE.
(gunshot)
IN THE EARLY 20th CENTURY
EVERYONE FROM PHYSICISTS
TO SPORT
THAT A MILE IS A MILE,
NO MATTER WHERE THE RACE IS RUN;
THAT THE RUNNER WHO FINISHES
IN 4? MINUTES IS FASTER
THAN THE ONE
WHO FINISHES IN FIVE.
(crowd cheering)
COMMON SENSE TELLS US
THAT TIME AND SPACE
ARE THE SAME EVERYWHERE
AND FOR EVERYONE.
INDEED, THAT WAS
ISAAC NEWTON'S STARTING POINT
WHEN HE WROTE DOWN
HIS LAWS OF MOTION AND GRAVITY
IN THE 17th CENTURY--
LAWS THAT SEEM
TO EXPLAIN EVERYTHING
FROM THE FLIGHT OF AN ARROW
TO THE ORBITS OF PLANETS.
BUT EINSTEIN IS WILLING,
WHERE OTHERS ARE NOT
TO QUESTION EVERYTHING--
EVEN OUR COMMON-SENSE VIEW
OF THE UNIVERSE.
Einstein (dramatized):
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 HO
UNIVERSE IF I HAD THE CHANCE?
Osgood:
EINSTEIN IS DRIVEN
TO ASK SUCH QUESTIONS
BY A PROBLEM HE SEES
WITH THE TRADITIONAL DESCRIPTION
OF LIGHT.
Galison:
HE KNEW FROM MAXWELL'S EQUATIONS
FROM THE GREAT CLASSICAL PHYSICS
THAT HAD PRECEDED HIM
THAT LIGHT COULD BE
UNDERSTOOD AS A WAVE
AND THAT EVERY TIME
YOU SAW A WAVE OF LIGHT
IT WAS ALWAYS TRAVELING BY YOU
AT SOME ENORMOUSLY FAST SPEED
LIKE 186,000 MILES A SECOND.
SO WE WERE ALWAYS
IN THE POSITION
OF SOMEBODY, SAY,
STANDING ON THE BEACH
WATCHING A TRAIN OF WAVES GO BY.
AND WITH ANY KIND OF WAVE
THAT YOU'VE EVER SEEN
OR EINSTEIN HAD EVER SEEN
YOU COULD ALWAYS CATCH UP
W YOU WENT FAST ENOUGH.
IF YOU HAD A BUNCH OF WAVES
GOING DOWN A CANAL
AND YOU GOT ON YOUR HORSE
AND RODE ALONGSIDE IT
YOU'D SEE THE WAVE JUST FROZEN
AS IF IT WAS NOT MOVING,
BECAUSE YOU'D BE MOVING WITH IT.
AND EINSTEIN'S THOUGHT
TO HIMSELF WAS THIS:
WHP
TO A LIGHT WAVE?
WHAT IF I WENT AS FAST
AS LIGHT WAS GOING?
WOULD I SEE IT STILL
THE WAY THE HORSEMAN SEES
THE WAVES IN THE CANAL
IF HE CATCHES UP TO IT?
AND THEN HE THOUGHT TO HIMSELF
"WELL, THAT WOULD BE
SUCH A STRANGE SIGHT.
"IT DOESN'T CORRESPOND TO
ANYTHING ANYONE'S EVER SEEN--
A STILL WAVE OF LIGHT."
Osgood:
EINSTEIN IS CONVINCED
THAT LIGHT WOULDN'T BE LIGHT
IF YOU COULD CATCH UP TO IT.
BUT IN CLASSICAL PHYSICS,
YOU CAN CATCH UP TO ANY WAVE
AND LIGHT IS A WAVE.
HOW COULD IT BE THAT
THERE WAS A WAVE MOVING ALONG
THAT YOU COULDN'T CATCH UP TO?
HE DIDN'T KNOW
HOW TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM.
HE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW HOW
TO ARTICULATE THE PROBLEM FULLY.
BUT THERE WAS SOMETHING WRONG.
ARE SATISFIED
WITH THE STOCK ANSWERS
AND NEVER GIVE THEM
ANOTHER THOUGHT AS ADULTS.
BUT BECAUSE I WAS
A LATE DEVELOPER
I FIRST PONDMPLE QUESTIONS
AS AN ADULT
AND SO PROBED THEM
MORE DEEPLY AND TENACIOUSLY
THAN ANY CHILD WOULD DO.
Osgood:
IN ORDER TO SIMPLIFY
THE PROBLEM HE SEES WITH LIGHT
EINSTEIN USES A SERIES
OF THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS
THAT TAKE PLACE ONLY
IN HIS IMAGINATION
LIKE A JOURNEY ON A TRAIN.
Man:
FROM JAMES CLERK MAXWELL'S
EQUATIONS
WE KNOW THAT THE LIGHT
REFLECTED FROM MY FACE
TRAVELING TOWARD THIS MIRROR
MUST MOVE AT 186,000 MILES
PER SECOND.
"OKAY," EINSTEIN SAID
RAIN WERE
MOVING AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT?"
Osgood:
ONE POSSIBILITY IS THE TRAIN
CATCHES UP TO THE LIGHT WAVES
SO THEY NEVER REACH THE MIRROR.
BUT EINSTEIN IS CONVINCED
THIS CAN'T HAPPEN--
LIGHT CAN'T STAND STILL.
AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN IFSEE MY
REFLECTION IN THE MIRROR?
WELL, FROM MY POINT OF VIEW,
EVERYTHING IS JUST FINE
BUT FOR THE PERSON STANDING
OUTSIDE OF THE TRAIN
THERE'S A PROBLEM.
THAT PERSON SEES THE TRAIN
MOVING BY
AT 186,000 MILES PER SECOND
AND, THEREFORE, THE LIGHT
REFLECTED FROM MY FACE
TRAVELING TOWARD THE MIRROR
MUST BE TRAVELING
AT TWICE THAT RATE
OR 372,000 MILES PER SECOND.
Osgood:
372,000 MILES PER SECOND
IS THE SPEED OF LIGHT
ADDED TO THE SPEED OF THE TRAIN
CARRYING THE LIGHT.
PHYSICISTS HAVE ADDED SPEEDS
THIS WAY
SINCE THE DAYS OF GALILEO.
BUT EINSTEIN CONCLUDES
THIS SIMPLE ADDING OF VELOCITIES
IS WRONG
BECAUSE THE SPEED OF LIGHT
NEVER CHANGES.
IT'S ALWAYS
186,000 MILES PER SECOND
EVEN IF ITS SOURCE IS IN MOTION.
WHETHER ON OR OFF THE TRAIN
YOU HAVE TO GET
THE SAME MEASUREMENT
FOR THE SPEED OF LIGHT.
THE STUNNING
CONSEQUENCE OF THIS IS
THAT SOMEONE OFF THE TRAIN
MEASURES RULERS ON THE TRAIN
AS SHORT
AND CLOCKS ON THE TRAIN
AS RUNNING SLOW.
IN A FLASH OF BRILLIANCE
EINSTEIN PROPOSES THAT DISTANCE
AND TIME ARE NOT ABSOLUTE--
THAT A FOOT AND A SECOND
E TRAIN
ARE NOT THE SAME AS A FOOT
AND A SECOND MEASURED OFF.
DISTANCE AND TIME ARE RELATIVE.
HOLD ON,
WE'RE TAKING OFF.
Osgood:
FORTUNATELY, THIS PHENOMENON
IS ONLY NOTICEABLE
CLOSE TO THE SPEED OF LIGHT.
IMAGINE YOURSELF
ALONGSIDE EARLY 20th-CENTURY
SCIENCE-FICTION SWASHBUCKLER
FLASH GORDON.
WHEN NOT FIGHTING THE BAD GUYS
OR TRYING TO ESCAPE
FROM SOME MONSTER
YOU'RE DASHING AROUND THE GALAXY
AT INCREDIBLE SPEEDS.
WHILE YOU ARE, YOUR CLOCK
AND THOSE BACK ON EARTH
ARE RUNNING AT DIFFERENT SPEEDS.
ASSUMING YOU'VE BEEN GONE
FOR THE BETTER PART OF A YEAR
WHEN YOU GET BACK
EVERYONE YOU KNEW WOULD HAVE
BEEN DEAD THOUSANDS OF YEARS.
IT'S THE ULTIMATE EXAMPLE
OF RELATIVE TIME.
BUT EINSTEIN ISN'T FINISHED
QUITE YET.
HE STILL HAS TO CONJURE UP
THE MOST FAMOUS EQUATION
OF THE CENTURY:
E EQUALS MC-SQUARED.
EINSTEIN REALIZED
THAT NOT ONLY DOES TIME
SLOW DOWN THE FASTER YOU GO;
HE ALSO REALIZED
THAT WHEN OBJECTS MOVE
THEY GET HEAVIER AS THEY MOVE.
IT WAS A CURIOSITY.
WHY SHOULD OBJECTS GET HEAVIER
AS THEY MOVE?
AND THEN HE SUDDENLY REALIZED
THAT THE REASON WHY OBJECTS
GET HEAVIER AS THEY MOVE
IS BECAUSE THE ENERGY OF MOTION
IS BEING CONVERTED INTO MASS.
NOW, THINK ABOUT THAT
FOR A MOMENT.
THE ENERGY OF MOTION
IS BEING CONVERTED INTO MASS.
THIS MEANS THAT ENERGY
IS TURNING INTO MASS
AND MASS IS TURNING INTO ENERGY.
AND EINSTEIN QUICKLY WROTE
DOWN... IT'S ONLY ONE STEP--
QUICKLY WROTE DOWN THE EQUATION
THAT RELATES ENERGY TO MATTER
AND IT IS EXACTLY
E EQUALS MC-SQUARED.
Osgood:
EINSTEIN'S THEORY
OF SPACE AND TIME
IS CALLED SPECIAL RELATIVITY.
PHYSICISTS ARE INTRIGUED
BUT LITTLE CHANGES
IN EINSTEIN'S LIFE.
WITH A GROWING FAMILY TO SUPPORT
HE REMAINS AT THE PATENT OFFICE
AND MOVES ON TO ANOTHER EVEN
GREATER INTELLECTUAL CHALLENGE.
SPECIAL RELATIVITY APPLIES
TO OBJECTS MOVING
AT CONSTANT SPEED.
BUT MOST MOVEMENT
INVOLVES ACCELERATION--
SPEEDING UP OR SLOWING DOWN.
SO EINSTEIN SETS OUT
TO EXTEND RELATIVITY
TO COVER ACCELERATED MOTION.
IT TURNS OUT TO BE
E HARDEST PROBLEMS ANY
SCIENTIST HAS EVER TAKEN ON.TH
EINSTEIN STRUGGLES WITH IT
FOR TEN YEARS.
Kaku:
NOW, MOST OF US PHYSICISTS
WHEN WE GRAPPLE WITH A PROBLEM
THAT WE CAN'T UNDERSTAND
WE GIVE UP AND SAY,
"GOD IS MALICIOUS!
"HE'S A NASTY GOD.
HE'S GIVING US PROBLEMS
THAT NO HUMAN CAN UNDERSTAND."
EINSTEIN DIDN'T HAVE
THAT PHILOSOPHY AT ALL.
HE DIDN'T SAY
THAT GOD WAS MALICIOUS
TEASING HUMANS WITH PROBLEMS
THAT WERE BEYOND HUMAN KEN.
HE SAID GOD IS SUBTLE,
THAT ONLY IF WE DARE
TO PENETRATE... PENETRATE
INTO THE ESSENCE OF THINGS
THEN WE WOULD FIND THE ANSWER.
Osgood:
TO GET TO THE ESSENCE
OF ACCELERATED MOTION
EINSTEIN ONCE AGAIN TURNS
TO A THOUGHT EXPERIMENT.
IMAGINE THIS ELEVATOR
WERE LOCATED IN DEEP SPACE...
AND UNIFORMLY
ACCELERATING UPWARD.
WITH NO WINDOWS AND NO
CONNECTION TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD
EINSTEIN SAID IT WOULD BE
IMPOSSIBLE FOR US TO DETERMINE
WHETHER OR NOT WE'RE MOVING.
"BUT AH," YOU MIGHT SAY
"I FEEL THE PRESSURE
ON MY FEET."
BUT HIS RESPONSE TO THAT
WOULD BE
"BUT HOW DO YOU DETERMINE
WHETHER THAT PRESSURE IS CAUSED
"BY THE ELEVATH SPACE
"WITH UNIFORM ACCELERATION
"OR BY THE ELEVATOR
SIMPLY SITTING
"ON THE SURFACE OF THE EARTH
AND YOUR FEELING
THE EFFECTS OF GRAVITY?"
Osgood:
"THE FACT THAT YOU CAN'T TELL
THE DIFFERENCE," SAYS EINSTEIN
"MEANS ACCELERATION AND GRAVITY
MUST SOMEHOW BE THE SAME."
HE CONCLUDES AFTER A SERIES OF
INCREDIBLY COMPLEX CALCULATIONS
THAT THIS IS ONLY POSSIBLE
IF SPACE AND TIME ARE CURVED.
ACCORDING TO EINSTEIN'S THEORY
OF GENERAL RELATIVITY
THE CURVATURE OF SPACE IS CAUSED
BY THE PRESENCE
OF MASSIVE OBJECTS.
