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(rumbling)
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(gentle instrumental music)
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- [Narrator] The 20th century
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witnessed an astonishing
revolution in physics.
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From unlocking the secrets of the atom
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to working out the
origins of the universe,
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physics took us places
we'd never dreamt possible.
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This was also a century when
we were for the first time
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able to see and hear
scientists in their own words.
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- I began to notice there was
something slightly curious
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on the records.
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- I didn't take it in, because
I was probably daydreaming.
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- I can't stop!
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I mean, I could talk forever.
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- [Narrator] So we began to learn
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not just about the science,
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but the men and women behind it.
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And the more we learnt
about these scientists,
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the more it became clear
that their personalities,
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eccentricities, and rivalries--
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- It was that he was too sure too quickly.
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- [Narrator] Were all
fundamental to their discoveries.
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In fact, it's impossible
truly to understand
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the 20th century revolution in physics
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without first knowing who these
men and women really were.
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- I see.
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And your idea is to find
out what nature could be.
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(mysterious instrumental music)
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- [Narrator] 8:15 a.m, the 6th
of August, 1945, Hiroshima.
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(singing in foreign language)
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And the world witnessed
the power of physics.
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A catastrophic explosion
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sent a shock wave that flattened the city,
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sparked a huge firestorm,
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and bathed every living
thing in deadly radiation.
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Over 60,000 people died immediately.
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The atomic bomb shocked the world,
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causing a scale of destruction
never before witnessed.
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It also broke the heart
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of the world's most famous scientist,
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the man who had launched
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the 20th century revolution in physics,
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and dedicated his life to
world peace and equality.
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- It is impossible to achieve peace
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as long as every single action is taken
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with a possible future conflict in view.
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The leading point of view
of all political action
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should therefore be, what can we do
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to bring about a peaceful coexistence
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and even loyal cooperation of the nations?
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- [Narrator] Hiroshima
devastated Albert Einstein,
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not only because it tested his ideals,
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but also because he felt
he had played a role
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in the development of the bomb.
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What weighed heaviest
on Einstein's conscience
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was a letter he had signed in 1939.
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It was addressed to the
US President, Roosevelt,
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and written to encourage the
Americans to build the bomb
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to deter the Nazis.
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Einstein knew that his signature
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would have carried more
weight than any other.
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After all, by then he was
the most famous scientist
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in the world, a scientific superstar.
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- [Reporter] What do you think
of Prohibition, Professor?
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(speaking in foreign language)
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- [Narrator] Einstein never
worked on the Manhattan Project
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that built the bomb,
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but from the moment he
learnt about the death
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of tens of thousands of
innocent civilians in Hiroshima,
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he deeply regretted ever
having signed the letter.
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Yet there was also another,
more fundamental way
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in which Hiroshima lay
on Einstein's conscience.
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Because the equation that made him famous,
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the equation that symbolized
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the scientific revolution he created,
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was the very same equation
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that underpinned the atomic
bomb, E equals mc squared.
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- [Albert] The equation
E is equals mc squared
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in which energy is put equal to mass,
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multiplied by the square
of the velocity of light
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showed that very small amounts of mass
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may be converted into a
very large amount of energy.
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- [Narrator] In this simple
and beautiful equation,
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Einstein had rewritten
the laws of physics.
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But he had also unwittingly
handed the world
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the key to the atomic bomb.
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It was an outcome he
could never have foreseen
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when he began his scientific studies
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at the start of the 20th century.
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Einstein had crafted E equals mc squared
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when he was in his 20s.
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At the time, he was just a
young man working in obscurity
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in a patent office in Bern, Switzerland.
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But he had a fascination
for light, space and time.
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- He read a lot while he
was at the patent office.
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He read a lot in the evening and weekends,
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and there was an informal
group of scientists in Bern.
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He was very much engaged in
discussion about science,
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even though he was spending
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his time at work assessing patents.
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- [Narrator] Despite the group,
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Einstein did his best work alone.
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His method was to create
thought experiments
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that asked some simple,
profound questions.
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Questions like, "If I'm
traveling on a tram,
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"does time run differently
for me inside the tram
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"compared to people standing
on the street outside?"
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And, "If I was traveling
away from a clock tower
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"on a beam of light,
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"would my wristwatch and the
clock read the same time?"
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- Whichever area he was looking at,
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he would find the little inconsistencies,
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the things that didn't quite make sense,
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the things that in retrospect
seem like a bit of a fudge
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when you got different explanations
for the same phenomenon.
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And he would focus in on
those little rough corners
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and completely cut them away
and bring in something new,
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and bring clarity to the situation.
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And that was very characteristic, I think,
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of the way he operated in
all those different fields.
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- [Narrator] Einstein spent
time deep in concentration
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considering the outcomes
of his thought experiments
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which would culminate in
two ground-breaking theories
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that would lay the foundations
for modern physics.
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First there was his special
theory of relativity.
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This proposed a radical new
concept of space and time,
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suggesting that neither are absolutes,
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but can change depending
on the relative motion
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of objects and observers,
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a set of ideas that also
led to E equals mc squared.
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And then his general theory of relativity,
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which gave physicists a new
understanding of gravity.
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Rather than being a force,
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it was now a property of the
curvature of space and time.
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They were ground-breaking new theories,
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products of Einstein's vivid imagination,
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creativity, and ambition.
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The freedom and independence
he enjoyed in Bern,
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away from the formality of
academia, allowed him the space
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to formulate some of the most
original ideas in science.
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And as other scientists
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began to provide support
for these theories,
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Einstein was rocketed into world fame.
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- Einstein had the reputation,
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before all these results were announced,
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of being very mild-mannered, of being shy,
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but he absolutely rose to the occasion.
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He just basked in the glory,
and he really loved it.
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And he went on tours and
he talked to audiences.
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His lectures weren't always very good,
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and there's a report
from Oxford by a student,
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and he said, when
Professor Einstein came in,
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he was shuffling along
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and he looked quite
dejected and low-spirited,
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and then the audience rose
to its feet and clapped,
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and suddenly Einstein came
alive and his whole face lit up,
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and he obviously really
needed that public adulation.
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- [Man] Can you kill the lights, fellas?
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Can you kill the lights?
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- [Man] Shake hands with me.
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- [Narrator] The public latched on
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to Einstein's playful image,
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rather than trying to understand
his complicated theories.
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The intellectual elite
treated him like a god.
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- Ptolemy made a universe
which lasted 1,400 years.
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Newton also made a universe
which has lasted 300 years.
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Einstein has made a universe,
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and I can't tell you
how long that will last.
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(laughing)
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- [Ground Control] One.
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- [Narrator] After Einstein, the story
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of 20th century physics became
the story of men and women
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who either built on
Einstein's work, attacked it,
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or filled in the gaps of
what it could not explain.
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And the first big
development after relativity
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concerned the one part of the universe
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that seemed to defy it.
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The world of the subatomic particle.
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This was a strange new world,
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and it led to an entirely
new branch of physics.
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It was called quantum theory,
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and became characterized
by both bizarre ideas
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and rather bizarre people.
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Few were more strange than
British mathematician Paul Dirac.
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His intellect rivaled
that of Albert Einstein,
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but in character Dirac could
not have been more different.
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- [Announcer] Talking about the history
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of quantum mechanics, the
English physicist Paul Dirac.
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- Quantum mechanics was discovered
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40 years ago by Heisenberg.
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Shortly afterwards it
was discovered again,
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independently, in a rather
different form by Schrodinger.
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Heisenberg and Schrodinger gave
us a very wonderful theory.
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Many people took it up and
proceeded to develop it.
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I was one of them.
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- Well, he was certainly
a very strange man.
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He was very quiet.
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People call him shy.
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I guess he was shy.
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He took things very literally.
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Also, it might be something
which seemed a bit rude.
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I know that somebody asked him
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whether he had seen any good
films recently, or something,
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sitting next to him,
probably, at High Table,
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at St John's College, Cambridge,
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and he said, "Well, why
do you want to know?"
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- [Narrator] Dirac would
later attribute his silence
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to being bullied as a child by his father.
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- He was brought up by
this very strict father
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who insisted that at dinner
time, or at home, I think,
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his son should only speak in French.
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And Dirac didn't like to speak in French,
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and so, as the preferable option,
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he just didn't speak at all.
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- [Narrator] Others claimed
Dirac's social awkwardness
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was because he was autistic.
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Whatever the reason,
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it didn't hold him back
in the pursuit of a career
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in mathematics at Cambridge.
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- [Interviewer] Professor
Dirac, we heard before
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from Professor Heisenberg
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about his visit to the
Kapitza Club in Cambridge.
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Can you tell us something about that club?
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- Kapitza was a young Russian physicist
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who came to Cambridge
to work with Rutherford.
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He organized a club, about
20 members, physicists,
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who would meet every Tuesday evening,
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and someone would then read a paper
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on some question of physics,
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and there would be a lot
of discussion afterwards.
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There was a minute book
that was kept of this club,
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which is very fortunate,
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and we can look in the records of that
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and see just the subject
that Heisenberg talked on.
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I don't remember whether he
spoke about his new theory
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at that time.
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If he did, I didn't take it in,
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because I was probably daydreaming,
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and I don't take in
everything a lecturer says.
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- [Narrator] Despite his daydreaming,
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Dirac was singled out as a
brilliant and fresh talent
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in the new field of quantum theory.
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He was invited to speak
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at the most prestigious
international physics event,
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the Solvay Conference.
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Only a few months later,
he published an equation
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which would solve one of the
biggest problems in physics
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and become his most seminal work.
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- I suppose the thing that
Dirac's best known for
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is the Dirac equation.
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And I remember going to
lectures where people would say,
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"Well, the Dirac equation
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00:14:38,067 --> 00:14:41,110
"is the most accurate
equation known in science."
254
00:14:41,110 --> 00:14:42,530
I don't know if you'd say that now,
255
00:14:42,530 --> 00:14:45,553
but it's the equation of the electron.
256
00:14:47,730 --> 00:14:50,750
It was partly to solve a
problem which people found
257
00:14:50,750 --> 00:14:52,840
that they couldn't describe particles
258
00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:54,673
in accordance with relativity.
259
00:15:00,870 --> 00:15:03,420
- [Narrator] Dirac had done
what no one else could.