NEWTON HAD IT RIGHT
THAT A BODY IN MOTION
TENDS TO STAY IN MOTION
IN A STRAIGHT LINE--
THE SHORTEST DISTANCE
BETWEEN TWO POINTS--
BUT IN CURVED SPACE
THE SHORTEST DISTANCE BETWEEN
TWO POINTS IS A CURVED LINE.
AN OBJECT EXPERIENCES
ACCELERATION AROUND THE CURVE
AS GRAVITY.
THE EARTH ORBITS THE SUN NOT
BECAUSE OF A MYSTERIOUS FORCE
BUT BECAUSE THE SUN
CURVES THE SPACE AROUND IT.
THE EARTH IS SIMPLY TRAVELING
THE SHORTEST PATH
THROUGH CURVED SPACE.
EINSTEIN'S THEORY OF GENERAL
RELATIVITY PERFECTLY DESCRIBES
THE MOTIONS OF PLANETS,
STARS AND GALAXIES
BOTH IN SPACE AND IN TIME.
SUDDENLY PHYSICS
COULD SAY SOMETHING
ABOUT THE FATE OF THE UNIVERSE.
IT COULD ASK QUESTIONS
ABOUT WHETHER THE UNIVERSE AS
A WHOLE HAD A CERTAIN CURVATURE;
WHETHER IT WOULD COME BACK IN
ON ITSELF;
WHETHER IT WOULD
EXPAND OUT FOREVER.
GENERAL RELATIVITY HAD A SCOPE
AS INFINITE AS THE UNIVERSE.
THE WORLD IS NOT THE SAME PLACE
ONCE YOU UNDERSTAND
THESE THEORIES.
SPACE AND TIME ARE
SOMEHOW THE SAME THING.
THAT'S VERY DIFFERENT FROM MY
EXPERIENCE AS I GO THROUGH LIFE
AND I CAN NEVER GO BACK
TO LOOKING AT THINGS
THE WAY THEY WERE
BEFORE I UNDERSTOOD THIS THEORY.
IN 1921, ALBERT EINSTEIN
IS AWARDED
THE NOBEL PRIZE FOR PHYSICS
BUT IT ISN'T FOR HIS WORK
ON RELATIVITY.
APPARENTLY, THAT'S TOO WEIRD FOR
THE AWARDS COMMITTEE TO ACCEPT.
INSTEAD, EINSTEIN IS HONORED
FOR OTHER CONTRIBUTIONS
INCLUDING A PAPER
ON THE NATURE OF LIGHT.
THIS PAPER ULTIMATELY LEADS TO
A SECOND REVOLUTION IN PHYSICS
ONLY THIS TIME, IT'S TOO WEIRD
FOR EINSTEIN HIMSELF TO ACCEPT.
IT'S CALLED "QUANTUM MECHANICS."
QUANTUM MECHANICS COMES OUT
OF THE STRUGGLE TO UNDERSTAND
THE STRUCTURE OF ATOMS.
WHAT PHYSICISTS IN
THE EARLY 20th CENTURY LEARN IS
THAT IN THE WORLD
OF THE VERY SMALL
THE SEEMINGLY IMPOSSIBLE
IS COMMONPLACE.
THINGS DON'T EXIST
UNTIL SOMEONE LOOKS AT THEM.
TO GET FROM POINT "A"
TO POINT "B."
UNCERTAINTY AND CHANCE ARE WOVEN
INTO THE VERY FABRIC
OF EXISTENCE.
ONE OF THE KEY FIGURES
IN THE QUANTUM REVOLUTION
IS A YOUNG DANE
WITH A TENDENCY TO MUMBLE.
HE'S THE SCIENTIST ON THE RIGHT.
HIS NAME IS NIELS BOHR.
AND FROM CHILDHOOD,
IT'S PHYSICS THAT CONSUMES HIM.
ONCE WHILE PLAYING GOALIE
IN AN IMPORTANT SOCCER GAME
HE STARTS SCRIBBLING EQUATIONS
ON A GOALPOST.
ONLY THE SCREAMS
OF AN ARDENT FAN
SNAP HIM OUT OF HIS REVERIE
IN TIME TO STOP AN OPPOSING
PLAYER'S POTENTIAL GOAL.
AT SCHOOL,
HE'S AN EXCELLENT STUDENT
THOUGH HE SEEMS TO HAVE
A SERIOUS PHOBIA ABOUT WRITING.
AS A GRADUATE STUDENT
HE DICTATES HIS ENTIRE DOCTORAL
DISSERTATION TO HIS MOTHER
CAUSING A FAMILY FIGHT
WHEN HIS FATHER INSISTS
THAT THE BUDDING Ph.D.
LEARN TO WRITE FOR HIMSELF.
HE NEVER DOES.
AFTER HIS MARRIAGE,
HIS WIFE GETS THE JOB.
IN 1912, SHORTLY AFTER
RECEIVING HIS DOCTORATE
BOHR TRAVELS TO ENGLAND.
ES TO ERNEST RUTHERFORD'S
BOHR TRLABORATORYNGLAND. COM
JUST ONE YEAR AFTER RUTHERFORD
MAKES A STARTLING DISCOVERY
ABOUT ATOMS.
ATOMS HAD BEEN SEEN AS AMORPHOUS
BLOBS OF POSITIVE CHARGE
STUDDED THROUGHOUT
WITH NEGATIVE ELECTRONS.
"IN FACT," RUTHERFORD SAYS
"THEY'RE MORE LIKE
LITTLE PLANETARY SYSTEMS."
ALL THE POSITIVE CHARGE
AND VIRTUALLY ALL THE MASS
IS CONCENTRATED
IN A TINY NUCLEUS
AROUND WHICH
THE ELECTRONS ORBIT
LIKE PLANETS AROUND THE SUN.
THIS IS THE COURTYARD
AT CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY
IMAGINE AN ATOM THIS SIZE.
IF WE THINK OF THAT
BEING THE SIZE OF AN ATOM
THEN THE SIZE OF THE NUCLEUS
WOULD ONLY BE
ONE MILLIMETER IN DIAMETER.
THAT'S A BIT SMALLER
THAN THIS LITTLE GRAIN OF SAND
THAT I'VE GOT IN MY HAND HERE.
IN OTHER WORDS, WHAT IT MEANS IS
ATOMS ARE ESSENTIALLY
EMPTY SPACE.
HOW CAN WE RECONCILE THAT
WITH THE FACT THAT
MATTER IS MATTER
AND MY HANDS DON'T GO
THROUGH ONE ANOTHER?
THAT'S CRAZY, BECAUSE
IF IT'S MOSTLY EMPTY SPACE
THEY SHOULD PASS
RIGHT THROUGH ONE ANOTHER.
WELL, WHAT WE UNDERSTAND NOW
IS IN FACT
THAT THE REASON MY HANDS
DON'T GO THROUGH ONE ANOTHER
IS THAT WHILE THE SPACE IS EMPTY
WHAT IT'S FILLED WITH
IS REALLY ELECTRIC FIELDS.
WHEN THE ELECTRONS COME
WITHIN A VERY SMALL DISTANCE
OF EACH OTHER
THEY BEGIN TO REPEL EACH OTHER
SO WE HAVE THE ILLUSION
THAT THINGS ARE SOLID
WHEN ACTUALLY WE HAVE
THIS TREMENDOUS VACUUM
GIVEN BY THE FACT THAT
THE ATOM IS BASICALLY EMPTY.
NOW, THIS MEANS
THAT I'M NOT REALLY SITTING
IN THIS CHAIR AT ALL.
THE ATOMS OF MY BODY
ARE ABOUT ONE ANGSTROM
HOVERING OVER THE ATOMS
OF THIS CHAIR.
Osgood:
RUTHERFORD'S CONCEPTION
OF THE ATOM IS A BREAKTHROUGH
BUT ALMOST IMMEDIATELY HE FINDS
A PARADOX AT THE HEART OF IT.
SEE, THE PROBLEM WAS
THAT IF YOU'VE GOT A NUCLEUS
WITH A POSITIVE CHARGE
AND ELECTRONS IN ORBIT ABOUT IT
THEN WE KNOW THAT THE ELECTRONS
SHOULD VERY RAPIDLY ORBIT
INTO THE NUCLEUS.
IT SHOULD DO IT
IN A FRACTION OF A SECOND.
THAT'S A VERY SECURE PREDICTION
OF CLASSICAL PHYSICS
AND THAT'S CATASTROPHIC.
WHAT IT'S TELLING YOU
IS THAT ATOMS CAN'T EXIST.
IT MEANS THAT YOU AND I
WOULD NOT EXIST.
WITH THE LARGE VOLUMES
THAT THEY HAVE.
Osgood:
WHEN NIELS BOHR ARRIVES
IN MANCHESTER
RUTHERFORD IS READY TO ABANDON
HIS MODEL OF THE ATOM
BUT BOHR SEES A WAY TO SAVE IT.
HE WAS SO EXCITED.
HE CANCELED HIS HONEYMOON.
HE HAD TO DELAY HIS WEDDING,
CANCEL THE HONEYMOON
AND HIS POOR FIANCEE, INSTEAD OF
GOING ON A LUXURIOUS HONEYMOON
HAD TO TAKE DICTATION
AS HER HUSBAND DICTATED
ONE OF THE GREATEST MASTERPIECES
IN PHYSICS
BECAUSE HE HIMSELF COULD NOT GET
HIMSELF TO WRITE DOWN THE PAPER.
Longair:
WHAT HE PROPOSED WAS
THAT YOU WOULD NOT ALLOW
THE ELECTRONS TO MOVE
IN ANY ORBIT ABOUT THE NUCLEUS
AS YOU COULD
ACCORDING TO CLASSICAL THEORY
BUT ONLY TO OCCUPY CERTAIN
VERY WELL DEFINED ORBITS
ABOUT THE NUCLEUS.
THERE WOULD BE AN ORBIT HERE,
AN ORBIT HERE, AN ORBIT HERE
BUT THERE WOULD NOT EXIST
ORBITS BETWEEN THESE.
Man:
THERE'S NOTHING IN BETWEEN.
IN BETWEEN EXISTS NOTHING.
AND THAT'S VERY NON-NEWTONIAN.
IF YOU TAKE THE EARTH
AND YOU WOULD...
YOU COULD MOVE THE EARTH
A LITTLE BIT CLOSER TO THE SUN.
NO PROBLEM.
WE'D HAVE A DIFFERENT ORBIT,
WE'D BE STABLE
WE'D HAVE A DIFFERENT TIME
TO GO AROUND THE SUN.
NO PROBLEM.
THAT YOU CANNOT DO WITH
AN ELECTRON AROUND A NUCLEUS.
YOU CANNOT JUST CHANGE THE ORBIT
BY A LITTLE BIT.
YOU HAVE TO CHANGE IT
BY, SO TO SPEAK, A LOT.
Osgood:
BOHR'S IDEA THAT ELECTRONS
CAN HAVE ONLY CERTAIN ORBITS
DRAWS INSPIRATION
FROM OTHER NEW THEORIES
THAT SUGGEST HEAT AND LIGHT COME
IN UNITS THAT CAN'T BE DIVIDED
CALLED "QUANTA."
IS PRACTICALLY SACRILEGIOUS.
IN FACT, MOST PHYSICISTS
DISAPPROVE OF BOHR'S THEORY.
WHENEVER THEY MEET,
THEY SCOFF AT THE IDEA
THAT AN ELECTRON CAN BE
IN SOME PLACES BUT NOT OTHERS;
THAT MATTER COMES IN SOME SIZES
BUT NOT OTHERS.
Physicist (dramatized):
IF IT'S NOT NONSENSE,
AT LEAST IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE.
Physicist 2 (dramatized):
THIS IS JUST A CHEAP EXCUSE
FOR NOT KNOWING WHAT'S GOING ON.
Physicist 3 (dramatized):
THE ASSUMPTIONS ARE TOO BOLD,
TOO FANTASTIC.
THEY CAN'T BE RIGHT.
Osgood:
IN TIME, TWO CAMPS EMERGE:
A GROUP AROUND BOHR
WHICH BELIEVES IN HIS SO-CALLED
QUANTUM THEORY OF MATTER;
AND THOSE WHO CLING
TO THE CLASSICAL VIEW.
NO LESS THAN THE TRUE PICTURE
OF NATURE IS AT STAKE.
IN 1926, WERNER HEISENBERG,
A 25-YEAR-OLD GERMAN PHYSICIST
COMES UP WITH A MATHEMATICAL
DESCRIPTION OF ATOMS
THAT GOES A LONG WAY
TOWARD LEGITIMIZING BOHR'S VIEW.
CLASSICAL PHYSICISTS
REMAIN UNCONVINCED.
HEISENBERG'S MATHEMATICAL
MATRICES ARE TOO COMPLEX
AND THE MYSTERIOUS COMINGS
AND GTRONS
GINE.
AND THE MYSTERIOUS COMINGS
AND GTRONSST TOO HARD TO IMA
WITHIN A YEAR, AN AUSTRIAN NAMED
ERWIN SCHRODINGER
OFFERS AN ALTERNATIVE.
Kaku:
SCHRODINGER HAD
THIS BEAUTIFUL THEORY
OF THE ELECTRON AS A WAVE.