260
00:15:04,840 --> 00:15:08,830
He had crafted an equation to
describe how electrons behave
261
00:15:08,830 --> 00:15:11,210
that was consistent
with both quantum theory
262
00:15:11,210 --> 00:15:12,973
and special relativity.
263
00:15:14,540 --> 00:15:16,923
A union that had yet
to be proved possible.
264
00:15:19,396 --> 00:15:21,930
- It was certainly highly original,
265
00:15:21,930 --> 00:15:25,140
but I think this was driven from, maybe,
266
00:15:25,140 --> 00:15:26,540
the fact that there was a barrier
267
00:15:26,540 --> 00:15:28,740
between him and the outside world,
268
00:15:28,740 --> 00:15:30,590
and that he was internally driven
269
00:15:30,590 --> 00:15:33,120
and therefore found
270
00:15:33,120 --> 00:15:36,050
that this was the way
he understood things,
271
00:15:36,050 --> 00:15:37,670
and he would quite often, therefore,
272
00:15:37,670 --> 00:15:39,060
understand things in a different way
273
00:15:39,060 --> 00:15:41,500
from the way other people did,
and it might be a better way,
274
00:15:41,500 --> 00:15:44,253
because he'd thought it all
through in his own terms.
275
00:15:50,280 --> 00:15:53,330
- [Narrator] As well as
explaining how electrons behave,
276
00:15:53,330 --> 00:15:56,470
he developed a theory of
quantum electrodynamics
277
00:15:56,470 --> 00:15:57,950
which described the interactions
278
00:15:57,950 --> 00:15:59,573
between electrons and light.
279
00:16:03,130 --> 00:16:06,650
Dirac's unique understanding
of subatomic particles
280
00:16:06,650 --> 00:16:08,420
won him a Nobel prize
281
00:16:08,420 --> 00:16:11,333
and led to a series of
breakthroughs in quantum physics.
282
00:16:13,460 --> 00:16:15,520
But despite all of his successes,
283
00:16:15,520 --> 00:16:17,743
Dirac would never become a household name.
284
00:16:18,780 --> 00:16:22,140
Unlike Einstein, attention
made him uncomfortable,
285
00:16:22,140 --> 00:16:25,330
so he avoided the limelight
whenever he could.
286
00:16:25,330 --> 00:16:29,229
- He was interested in
other things than science,
287
00:16:29,229 --> 00:16:30,062
but a little bit surprising,
288
00:16:30,062 --> 00:16:31,940
for instance, he was
interested in cartoon movies,
289
00:16:31,940 --> 00:16:34,270
Mickey Mouse, and things like that.
290
00:16:34,270 --> 00:16:35,840
He was interested in things
291
00:16:35,840 --> 00:16:39,880
where the emotional content
was not a major part of it.
292
00:16:39,880 --> 00:16:41,280
But then there was also this story
293
00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:42,560
about either a play or a book,
294
00:16:42,560 --> 00:16:43,580
I can't quite remember which now,
295
00:16:43,580 --> 00:16:45,790
by a Russian author, maybe Dostoevsky.
296
00:16:45,790 --> 00:16:50,057
In it, somebody asks him,
"Well, what did you make of it?
297
00:16:50,057 --> 00:16:50,890
"Did you enjoy it?"
298
00:16:50,890 --> 00:16:55,890
And he said, "Well, at one
point the author made a mistake
299
00:16:56,057 --> 00:17:00,330
"and he said the sun rose
twice in the same day."
300
00:17:00,330 --> 00:17:03,630
So this is the sort of
thing he would point out
301
00:17:03,630 --> 00:17:06,730
about some literary classic,
302
00:17:06,730 --> 00:17:11,730
rather than commenting
on its emotional impact.
303
00:17:18,130 --> 00:17:20,400
- [Narrator] Dirac only
ever let a few people
304
00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:21,233
into his world.
305
00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,880
His wife was the sister
306
00:17:26,880 --> 00:17:29,990
of a very distinguished quantum physicist,
307
00:17:29,990 --> 00:17:32,600
or a mathematical
physicist, Eugene Wigner,
308
00:17:32,600 --> 00:17:35,150
who was a very important
figure, also, in the early days
309
00:17:35,150 --> 00:17:36,290
of quantum mechanics,
310
00:17:36,290 --> 00:17:39,730
and so she must have known that community
311
00:17:39,730 --> 00:17:43,940
and known how Dirac was
respected within that community,
312
00:17:43,940 --> 00:17:45,230
which I expect had something
313
00:17:45,230 --> 00:17:47,850
to do with their getting together.
314
00:17:47,850 --> 00:17:49,340
And she probably felt that he was somebody
315
00:17:49,340 --> 00:17:52,890
who needed protection, needed attention,
316
00:17:52,890 --> 00:17:56,460
and somebody who would be very worthwhile
317
00:17:56,460 --> 00:17:58,743
and interesting to be with.
318
00:18:07,683 --> 00:18:10,933
(dramatic vocal music)
319
00:18:12,120 --> 00:18:13,500
- [Narrator] While Dirac was developing
320
00:18:13,500 --> 00:18:15,880
the foundations of quantum mechanics,
321
00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:18,610
explaining the world of the very small,
322
00:18:18,610 --> 00:18:21,340
other scientists were working
at the opposite scale,
323
00:18:21,340 --> 00:18:23,873
exploring the boundaries
of the known universe.
324
00:18:26,070 --> 00:18:28,150
General relativity had led to the idea
325
00:18:28,150 --> 00:18:30,660
that we live in an expanding universe,
326
00:18:30,660 --> 00:18:32,523
and observations had confirmed it.
327
00:18:35,410 --> 00:18:37,613
But this led to a fundamental question.
328
00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:41,533
Did the universe have a beginning?
329
00:18:46,360 --> 00:18:48,080
It was a question that would cause
330
00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:50,393
one of the bitterest rivalries in science,
331
00:18:52,040 --> 00:18:55,530
a conflict that consumed
two brilliant physicists,
332
00:18:55,530 --> 00:18:56,900
but would ultimately lead us
333
00:18:56,900 --> 00:18:59,133
to a deeper understanding of the universe.
334
00:19:02,740 --> 00:19:06,730
- As you probably know, there
are two forms of cosmology,
335
00:19:06,730 --> 00:19:09,730
what has been spoken of as the Big Bang,
336
00:19:09,730 --> 00:19:11,190
and the Steady State.
337
00:19:11,190 --> 00:19:13,223
The one that I've been associated with,
338
00:19:15,100 --> 00:19:17,763
the galaxies must be
forming the whole time.
339
00:19:18,930 --> 00:19:21,540
- [Narrator] Fred Hoyle was
the son of a wool merchant,
340
00:19:21,540 --> 00:19:23,140
and brusque Yorkshireman,
341
00:19:23,140 --> 00:19:24,350
who believed that the universe
342
00:19:24,350 --> 00:19:26,323
had no beginning and has no end.
343
00:19:31,900 --> 00:19:36,800
- In the explosion theory,
we suppose that the matter
344
00:19:36,800 --> 00:19:40,350
in the universe was originally
in a highly condensed state
345
00:19:40,350 --> 00:19:42,110
which then expanded.
346
00:19:42,110 --> 00:19:44,910
And the galaxies which we now see
347
00:19:44,910 --> 00:19:46,823
are fragments of this explosion.
348
00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:52,490
- [Narrator] Martin Ryle was
a volatile yet sensitive man
349
00:19:52,490 --> 00:19:54,410
who, unlike Hoyle, believed the universe
350
00:19:54,410 --> 00:19:55,460
did have a beginning.
351
00:19:59,780 --> 00:20:02,180
Both worked at Cambridge University.
352
00:20:02,180 --> 00:20:05,280
And in the 1950s, neither man
had enough evidence to prove
353
00:20:05,280 --> 00:20:07,283
one way or the other who was right.
354
00:20:12,420 --> 00:20:16,190
- I only got to know
Fred Hoyle after 1965,
355
00:20:16,190 --> 00:20:17,160
when I was a student,
356
00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,810
but I already became aware
that he had been a great figure
357
00:20:20,810 --> 00:20:22,000
in the history of the subject.
358
00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,130
Indeed between 1945 and 1965
359
00:20:25,130 --> 00:20:28,100
I think it's fair to say
that he contributed more
360
00:20:28,100 --> 00:20:30,100
to astronomy on the theoretical side
361
00:20:30,100 --> 00:20:31,650
than anyone else in the world.
362
00:20:31,650 --> 00:20:34,810
He was an extraordinarily
inventive and versatile person.
363
00:20:34,810 --> 00:20:39,810
And his greatest achievement,
in retrospect, was to realize
364
00:20:39,850 --> 00:20:42,510
that all the atoms that we are made of
365
00:20:42,510 --> 00:20:44,623
were forged inside stars.
366
00:20:47,760 --> 00:20:49,740
- [Narrator] Hoyle was a confident man
367
00:20:49,740 --> 00:20:51,040
whose great achievements were,
368
00:20:51,040 --> 00:20:53,573
in part, because he wasn't
afraid to go it alone.
369
00:20:55,730 --> 00:20:59,400
- One of the things that
one has to, um, think about
370
00:20:59,400 --> 00:21:03,400
is you have to have a sense
of obstinacy in science.
371
00:21:03,400 --> 00:21:05,040
Because if you don't,
372
00:21:05,040 --> 00:21:08,200
you're not going to go against the crowd.
373
00:21:08,200 --> 00:21:10,040
And if you don't go against the crowd,
374
00:21:10,040 --> 00:21:12,283
you're not going to
have any real successes.
375
00:21:13,500 --> 00:21:15,490
But the question then is,
376
00:21:15,490 --> 00:21:18,580
can it interfere with one's judgment?
377
00:21:18,580 --> 00:21:21,570
Well, um, let me make it absolutely clear
378
00:21:21,570 --> 00:21:24,570
that a sense of obstinacy is only of value
379
00:21:24,570 --> 00:21:26,430
insofar as it allows you
380
00:21:26,430 --> 00:21:28,823
to discount the opinions of other humans.
381
00:21:30,830 --> 00:21:33,360
- [Narrator] At the time,
Hoyle was an atheist.
382
00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:34,920
And so perhaps it wasn't surprising
383
00:21:34,920 --> 00:21:38,653
that his Steady State theory
avoided any hint of a genesis.
384
00:21:40,380 --> 00:21:44,810
He said that the universe
had always looked the same,
385
00:21:44,810 --> 00:21:46,360
that new galaxies formed
386
00:21:46,360 --> 00:21:49,683
in the spaces made by
the universe's expansion.