IT WAS SMEARED OUT
OVER SPACE AND TIME.
IT WASN'T A PARTICLE AT ALL.
PHYSICISTS LOVED THIS IDEA.
WE HAD A PHYSICAL PICTURE.
WE COULD LOOK INSIDE THE ATOM.
PHYSICISTS KNEW
HOW TO CALCULATE WITH WAVES.
THEY CALCULATED WAVES
AS AN UNDERGRADUATE IN COLLEGE.
THEY KNEW HOW WAVES WENT AROUND
AND FORMED ORBITS
SOPPEAL
OF THE SCHRODINGER PICTURE WAS
THAT IT WAS PICTORIAL,
IT WAS ALMOST NEWTONIAN
IT WAS CONTINUOUS--
NONE OF THIS QUANTUM BUSINESS--
AND YOU COULD CALCULATE WITH IT.
Osgood:
SO, WHICH IS IT?
IS MATTER MADE UP
OF WAVES OR PARTICLES?
THEY SEEM TO BE
COMPLETE OPPOSITES.
WAVES CAN PASS
THROUGH ONE ANOTHER
SOMETIMES CANCELING EACH OTHER
SOMETIMES MAKING
EVEN BIGGER WAVES.
BUT PARTICLES, ON THE OTHER HAND
THEY CAN'T CANCEL
EACH OTHER OUT.
SO THESE TWO PICTURES CLASHED
WITH EACH OTHER
AND THEY DEBATED
AND THEY HAD ARGUMENTS
AND THEY YELLED AND SCREAMED
AT EACH OTHER.
IN FACT, ONE DAY
HEISENBERG WAS SO WORRIED
THAT HE SIMPLY CAME DOWN
WITH HIVES AND HAY FEVER
WORRYING ABOUT WHETHER OR NOT
THE RIVAL PICTURE WAS CORRECT.
Osgood:
IN 1926, BOHR AND HEISENBERG
INVITE SCHRODINGER
TO BOHR'S NEW INSTITUTE
IN COPENHAGEN
TO TRY AND WORK OUT
THEIR DIFFERENCES.
HEISENBERG WRITES
ABOUT THE VISIT.
Heisenberg (dramatized):
THOUGH BOHR WAS AN UNUSUALLY
CONSIDERATE AND OBLIGING PERSON
HE WAS ABLE IN SUCH A
DISCUSSION TO INSIST FANATICALLY
AND WITH ALMOST
TERRIFYING RELENTLESSNESS
ON COMPLETE CLARITY
IN ALL ARGUMENTS.
HE WOULD NOT GIVE UP,
EVEN AFTER HOURS OF STRUGGLING
UNTIL SCHRODINGER HAD ADMITTED
THAT HIS INTERPRETATION
WAS INSUFFICIENT.
EVERY ATTEMPT FROM
SCHRODINGER'S SIDE
TO GET ROUND THIS BITTER RESULT
WAS SLOWLY REFUTED,
POINT BY POINT
IN INFINITELY
LABORIOUS DISCUSSIONS.
Osgood:
BOHR'S WIFE NURSES SCHRODINGER
WHEN HE FALLS ILL
FROM EXHAUSTION.
SHE BRINGS HIM TEA AND CAKE
EVEN AS HER HUSBAND SITS
ON THE EDGE OF THE BED
CONTINUING THE ARGUMENT.
STILL, SCHRODINGER CLINGS
TO HIS CLASSICAL VIEW
WEARILY NOTING AT ONE POINT:
"IF ONE HAS TO GO ON
WITH THESE DAMN QUANTUM JUMPS
THEN I'M SORRY I EVER STARTED
TO WORK ON ATOMIC THEORY."
THE ESSENCE OF
THE BOHR-HEISENBERG PICTURE
WAS THAT THE ELECTRON
WAS A PARTICLE.
HOWEVER, THERE WAS A CERTAIN
AMOUNT OF UNCERTAINTY
WITH REGARDS TO WHERE
THE PARTICLE WAS.
NOW, ONE DAY HEISENBERG
WAS SO PARALYZED
WORRYING ABOUT
ALL THESE PROBLEMS
THAT HE TOOK A WALK IN THE PARK.
OUTSIDE HIS INSTITUTE,
THERE'S A FAMOUS PARK
AND LATE AT NIGHT
HE WALKED THROUGH THE PARK
WONDERING, "HOW CAN IT BE?
"HOW CAN IT BE THAT
YOU DON'T QUITE KNOW
WHERE THE ELECTRON IS?"
AND THEN IN A FLASH
HE UNDERSTOOD
BECAUSE TO UNDERSTAND
WHERE AN ELECTRON IS
YOU HAVE TO LOOK AT IT.
TO LOOK AT IT, YOU HAVE
TO SHINE A LIGHT ON IT
BUT WHEN YOU SHINE A LIGHT ON IT
THAT DISTURBS
WHERE THE ELECTRON IS.
SO THE VERY FACT OF OBSERVING
AN OBJECT CHANGES ITS LOCATION.
THEREFORE HE REALIZE
THAT UNCERTAINTY
IS AN ESSENTIAL PART
OF HIS PICTURE.
Osgood:
HEISENBERG CALLS HIS INSIGHT
THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE.
IN A CLEAR, MATHEMATICAL WAY
IT SAYS THE MORE YOU KNOW
ABOUT A PARTICLE'S POSITION
THE LESS YOU CAN KNOW
ABOUT ITS SPEED AND DIRECTION.
AND THE OPPOSITE IS ALSO TRUE--
THE MORE YOU KNOW ABOUT
A PARTICLE'S SPEED AND DIRECTION
THE LESS YOU CAN KNOW ABOUT
WHERE IT IS AT ANY GIVEN TIME.
AND WHEN HE FINALLY
HAD THAT IDEA
HE REALIZED THAT HE COULD MERGE
THE SCHRODINGER PICTURE
WITH THE BOHR-HEISENBERG
PICTURE TO GIVE US
THE MODERN-DAY THEORY
OF THE QUANTUM PRINCIPLE.
IN OTHER WORDS, THE ELECTRON
IS A POINT PARTICLE
BUT YOU DON'T KNOW
QUITE WHERE IT IS
AND THE PROBABILITY
OF FINDING IT AT ANY GIVEN POINT
IS GIVEN BY A WAVE--
THE SCHRODINGER WAVE.
SO WE NOW HAVE
THIS BEAUTIFUL SYNTHESIS
OF WAVES AND PARTICLES.
HEISENBERG'S PRINCIPLE, INDEED,
IS VERY, VERY NONINTUITIVE.
FRANKLY SPEAKING,
I'D CALL IT BIZARRE.
BUT YOU CAN SEE IT AT WORK.
SUPPOSE I HAVE
A LASER BEAM HERE
AND I USE A LASER BEAM
BECAUSE IT'S BRIGHT
BUT I COULD USE ANY OTHER LIGHT,
FOR THAT MATTER.
AND I MAKE HERE AN OPENING--
A SLIT, A VERTICAL SLIT.
AND HERE GOES THE LASER BEAM
RIGHT THROUGH THE SLIT.
LIGHT GOES ON, LIGHT GOES ON
AND HERE I PROJECT THIS
ONTO THIS WALL OR SCREEN,
PROJECTION SCREEN.
AND WHAT DO I SEE?
WELL, YOU SEE
EXACTLY WHAT YOU PREDICT.
YOU SEE HERE THIS LASER SPOT
FROM THIS BEAM.
BUT NOW I'M GOING
TO MAKE THIS VERTICAL SLIT
NARROWER AND NARROWER
AND NARROWER.
WELL, NOW WHAT
ARE YOU GOING TO SEE?
WELL, YOU'RE GOING TO SEE
EXACTLY WHAT YOU PREDICT.
YOU'RE GOING TO CUT OFF
THE EDGES OF THE CIRCLE
AND THE SPOT GETS NARROWER
AND NARROWER AND NARROWER
BUT NOW YOU COME TO THE POINT
TH
IS ONLY ONE-HUNDREDTH
OF AN INCH WIDE.
AND NOW
HEISENBERG'S PRINCIPLE COMES IN
BECAUSE NOW YOU KNOW
SO PRECISELY
IN THE HORIZONTAL DIRECTION
THE DIRECTION OF THE LIGHT
IS NO LONGER DETERMINED--
ACCORDING
TO HEISENBERG'S PRINCIPLE.
AND SO NOW WHAT
YOU'RE GOING TO SEE
IT'S GOING TO SPREAD OUT
IN A HORIZONTAL PLANE
AND THEREFORE WHAT YOU'RE GOING
TO SEE ON THIS PROJECTION SCREEN
IT'S GOING TO GET WIDER.
EXTREMELY NONINTUITIVE,
BECAUSE WHAT AM I DOING?
I'M MAKING THE SLIT NARROWER
AND NARROWER AND NARROWER
AND NARROWER
AND WHAT DO YOU SEE ULTIMATELY?
THAT THE BEAM, HORIZONTALLY,
BECOMES WIDER AND WIDER
AND WIDER AND WIDER
AND WIDER AND WIDER AND WIDER.
NOW, THAT IS VERY NONINTUITIVE
BUT IT'S THE WAY
THE WORLD WORKS.
ACCORDING TO THE QUANTUM THEORY,
EVEN THE MOST BIZARRE EVENTS
HAVE A PROBABILITY
OF TAKING PLACE.
THERE'S A CERTAIN PROBABILITY
THAT I WILL DISSOLVE
AND SIMPLY REMATERIALIZE ON THE
OTHER SIDE OF THAT BRICK WALL.
NOW, YOU MAY SAY TO YOURSELF
"WELL, THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE--
WE'VE NEVER SEEN ANYONE DISSOLVE
AND REMATERIALIZE ON THE
OTHER SIDE OF BRICK WALLS."
BUT WE ACTUALLY
GIVE THIS PROBLEM
TO OUR GRADUATE STUDENTS,
TO OUR Ph.D. CANDIDATES.
WE ASK THEM TO CALCULATE,
USING THE QUANTUM THEORY:
"WHAT IS THE PROBABILITY
THAT YOU WILL FIND YOURSELF ON
THE OTHER SIDE OF A BRICK WALL?"
NOW, TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH,
YOU WOULD HAVE TO WAIT LONGER
THAN THE LIFETIME
OF THE UNIVERSE
FOR SUCH AN EVENT TO TAKE PLACE.
SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORRY--
YOUR ATOMS ARE NOT
GOING TO DISSOLVE
AND YOU'RE NOT GOING
TO REMATERIALIZE
ON THE OTHER SIDE
OF BRICK WALLS
BUT THERE IS A PROBABILITY
YOU CAN CALCULATE
FOR THAT EVENT HAPPENING.
AND THEN YOU CAN
ASK YOURSELF THE QUESTION
"DO I UNDERSTAND IT?"
I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHAT
THAT MEANS, "UNDERSTANDING."
I HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THAT.
PHYSICS DESCRIBES THINGS,
DESCRIBES PHENOMENA
AND AS LONG AS IT IS PREDICTABLE
AS LONG AS THAT FORMALISM
APPLIED IN A CERTAIN SITUATION
GIVES YOU THE RIGHT ANSWER,
WHO CARES?
WHO CARES WHAT THE MEANING IS
OF UNDERSTANDING?
I THINK I LEAVE THAT UP
TO PHILOSOPHERS
AND I THINK THEY DON'T HAVE
A CLUE EITHER, OF COURSE
BUT THEY... YOU KNOW.
Osgood:
THERE ARE SOME PHYSICISTS
WHO REFUSE TO ACCEPT
THAT QUANTUM MECHANICS
REPRESENTS THE FULL STORY
OF THE SUBATOMIC WORLD.
THE MOST FAMOUS
IS ALBERT EINSTEIN.
Einstein (dramatized):
QUANTUM MECHANICS
IS VERY WORTHY OF REGARD
BUT AN INNER VOICE TELLS ME
THAT THIS IS NOT THE TRUE JACOB.
THE THEORY YIELDS A LOT,
BUT IT HARDLY BRINGS US
ANY CLOSER TO THE SECRET
OF THE OLD ONE.
IN ANY CASE, I AM CONVINCED
THAT HE DOESN'T THROW DICE.
HE COULDN'T BELIEVE THAT THERE
WERE BIG PATCHES OF THE WORLD
ABOUT WHICH WE COULD NOT KNOW,
AND HIS IDEA
FROM EARLY ON IN HIS LIFE ALL
THE WAY TO THE END OF HIS LIFE
WAS THAT THERE OUGHT TO BE
A SET OF EQUATIONS
DETERMINISTIC, CAUSAL, ORDERED
FORMULATED IN SUCH A WAY
THAT THEY COULD TELL US
EVERYTHING ABOUT A FUTURE
IN TERMS OF EVERYTHING
ABOUT THE PRESENT.
AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
WOULDN'T ALLOW IT.
HE COULDN'T STAND THAT IDEA.
Osgood:
THE WORLD'S GREATEST PHYSICISTS
GATHER IN BRUSSELS IN 1927.
EINSTEIN CHALLENGES BOHR
AND THE IDEA THAT
UNCERTAINTY RULES THE WORLD.
WERNER HEISENBERG WRITES
IN HIS DIARY.
Heisenberg (dramatized):
WE ALL STAYED
AT THE SAME HOTEL.