387
00:21:53,540 --> 00:21:56,350
And as a practiced popularizer of science,
388
00:21:56,350 --> 00:21:59,350
Hoyle took to the airwaves
to promote his point of view.
389
00:21:59,350 --> 00:22:03,230
- [Announcer] The BBC presents
The Nature Of The Universe.
390
00:22:03,230 --> 00:22:04,860
The speaker is Fred Hoyle,
391
00:22:04,860 --> 00:22:07,760
a Cambridge mathematician and
Fellow of St John's College.
392
00:22:09,430 --> 00:22:11,860
- [Fred] Perhaps like me,
you grew up with a notion
393
00:22:11,860 --> 00:22:13,980
that the whole of the
matter in the universe
394
00:22:13,980 --> 00:22:17,690
was created in one big
bang at a particular time
395
00:22:17,690 --> 00:22:19,260
in the remote past.
396
00:22:19,260 --> 00:22:21,910
What I'm now going to tell
you is that this is wrong.
397
00:22:25,800 --> 00:22:27,070
- [Narrator] Hoyle was the first person
398
00:22:27,070 --> 00:22:30,113
to refer to the explosion
theory as a big bang.
399
00:22:32,310 --> 00:22:34,110
And although he didn't intend it to,
400
00:22:34,110 --> 00:22:36,570
the phrase captured the
public's imagination
401
00:22:36,570 --> 00:22:39,370
and became a brilliant marketing
tool for his opponents.
402
00:22:45,140 --> 00:22:47,660
Perhaps his greatest opponent was Ryle,
403
00:22:47,660 --> 00:22:49,313
different in almost every way.
404
00:22:51,980 --> 00:22:56,090
Unlike Hoyle he was a practical
scientist, an engineer,
405
00:22:56,090 --> 00:22:58,623
who sought to observe the
secrets of the universe,
406
00:23:00,030 --> 00:23:02,460
mapping the faintest, furthest
things in the universe
407
00:23:02,460 --> 00:23:04,390
with a radio telescope,
408
00:23:04,390 --> 00:23:07,193
the newest and most exciting
instrument in astronomy.
409
00:23:10,579 --> 00:23:14,246
(lively instrumental music)
410
00:23:17,060 --> 00:23:19,300
- [Raymond] This is Martin Ryle,
411
00:23:19,300 --> 00:23:21,420
Fellow of The Royal Society,
412
00:23:21,420 --> 00:23:25,150
Professor of Radio Astronomy
at Cambridge University.
413
00:23:25,150 --> 00:23:27,490
- We're receiving a
naturally emitted radiation,
414
00:23:27,490 --> 00:23:29,760
just like the light from a star.
415
00:23:29,760 --> 00:23:31,920
And if we listen to these radio waves,
416
00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:34,930
as in the case of the
distant source, in Cygnus,
417
00:23:34,930 --> 00:23:36,853
what we hear is a rushing noise.
418
00:23:38,600 --> 00:23:40,933
(whooshing)
419
00:23:41,910 --> 00:23:45,280
- Martin Ryle was above
all a brilliant technician
420
00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:47,680
and engineer, but also he combined that
421
00:23:47,680 --> 00:23:50,640
with being someone who
understood the theory
422
00:23:50,640 --> 00:23:53,870
of what he was doing and
the importance of it.
423
00:23:53,870 --> 00:23:56,000
And I think it's important to realize
424
00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:59,320
that having invested many years of effort
425
00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:02,710
in developing a pioneering new telescope,
426
00:24:02,710 --> 00:24:03,900
and actually built it
427
00:24:03,900 --> 00:24:06,700
and made the effort to get
the money for it, et cetera,
428
00:24:06,700 --> 00:24:10,830
then, clearly, he had a huge stake
429
00:24:10,830 --> 00:24:13,500
in ensuring that it did important work
430
00:24:13,500 --> 00:24:15,960
and was naturally,
therefore, rather sensitive
431
00:24:15,960 --> 00:24:17,773
at criticism of the output.
432
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:21,460
- [Narrator] So when theorist Fred Hoyle
433
00:24:21,460 --> 00:24:24,200
publicly questioned the
accuracy of the first data set
434
00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:27,653
produced by his telescope,
Ryle was devastated.
435
00:24:28,600 --> 00:24:31,130
- I think he took criticism rather deeply.
436
00:24:31,130 --> 00:24:33,470
It's partly because of his personality.
437
00:24:33,470 --> 00:24:36,440
Unlike Fred Hoyle, he was
not robust in argument,
438
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:38,220
he got genuinely upset,
439
00:24:38,220 --> 00:24:40,460
and he didn't really like
taking part in debate.
440
00:24:40,460 --> 00:24:44,130
He didn't go to many conferences,
he didn't enjoy them.
441
00:24:44,130 --> 00:24:49,120
And so he therefore took
very deeply any criticism,
442
00:24:49,120 --> 00:24:50,263
it meant a lot to him.
443
00:24:51,360 --> 00:24:52,880
- [Narrator] In front of the media,
444
00:24:52,880 --> 00:24:56,210
Ryle was very self-controlled
and diplomatic.
445
00:24:56,210 --> 00:24:57,540
But those who knew him well
446
00:24:57,540 --> 00:24:59,830
often saw a different side to him.
447
00:24:59,830 --> 00:25:02,000
- Martin Ryle did have a bit of a temper,
448
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:03,140
there's no doubt about it.
449
00:25:03,140 --> 00:25:06,400
He would very easily fly
into a rage about something.
450
00:25:06,400 --> 00:25:09,050
And I ended up getting on
extremely well with him
451
00:25:09,050 --> 00:25:12,830
by writing down what my argument
was and giving it to him.
452
00:25:12,830 --> 00:25:14,906
I would then get that
back after a day or two,
453
00:25:14,906 --> 00:25:17,750
with Biro markings which were often
454
00:25:17,750 --> 00:25:20,130
so fierce as to go
right through the paper.
455
00:25:20,130 --> 00:25:22,280
And that would be his
view of the whole thing
456
00:25:22,280 --> 00:25:23,310
and I would reply.
457
00:25:23,310 --> 00:25:24,670
So we had this correspondence
458
00:25:24,670 --> 00:25:27,870
and it's my great regret
that I've kept none of that.
459
00:25:27,870 --> 00:25:30,120
But many of those bits of
paper were pretty transparent
460
00:25:30,120 --> 00:25:31,590
after he'd had a go at them.
461
00:25:33,690 --> 00:25:35,740
- [Narrator] Ryle's fury with Hoyle
462
00:25:35,740 --> 00:25:38,727
fueled his determination
to use his radio telescope
463
00:25:38,727 --> 00:25:41,343
to destroy the Steady State theory.
464
00:25:44,030 --> 00:25:46,780
- Now, can you explain exactly
what you've been doing?
465
00:25:46,780 --> 00:25:48,700
- Well, I think we'd
better have a diagram here.
466
00:25:48,700 --> 00:25:50,523
And perhaps we could look at the board.
467
00:25:53,390 --> 00:25:56,380
According to the theory
of continuous creation,
468
00:25:56,380 --> 00:25:59,390
the density of galaxies would be the same
469
00:25:59,390 --> 00:26:01,393
in the neighborhood of the Earth, here,
470
00:26:02,850 --> 00:26:05,733
right out to the edges of
the observable universe.
471
00:26:07,360 --> 00:26:12,040
And one way in which one
could test the two theories
472
00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:14,600
is to make a measurement of the variation
473
00:26:14,600 --> 00:26:17,223
of the density of galaxies
with distance from us.
474
00:26:18,250 --> 00:26:21,010
- [Narrator] If the Steady
State theory was right
475
00:26:21,010 --> 00:26:22,580
then the more distant galaxies,
476
00:26:22,580 --> 00:26:26,370
which are older, would be
distributed just as they are now,
477
00:26:26,370 --> 00:26:29,070
because it says the universe
has always been the same.
478
00:26:33,140 --> 00:26:35,460
If the Big Bang theory was right,
479
00:26:35,460 --> 00:26:38,960
then the more distant galaxies
would be more densely packed,
480
00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:40,250
because the early universe
481
00:26:40,250 --> 00:26:41,960
would have been crammed full of matter
482
00:26:41,960 --> 00:26:44,550
before expanding and evolving.
483
00:26:44,550 --> 00:26:47,790
- It's very easy for someone
in the public to look at this
484
00:26:47,790 --> 00:26:49,620
and think, well, it's two astronomers
485
00:26:49,620 --> 00:26:50,850
arguing about something.
486
00:26:50,850 --> 00:26:51,683
They're not.
487
00:26:51,683 --> 00:26:52,516
They're very different.
488
00:26:52,516 --> 00:26:53,920
A mathematician and an engineer
489
00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:55,790
are really rather different animals,
490
00:26:55,790 --> 00:26:58,060
they do look at the universe
in a completely different way,
491
00:26:58,060 --> 00:26:59,540
they see different things.
492
00:26:59,540 --> 00:27:01,730
That was the fundamental problem, I think.
493
00:27:01,730 --> 00:27:03,900
There was very little
attempt on either side,
494
00:27:03,900 --> 00:27:06,378
I believe, to understand the other,
495
00:27:06,378 --> 00:27:09,210
how they worked, how they ticked.
496
00:27:09,210 --> 00:27:11,870
- [Narrator] Unlike Ryle,
Hoyle was a performer
497
00:27:11,870 --> 00:27:14,190
and wasn't one to keep
his opinions to himself.
498
00:27:14,190 --> 00:27:16,620
- [Interviewer] Do you
reject this Big Bang theory?
499
00:27:16,620 --> 00:27:19,200
This concept of a
beginning, and an evolution
500
00:27:19,200 --> 00:27:20,410
and a going on?
501
00:27:20,410 --> 00:27:23,790
- Well, I do and I always have done.
502
00:27:23,790 --> 00:27:27,000
One doesn't impress on the universe
503
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:29,320
its properties in the start.
504
00:27:29,320 --> 00:27:30,640
I think my objection to Ryle
505
00:27:30,640 --> 00:27:32,483
was he was too sure too quickly.
506
00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:36,820
- Martin Ryle also found it very difficult
507
00:27:36,820 --> 00:27:38,650
with Fred Hoyle being extremely negative
508
00:27:38,650 --> 00:27:41,034
about the work of the group,
509
00:27:41,034 --> 00:27:43,140
but it's also true that Martin Ryle
510
00:27:43,140 --> 00:27:44,920
really made no serious attempt
511
00:27:44,920 --> 00:27:48,090
to build bridges with
Hoyle and his people.
512
00:27:48,090 --> 00:27:50,840
And I think that that
was very unfortunate.
513
00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:54,510
The two groups were working
maybe as far as 200 yards apart
514
00:27:54,510 --> 00:27:57,600
in the same town, an easy
walk from one to the other,
515
00:27:57,600 --> 00:28:00,950
and the contact between
the two groups was minimal.
516
00:28:00,950 --> 00:28:02,850
- [Narrator] Collecting
radio telescope data
517
00:28:02,850 --> 00:28:04,700
was a slow process.
518
00:28:04,700 --> 00:28:09,057
But in 1961, Martin Ryle
presented a comprehensive catalog
519
00:28:09,057 --> 00:28:11,840
that showed the furthest
observable galaxies
520
00:28:11,840 --> 00:28:13,443
were more densely distributed.
521
00:28:14,540 --> 00:28:17,187
Finally he could settle the matter.
522
00:28:17,187 --> 00:28:19,930
- [Martin] The first and most
remarkable result of all,
523
00:28:19,930 --> 00:28:22,210
as you proceed outwards
from the most intense
524
00:28:22,210 --> 00:28:24,550
and presumably nearest sources,
525
00:28:24,550 --> 00:28:26,763
we find a great excess of fainter ones.
526
00:28:28,090 --> 00:28:29,870
The universe must have changed radically
527
00:28:29,870 --> 00:28:33,150
within the time span accessible
to our radio telescopes.
528
00:28:33,150 --> 00:28:36,320
- [Reporter] This result
seems to show quite clearly
529
00:28:36,320 --> 00:28:39,420
that the Steady State,
the continuous creation,
530
00:28:39,420 --> 00:28:42,500
theory of the universe cannot be correct.
531
00:28:42,500 --> 00:28:45,683
The results imply that the
universe is changing with time.
532
00:28:47,070 --> 00:28:48,850
- [Narrator] The rivalry
between these two men
533
00:28:48,850 --> 00:28:51,180
had finally yielded a result,
534
00:28:51,180 --> 00:28:53,303
evidence for the Big Bang theory.
535
00:28:54,834 --> 00:28:56,360
- Most of it comes from a body much larger
536
00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:57,470
- [Narrator] For most astronomers,
537
00:28:57,470 --> 00:29:00,423
the proof was now stacked
against Hoyle and his theory.
538
00:29:01,520 --> 00:29:03,693
Although Hoyle himself wouldn't accept it.
539
00:29:04,730 --> 00:29:06,700
- You have here in
Cambridge Professor Ryle,
540
00:29:06,700 --> 00:29:09,240
who is a radio astronomer
and, as I understand it,
541
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:12,760
he made a study of the radio
stars and claims to have proved
542
00:29:12,760 --> 00:29:15,203
your Steady State theory wrong.
543
00:29:16,110 --> 00:29:17,690
- I still take the same view today.
544
00:29:17,690 --> 00:29:19,530
I think we cannot know
545
00:29:19,530 --> 00:29:21,480
whether there is a
contradiction with the theory
546
00:29:21,480 --> 00:29:24,987
until we know exactly what
these radio sources are.
547
00:29:27,489 --> 00:29:31,156
(gentle instrumental music)
548
00:29:33,740 --> 00:29:35,960
- [Narrator] Even when the rest
of the scientific community
549
00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:38,140
embraced the Big Bang theory,
550
00:29:38,140 --> 00:29:39,703
Hoyle refused to join them.
551
00:29:44,710 --> 00:29:48,483
In the early 1970s, Hoyle
felt forced out of Cambridge.
552
00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:54,680
He moved to the Cumbrian countryside,
553
00:29:54,680 --> 00:29:58,140
where he pursued his love
for science fiction writing.
554
00:29:58,140 --> 00:29:59,073
- Tea's ready.
555
00:30:01,090 --> 00:30:02,750
- [Narrator] Here, he also had more time
556
00:30:02,750 --> 00:30:04,083
to spend with friends,
557
00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:09,350
including a man who was revolutionizing
558
00:30:09,350 --> 00:30:12,040
the other great branch
of 20th-century physics,
559
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:14,563
the quantum world of subatomic particles.
560
00:30:17,640 --> 00:30:19,990
Despite their very different specialisms,
561
00:30:19,990 --> 00:30:21,790
they found they had a lot in common.
562
00:30:22,820 --> 00:30:25,860
- Have you had a moment
in a complicated problem,
563
00:30:25,860 --> 00:30:28,290
where quite suddenly the
thing comes into your head
564
00:30:28,290 --> 00:30:30,190
and you're almost sure
you've got to be right?
565
00:30:30,190 --> 00:30:31,023
- Oh, yes.
566
00:30:31,023 --> 00:30:32,460
That's it.
- This is great.
567
00:30:32,460 --> 00:30:33,910
- Oh, God, yeah.
568
00:30:33,910 --> 00:30:36,500
- [Narrator] Richard Feynman
was the ultimate showman,
569
00:30:36,500 --> 00:30:40,504
an American who became
everybody's favorite physicist.
570
00:30:40,504 --> 00:30:41,608
♪ In a spell ♪
571
00:30:41,608 --> 00:30:44,150
♪ That old black magic
that you weave so well ♪
572
00:30:44,150 --> 00:30:45,750
He was a brilliant mathematician
573
00:30:47,550 --> 00:30:50,520
enamored by the smallest, most
fundamental building blocks
574
00:30:50,520 --> 00:30:51,353
of the universe.
575
00:30:52,197 --> 00:30:54,004
♪ Always glad when your eyes meet mine ♪
576
00:30:54,004 --> 00:30:58,132
♪ That same old tingle
that I feel inside ♪
577
00:30:58,132 --> 00:31:02,570
- Suppose that little things
behave very differently
578
00:31:02,570 --> 00:31:04,573
than anything that was big.
579
00:31:05,600 --> 00:31:09,470
The behavior of things on a
small scale is so fantastic,
580
00:31:09,470 --> 00:31:12,713
it's so wonderfully different.
581
00:31:13,890 --> 00:31:18,890
I get a kick out of
thinking about these things.
582
00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:20,880
Uh, I can't stop.
583
00:31:20,880 --> 00:31:23,083
I mean, I could talk forever.
584
00:31:24,030 --> 00:31:27,510
- [Narrator] He was charismatic,
engaging and enthusiastic.
585
00:31:27,510 --> 00:31:30,460
A bongo-playing prankster
who approached both life
586
00:31:30,460 --> 00:31:32,460
and science with a sense of playfulness.
587
00:31:33,970 --> 00:31:35,870
- Atoms do not behave like weights
588
00:31:35,870 --> 00:31:38,350
hanging on a spring and oscillating,
589
00:31:38,350 --> 00:31:41,270
nor do they behave like
miniature representations
590
00:31:41,270 --> 00:31:42,160
of the solar system
591
00:31:42,160 --> 00:31:43,830
with little planets going around in orbit.
592
00:31:43,830 --> 00:31:47,433
It behaves like nothing
that you've seen before.
593
00:31:48,730 --> 00:31:50,260
Well, there's one simplification.
594
00:31:50,260 --> 00:31:52,110
At least electrons behave
595
00:31:52,110 --> 00:31:55,280
exactly the same in
this respect as photons,
596
00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:58,393
that is they are both screwy,
but in exactly the same way.
597
00:32:00,540 --> 00:32:01,960
- [Narrator] As a quantum man,
598
00:32:01,960 --> 00:32:04,613
Feynman was inspired by
the great Paul Dirac.
599
00:32:05,820 --> 00:32:06,890
- There's this wonderful picture
600
00:32:06,890 --> 00:32:10,310
at the Warsaw conference of
Feynman talking to Dirac,
601
00:32:10,310 --> 00:32:11,240
Dirac leaning back
602
00:32:11,240 --> 00:32:15,558
and Feynman being very very demonstrative.
603
00:32:15,558 --> 00:32:16,570
They were very different characters,
604
00:32:16,570 --> 00:32:18,730
completely different characters.
605
00:32:18,730 --> 00:32:21,960
Dirac being this introverted,
606
00:32:21,960 --> 00:32:24,400
afraid to say things unless
they're absolutely right.
607
00:32:24,400 --> 00:32:27,610
Feynman saying anything
that comes to his mind,
608
00:32:27,610 --> 00:32:29,460
they usually were right nevertheless.
609
00:32:33,340 --> 00:32:35,730
- [Narrator] Despite the
differences in their characters,
610
00:32:35,730 --> 00:32:38,630
they were both fascinated
by the same things.
611
00:32:38,630 --> 00:32:42,230
In fact Feynman was especially
interested in unlocking
612
00:32:42,230 --> 00:32:45,120
a riddle that lay at
heart of Dirac's own work
613
00:32:45,120 --> 00:32:47,450
on quantum electrodynamics.
614
00:32:47,450 --> 00:32:50,260
- I read Dirac's book
and he had these problems
615
00:32:50,260 --> 00:32:53,280
that nobody knew how to solve
that were described there.
616
00:32:53,280 --> 00:32:54,990
I couldn't understand the book very well
617
00:32:54,990 --> 00:32:56,487
because I really wasn't up to it.
618
00:32:56,487 --> 00:32:58,530
But there in the last paragraph
619
00:32:58,530 --> 00:33:00,337
at the end of the book it said,
620
00:33:00,337 --> 00:33:03,670
"Some new ideas are here needed."
621
00:33:03,670 --> 00:33:05,867
And so there I was, "Some
new ideas are needed?
622
00:33:05,867 --> 00:33:06,963
"Okay."
623
00:33:06,963 --> 00:33:08,543
So I started to think of new ideas.
624
00:33:11,780 --> 00:33:13,870
- [Narrator] Although Dirac's
mathematical description
625
00:33:13,870 --> 00:33:15,870
of how electrons and photons interact
626
00:33:15,870 --> 00:33:17,870
was undeniably correct,
627
00:33:17,870 --> 00:33:20,720
the equations themselves
confused physicists
628
00:33:20,720 --> 00:33:24,563
because they sometimes produced
crazy answers like infinity.