THE DISCUSSION USUALLY
STARTED AT BREAKFAST
WITH EINSTEIN SERVING US UP
AN IMAGINARY EXPERIMENT
BY WHICH HE THOUGHT
HE HAD DEFINITELY REFUTED
THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE.
IN THE COURSE OF THE DAY
WE WOULD HAVE DISCUSSIONS
ON THE MATTER
AND AS A RULE, BY SUPPERTIME
WE WOULD HAVE REACHED THE POINT
WHERE NIELS BOHR
COULD PROVE TO EINSTEIN
THAT EVEN HIS LATEST EXPERIMENT
FAILED TO SHAKE
THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE.
EINSTEIN WOULD LOOK
A BIT WORRIED
BUT BY NEXT MORNING
HE WAS READY
WITH A NEW IMAGINARY EXPERIMENT
MORE COMPLICATED THAN THE LAST.
Osgood:
ONE OF EINSTEIN'S CHALLENGES
IS SO CLEVER
IT HAS BOHR DEEPLY CONCERNED FOR
THE FUTURE OF QUANTUM MECHANICS.
PHYSICIST LEON ROSENFELD WRITES.
Rosenfeld (dramatized):
BOHR DID NOT SEE THE SOLUTION.
I SHALL NEVER FORGET THE SIGHT
OF THE TWO ANTAGONISTS
LEAVING THE HALL--
EINSTEIN, A TALL MAJESTIC
FIGURE, WALKING QUIETLY
WITH A SOMEWHAT IRONIC SMILE
AND BOHR TROTTING NEAR HIM,
VERY EXCITED.
DURING THE WHOLE EVENING,
BOHR WAS EXTREMELY UNHAPPY
GOING FROM ONE SCIENTIST
TO ANOTHER
TRYING TO PERSUADE THEM
THAT IT COULDN'T BE TRUE
THAT IT WOULD BE THE END OF
PHYSICS IF EINSTEIN WERE RIGHT.
Osgood:
BOHR SPENDS A SLEEPLESS NIGHT
IN HIS HOTEL ROOM
BEFORE HE DISCOVERS A FLAW
IN EINSTEIN'S ARGUMENT.
IRONICALLY, IT INVOLVES
A SUBTLE APPLICATION
OF EINSTEIN'S
OWN THEORY OF RELATIVITY.
BOHR AND EINSTEIN ARE
AN ASTONISHING PAIR
IN MANY WAYS.
THEY LOVED EACH OTHER, THEY
LOVED TALKING TO EACH OTHER
THEY LOVED ENGAGING
WITH EACH OTHER'S IDEAS
AND YET THEY WANTED SUCH UTTERLY
DIFFERENT THINGS FROM PHYSICS
THAT THEY NEVER REALLY
COULD SEE EYE TO EYE.
Osgood:
"GOD DOES NOT THROW DICE" WAS
EINSTEIN'S UNSHAKABLE PRINCIPLE
ONE THAT HE WOULD NOYBODY TO C
HALLENGE...
TO WHICH BOHR COULD ONLY
COUNTER: "NOR IS IT OUR BUSINESS
TO PRESCRIBE TO GOD
HOW HE SHOULD RUN THE WORLD."
EINSTEIN AND BOHR
HAVE THEIR LAST BATTLE ABOUT
QUANTUM MECHANICS IN 1933.
BY THIS TIME, BOTH RELATIVITY
AND QUANTUM THEORY
ERSALLY ACCEPTED
BY THIS TIME, BOTH RELATIVITY
ANBY PHYSICISTSORYST UNIV
AS THE MOST POWERFUL IDEAS THEY
HAVE FOR EXPLAINING THE WORLD.
NOW ATTENTION SHIFTS
TO ANOTHER CHALLENGE--
FIGURING OUT WHAT GOES ON
INSIDE THE ATOM.
PHYSICISTS WANT TO KNOW
WH NUCLEUS TOGETHER.
THEY WANT TO KNOW
IF PROTONS, ELECTRONS
AND THE
NEWLY DISCOVERED NEUTRONS
MAKE UP EVERYTHING
IN THE UNIVERSE
OR IF THESE PARTICLES
ARE MADE UP OF SOMETHING
EVEN MORE FUNDAMENTAL.
IN THE PROCESS, WHAT BEGINS
AS AN INTELLECTUAL QUEST
TURNS OUT TO HAVE
EXPLOSIVE CONSEQUENCES.
IN THE EARLY 1930s, ALBERT
EINSTEIN EMIGRATES TO AMERICA
TO ESCAPE THE RISING TIDE
OF FASCISM
AND ANTI-SEMITISM IN GERMANY.
BEFORE THE DECADE ENDS, MANY
OF EUROPE'S FINEST SCIENTISTS
ARE FORCED TO MAKE
THE SAME JOURNEY.
AMONG THE LAST TO LEAVE
IS NIELS BOHR.
HE ARRIVES
IN THE UNITED STATES IN 1939
BRINGING WITH HIM STUNNING NEWS.
IN HITLER'S GERMANY
TWO SCIENTISTS HAVE SPLIT
AN ATOM OF URANIUM
RELEASING IN THAT MOMENT
SOME OF THE TREMENDOUS
ENERGY BOUND UP IN MATTER.
USING SIMPLE EQUIPMENT
WIDELY AVAILABLE
THEY PRODUCE THE FIRST EVIDENCE
FROM A CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT
OF EINSTEIN'S FAMOUS EQUATION:
E EQUALS MC-SQUARED.
I WAS IN BERKELEY
AND PEOPLE HAD GONE
TO THE MEETING IN WASHINGTON
WHERE BOHR BROUGHT HIS NEWS,
AND THEY CALLED UP AND SAID
"GOSH, THIS IS AMAZING--
CAN YOU DO IT?"
AND IN A DAY OR TWO,
TWO OR THREE PEOPLE HAD DONE IT.
I COULD SEE
THE BIG SPIKES OF FISSION
ON THE OSCILLOSCOPE SCREEN
EVERYBODY KNEW THIS WAS GOING
TO BE A WARTIME DEVICE.
Osgood:
AT A SUPER-SECRET FACILITY
DEEP IN NEW MEXICO SCRUBLAND
THE U.S. ARMY ASSEMBLES A TEAM
OF AMERICAN AND TRANSPLANTED
EUROPEAN PHYSICISTS--
THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN.
WE WERE GALVANIZED BY THE NOTION
THAT THE GERMANS WERE AHEAD
BECAUSE THEY HAD SPENT A LOT
OF MONEY, THEY WERE VERY GOOD
THIS WAS DISCOVERED IN GERMANY,
THEY HAD ABLE PEOPLE.
ACTUALLY WE DIDN'T REALIZE
THAT THEY HAD LOST SO MUCH
BY DESTROYING THE COMMUNITY
AS THEY HAD DONE.
IT WAS LUCKY.
Osgood:
AMERICANS HAVE THE TALENT AND
PRACTICALLY UNLIMITED RESOURCES.
IN LESS THAN FIVE YEARS,
$2 BILLION CREATES
A NUCLEAR PROJECT THE SIZE
OF THE U.S. AUTO INDUSTRY.
YET UNTIL THE VERY END,
NO ONE CAN SAY FOR SURE
THE PRODUCT
OF ALL THIS EFFORT WILL WORK.
RELATIVITY, E EQUALS MC-SQUARED,
WAS KNOWN
BUT IT WAS NOT KNOWN
HOW TO PUT IT ALL TOGE
SO THESE PHYSICISTS, SOME OF
THE BRIGHTEST MINDS OF THE WORLD
WERE CONCENTRATED AT LOS ALAMOS
NOT TO DISCOVER NEW PHYSICS
BECAUSE THAT WAS ALREADY DONE BY
THE BOHRS AND BY THE EINSTEINS;
THEY WERE ASSEMBLED TO SEE
WHETHER OR NOT
IT WOULD ACTUALLY WORK.
WHEN I FIRST BROUGHT
THE PLUTONIUM SPHERE
IN CONTACT WITH A HIGH EXPLOSIVE
I WAS QUITE SCARED
ABOUT HIGH EXPLOSIVE.
AND ROGER WARNER
WHO WAS IN CHARGE
OF THAT PARTICULAR ASSEMBLY
HE WAS CALM AND HE SAID,
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT.
"YOU CAN'T RUN VERY FAR
IN A MILLISECOND ANYHOW
SO YOU'LL NEVER KNOW WHAT
HAPPENS IF IT GOES OFF WRONGLY."
IT WAS A NEW WORLD--
EVERYONE COULD SEE THAT.
MAYBE IT WOULD BE THE END
OF THE WAR, THAT WAS VERY GOOD
BUT WHO KNOWS WHAT WAS
GOING TO COME AFTER THAT?
WE DIDN'T KNOW.
WE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN
MORE THAN WE DID.
Kaku:
IT WAS THIS FANTASTIC EXPERIENCE
OF TAKING THEORY
THEORIES THAT WERE EQUATIONS
AND BUILDING SOMETHING
OF ENORMOUS POWER
THE POWER OF THE SUN.
BUT JUST LIKE THE OPENING
OF PANDORA'S BOX
PERHAPS HUMANITY WAS NOT READY
FOR COSMIC FIRE;
PERHAPS HUMANITY WAS
NTURE ENOUGH
TO HANDLE THE POWER OF THE SUN
NOW BEING PLACED ON THE EARTH.
THERE'S A UNIVERSE UP THERE
THAT WE CAN'T SEE WITH OUR EYES
EVEN IF WE HAVE SOMETHING
1,000 TIMES LARGER THAN THIS.
WE HAVE TO TURN TO
A DIFFERENT KIND OF TELESCOPE--
ONE WITHOUT LENSES OR MIRRORS
OR ANY OF THE OTHER THINGS
ASTRONOMERS HAVE RELIED UPON
FOR CENTURIES.
THIS INVISIBLE UNIVERSE
HAS TO BE SEEN WITH TELESCOPES
THAT USE RADIO WAVES, X RAYS,
INFRARED RAYS OR GAMMA RAYS.
EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE GIVES
OFF RADIATION OF SOME KIND.
FOR EXAMPLE, THE GLAZE ON
THIS TEACUP EMITS GAMMA WAVES.
IMAGINE THAT IT IS A GALAXY
AND THIS GEIGER MULTITUBE
A CRUDE RAY TELESCOPE.
(tube clicking rapidly)
IN THE SECOND HALF
OF THE 20th CENTURY
ASTRONOMERS START EXPLORING
THE HEAVENS WITH INSTRUMENTS
THAT ARE SENSITIVE TO A NUMBER
OF DIFFERENT FORMS OF RADIATION.
AND WHEN THEY DO
IT'S LIKE LIFTING A VEIL
FROM THE FACE OF THE UNIVERSE.
Osgood:
ONE OF THE MOST SURPRISING
DISCOVERIES
OF POST-WAR AS
IS MADE WITH THIS DEVICE, BUILT
OUTSIDE CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND.
IT MAY LOOK LIKE 4 1/2 ACRES
OF LAUNDRY LINE
BUT IT'S REALLY
A RADIO TELESCOPE.
AS THE EARTH ROTATES
MILES OF ANTENNA WIRE RECEIVE
RADIO SIGNALS DAY AND NIGHT.
WHEN IT GOES INTO OPERATION
IN 1967
JOCELYN BELL GETS THE TASK
OF RUNNING IT.
WITHIN MONTHS, THE YOUNG
GRADUATE STUDENT NOTICES
SOMETHING SHE'S NEVER
SEEN BEFORE.
IT'S A FUNNY BLIP ON ONE
OF THE LONG ROLLS OF CHART PAPER
USED TO RECORD
WHAT THE TELESCOPE SEES.
THE FIRST FEW TIMES I SAW IT
I JUST PUT A QUESTION MARK BY IT
AND PASSED ON.
I THINK MINE
THINGS THAT IT CAN'T RESOLVE,
THINGS THAT IT CAN'T COPE WITH
BECAUSE THIS CURIOUS
LITTLE SIGNAL
OCCUPIED ABOUT A QUARTER
OF AN INCH IN 400 FOOT.
AND YET, SOMEHOW MY BRAIN STORED
THAT WAY, WAY BACK SOMEWHERE
BUT IT STORED IT.
AND AFTER IT HAD DEALT WITH
THIS PROBLEM A COUPLE OF TIMES
AND IT FACED IT THE THIRD TIME
IT SAID, "I'VE SEEN SOMETHING
LIKE THIS BEFORE."
Osgood:
SHE IMMEDIATELY CALLS
HER THESIS ADVISOR
RADIO ASTRONOMER ANTONY HEWISH.
HE'S INTRIGUED, BUT CAUTIONS
THE SIGNAL IS PROBABLY MAN-MADE.
BELL GOES BACK TO HER CHARTS
AND FIGURES OUT WHEN THE SIGNAL
SHOULD COME AGAIN.
SHE SETS HER INSTRUMENTS
TO RECORD A MORE DETAILED IMAGE
AND DISCOVERS THE SIGNAL
IS A STRING OF PULSES
EXACTLY ONE AND A THIRD
SECONDS APART.
NEVER BEFORE HAS A TELESCOPE
OF ANY KIND
FOUND SOMETHING LIKE THIS.
HEAVENLY BODIES
DON'T JUST PULSE ON AND OFF.