629
00:33:26,650 --> 00:33:29,037
- Feynman had went his
own route and he said,
630
00:33:29,037 --> 00:33:32,237
"Look, we don't have to have
all this complicated stuff,
631
00:33:32,237 --> 00:33:34,627
"all these formulas and fancy mathematics.
632
00:33:34,627 --> 00:33:36,557
"Let's get right down to the root
633
00:33:36,557 --> 00:33:38,007
"of what we're trying to do."
634
00:33:39,270 --> 00:33:40,940
- [Narrator] Feynman's
confidence, creativity
635
00:33:40,940 --> 00:33:42,370
and direct approach
636
00:33:42,370 --> 00:33:44,933
led to a radical solution
to Dirac's riddle.
637
00:33:46,910 --> 00:33:49,060
- It's like building
those houses of cards,
638
00:33:50,230 --> 00:33:52,610
and each of the cards is shaky.
639
00:33:52,610 --> 00:33:53,750
And if you forget one of them,
640
00:33:53,750 --> 00:33:54,930
the whole thing collapses again.
641
00:33:54,930 --> 00:33:56,262
You don't know how you got there
642
00:33:56,262 --> 00:33:57,753
and you have to build them up again.
643
00:33:59,770 --> 00:34:03,093
- [Narrator] Feynman's answer
came in the form of diagrams,
644
00:34:06,600 --> 00:34:09,673
little pictures that represented
each step of the equations.
645
00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:12,780
They could be manipulated,
646
00:34:12,780 --> 00:34:15,600
used to simplify the
complicated calculations,
647
00:34:15,600 --> 00:34:18,660
remove the infinities,
and produce useful answers
648
00:34:18,660 --> 00:34:20,910
to make accurate
predictions about the world.
649
00:34:23,670 --> 00:34:27,380
Physicists all over the world
started using the diagrams.
650
00:34:27,380 --> 00:34:29,330
Feynman had unlocked the potential
651
00:34:29,330 --> 00:34:30,973
of Dirac's electrodynamics.
652
00:34:32,900 --> 00:34:35,733
(fanfare playing)
653
00:34:39,940 --> 00:34:43,510
In 1965, Feynman was given the Nobel Prize
654
00:34:43,510 --> 00:34:46,060
to recognize the impact of his diagrams,
655
00:34:46,060 --> 00:34:48,660
although he wasn't the most
grateful receiver of it.
656
00:34:52,660 --> 00:34:54,313
- I don't like honors.
657
00:34:55,330 --> 00:34:58,280
I'm appreciated for the work that I did
658
00:34:58,280 --> 00:34:59,247
and the people who appreciate it,
659
00:34:59,247 --> 00:35:02,470
and I notice that other
physicists use my work.
660
00:35:02,470 --> 00:35:04,620
I don't need anything else,
661
00:35:04,620 --> 00:35:07,320
I don't think there's any
sense to anything else.
662
00:35:07,320 --> 00:35:09,580
I don't see that it makes any point
663
00:35:09,580 --> 00:35:12,230
that someone in the Swedish Academy
664
00:35:12,230 --> 00:35:15,810
decides that this work is noble
enough to receive a prize.
665
00:35:15,810 --> 00:35:17,150
I've already got the prize,
666
00:35:17,150 --> 00:35:20,020
the prize is the pleasure
of finding the thing out,
667
00:35:20,020 --> 00:35:21,489
the kick in the discovery,
668
00:35:21,489 --> 00:35:23,763
the observation that other people use it.
669
00:35:24,870 --> 00:35:27,500
Those are the real things.
670
00:35:27,500 --> 00:35:30,093
The honors are unreal to me.
671
00:35:32,150 --> 00:35:34,050
- [Narrator] For Feynman, the real reward
672
00:35:34,050 --> 00:35:36,400
was communicating his passion to others,
673
00:35:36,400 --> 00:35:37,750
and he was very good at it.
674
00:35:39,261 --> 00:35:41,170
- The things that are
solid are made of atoms,
675
00:35:41,170 --> 00:35:42,732
which, although they're jiggling,
676
00:35:42,732 --> 00:35:44,120
they never get out of place.
677
00:35:44,120 --> 00:35:45,000
If you took one away,
678
00:35:45,000 --> 00:35:47,340
the others are in the right
place, it pulls them back.
679
00:35:47,340 --> 00:35:49,800
You see, it's a perpetual
check with your friend.
680
00:35:49,800 --> 00:35:50,633
Are you okay?
681
00:35:50,633 --> 00:35:51,669
Yes.
682
00:35:51,669 --> 00:35:53,445
It's like people marching in a,
683
00:35:53,445 --> 00:35:56,807
it's like the high
school band march, okay?
684
00:35:56,807 --> 00:35:57,983
Nobody really knows what they're doing.
685
00:35:57,983 --> 00:35:59,410
They're going like this.
686
00:35:59,410 --> 00:36:01,193
It's okay, it holds together.
687
00:36:02,210 --> 00:36:04,280
- [Narrator] Students
flocked to his lectures
688
00:36:04,280 --> 00:36:07,610
and would seek out his
company whenever they could.
689
00:36:07,610 --> 00:36:09,250
- I don't want to take
this stuff seriously.
690
00:36:09,250 --> 00:36:12,270
I think we should just
have fun imagining it
691
00:36:12,270 --> 00:36:13,870
and not worry about it.
692
00:36:13,870 --> 00:36:16,450
There's no teacher going to
ask you questions at the end.
693
00:36:16,450 --> 00:36:18,931
Otherwise it's a horrible subject.
694
00:36:18,931 --> 00:36:20,427
♪ You gotta have my ♪
695
00:36:20,427 --> 00:36:22,750
- [Narrator] Feynman's
informal approach to science,
696
00:36:22,750 --> 00:36:24,630
and his brilliant creativity,
697
00:36:24,630 --> 00:36:27,100
were instrumental in the
development and accessibility
698
00:36:27,100 --> 00:36:29,852
of quantum theory in
the late-20th century.
699
00:36:29,852 --> 00:36:31,852
♪ Juice ♪
700
00:36:33,407 --> 00:36:36,393
("Spinning Wheel")
701
00:36:36,393 --> 00:36:41,393
♪ What goes up must come down ♪
702
00:36:41,410 --> 00:36:43,100
♪ Spinning wheel ♪
703
00:36:43,100 --> 00:36:44,700
- [Narrator] At the same
time as the revolution
704
00:36:44,700 --> 00:36:46,250
in quantum physics,
705
00:36:46,250 --> 00:36:49,103
scientists were also making
great astronomical finds.
706
00:36:50,610 --> 00:36:52,840
Observations that would
provide further proof
707
00:36:52,840 --> 00:36:54,313
of Einstein's theories.
708
00:36:55,552 --> 00:36:57,347
♪ Talking about your troubles ♪
709
00:36:57,347 --> 00:36:59,530
One the most significant discoveries
710
00:36:59,530 --> 00:37:00,840
was made in the late '60s,
711
00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:03,460
by an extremely determined young woman
712
00:37:03,460 --> 00:37:06,253
embarking on a career in the
field of radio astronomy.
713
00:37:09,210 --> 00:37:10,043
- [Reporter] The new instrument
714
00:37:10,043 --> 00:37:12,880
was perhaps the least
glamorous telescope ever built
715
00:37:13,750 --> 00:37:17,043
and it was to be operated
full-time by one person, a girl.
716
00:37:21,030 --> 00:37:22,290
- [Narrator] Jocelyn Bell Burnell
717
00:37:22,290 --> 00:37:24,620
however was not just a girl,
718
00:37:24,620 --> 00:37:26,080
she was a talented scientist
719
00:37:26,080 --> 00:37:28,513
who had a lifelong
passion for the night sky.
720
00:37:32,720 --> 00:37:35,053
- I went away to boarding
school at age 13.
721
00:37:36,849 --> 00:37:38,780
My physics teacher that I had, Mr. Tillet,
722
00:37:38,780 --> 00:37:39,993
was a super teacher.
723
00:37:41,160 --> 00:37:43,470
I could well have had a physics teacher
724
00:37:43,470 --> 00:37:45,780
who took the view that
girls couldn't do physics
725
00:37:45,780 --> 00:37:48,740
and what's the point of
trying kind of thing.
726
00:37:48,740 --> 00:37:51,290
I'm not sure where I'd have
gone then, what I'd have done
727
00:37:51,290 --> 00:37:53,723
but Mr. Tillet was quite the opposite.
728
00:37:55,510 --> 00:37:59,057
I went to Glasgow and I was
the only woman doing physics
729
00:37:59,057 --> 00:38:01,470
and every time I entered
the lecture theater,
730
00:38:01,470 --> 00:38:04,270
as was the tradition, the guys whistled,
731
00:38:04,270 --> 00:38:07,790
stamped, catcalled, banged their desks.
732
00:38:07,790 --> 00:38:09,363
There was a them and me.
733
00:38:10,950 --> 00:38:13,523
I was rather on my own the whole time.
734
00:38:16,340 --> 00:38:19,507
("Come On Everybody")
735
00:38:26,030 --> 00:38:27,646
- [Narrator] In the early 1960s,
736
00:38:27,646 --> 00:38:31,560
Bell Burnell started her
PhD as part of Martin Ryle's
737
00:38:31,560 --> 00:38:33,943
radio astronomy group
at Cambridge University.
738
00:38:36,620 --> 00:38:38,513
She had found her spiritual home.
739
00:38:42,030 --> 00:38:45,270
It was here that Mr. Tillet's
inspirational teaching
740
00:38:45,270 --> 00:38:48,320
and Glasgow University's trial by ordeal
741
00:38:48,320 --> 00:38:49,620
would start to bear fruit.
742
00:38:55,830 --> 00:38:57,480
- The Cambridge Radio Astronomy Group
743
00:38:57,480 --> 00:39:00,270
had an interest in distant objects
744
00:39:00,270 --> 00:39:02,710
because they were interested in general
745
00:39:02,710 --> 00:39:05,250
in how the universe had evolved.
746
00:39:05,250 --> 00:39:08,030
But first we had to build
the radio telescope,
747
00:39:08,030 --> 00:39:10,580
and actually I spent two of my three years
748
00:39:10,580 --> 00:39:12,770
constructing a radio telescope.