LOOK AT THE SUN--
IS THE SUN DOING THIS?
LOOK AT THE MOON--
IS THE MOON DOING THIS?
LOOK AT ALL THE STARS
IN THE SKY.
LOOK AT THEM
WITH YOUR NAKED EYE.
HAVE YOU EVER SEEN ONE GO...
AND ONE WAY OUT--
IT DIDN'T EXPLAIN EVERYTHING--
BUT ONE WAY OUT WAS TO SAY
WELL, MAYBE IT'S LITTLE GREEN
MEN SENDING A SIGNAL TO US.
I THINK THEY WERE
TOTALLY SHELL-SHOCKED
THAT THIS POSSIBILITY EXISTED.
THEY REALIZED IT WOULD BE
THE DISCOVERY OF THE CENTURY.
IF WE GET IN TOUCH...
SOMEHOW RECEIVE SIGNALS
FROM CIVILIZATIONS.
Bell-Burnell:
WHAT DO YOU DO IF YOU HAVE
REALLY PICKED UP SIGNALS
FROM ANOTHER CIVILIZATION?
DO YOU TELL THE PRESIDENT,
THE PRESS OR THE POPE FIRST?
Osgood:
BEFORE THEY CAN TELL
ANYONE ANYTHING
SHE HEADS OUT TO THE ANTENNA
ON A COLD NOVEMBER NIGHT
TO CHECK IT OUT.
AND I CAME OUT ON MY SCOOTER
SLITHERING ALL OVER THE PLACE
ON THE ICE
AND WHEN I GOT HERE
THE MACHINERY WASN'T WORKING
PROPERLY BECAUSE OF THE COLD.
BUT I FLICKED SWITCHES,
I KICKED IT, I CURSED IT
I BREATHED HOT AIR ON IT
AND I GOT IT TO WORK
FOR FIVE MINUTES.
AND IT WAS
THE RIGHT FIVE MINUTES
AND IT WAS THE RIGHT SETTING
SO IT WAS LOOKING
AT THE RIGHT BIT OF SKY.
AND IN CAME
FOOP, FOOP, FOOP, FOOP
VERY LIKE THE FIRST LOT,
BUT NOT TOTALLY THE SAME.
A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENT--
ONE AND A QUARTER SECONDS
INSTEAD OF ONE AND A THIRD.
AND THAT SETTLES
THE LITTLE GREEN MEN QUESTION
BECAUSE IT'S SO UNLIKELY
THERE'LL BE TWO LOTS
OF LITTLE GREEN MEN
OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE SKY
BOTH DECIDING TO SIGNAL
TO AN INCONSPICUOUS PLANET
AND USING A NOT
VERY INTELLIGENT WAY
OF DOING IT ALSO.
SO IT HAD TO BE
SOMETHING STELLAR.
Osgood:
THE NEWS OF BELL'S PULSING STARS
SPREADS RAPIDLY
THROUGH THE ASTROPHYSICS
COMMUNITY.
IT IS CLEARLY
AN IMPORTANT DISCOVERY.
WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW THEY PULSE
IS A REAL MYSTERY.
...FORMED IN A ROTATING MEDIUM
SO IF YOU TAKE
A LARGE OBJECT COLLAPSING
IT ROTATES ENOUGH
AND YOU GO BACK
TO THE OLD ARGUMENT
THAT MAYBE IT BREAKS UP.
PERHAPS IT'S A WHITE DWARF.
PERHAPS THE RESIDUE DOESN'T...
Osgood:
FINALLY, A PHYSICIST CONNECTS
WHAT BELL HAS FOUND
WITH AN OLD THEORY
ABOUT THE DEATH THROES OF STARS.
THIS THEORY, LONG ASSUMED
TO BE UNTESTABLE, PREDICTS
THAT WHEN A LARGE ENOUGH STAR
RUNS OUT OF NUCLEAR FUEL
IT WILL COLLAPSE AND CRUSH
THE ATOMS WITHIN IT.
WHAT'S LEFT IS LIKE
NOTHING ELSE IN THE UNIVERSE--
AN INCREDIBLY DENSE OBJECT MADE
ALMOST ENTIRELY OF NEUTRONS.
EVERY OPEN SPACE
THAT YOU CAN THINK OF--
BETWEEN ELECTRONS IN THE ATOMS--
IS SQUEEZED OUT
AND IT BECOMES ONE HUGE NUCLEUS.
AND ELECTRONS ARE PUSHED INTO
THE PROTONS, FORMING NEUTRONS.
THAT'S WHY WE CALLED THEM
NEUTRON STARS.
A NEUTRON STAR HAS TYPICALLY
A RADIUS OF ABOUT...
TEN KILOMETERS, SIX MILES.
BUT THE AMOUNMATTER
IN A NEUTRON STAR
IS A LITTLE BIT MORE
THAN THE TOTAL MASS...
ISTHE TOTAL MATTERRE
THAT WE HAVE IN THE SUN.
A SPOONFUL OF THIS
NEUTRON STAR MATTER WOULD WEIGH
IF YOU LIKE THE WORD "WEIGHING"
IN POUNDS,
IT'S TWO TIMES 10 TO THE 11.
IT'S A TWO WITH 11 ZEROS POUNDS,
IN ONE SPOONFUL.
Osgood:
NEUTRON STARS CAN ROTATE
UP TO 700 TIMES A SECOND.
AS THEY DO, THEIR POWERFUL
MAGNETIC FIELDS
RIP THROUGH SPACE
BLASTING RADIO WAVES OUTWARD
LIKE A GALACTIC LIGHTHOUSE.
IT'S THAT BEACON
THAT JOCELYN BELL SEES
WITH HER RADIO TELESCOPE.
THEORY HAD SAID
THAT NEUTRON STARS ARE POSSIBLE
BUT FOR DECADES, ASTRONOMERS
AND PHYSICISTS CLUNG TO THE VIEW
THAT THEY'RE JUST TOO WEIRD
TO BE REAL.
BELL'S DISCOVERY
IS DRAMATIC CONFIRMATION
THAT THE UNIVERSE IS STRANGER
AND MORE FANTASTIC
THAN ANYTHING WE EXPERIENCE
IN OUR CORNER OF THE COSMOS.
THE REALITY OF NEUTRON STARS
STIRS EXCITEMENT THAT
BLACK HOLES MAY ALSO BE REAL.
THEY ARE PERHAPS
THE MOST FANTASTIC
AND UNLIKELY PREDICTION
EVER MADE BY PHYSICISTS.
WORLD WAR I HAD JUST BROKEN OUT
WHEN ALBERT EINSTEIN PUBLISHES
HIS GENERAL THEORY
OF RELATIVITY.
AMONG THOSE FIGHTING
ON THE RUSSIAN FRONT
IS A GERMAN ASTRONOMER
AND PHYSICIST
NAMED KARL SCHWARZSCHILD.
WITH THE WAR RAGING AROUND HIM,
SCHWARZSCHILD DISCOVERS
THAT EINSTEIN'S EQUATIONS
PREDICT THE EXISTENCE
OF A STAR SO UNIMAGINABLY DENSE
THAT EVEN LIGHT
CANNOT ESCAPE IT.
FROM THE BENDS
EINSTEIN HIS CALCULATIONS.
JUST WEEKS AFTER RECEIVING
EINSTEIN'S REPLY
SCHWARZSCHILD DIES
ON THE FRONT LINES.
EINSTEIN MARVELS
AT SCHWARZSCHILD'S WORK.
BUT HE NEVER ACCEPTS THAT
SUCH A STAR COULD REALLY EXIST.
AS HE PUTS IT,
"IT JUST DOESN'T SMELL RIGHT."
THROUGH THE 1960s, MOST
SCIENTISTS AGREE WITH EINSTEIN.
BUT THE PUBLIC IS COMPLETELY
TAKEN WITH THE IDEA
OF A DARK STAR FROM WHICH
ESCAPE IS IMPOSSIBLE
WHERE TIME AND SPACE
CEASE TO EXIST.
WE ARE FALLING.
TOWARDS WHAT? I WONDER.
ZEN, PUT FORWARD
COORDINATE 890 ON VISUAL.
Zen:
CONFIRMED.
Woman:
BUT THERE'S NOTHING THERE.
ZEN, USE LONG-
RANGE INTENSIFIER.
THREE GUESSES,
IF Y
A BLACK HOLE.
MY GOD, WE'RE FALLING
INTO A BLACK HOLE.
Osgood:
THE EXISTENCE
OF A REAL BLACK HOLE
IS ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE
FOR PHYSICISTS TO ACCEPT
YET MANY HAVE TO ADMIT
SHOULD ALSO CREATE BLACK HOLES.
WHEN A STAR HAS BURNED UP
ALL ITS NUCLEAR FUEL
AND THERE IS NO LONGER HEAT
THAT PUSHES IT OUT
THE CORE COLLAPSES AND
AND THERE IS NO LONGER HEAT
IT CAN FORM A NEUTRON STAR...T
THIS COLLAPSE CAN BE SO STRONG
DEPENDING UPON THE ORIGINAL MASS
OF THE STAR, THAT IT OVERSHOOTS
AND DOESN'T BECOME
A NEUTRON STAR
BUT BECOME EVEN SMALLER, AND
THEN IT CAN BECOME A BLACK HOLE.
IF YOU TAKE THE EARTH,
TO GIVE YOU AN EXAMPLE
AND YOU TAKE A VISE, A BIG VISE,
AND YOU SQUEEZE THE EARTH--
THE EARTH HAS A RADIUS
OF 6,400 KILOMETERS--
IF YOU COULD MAKE THE RADIUS
THREE CENTIMETERS
THE EARTH WOULD BECOME
A BLACK HOLE.
THREE CENTIMETERS-- THIS BIG.
THEN IT WOULD AUTOMATICALLY
FURTHER COLLAPSE ONTO ITSELF.
NOTHING COULD STOP IT, AND
IT WOULD BECOME A BLACK HOLE.
AND LIGHT COULD NEVER LEAVE IT.
BECAUSE THEY ALL GO
AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT.
Osgood:
FINDING SOMETHING THAT
DOESN'T GIVE OFF LIGHT--
OR ANY OTHER KIND OF RADIATION--
IS TRICKY, TO SAY THE LEAST.
IT'S NOT UNTIL THE EARLY '70s
THAT ASTRONOMERS STUMBLE
ON THE FIRST INDIRECT EVIDENCE
OF A BLACK HOLE.
THE FIRST CLUE COMES
WHEN X-RAY TELESCOPES REVEAL
AN AREA OF INTENSE
VIOLENCE AND TEMPERATURE
IN THE CONSTELLATION CYGNUS.
PAUL MURDIN IS ONE
OF MANY ASTRONOMERS
WHO BEGIN TO FOCUS ON THIS AREA.
WORKING WITH LOUISE WEBSTER,
HE FINDS A SUPERGIANT STAR
ORBITING SOMETHING
THEY CAN'T SEE.
LOGICALLY, THE SUPERGIANT
MUST BE CIRCLING
A MUCH SMALLER AND DENSER STAR--
ONE SO DENSE ITS GRAVITY IS
SUCKING HUGE AMOUNTS OF MATTER
FROM ITS LARGER COMPANION.
ONLY THIS COULD PRODUCE
THE INTENSE X RAYS
OTHER ASTRONOMERS HAD DETECTED.
FURTHER MEASUREMENTS REVEAL
GRAVITY
FURTHEMUST BE GREATERREVEAL'S
THAN ANYTHING DISCOVERED BEFORE.
THE ONLY EXPLANATION
IS A BLACK HOLE.
THERE IS STILL NO ABSOLUTE PROOF
THAT BLACK HOLES EXIST
BUT FROM THE 1970s ON
MOST SCIENTISTS HAVE COME
TO ACCEPT THEM AS REAL--
INCREDIBLY STRANGE, BUT REAL.
Lewin:
WHEREAS WITH A NEUTRON STAR
AT LEAST YOU CAN IMAGINE
IT HAS A SURFACE
AND YOU CAN LAND
ON THAT SURFACE.
AND OKAY, IT IS A MIND-BOGGLING
MAGNETIC FIELD, ALL RIGHT
BUT SO BE IT, IT'S THERE.
AND OKAY, IT ROTATES
700 TIMES PER SECOND.
BUT A BLACK HOLE HAS NO SURFACE
SO YOU CAN'T EVEN TALK ABOUT
A SURFACE THAT ROTATES AROUND.
IT DOESN'T EXIST, AND THERE IS
NOTIMETHAT YOU CAN DEFINE.
THAT'S PRETTY BIZARRE.
THAT GOES BEYOND,
TOTALLY BEYOND MY IMAGINATION
I'LL BE VERY HONEST WITH YOU.
BUT YET, IT'S ONE
OF MY SPECIALTIES.
I MEASURE THEM, I FIND THEM.
CAN I ENVISION THEM?
NO.
Osgood:
CURRENT THEORY HOLDS
THAT THERE ARE BILLIONS OF
BLACK HOLES IN THE UNIVERSE
INCLUDING ENORMOUS ONES AT
THE CENTER OF MOST GALAXIES.
THESE ARE SO LARGE,
THEY MUST HAVE DEVOURED MILLIONS
PERHAPS EVEN BILLIONS OF STARS.