749
00:39:12,770 --> 00:39:14,763
- She was outside in this muddy field,
750
00:39:15,630 --> 00:39:16,956
literally building things
751
00:39:16,956 --> 00:39:18,810
that looked like a very large fence,
752
00:39:18,810 --> 00:39:20,760
with wooden poles and
wires strung between them,
753
00:39:20,760 --> 00:39:22,680
and it was quite a hard business.
754
00:39:22,680 --> 00:39:24,550
I think she must have
become very, very fit
755
00:39:24,550 --> 00:39:25,860
because of all that,
756
00:39:25,860 --> 00:39:28,710
but it was a difficult,
physically demanding life
757
00:39:28,710 --> 00:39:31,110
that she led when the
telescope was being built.
758
00:39:32,320 --> 00:39:34,060
- [Narrator] But it was
only once the last cables
759
00:39:34,060 --> 00:39:36,393
were connected that the real work started.
760
00:39:38,390 --> 00:39:40,110
Bell Burnell was in charge of searching
761
00:39:40,110 --> 00:39:42,903
for tiny bright objects
far out in the cosmos.
762
00:39:44,150 --> 00:39:47,380
- We were actually using this
telescope to look for quasars,
763
00:39:47,380 --> 00:39:49,000
because they twinkle,
764
00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:50,340
and this thing is specially designed
765
00:39:50,340 --> 00:39:52,093
to pick out twinkling things.
766
00:39:53,030 --> 00:39:56,710
And after we'd been running
I suppose about a few months
767
00:39:56,710 --> 00:39:57,600
I began to notice
768
00:39:57,600 --> 00:40:00,600
there was something slightly
curious on the records.
769
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:03,290
They came out as paper charts,
770
00:40:03,290 --> 00:40:06,040
and of course on these charts
you could see radio sources
771
00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:09,860
and unfortunately you could
also see man-made interference.
772
00:40:09,860 --> 00:40:10,930
But there was also something
773
00:40:10,930 --> 00:40:13,470
that didn't quite fit either bill.
774
00:40:13,470 --> 00:40:16,440
It wasn't exactly a twinkling radio source
775
00:40:16,440 --> 00:40:18,713
and it wasn't exactly interference either.
776
00:40:28,060 --> 00:40:31,213
Everybody's first reactions
were that it must be man-made.
777
00:40:32,860 --> 00:40:34,930
- [Narrator] Including
Bell Burnell's supervisor
778
00:40:34,930 --> 00:40:37,240
Antony Hewish, who was convinced
779
00:40:37,240 --> 00:40:39,210
there had to be a terrestrial explanation
780
00:40:39,210 --> 00:40:41,003
for the anomaly on the paper chart.
781
00:40:41,920 --> 00:40:44,370
- We wrote round to all the
astronomical observatories
782
00:40:44,370 --> 00:40:47,557
in Britain saying, "Have
you had any program going
783
00:40:47,557 --> 00:40:50,377
"which might possibly
cause radio interference?"
784
00:40:53,800 --> 00:40:54,740
- [Narrator] But the observatories
785
00:40:54,740 --> 00:40:56,760
wrote back with the all clear.
786
00:40:56,760 --> 00:40:59,710
There was nothing obviously
interfering with her telescope.
787
00:41:00,860 --> 00:41:03,010
- It's very easy when doing research,
788
00:41:03,010 --> 00:41:04,690
to try and brush over those things
789
00:41:04,690 --> 00:41:07,940
that don't quite fit
into your view of things.
790
00:41:07,940 --> 00:41:09,600
It's much easier and much more convenient
791
00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:12,140
if it sort of fulfills your prejudices.
792
00:41:12,140 --> 00:41:12,990
She didn't do that,
793
00:41:12,990 --> 00:41:14,390
she found this thing which actually
794
00:41:14,390 --> 00:41:15,440
didn't really make sense,
795
00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:17,950
and she kept at it and was concerned
796
00:41:17,950 --> 00:41:19,670
as it became more and more obvious
797
00:41:19,670 --> 00:41:22,150
that it wasn't making
any conventional sense.
798
00:41:22,150 --> 00:41:24,543
So I think that approach
was very important.
799
00:41:25,700 --> 00:41:27,220
- [Narrator] Bell
Burnell enlisted the help
800
00:41:27,220 --> 00:41:29,070
of another radio telescope,
801
00:41:29,070 --> 00:41:31,100
to prove to all her
doubters that the signal
802
00:41:31,100 --> 00:41:33,093
was in fact coming from the cosmos.
803
00:41:34,410 --> 00:41:36,170
She finally convinced Hewish
804
00:41:36,170 --> 00:41:38,370
that this was something
to pay attention to.
805
00:41:39,890 --> 00:41:41,450
The big mystery was,
806
00:41:41,450 --> 00:41:44,970
what in the universe could
be producing this signal?
807
00:41:44,970 --> 00:41:48,510
- It looked like a series
of equally spaced pulses.
808
00:41:48,510 --> 00:41:50,050
I don't know what I had expected
809
00:41:50,050 --> 00:41:54,100
but I certainly didn't
expect regular pulsations.
810
00:41:54,100 --> 00:41:57,133
Stars and galaxies don't pulse like that.
811
00:42:00,360 --> 00:42:02,040
- [Narrator] Hewish
ruled out the possibility
812
00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:03,700
that it was coming from an object,
813
00:42:03,700 --> 00:42:05,705
because it pulsed too
regularly and quickly
814
00:42:05,705 --> 00:42:08,220
for any known star or galaxy.
815
00:42:08,220 --> 00:42:10,570
Which led them to consider
another explanation.
816
00:42:11,590 --> 00:42:14,660
- Second reactions not
really voiced very loud were,
817
00:42:14,660 --> 00:42:17,033
well, perhaps it's little green men?
818
00:42:25,170 --> 00:42:27,250
- [Narrator] While the leaders
of the radio astronomy group
819
00:42:27,250 --> 00:42:31,080
started considering their
response to alien communication,
820
00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:33,280
Bell Burnell remained unconvinced,
821
00:42:33,280 --> 00:42:34,780
and returned to her telescope.
822
00:42:36,370 --> 00:42:41,200
- She was very self-contained,
very self-motivated,
823
00:42:41,200 --> 00:42:43,940
somebody who kept herself to herself.
824
00:42:43,940 --> 00:42:47,370
Wasn't really a great
socialite in the group.
825
00:42:47,370 --> 00:42:48,430
Not that my memory
826
00:42:48,430 --> 00:42:50,100
is that it was particularly
a social group,
827
00:42:50,100 --> 00:42:51,480
there were people who would get together,
828
00:42:51,480 --> 00:42:54,110
but she was somebody who tended to be
829
00:42:54,110 --> 00:42:55,840
and preferred to be on her own.
830
00:42:55,840 --> 00:42:59,520
- Sometimes in research
you can know too much,
831
00:42:59,520 --> 00:43:01,930
and it's the youngster who's ignorant
832
00:43:01,930 --> 00:43:04,320
or somebody coming in from outside
833
00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:06,940
that says, you know, the
emperor has no clothes on,
834
00:43:06,940 --> 00:43:10,643
that actually is telling the
truth, can see the truth.
835
00:43:12,441 --> 00:43:14,600
- I think in order to make
scientific discoveries,
836
00:43:14,600 --> 00:43:16,920
you really have to be
open to the possibility
837
00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:19,000
of something quite unexpected.
838
00:43:19,000 --> 00:43:21,090
Jocelyn was somebody who was open to that,
839
00:43:21,090 --> 00:43:23,140
and she found something quite unexpected.
840
00:43:26,370 --> 00:43:28,330
- [Narrator] Bell Burnell was rigorous,
841
00:43:28,330 --> 00:43:30,000
keeping meticulous records
842
00:43:30,000 --> 00:43:33,080
and analyzing them in painstaking detail.
843
00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:35,593
She was dogged in her
pursuit of an explanation.
844
00:43:36,740 --> 00:43:40,290
- I was analyzing chart
from another piece of sky,
845
00:43:40,290 --> 00:43:44,433
and thought I saw a piece of
this scruffy kind of signal.
846
00:43:45,840 --> 00:43:48,280
Looked exactly like
what I was seeing before
847
00:43:48,280 --> 00:43:50,483
but from a totally
different bit of the sky.
848
00:43:52,150 --> 00:43:53,200
Right.
849
00:43:53,200 --> 00:43:55,077
I thought, "I'm not going to bed tonight,
850
00:43:55,077 --> 00:43:56,827
"I'm going out to the observatory."
851
00:43:57,670 --> 00:43:59,350
And I switched on the high speed recorder,
852
00:43:59,350 --> 00:44:03,710
in came, blip, blip, blip, blip, blip.
853
00:44:03,710 --> 00:44:06,993
Clearly the same family,
the same sort of stuff.
854
00:44:08,030 --> 00:44:11,460
And that was great, that was really sweet.
855
00:44:11,460 --> 00:44:13,830
- Now, the people here say that
856
00:44:13,830 --> 00:44:17,400
if they got three signals
as exactly spaced as that,
857
00:44:17,400 --> 00:44:19,050
it would be very unusual.
858
00:44:19,050 --> 00:44:21,960
If they got four, it would be phenomenal.
859
00:44:21,960 --> 00:44:25,010
Well, they've had pulses
as exactly spaced as that
860
00:44:25,010 --> 00:44:27,223
24 hours of the day since November.
861
00:44:28,750 --> 00:44:30,010
- It was easier with the second one,
862
00:44:30,010 --> 00:44:31,930
and that was a great relief in many ways
863
00:44:31,930 --> 00:44:33,840
because it removed this possibility
864
00:44:33,840 --> 00:44:35,860
of it being little green men.
865
00:44:35,860 --> 00:44:38,440
Highly unlikely that several
lots of little green men
866
00:44:38,440 --> 00:44:40,730
would be all signaling to us,
867
00:44:40,730 --> 00:44:43,543
all at the same frequency,
all at the same time.
868
00:44:46,600 --> 00:44:49,000
- [Narrator] With little
green men ruled out,
869
00:44:49,000 --> 00:44:52,800
this had to be a brand-new
type of cosmological object,
870
00:44:52,800 --> 00:44:55,633
behaving in a way that
astronomers had never expected.
871
00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:01,950
The faint blips from space
so nearly dismissed as error
872
00:45:01,950 --> 00:45:03,693
took the world by storm.
873
00:45:04,670 --> 00:45:07,180
The new objects were called pulsars,
874
00:45:07,180 --> 00:45:09,570
because they pulsed so regularly.