BUT EVEN THE BIRTH AND GROWTH
OF BLACK HOLES
AREN'T NEARLY AS FANTASTIC
AS THE CREATION OF
THE UNIVERSE ITSELF.
Osgood:
FOR MOST OF HUMAN EXISTENCE
THE QUESTION OF HOW
EVERYTHING BEGAN
IS ONE THAT ONLY RELIGION
DARED TO ANSWER.
BUT
DISCOVERY
THAT THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING,
SOME SCIENTISTS BEGIN TO BELIEVE
THAT THEY TOO MIGHT HAVE
SOMETHING TO OFFER.
THEIR REASONING GOES
SOMETHING LIKE THIS:
IF THE UNIVERSE IS EXPANDING
THEN IN THE PAST,
IT MUST HAVE BEEN SMALLER.
GO FAR ENOUGH BACK
AND EVN
CRUNCHED TOGETHER
IN A POINT OF INFINITE DENSITY.
OUR UNIVERSE BEGAN, THEY SUGGEST
WHEN THAT POINT EXPLODED
CREATING THE EXPANSION
LL SEE TODAY.
THIS VISION COMES TO BE CALLED
THE BIG BANG THEORY OF CREATION.
AT THE START OF THE 1960s,
SCIENTISTS ARE EQUALLY DIVIDED
BETWEEN THIS BIG BANG THEORY
AND A COMPETING NOTION
THAT THE UNIVERSE IS ETERNAL
CALLED THE STEADY-STATE THEORY.
BUT THERE'S NO REAL HARD
EVIDENCE FOR EITHER ONE.
IN FACT, ALMOST NO ONE EXPECTS
THE DEBATE WILL EVER
BE RESOLVED.
IN THE EARLY '60s, ROBERT DICKE
AN ASTROPHYSICIST
AT PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
COMES UP WITH WHAT HE THINKS
IS A WAY TO TEST
WHETHER OR NOT THE UNIVERSE
STARTED WITH A BIG BANG.
HE'S CONVINCED
THAT IF IT HAPPENED
THE ENTIRE UNIVERSE SHOULD BE
FILLED WITH RADIATION
LEFT FROM THE MOMENT
OF CREATION.
Man:
BOB DICKE'S REASONING
WAS QUITE INTERESTING.
HE REASONED THAT IF THE UNIVERSE
HAD GONE THROUGH
THIS BIG BANG PHASE
IT MUST HAVE BEEN VERY HOT
AND VERY DENSE
AND THERE MUST HAVE A LOT OF
HEAT RADIATION
VERY HIGH TEMPERATURE
AND HE COULDN'T FIND
ANY THEORETICAL WAY
TO GET RID OF THIS RADIATION.
IT MUST STILL BE AROUND.
IT MUST STILL BE AROUND.OOLE
D OFF BECAUSE
THE UNIVERSE EXPANDED
BUT IT MUST STILL BE AROUND
AND IN THE MICROWAVE BAND
THE BAND WHERE RADAR WORKS.
Osgood:
IT'S A TRULY AMAZING
POSSIBILITY--
15-BILLION-YEAR-OLD HEAT
TRANSFORMED BY
THE EXPANSION OF SPACE
INTO LOW-LEVEL RADIO STATIC
THAT PERMEATES EVERY CORNER
OF THE UNIVERSE.
IF IT'S THERE,
THE ONLY COSMOLOGICAL THEORY
THAT CAN EXPLAIN HOW IT
GOT THERE IS THE BIG BANG.
NICE THING ABOUT
DICKE'S THEORY IS...
Osgood:
DICKE CONVINCES DAVID WILKINSON
AND ANOTHER YOUNG PHYSICIST
TO BUILD AN ANTENNA
AND SEARCH FOR THIS COSMIC
BACKGROUND RADIATION.
...FIT ON A VERY SPECIFIC CURVE
CALLED THE BLACK BODY CURVE.
Wilkinson:
WE WEREN'T IN ANY
PARTICULAR HURRY
BECAUSE BOB DICKE'S IDEA
WAS SO ORIGINAL.
WE WEREN'T TOO WORRIED
ABOUT SOMEBODY ELSE
GETTING THERE BEFORE WE DID.
SO WE CHARGED AHEAD
RATHER SLOWLY.
WE HAD NO MICROWAVE EQUIPMENT
AT ALL.
WE HAD TO ORDER THINGS NEW.
WE WENT DOWN TO ARCH STREET
IN PHILADELPHIA
AND DUG AROUND IN
THE WORLD WAR II SURPLUS SHOPS
TO FIND THINGS THAT WERE CHEAP.
BOB DICKE IS A RATHER
FRUGAL EXPERIMENTALIST
SO IF WE COULD FIND IT IN
THE JUNK SHOP, WE DID THAT.
Osgood:
THIS IS THE ANTENNA
THAT RESULTED.
IT'S CAREFULLY CALIBRATED
USING SUPER-COLD HELIUM.
WHILE WILKINSON IS BUILDING IT
TWO OTHER SCIENTISTS,
JUST 30 MILES AWAY
ARE SETTING UP AN EXPERIMENT
THAT SEEMS TO HAVE NOTHING
TO DO WITH THE BIG BANG.
WITH COLLEAGUE ARNO PENZIAS
BOB WILSON PLANS TO USE
THIS MICROWAVE ANTENNA
TO STUDY OUR GALAXY.
UNAWARE OF DICKE'S IDEA.
TO STUDY OUR GALAXY. HE'S
IN FACT, HE DOESN'T BELIEVE
IN THE BIG BANG
BUT PREFERS A UNIVERSE
WITH NO BEGINNING OR END.
Man:
I LIKED THE STEADY STATE.
IT'S PHILOSOPHICALLY SATISFYING
BECAUSE THERE'S NO END
TO THE UNIVERSE IN THE FUTURE.
IT GOES ON FOREVER IN THE SAME
SORT OF STATE THAT IT IS.
AND THERE'S NO BEGINNING
FOR IT, EITHER.
SO PHYSICISTS GENERALLY
LIKE STEADY STATE
BECAUSE THEY DON'T LIKE
TO HAVE TO HAVE A TIME
BEYOND WHICH THEY
CAN'T KNOW ANYTHING.
Osgood:
WILSON AND PENZIAS ARE THEN
JUST GETTING STARTED
ON THEIR SCIENTIFIC CAREERS.
THEY HAVE NO DESIRE
TO CONFRONT A PROBLEM
AS DIFFICULT AS WHETHER OR NOT
THE UNIVERSE HAD A BEGINNING.
THEY JUST WANT TO MAKE SOME
SMALL CONTRIBUTION TO ASTRONOMY.
Wilson:
DOING SCIENCE BY OURSELVES
WAS A GREAT NEW ADVENTURE.
WE SORT OF HAD A CHANCE
AT BELL LABS
TO BECOME SCIENTISTS--
YOU KNOW, IN THE REAL SENSE--
AND MAKE USE OF
THIS UNIQUE INSTRUMENT
AND, YOU KNOW, WE REALLY
DEVOTED OURSELVES TO IT.
Osgood:
WILSON AND PENZIAS BELIEVE
THE HOLMDEL ANTENNA WILL MAKE
A GREAT RADIO TELESCOPE
BECAUSE IT'S DESIGNED TO REJECT
ALL EXTRANEOUS SIGNALS,
OR NOISE.
VERY FIRST TIME
ALL EXTRANEOUS SIGNALS,
THEY USE ITUT FROM THE
EXTRANEOUS NOISE IS EXACTLY
WHAT IT SEEMS TO BE PICKING UP.
Wilson:
EVERY TIME WE STARTED UP
WE SAW THE SAME NOISE LEVEL.
EVERYWHERE IN THE SKY WE POINTED
WE SAW THE SAME NOISE LEVEL.
Osgood:
IT ISN'T A LOT OF NOISE,
BUT THEY FEAR IT'S ENOUGH
TO COMPROMISE
SOME OF THEIR RESEARCH.
SO THEY DECIDE TO FIND OUT
WHAT'S CAUSING IT
AND GET RID OF IT.
THEY CHECK TO SEE
IF IT'S THERE AT NIGHT.
THEY CHECK TO SEE IF IT'S THERE
IN DIFFERENT SEASONS.
THEY CHECK ALL POSSIBLE
GROUND-BASED SOURCES
OF RADIO NOISE.
THEY CHECK THE ANTENNA ITSELF
AND TAPE ALL ITS JOINTS.
THEY DOUBLE-CHECK EVERY PIECE
OF EQUIPMENT IN THE SYSTEM.
AND THE NOISE IS ALWAYS THERE.
WITH FEW ALTERNATIVES
LEFT TO TRY
THEY DECIDE TO CHECK
A REAL LONG SHOT.
Wilson:
A SET OF PIGEONS
HAD STARTED ROOSTING
UP IN THE THROAT OF THE THING,
AND OF COURSE THEY'D COATED IT
WITH THE SAME WHITE
PIGEON DROPPINGS
THAT YOU SEE ON STATUES
AND SO FORTH IN THE CITY.
WE GOT A LADDER
FROM THE CARPENTERS
AND A COUPLE OF PUSH BROOMS
AND SOME SCRUB BRUSHES
AND SCRAPED OFF
THE DIFFICULT ONES
AND SWEPT THE WHOLE THING OUT.
Osgood:
THEY CHECK AGAIN
AND REALIZE THEY COULD HAVE
LEFT THE PIGEONS ALONE.
A YEAR OF THIS STRUGGLE
HAS LEFT THEM CONVINCED
THE ANTENNA IS FINE.
THE ONLY POSSIBILITY LEFT,
AND IT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE
IS THAT EVERY CORNER
OF THE UNIVERSE IS FILLED
WITH THE SAME NOISE.
DESPERATE, THEY BEGIN CALLING
OTHER ASTRONOMERS FOR HELP
AND ONE SUGGESTS
CALLING BOB DICKE.
AND THE PHONE RANG,
AND BOB PICKED IT UP
AND IT WAS TWO GUYS FROM
BELL LABS WHO HAD A PROBLEM
WHICH AT FIST DIDN'T SEEM
TO HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH US.
WE DIDN'T LEARN VERY MUCH
ON THE TELEPHONE
BUT THEY AGREED TO COME OUT
AND SEE WHAT WE HAD DONE
AND TELL US ABOUT
WHAT THEY HAD IN MIND.
UH, HE HUNG UP THE PHONE
AND I'LL NEVER FORGET
EXACTLY WHAT HE SAID.
THESE ARE HIS EXACT WORDS.
HE SAID, "WELL, BOYS,
WE'VE BEEN SCOOPED."
Osgood:
ROBERT WILSON AND ARNO PENZIAS
HAD ALREADY HEARD
THE ECHO OF THE BIG BANG.
THEIR ANNOYING BACKGROUND NOISE
WAS, IN FACT
NOTHING LESS THAN A WHISPER
FROM CREATION ITSELF.
IN THE BEGINNING,
SOME 15 BILLION YEARS AGO
THE UNIVERSE EXPLODED
FROM A SINGLE POINT.
LESS THAN ONE MINUTE LATER, IT'S
A MILLION BILLION MILES ACROSS.
IT STILL HAS
AN AVERAGE TEMPERATURE
OF A BILLION DEGREES.
THE UNIVERSE CONTINUES
TO EXPAND AND COOL.
GRADUALLY, GRAVITY
DRAWS TOGETHER ATOMS
AND THEN CLUMPS OF ATOMS.
AND GALAXIES ARE CREATED.
EVENTUALLY, AROUND SOME
OF THE STARS, PLANETS FORM
AND ON AT LEAST ONE,
LIFE BEGINS.
IF EVERYTHING IN THE UNIVERSE
BEGAN IN A SINGLE POINT
IT'S HARD NOT TO WONDER
WHAT IT TOOK
TO GO FROM SUCH ULTIMATE
SIMPLICITY TO ALL OF THIS.
MANY PHYSICISTS BELIEVE
THAT AT THE BEGINNING OF TIME
THERE WAS ONLY A SINGLE PARTICLE
GOVERNED BY A SINGLE FORCE.
FROM THAT STARTING POINT, WITHIN
A TINY FRACTION OF A SECOND
PARTICLES LIKE PROTONS
AND ELECTRONS EVOLVED
AND FORCES LIKE GRAVITY
AND MAGNETISM CAME INTO BEING
BUT DID THE UNIVERSE
HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS?
COULD IT HAVE TURNED OUT
ANY OTHER WAY?
PERHAPS IF WE CAN WORK BACK
TO THE MOMENT OF CREATION
TO THAT ULTIMATE PARTICLE
AND FORCE
WE'LL COME TO UNDERSTAND WHY
THE UNIVERSE IS THE WAY IT IS
AND EVEN TO EXPRESS IT
IN WHAT PHYSICISTS CALL
"THE FINAL THEORY"
WHICH, IT'S HOPED, CAN BE
CAPTURED IN A SINGLE EQUATION
THAT CAN FIT ON A T-SHIRT.
THIS MAY EXPLAIN EVERYTHING.
WHEN WE LOOK AT NATURE,
WE SEE THE COMPLEXITIES
THE DIFFERENCES AMONG THINGS.
BUT SCIENTISTS TEND
TO LOOK FOR THE CONNECTIONS
THE SIMPLICITY THAT LIES
AT THE HEART OF IT ALL.