875
00:45:09,570 --> 00:45:12,380
For Bell Burnell, it was
a personal vindication
876
00:45:12,380 --> 00:45:13,763
for her years of struggle.
877
00:45:18,180 --> 00:45:21,383
- Seeing the article in
print was tremendous,
878
00:45:22,520 --> 00:45:25,520
and I remember sending a copy of the paper
879
00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:26,903
to my physics teacher.
880
00:45:30,105 --> 00:45:30,938
- [Interviewer] And that's
your physics teacher
881
00:45:30,938 --> 00:45:32,650
at The Mount?
- At The Mount, yes.
882
00:45:32,650 --> 00:45:33,960
My physics teacher at The Mount.
883
00:45:33,960 --> 00:45:38,040
- And how did he react to it?
- He had actually
884
00:45:38,040 --> 00:45:39,203
alerted the school.
885
00:45:43,600 --> 00:45:45,280
There was a lot of publicity.
886
00:45:45,280 --> 00:45:48,113
Mr. Tillet had seen this,
and told the school.
887
00:45:51,850 --> 00:45:53,630
There aren't so many people
888
00:45:53,630 --> 00:45:56,110
that take up physics as a profession,
889
00:45:56,110 --> 00:45:59,950
and certainly relatively
few women of my generation,
890
00:45:59,950 --> 00:46:04,690
so Mr. Tillet followed with
some interest my career.
891
00:46:04,690 --> 00:46:08,440
And I was really pleased
that he was still around
892
00:46:08,440 --> 00:46:09,890
at the time of the discovery.
893
00:46:13,860 --> 00:46:16,780
- [Narrator] Further
investigation showed that pulsars
894
00:46:16,780 --> 00:46:19,710
are the dense remains of
rapidly spinning dead stars
895
00:46:19,710 --> 00:46:21,763
that emit beams of radiation.
896
00:46:22,670 --> 00:46:24,650
With each rotation, the beam sweeps
897
00:46:24,650 --> 00:46:26,650
in and out of the Earth's line of sight.
898
00:46:29,790 --> 00:46:31,470
And when they're found in pairs,
899
00:46:31,470 --> 00:46:33,520
they gradually move closer to each other.
900
00:46:35,210 --> 00:46:37,390
This behavior indicated the existence
901
00:46:37,390 --> 00:46:39,670
of gravitational waves,
902
00:46:39,670 --> 00:46:43,053
distortions in space-time
produced by massive objects.
903
00:46:45,540 --> 00:46:47,060
It's a phenomenon predicted
904
00:46:47,060 --> 00:46:49,683
by Einstein's theory
of general relativity.
905
00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:54,310
It was the strongest
evidence yet for the theory
906
00:46:54,310 --> 00:46:56,090
that Einstein had developed
907
00:46:56,090 --> 00:46:59,690
using just the power of
maths and abstract thought.
908
00:47:03,552 --> 00:47:07,130
(audience applauding)
909
00:47:07,130 --> 00:47:09,130
- [Man] Professor Antony Hewish.
910
00:47:09,130 --> 00:47:12,780
- [Narrator] Antony Hewish
won the 1974 Nobel prize
911
00:47:12,780 --> 00:47:14,830
for his role in the discovery of pulsars.
912
00:47:17,340 --> 00:47:20,593
Controversially, Bell
Burnell was not included.
913
00:47:21,540 --> 00:47:24,413
But she has remained remarkably
philosophical about it.
914
00:47:25,850 --> 00:47:27,790
- You can actually do extremely well
915
00:47:27,790 --> 00:47:31,180
out of not getting a Nobel prize.
916
00:47:31,180 --> 00:47:34,870
And I have had so many
prizes and so many honors
917
00:47:34,870 --> 00:47:36,530
and so many awards,
918
00:47:36,530 --> 00:47:38,860
that actually I think
I've had far more fun
919
00:47:38,860 --> 00:47:40,520
than if I'd got a Nobel prize,
920
00:47:40,520 --> 00:47:42,120
which is a bit flash in the pan.
921
00:47:42,120 --> 00:47:45,300
You get it, you have a fun
week and it's all over,
922
00:47:45,300 --> 00:47:47,350
and nobody gives you
anything else after that
923
00:47:47,350 --> 00:47:49,200
'cause they feel they can't match it.
924
00:47:51,140 --> 00:47:53,840
- [Narrator] But Bell Burnell's
discovery not only advanced
925
00:47:53,840 --> 00:47:56,190
our understanding of the universe,
926
00:47:56,190 --> 00:47:58,470
it also forced physicists around the world
927
00:47:58,470 --> 00:48:01,593
to think twice before they
dismissed the unconventional.
928
00:48:05,970 --> 00:48:09,710
The scene was now set for
other novel ideas in cosmology
929
00:48:09,710 --> 00:48:12,110
to be taken a little more
seriously than before.
930
00:48:20,730 --> 00:48:23,930
Good news for another
Cambridge PhD student
931
00:48:23,930 --> 00:48:25,620
who was not only pursing an idea
932
00:48:25,620 --> 00:48:27,830
rejected by other physicists,
933
00:48:27,830 --> 00:48:31,193
but was also facing his
own personal struggle.
934
00:48:37,470 --> 00:48:39,140
In the early 1960s,
935
00:48:39,140 --> 00:48:42,053
Stephen Hawking was a normal,
beer-swilling student,
936
00:48:43,090 --> 00:48:44,210
living life to the full
937
00:48:44,210 --> 00:48:46,360
while his physics
studies took a back seat.
938
00:48:49,240 --> 00:48:52,020
However, his life would change forever
939
00:48:52,020 --> 00:48:53,650
when at the age of 21
940
00:48:53,650 --> 00:48:56,403
Hawking was diagnosed with
motor neurone disease.
941
00:48:57,630 --> 00:49:00,503
- [Stephen] I was given two
and a half years to live.
942
00:49:01,891 --> 00:49:03,140
I have always wondered
943
00:49:03,140 --> 00:49:06,133
how they could be so
precise about the half.
944
00:49:07,540 --> 00:49:10,050
Its first effect was to depress me.
945
00:49:10,050 --> 00:49:13,093
I seemed to be getting
worse fairly rapidly.
946
00:49:14,010 --> 00:49:17,440
There didn't seem any
point in doing anything
947
00:49:17,440 --> 00:49:20,220
or working on my PhD,
948
00:49:20,220 --> 00:49:23,723
because I didn't know I would
live long enough to finish it.
949
00:49:27,360 --> 00:49:30,270
- [Narrator] While he struggled
to adjust to the diagnosis,
950
00:49:30,270 --> 00:49:31,680
Hawking fell in love
951
00:49:31,680 --> 00:49:34,403
and married a family friend, Jane Wilde.
952
00:49:35,690 --> 00:49:37,124
- [Stephen] I certainly wouldn't
953
00:49:37,124 --> 00:49:38,923
have managed it without her.
954
00:49:40,500 --> 00:49:41,820
Being engaged to her
955
00:49:41,820 --> 00:49:45,170
lifted me out of the
slough of despond I was in.
956
00:49:45,170 --> 00:49:47,770
But then things started to improve,
957
00:49:47,770 --> 00:49:50,556
the condition developed more slowly
958
00:49:50,556 --> 00:49:54,130
and I began to make progress in my work.
959
00:49:54,130 --> 00:49:56,060
- [Narrator] His spirits were buoyed,
960
00:49:56,060 --> 00:49:59,170
but Hawking believed he
didn't have long to live.
961
00:49:59,170 --> 00:50:02,200
Motivated by a sense of his own mortality,
962
00:50:02,200 --> 00:50:05,043
he was determined to complete
his PhD at Cambridge.
963
00:50:07,510 --> 00:50:09,890
In it, he applied general relativity
964
00:50:09,890 --> 00:50:12,090
to what we see in the universe,
965
00:50:12,090 --> 00:50:13,630
and showed that at the big bang
966
00:50:13,630 --> 00:50:16,113
there had to be what's
known as a singularity,
967
00:50:17,689 --> 00:50:20,763
a infinitely small and
dense point in space-time.
968
00:50:21,850 --> 00:50:25,000
In the 1960s, it was a
thing that most physicists
969
00:50:25,000 --> 00:50:26,253
didn't believe existed.
970
00:50:27,230 --> 00:50:29,503
Roger Penrose was one of his examiners.
971
00:50:31,020 --> 00:50:33,450
- He was very good at picking up ideas.
972
00:50:33,450 --> 00:50:37,270
When he came down to London
when I was giving a talk,
973
00:50:37,270 --> 00:50:39,580
this was on some cosmological thing,
974
00:50:39,580 --> 00:50:42,883
I remember him particularly
asking very awkward questions!
975
00:50:44,005 --> 00:50:46,453
So, er, okay, good questions.
976
00:50:47,700 --> 00:50:50,000
So I had to think a bit
before giving the answer.
977
00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:52,570
So a bit of an awkward
cuss, you would say.
978
00:50:52,570 --> 00:50:55,270
Not afraid to bring out issues
979
00:50:55,270 --> 00:50:59,030
which a young student might be
a little shy of bringing up,
980
00:50:59,030 --> 00:51:01,423
so he wasn't shy at all in that way.
981
00:51:04,500 --> 00:51:07,170
- [Narrator] Hawking remained
at Cambridge University,
982
00:51:07,170 --> 00:51:08,720
and his career in astrophysics
983
00:51:08,720 --> 00:51:10,270
went from strength to strength.
984
00:51:12,670 --> 00:51:15,260
Although he had outlived
his original diagnosis,
985
00:51:15,260 --> 00:51:17,613
his health was inevitably deteriorating.
986
00:51:19,720 --> 00:51:23,210
- He could speak for quite a while,
987
00:51:23,210 --> 00:51:25,520
but largely only in ways
988
00:51:25,520 --> 00:51:28,186
that his close colleagues
could understand him.
989
00:51:28,186 --> 00:51:31,686
- (speaking indistinctly)
990
00:51:33,089 --> 00:51:36,578
- Now, it just so happens that
we have the universe here.
991
00:51:36,578 --> 00:51:41,518
(speaking indistinctly)
(laughing)
992
00:51:41,518 --> 00:51:42,610
- Sorry.
993
00:51:42,610 --> 00:51:44,410
- I'd speak to him for a while, and,
994
00:51:46,120 --> 00:51:47,370
a fair amount of to and fro,
995
00:51:47,370 --> 00:51:49,180
and I could understand what
he was saying more or less
996
00:51:49,180 --> 00:51:50,610
and he could understand what I was saying.
997
00:51:50,610 --> 00:51:51,776
But then he'd say something
that was completely,
998
00:51:51,776 --> 00:51:53,400
I couldn't understand a word of it.
999
00:51:53,400 --> 00:51:54,783
What on earth is that?
1000
00:51:54,783 --> 00:51:56,530
And he'd spell it out letter by letter.
1001
00:51:56,530 --> 00:51:58,833
And it would either be a joke, you see,
1002
00:52:00,610 --> 00:52:02,960
or it would be an invitation to dinner.
1003
00:52:02,960 --> 00:52:05,020
Something which was on a personal nature
1004
00:52:05,020 --> 00:52:06,120
not technical at all,
1005
00:52:06,120 --> 00:52:08,670
so technical things were
much easier to understand.
1006
00:52:11,710 --> 00:52:13,960
- [Narrator] Despite his
ailing physical health,
1007
00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:16,883
Hawking's mind was sharp
and his will strong.
1008
00:52:18,147 --> 00:52:21,647
- (speaking indistinctly)
1009
00:52:32,670 --> 00:52:34,750
- Stephen's lucky in that he
chose one of the few fields
1010
00:52:34,750 --> 00:52:37,985
in which his disability
is not a serious handicap.
1011
00:52:37,985 --> 00:52:41,485
- (speaking indistinctly)
1012
00:52:42,348 --> 00:52:44,143
- 'Cause most of his work
is really just thinking.
1013
00:52:44,143 --> 00:52:47,643
- (speaking indistinctly)
1014
00:52:48,867 --> 00:52:51,250
- And his disabilities
don't stop him doing that.
1015
00:52:51,250 --> 00:52:54,750
- (speaking indistinctly)
1016
00:52:56,661 --> 00:53:00,411
- In a way, they give
him more time to think.
1017
00:53:04,293 --> 00:53:07,580
- I think probably the
most determined person
1018
00:53:07,580 --> 00:53:09,000
I've ever known.
1019
00:53:09,000 --> 00:53:11,320
I remember staying at his house
1020
00:53:11,320 --> 00:53:13,170
in Little Clarendon
Street, wherever it was,
1021
00:53:13,170 --> 00:53:17,360
there was a three-story,
little narrow house,
1022
00:53:17,360 --> 00:53:18,790
much higher than it was wide.
1023
00:53:18,790 --> 00:53:22,910
And when it came to the time
when he wanted to go to bed
1024
00:53:22,910 --> 00:53:25,520
he would crawl up the stairs.
1025
00:53:25,520 --> 00:53:29,570
He refused to have anybody
help him in any way.
1026
00:53:29,570 --> 00:53:30,480
He would crawl up the stairs.
1027
00:53:30,480 --> 00:53:31,860
It would take him about
a quarter of an hour
1028
00:53:31,860 --> 00:53:34,350
to get up the stairs, put himself to bed,
1029
00:53:34,350 --> 00:53:36,583
do everything he could for himself.
1030
00:53:40,800 --> 00:53:42,160
- [Narrator] Hawking's determination
1031
00:53:42,160 --> 00:53:43,843
was also evident in his science.
1032
00:53:46,150 --> 00:53:48,790
Not only had his PhD shown singularities
1033
00:53:48,790 --> 00:53:50,433
were present in the universe,
1034
00:53:52,510 --> 00:53:54,850
along with Penrose, he
proved that they also lay
1035
00:53:54,850 --> 00:53:58,233
at the heart of another
curiosity, black holes.
1036
00:53:59,660 --> 00:54:02,660
Hawking was now used to pushing
the boundaries of cosmology.
1037
00:54:06,740 --> 00:54:09,443
But his greatest discovery came in 1974,
1038
00:54:12,240 --> 00:54:15,350
when he showed that black
holes aren't entirely black,
1039
00:54:15,350 --> 00:54:17,293
but emit some light.
1040
00:54:18,900 --> 00:54:21,700
Radiation created by the
strange quantum effects
1041
00:54:21,700 --> 00:54:24,083
that occur at the edge of the black hole.
1042
00:54:26,460 --> 00:54:28,360
Where Dirac had previously managed
1043
00:54:28,360 --> 00:54:31,650
to unite special relativity
and quantum theory,
1044
00:54:31,650 --> 00:54:32,980
Hawking was the first to use
1045
00:54:32,980 --> 00:54:35,010
both general relativity and quantum
1046
00:54:35,010 --> 00:54:36,453
in the same explanation.
1047
00:54:38,650 --> 00:54:40,660
- [Stephen] Where I have had success,
1048
00:54:40,660 --> 00:54:43,530
it has been because I
have approached problems
1049
00:54:43,530 --> 00:54:45,053
from a different angle.
1050
00:54:46,300 --> 00:54:48,823
I rely on intuition a great deal.
1051
00:54:49,880 --> 00:54:51,423
I try to guess a result.
1052
00:54:53,100 --> 00:54:54,903
But I then have to prove it.
1053
00:54:56,810 --> 00:55:00,713
That is how I found black
holes aren't completely black.
1054
00:55:01,830 --> 00:55:04,513
I was trying to prove something else.
1055
00:55:06,030 --> 00:55:08,810
There's nothing like the eureka moment
1056
00:55:08,810 --> 00:55:12,203
of discovering something
that no-one knew before.
1057
00:55:13,130 --> 00:55:16,713
I won't compare it to
sex, but it lasts longer.
1058
00:55:19,160 --> 00:55:20,790
- [Narrator] Hawking's unifying idea
1059
00:55:20,790 --> 00:55:22,893
was revelatory, yet complex.
1060
00:55:23,820 --> 00:55:25,760
And having had a family of his own,
1061
00:55:25,760 --> 00:55:28,963
he had a burning ambition now
to popularize his science.
1062
00:55:30,240 --> 00:55:33,690
In 1988, he published "A
Brief History Of Time,"
1063
00:55:33,690 --> 00:55:35,780
which aimed to explain the
mysteries of the universe
1064
00:55:35,780 --> 00:55:37,173
to non-scientists.
1065
00:55:39,490 --> 00:55:42,170
It became an international bestseller.
1066
00:55:42,170 --> 00:55:44,820
The contrast between his imprisoned body
1067
00:55:44,820 --> 00:55:47,793
and a mind roaming the
cosmos fascinated the public.
1068
00:55:49,645 --> 00:55:52,030
- [Stephen] All my life
I have been fascinated
1069
00:55:52,030 --> 00:55:54,820
by the big questions that face us,
1070
00:55:54,820 --> 00:55:59,000
and have tried to find
scientific answers to them.
1071
00:55:59,000 --> 00:56:02,460
Perhaps that's why I have
sold more books on physics
1072
00:56:02,460 --> 00:56:04,373
than Madonna has on sex.
1073
00:56:07,170 --> 00:56:09,850
- [Narrator] He was
catapulted into celebrity,
1074
00:56:09,850 --> 00:56:12,303
and became the most
famous living scientist.
1075
00:56:14,910 --> 00:56:16,813
- He clearly likes his fame.
1076
00:56:17,820 --> 00:56:19,610
One can see that this is something
1077
00:56:19,610 --> 00:56:21,720
he does get a lot of enjoyment out of,
1078
00:56:21,720 --> 00:56:23,160
having big crowds.
1079
00:56:23,160 --> 00:56:25,660
So there's an element of
showmanship about it all.
1080
00:56:28,960 --> 00:56:32,410
- [Narrator] Hawking's strength
as a communicator of science
1081
00:56:32,410 --> 00:56:34,730
has opened a window onto the cosmos,
1082
00:56:34,730 --> 00:56:37,313
and enabled us all to marvel at its glory.
1083
00:56:46,400 --> 00:56:48,500
Throughout the 20th century,
1084
00:56:48,500 --> 00:56:49,870
the secrets of the universe
1085
00:56:49,870 --> 00:56:52,573
have been unraveled by
extraordinary individuals,
1086
00:56:53,486 --> 00:56:57,930
(singing in foreign language)
1087
00:56:57,930 --> 00:56:59,850
inspirational men and women
1088
00:56:59,850 --> 00:57:02,150
who have discovered fundamental new truths
1089
00:57:07,220 --> 00:57:09,000
about everything from the subatomic
1090
00:57:11,780 --> 00:57:13,243
to the extremely massive.
1091
00:57:18,470 --> 00:57:20,593
But today, science has changed.
1092
00:57:21,860 --> 00:57:24,960
Many of the most exciting
frontiers of physics
1093
00:57:24,960 --> 00:57:27,550
are being explored not by individuals,
1094
00:57:27,550 --> 00:57:29,860
but by large groups of scientists,
1095
00:57:29,860 --> 00:57:32,233
working together in collaborative units.
1096
00:57:34,320 --> 00:57:36,590
- The subject now is
much more sophisticated,
1097
00:57:36,590 --> 00:57:39,140
in that whether you're a space astronomer,
1098
00:57:39,140 --> 00:57:41,820
an optical astronomer
or a particle physicist,
1099
00:57:41,820 --> 00:57:44,090
you depend on very large instruments.
1100
00:57:44,090 --> 00:57:45,480
At CERN, for instance,
1101
00:57:45,480 --> 00:57:47,700
you have the designers of the instruments,
1102
00:57:47,700 --> 00:57:49,230
the operators of the instruments,
1103
00:57:49,230 --> 00:57:51,688
those who analyze the
data, the phenomenologists
1104
00:57:51,688 --> 00:57:53,740
and the theorists who
try to make sense of it
1105
00:57:53,740 --> 00:57:54,713
at a deeper level.
1106
00:57:55,570 --> 00:57:58,269
- [Narrator] So the story of
physics in the 21st century
1107
00:57:58,269 --> 00:58:00,493
is more about collective endeavor.
1108
00:58:02,030 --> 00:58:05,210
And although we may miss the
individual personalities,
1109
00:58:05,210 --> 00:58:07,540
it is a price we may have to pay
1110
00:58:07,540 --> 00:58:09,600
if we are to stand a chance of solving
1111
00:58:09,600 --> 00:58:12,363
the remaining secrets of the universe.
1112
00:58:13,251 --> 00:58:17,084
(singing in foreign language)
89147
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