Man:
THE MORE YOU LEARN ABOUT NATURE,
THE SIMPLER IT LOOKS.
AND THAT'S WHY I THINK
WE WILL FIND A FINAL THEORY
BECAUSE ALTHOUGH I CAN IMAGINE
THINGS GETTING
INFINITELY MORE COMPLICATED,
COMPLICATION WITHOUT END
I CAN'T IMAGINE
SIMPLICITY WITHOUT END.
THE WHOLE PROGRESS
OF PHYSICS HAS BEEN
TOE
DESCRIPTION OF NATURE
AND HOW SIMPLE CAN THINGS GET?
SIMPLICITY MUST
FINALLY TERMINATE.
THERE MUST BE
SOMETHING SO SIMPLE
THAT WE CAN'T IMAGINE
ANYTHING MORE SIMPLE.
Osgood:
BUT IN THE YEARS
FOLLOWING WORLD WAR II
PHYSICISTS ARE STUNNED
TO FIND THEIR DREAM OF ULTIMATE
SIMPLICITY SLIPPING AWAY.
EXPERIMENTS MEANT
TO REVEAL SIMPLICITY
FIND EVER GREATER COMPLEXITY.
Newsreel announcer:
BERKELEY CALIFORNIA,
HOME OF THE BEVATRON.
THE B.E.V. STANDS FOR
BILLIONS OF ELECTRON VOLTS...
WORLD'S MOST POWERFUL
ATOM SMASHER.
Osgood:
IT'S THE BEGINNING
OF THE ERA OF BIG SCIENCE.
GIANT ATOM SMASHERS ARE BUILT
TO ACCELERATE SUBATOMIC
PARTICLES TOS
AND SMASH THEM INTO OTHER ATOMS.
Galison:
EACH NEW ACCELERATOR BUILT
AFTER THE WAR WAS MORE POWERFUL
THAN THE ONE THAT CAME BEFORE.
EACH WAS ABLE TO RAM PARTICLES
INTO EACH OTHER HARDER
AND TO SHOW WHAT WAS HAPPENING
AT A SMALLER AND SMALLER SCALE.
IT WAS JUST
LIKE THE TELESCOPES.
WITH EACH NEW TELESCOPE
THAT WAS BUILT
YOU COULD SEE FURTHER OUT
INTO SPACE, GATHER MORE LIGHT
RESOLVE OBJECTS MORE PRECISELY.
WITH EACH NEW ACCELERATOR
PEOPLE WERE ABLE TO SEE
DEEPER INTO MATTER
MORE PRECISELY, BETTER
RESOLUTION, SMALLER SCALE.
Osgood:
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE TRACKS
OF THE OBJECTS PRODUCED
IN THESE ACCELERATORS
REVEAL A MULTITUDE
OF NEW PARTICLES
THAT SEEM JUST AS FUNDAMENTAL
AS THE FAMILIAR PROTCTRON.
Kaku:
WE WERE LITERALLY DROWNING
IN SUBATOMIC PARTICLES.
ONE YEAR,
OUT OF SHEER FRUSTRATION
J. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER, FATHER
OF THE ATOMIC BOMB, STATED
THAT THE PHYSICIST
WHO DOES NOT DISCOVER
A NEW PARTICLE THAT YEAR
SHOULD WIN
THE NOBEL PRIZE IN PHYSICS.
THERE WERE HUNDREDS
AND HUNDREDS OF PARTICLES
WHICH LOOKED JUST AS
ELEMENTARY AS THE PROTON.
IT BECAME CLEAR THAT
IF ELEMENTARY MEANT ANYTHING
EITHER THERE WAS SOMETHING
MORE ELEMENTARY
OR PERHAPS THEY WERE
ALL ELEMENTARY--??
A FRIGHTENING IDEA.
Osgood:
AMONG THE PHYSICISTS UNHAPPY
WITH ALL THIS COMPLICATION
IS A BRASH YOUNG THEORIST
NAMED MURRAY GELL-MANN.
BY THE AGE OF 25
GELL-MANN IS ALREADY WELL KNOWN
IN THE WORLD OF PHYSICS
FOR HIS ENCYCLOPEDIC INTERESTS
AND KNOWLEDGE
HIS QUICK AND CREATIVE MIND
AND HIS FREQUENTLY ABRASIVE
PERSONAL STYLE.
A COLLEAGUE SAYS OF HIM
AY HAS NO
PARTICULAR TALENT FOR PHYSICSRR
BUT HE'S SO SMART,
HE'S A GREAT PHYSICIST ANYWAY."
THE IMPORTANT THING IS FIRST TO
STEEP YOURSELF IN THE PROBM
TO LOOK AT THE PUZZLE,
ALL THE PIECES OF THE PUZZLE.
Osgood:
BY LOOKING FOR PATTERNS
AND SYMMETRIES
GELL-MANN FINDS A WAY
TO ORGANIZE ALL THE NEWLY
DISCOVERED PARTICLES
INTO FAMILIES.
THEN, INSPIRED
BY A CHANCE ENCOUNTER
DURING A VISIT TO COLUMBIA
UNIVERSITY IN NEW YORK
HE TAKES A GIANT STEP
TOWARD SIMPLICITY.
Kaku:
OVER LUNCH, A PHYSICIST
APPROACHED HIM AND SAID
"ISN'T IT POSSIBLE THAT YOUR
THEORIES COULD BE EXPLAINED
BY POSTULATING THREE EVEN
MORE FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLES?"
WELL, EYONE AT THAT TABLE
DISMISSED THAT IDEA IMMEDIATELY
AND THEY P TO
THIS PHYSICIST WHAT WAS WRONG.
YOU WOULD HAVE FRACTIONALLY
CHARGED PARTICLES
AN OUTRAGEOUS, RIDICULOUS IDEA
BECAUSE EVERYONE KNEW
THAT PARTICLES WERE EITHER
PLUS ONE OR MINUS ONE IN CHARGE
NEVER ONE-THIRD OR TWO-THIRDS.
Osgood:
BUT OVER THE MONTHS THAT FOLLOW
GELL-MANN GROWS TO LOVE THE IDEA
OF THIS DEEPER LEVEL OF REALITY.
THE FACT NO ONE'S EVER SEEN
PARTICLES THIS BIZARRE
HE DECIDES ISN'T HIS PROBLEM.
IN EARLY 1964, GELL-MANN
PROPOSES TO THE WORLD
HE CALLS "QUARKS."
HIS THREE QUARKS COULD COMBINE
IN DIFFERENT WAYS
IT WOULD SIMPLIFY,
ORGANIZE
IT WAS A GREAT
SCIENTIFIC ADVANCE.
THE PROBLEM WAS THAT NO ONE
HAD EVER SEEN ANYTHING
THAT LOOKED LIKE A QUARK.
NOW, WHAT ARE THE QUARKS?
ARE THEY ACTUALLY REAL OBJECTS?
WELTAL FRIENDS
ARE MAKING A SEARCH FOR THEM
IN ALL SORTS OF PLACES.
ONE ATOMIC SPECTROSCOPIST
FRIEND OF MINE CALLS ME UP
SOMETIMES AT MIDNIGHT HIS P
ROGRESS
IN A SEARCH FOR QUARKS
IN SEAWATER.
MOST THINGS WITH CURIOUS
CHEMICAL BEHAVIOR IN THE OCEAN
END UP EATEN BY OYSTERS.
(laughter)
AND SO NOW
HE'S GRINDING UP OYSTERS...
(laughter)
AND LOOKING FOR THE ATOMIC
LEVELS IN THE OYSTERS.
SO FAR, THOUGH, NO QUARKS.
Kaku:
PHYSICISTS WERE FACED
WITH A PARADOX:
WHERE WERE THE QUARKS?
EVERYWHERE WE LOOKED
WE COULD NOT FIND ANY PHYSICAL
EVIDENCE FOR THE QUARKS
AND IN FACT,
SOME PHYSICISTS EVEN BEGAN
TO DOUBT THE CORRECTNESS
OF THE THEORY.
HOWEVER, OVER THE YEARS
INDIRECT EVIDENCE BEGAN
TO TRICKLE IN
CONFIRMING THIS THEORY.
AND NOW WHEN EXPERIMENTERS
TAKE A HARD LOOK AT THE PROTON
THEY SEE STRONG EVIDENCE
OF THE QUARKS INSIDE.
FOR STARTERS, THEY'RE SO SMALL
IT'S HARD TO APPLY TO THEM
OUR NORMAL NOTIONS OF SIZE.
HEM
AS POINTS. E T
POINTS? COME ON!
WHAT DO YOU MEAN, POINTS?
HOW CAN SOMETHING HAVE
A MASS AND A CHARGE
AND BE A POINT?
WELL, IT TAKES A LITTLE...
A FEW MUSCLES IN THE MIND
THAT HAVN
BUT IF YOU WORK ON THEM
FOR A WHILE
YOU CAN IMAGINE SUCH AN OBJECT.
IT'S A LITTLE BIT
LIKE ALICE IN WONDERLAND.
REMEMBER THE CHESHIRE CAT
SITTING ON THE TREE, SMILING
AND ALICE IS NOTICING
WHEN THE CAT DISAPPEARS,
THE SMILE IS LEFT BEHIND?
YOU REMEMBER THAT?
WELL, IN A WAY YOU CAN LOOK
AT THAT AS YOU TAKE A QUARK
AND IT'S SPINNING,
AND IT HAS A...
IT'S SPHERICAL, IF YOU LIKE
AND IT HAS MASS
AND CHARGE AND SPIN
AND ALL THESE OTHER PROPERTIES
THAT WE LIKE TO MEASURE ABOUT IT
BUT IN FRONT OF YOUR EYES,
IT'S SHRINKING
AND FINALLY, IT... POOF!
SHRINKS TO A POINT
LEAVING BEHIND ITS SPIN,
ITS CHARGE, ITS MASS
AND IF IT HAS A SMILE,
LEAVING BEHIND ITS SMILE.
THAT'S THE IDEA
OF POINT PARTICLES.
Osgood:
WITH QUARKS, PHYSICS' JOURNEY
INTO THE HEART OF MATTER
TAKES A GIANT STEP
TOWARD ITS GOAL
OF FINDING AN ULTIMATE PARTICLE
FROM WHICH EVERYTHING IS MADE.
INSTEAD OF HUNDREDS OF
FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLES IN NATURE
NOW THERE ARE SIMPLY THREE:
ELECTRONS, QUARKS
AND NEUTRINOS, TINY PARTICLES
WITH ALMOST NO MASS
THAT RARELY INTERACT
WITH THE STUFF WE'RE MADE OF.
THE SEARCH FOR A SINGLE
FUNDAMENTAL PARTICLE
IS MATCHED BYR A SINGLE FORC
E
THAT GOVERNS THE BEHAVIOR
OF EVERYTHING.
THIS WAS ALBERT EINSTEIN'S
GREAT QUEST
FOR THE LAST 25 YEARS
OF HIS LIFE.
MORE THAN ONCE,
HE THOUGHT HE HAD DONE IT
ONLY TO LEARN HIS SOLUTION
WAS FATALLY FLAWED.
WHEN EINSTEIN WAS WORKING
ON UNIFICATION
HE RECOGNIZED TWO FORCES:
GRAVITY AND ELECTROMAGNETISM.
BUT TODAY, PHYSICISTS HAVE
TO DEAL WITH TWO OTHERS:
THE STRONG FORCE
AND THE WEAK FORCE.
THE WEAK FORCE IS RESPONSIBLE
FOR MANY FORMS OF RADIOACTIVITY.
THE STRONG FORCE HOLDS
OUR NUCLEUS TOGETHER.
THE NUCLEUS IS FULL OF PROTONS,
WHICH ALL HAVE POSITIVE CHARGES.
THE NUCLEUS IS FULL OF PROTONS,
WHICH ALL HAVE POSITIVE CHARGES.
AND IF THERE WAS NOTHING
TO HOLD THEM TOGETHER
THE ELECTRIC FORCES
WOULD MAKE THEM FLY APART
BECAUSE EQUAL CHARGES
ARE REPELLED.
THE STRONG FORCE
PREVENTS THAT FROM HAPPENING.
Osgood:
ONE OF THE PHYSICISTS
WHO PLAYS A KEY ROLE
IN THE QUEST FOR UNIFICATION
IS STEPHEN WEINBERG.
HIS SPECIALTY IS THE TWO FORCES
WITHIN THE ATOMIC NUCLEUS:
THE WEAK AND THE STRONG.
Weberg:
LIKE A LOT OF OTHER PHYSICISTS,
I GOT STARTED WITH CHEMISTRY.
I HAD A HAND-ME-DOWN
CHEMISTRY SET
THAT WAS GIVEN TO ME
BY AN OLDER COUSIN.
FIRST I JUST LIKED TO PLAY WITH
THE POWDERS AND THE LIQUIDS
AND MAKE COLORED SMOKE
AND THINGS LIKE THAT
AND GRADUALLY,
JUST READING ABOUT IT
I BECAME AWARE
THAT WHAT WENT ON INSIDE AN ATOM
WAS SOMETHING
THAT COULDN'T BE EXPLAINED
IN TERMS OF ORDINARY THINGS
THAT I KNEW ABOUT
IN EVERYDAY LIFE.
THERE WAS SOMETHING
STRANGE AND WONDERFUL
ABOUT PHYSICS,
WHICH WAS THE SCIENCE
THAT GOVERNED WHAT GOES ON
IMS.
Osgood:
THAT FEELING ABOUT PHYSICS
STAYS WITH WEINBERG
IN THE LATE '60s,
HE'S STRUGGLING UNSUCCESSFULLY
TO USE CERTAIN
MATHEMATICAL IDEAS
TO MAKE SENSE
OF THE STRONG FORCE
THE ONE THAT HOLDS
ATOMIC NUCLEI TOGETHER.
Weinberg:
AND THEN AT A CERTAIN POINT
I THINK WHEN I WAS DRIVING
MY CAR TO M.I.T.
I REALIZED, MY GOODNESS,
THIS KIND OF MATHEMATICAL IDEA
ALTHOUGH IT'S A COMPLETE LOSER
AS FAR AS THE STRONG FORCES
ARE CONCERNED
IS JUST WHAT WE NEED TO MAKE
A THEORY OF THE WEAK FORCE.
AND TO MY SURPRISE, ALTHOUGH
CERTAINLY NOT MY DISAPPOINTMENT
WHAT CAME OUT AT THE END
WAS NOT JUST THE THEORY
OF THE WEAK FORCES
BUT, INEVITABLY,
A UNIFIED THEORY
OF WEAK AND
ELECTROMAGNETIC FORCES.
ALL OF A SUDDEN,
FROM FOUR FUNDAMENTAL FORCES
WE NOW HAD THREE
FUNDAMENTAL FORCES
AND THIS CHANGED THE ENTIRE
TERRAIN OF THEORETICAL PHYSICS.
Osgood:
IN ORDER TO TEST
WEINBERG'S THEORY
THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY SPENDS
A STAGGERING $150 MILLION
TO MODIFY AND MAKE MORE POWERFUL
ITS LARGEST PARTICLE
ACCELERATOR.
THE PROT??S ARE IN THE MACHINE.
WE'RE NOW IN THE COUNTDOWN.
Osgood:
IN THE SUBATOMIC SHRAPNEL
CREATED IN THESE COLLISIONS
LIES THE EVIDENCE THAT CONFIRMS
THE CORRECTNESS
OF ELECTRO-WEAK UNIFICATION.
THE FOUR FUNDAMENTAL FORCES
ARE NOW THREE.
BUT JUST AS THREE TYPES
OF PARTICLES DOESN'T SATISFY
NEITHER DOES THREE FORCES.
IN THE MID-1980s
WORK BEGINS ON WHAT
MOST PHYSICISTS BELIEVE
IS THE KEY TO GETTING EVEN
CLOSER TO THE HEART OF MATTER.
IT'S CALLED THE SUPERCONDUCTING
SUPERCOLLIDER, OR S.S.C.
WITH AN UNDERGROUND
PARTICLE RING 50 MILES LONG
IT'S DESIGNED TO RE-CREATE
THE CONDITIONS OF THE UNIVERSE
IN ITS FIRST
TRILLION-TRILLION-TRILLIONTH
OF A SECOND.
IT WAS TO BE A DEVICE SO LARGE
IT WOULD ENCLOSE TOWNS
INSIDE IT.
IT WAS A MACHINE
THAT WOULD REQUIRE BUSES
TO GET FROM ONE PART TO ANOTHER.
IT WAS A MACHINE THAT
WOULD SHIP VOLUMES OF DATA
EQUIVALENT TO THE ENTIRE
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
OUT TO DISTANT LABORATORIES
AROUND THE WORLD
WITH AMAZING FREQUENCY.
THE DETECTORS, THE SITES
WHERE THE ACTUAL PHYSICS
WOULD BE CONDUCTED
WOULD COST
A BILLION DOLLARS APIECE
AND HAVE SOMEWHERE NEAR
A THOUSAND PHYSICISTS
AND PROBABLY AN EQUIVALENT
NUMBER OF TECHNICIANS
AT EACH ONE.
Osgood:
BUT IN 1993, AFTER
AN INVESTMENT OF $2 BILLION
CONSTRUCTION ON THE S.S.C.
IS HALTED.
YEARS OF ESCALATING COSTS HAVE
ERODED CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT.
THE MESSAGE TO SCIENTISTS IS,
FIND ANOTHER WAY TO HUNT
FOR THE ULTIMATE PARTICLE
AND THE ULTIMATE FORCE.
PHYSICISTS ARE DEVASTATED.
Galison:
WHEN THE AMERICAN PARTICLE
PHYSICS COMMUNITY
GAMBLED ON THE S.S.C.
THEY HAD ESSENTIALLY TO SHUT
DOWN PROGRAM AFTER PROGRAM
IN THE HOPES THAT THEY COULD
CONVINCE THE POLITICIANS
THAT BY MAKING THESE SACRIFICES
THEY SHOULD RECEIVE
THE AMOUNT OF FUNDS
NECESSARY TO BUILD THE
SUPERCONDUCTING SUPERCOLLIDER.
WHEN THE S.S.C. WAS CANCELED
THEY ESSENTIALLY
LOST EVERYTHING.
(playing Bach sonata)
Osgood:
EVEN STILL, THE SEARCH
FOR UNIFICATION GOES ON.
IN THE 1980s,
THEORISTS PROPOSE
THAT AT THE HEART OF EVERYTHING
ARE INFINITESIMALLY
SMALL VIBRATING STRINGS.
STRING THEORY, QUITE SIMPLY
IS THE MOST EXCITING IDEA
TO HIT PHYSICS
SINCE THE DAYS
OF EINSTEIN AND BOHR.
IT MAY WELL BE
THE FINAL THEORY--
THE ONE THAT EXPLAINS
ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING.
Kaku:
THE PYTHAGOREANS BELIEVED
THAT MUSIC WAS THE LANGUAGE
OF NATURE;
THAT THE HARMONIES
ON A VIOLIN STRING--
WHICH THEY WORKED OUT
FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HISTORY--
WERE THE HARMONIES
OF THE UNIVERSE.
AND THEY THOUGHT THAT ALL AROUND
US, SURROUNDING US WAS MUSIC--
THE MUSIC OF THE SPHERES.
UNFORTUNATELY, THAT IDEA
NEVER GOT ANYWHERE
BECAUSE THAT COULDN'T
EXPLAIN THE ELEMENTS.
NOW WE THINK THAT IF I HAVE
A SUPER-POWERFUL MICROSCOPE
AND COULD PEER INTO AN ELECTRON
I WOULD SEE
A VIBRATING VIOLIN STRING.
IT CHANGES INTO GRAVITY.
IT CHANGES INTO LIGHT.
SO, IN OTHER WORDS
OUR BODIES ARE NOTHING
BUT COLLECTIONS OF STRINGS.
AND THE LAWS GOVERNING
THESE STRINGS
ARE THE HARMONIES
OF THE STRINGS
AND THEY ARE THE LAWS
OF PHYSICS.
Osgood:
THEORISTS USUALLY
IMAGINE STRINGS
AS INCREDIBLY SMALL
CLOSED LOOPS
MORE LIKE RUBBER BANDS
THAN ANYTHING ELSE.
ORDINARY MATTER,
EVEN SPACE, TIME AND ENERGY
ARE NOTHING MORE THAN
THE VIBRATIONS OF STRINGS.
TO PHYSICISTS THEY ARE
BEAUTIFUL, ELEGANT, SIMPLE--
EVERYTHING THEY DREAM ABOUT.
THEN WHEN I INTEGRATE...
Osgood:
BUT THE MATHEMATICS NEEDED TO
DESCRIBE THEM IS ANYTHING BUT.
A-B-C-D...
MY CLAIM IS THAT
THIS THING I WRITE ON
THIS SIDE OF THE EQUATION
IS A SUPER-SYMMETRIC DEFINITION
OF AN INDEX
AND THE STATEMENT IS THAT
THE TOPOLOGY OF THE SUPERSPACE
CAN ONLY BE GENERATED
BY THE TOPOLOGY
OF THE BOSONIC MANIFOLD.
Gates:
MATHEMATICS FOR
A THEORETICAL PHYSICIST
REALLY IS AN EXTRASENSORY ORGAN.
I CANNOT MAKE MYSELF
AS SMALL AS AN ATOM;
I CANNOT MAKE MYSELF
THE SIZE OF A PROTON.
BUT WITH MATHEMATICS
I HAVE AN ACCURATE
REPRESENTATION OF THAT
I HAVE AN ACCURATE
REPRESENTATION OF THAT CAN
USE MY MIND
TO ACTUALLY LOOK
AT THOSE SMALL THINGS.
THE FUNNY THING...
Osgood:
ONE OF THE STRANGEST THINGS
ABOUT STRING THEORY
IS THAT IT ONLY WORKS
IF THERE ARE TEN
OR MORE DIMENSIONS.
CROSS E-8
HETEROTIC THEORY.
SOME PEOPLE SAY TO US,
"BUT THAT'S NOT COMMONSENSICAL.
THAT VIOLATES COMMON SENSE."
WELL, WHY SHOULD COMMON SENSE
HAVE ANYTHING TO DO
WITH THE UNIVERSE?
WHY SHOULD THE UNIVERSE
CARE ABOUT YOUR COMMON SENSE?
SO WE PHYSICISTS ARE PRISONERS.
WE ARE PRISONERS OF EXPERIMENT,
PRISONERS OF OUR MATHEMATICS
AND WE SIMPLY GO WHERE
THE MATHEMATICS...
GO WHERE
THE EXPERIMENTS TAKE US.
WITH STRING THEORY,
THEY'RE GOING WAY OUT.
THEY'RE USING MATHEMATICS
IN A WAY THAT PHYSICISTS HAVE
NEVER USED MATHEMATICS BEFORE.
IN TEN DIMENSIONS, WE CAN LOOK
AT THE ENTIRE CLIFFORD ALGEBRA
OF THE DIRAC MATRICES.
MORE AND MORE ESOTERIC,
AND, MOST UNFORTUNATELY OF ALL
FURTHER AND FURTHER REMOVED
FROM EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION.
BUT IN A SENSE,
IT'S THE ONLY GAME IN TOWN.
IT'S THE ONLY HOPE WE HAVE
OF UNIFYING EVERYTHING.
WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT NOW
IS UNDERSTANDING ALL FOUR
FUNDAMENTAL FORCES.
THAT'S THE POWER OF THIS THEORY.
WE'RE TALKING ABOUT A THEORY
OF THE UNIVERSE.
WILL IT GIVE ME BETTER
COLOR TELEVISION?
THE ANSWER IS NO.
IT'S NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU
A BIGGER TOASTER.
IT'S NOT GOING TO GIVE YOU
BETTER SLICED BREAD.
BUT IT WILL GIVE YOU
IS A THEORY THAT WILL AFFECT
THE FUTURE COURSE
OF HUMAN CIVILIZATION.
YOUR
GREAT-GREAT-GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN
WILL ONE DAY LIVE
TO HARNESS THE POWER
OF THE UNIFIED FIELD THEORY.
Osgood:
NO ONE KNOWS IF STRING THEORY
IS THE FINAL THEORY
BUT IF IT ISN'T, PHYSICISTS
ARE SURE TO KEEP SEARCHING.
Lewin:
I THINK IT'S ALMOST
A RELIGIOUS BELIEF
THAT THINGS MUST SOMEHOW...
VERY DEEP DOWN BE SIMPLE
AND THAT WE ARE
TO SOME DEGREE BLIND
AND DON'T SEE THE SIMPLICITY,
BUT ARE SEARCHING FOR IT.
NOW, THAT'S WHAT PHYSICS
HAS BEEN DOING ALWAYS--
VERY DIFFICULT PROCESSES,
VERY DIFFICULT PHENOMENON
WHICH SEEMINGLY
ARE UNRELATED, CHAOTIC...
THROUGH SIMPLE DESCRIPTIONS PULL
THEM TOGETHER AND UNIFY THEM.
AND THAT WILL GO ON
FOR A LONG, LONG TIME.
Osgood:
ASTRONOMERS WILL ALSO KEEP
TRYING TO SOLVE
THE MYSTERIES OF THE UNIVERSE.
ON A MOUNTAIN IN ARIZONA
TEAM OF SCIENTISTS
ONIS SEARCHING THE SKYNA ONE
FOR CLUES TO THE ULTIMATE FATE
OF THE COSMOS.
AT THIS AND OTHER TELESCOPES
AROUND THE WORLD
THEY'RE MEASURING LIGHT
FROM STARS HALFWAY ACROSS
THE UNIVERSE.
AND THIS IS SUPERNOVA...
Osgood:
THEN, BOB KIRSHNER
AND HIS COLLEAGUES
USE THOSE MEASUREMENTS
Osgood:
THEN, BOB KIRSHNER
WITH EINSTEIN'S EQUATIONSILL
TO CALCULATE THE APPROXIMATE
MASS OF THE ENTIRE COSMOS.
THIS IS NOT EASY.
I DON'T KNOW WHAT
WE'RE SUPPOSED TO DO
EXCEPT JUST SIT THERE
AND TAKE IT.
Osgood:
IF KIRSHNER FINDS ENOUGH MASS
IT MEANS THE UNIVERSE
WILL ONE DAY STOP EXPANDING
