All language subtitles for Genius.S01E04.WEBRip.x264-ION10

Previously on Genius...
This Rontgen fellow

snatched the credit
you justly deserve.

He's a rat, like the Jews.

And rats must be eradicated.

It's only the very first Nobel.

You will win the next one.

WEBER:
In this class we will deal

only with what has been proven.

The existence of molecules
has not.

Oh, you brought us Mr. Besso.
Such a
charming

dinner companion.
I do hope you
return

sooner rather than
later, Mr. Besso.

I'll find a formula
to freeze time.

You won't even know I'm gone.

Oh, what a lovely thought.

EINSTEIN:
Dear Frau Winteler,

I write and ask you

to share my feelings

with your dearest Marie.
She deserves

more attention
than I have to give.

Mother, you know very well
that I have someone else now.

Mileva, you're the
love of my life.

PAULINE: That creature--
she's just a
nasty

little witch.
She's no witch, she's my wife.

He's very busy, Papa.

He can't even get a job.

There is a position
I know of

at the patent office.

I'm a scientist, Marcel.

I'm better than a clerkship.

Welcome to the patent office,
Herr Einstein.

*

*

MAN:
May I help you, mademoiselle?

Oh.

You gave me a shock.

This is an original
piezoelectric meter, yes?

Sorry, but, uh,
who are
you?

As a rudimentary device,
it's quite effective.

But it would be far more precise
with the addition

of a mirrored
quadrant electrometer

and an ionization chamber.

When I built the first model,
I considered

an ionization chamber.

But wasn't convinced

that air would be
a sufficient dielectric.

You invented
the piezoelectric meter?

Uh, is there something
I can do for you, mademoiselle?

I'm looking for laboratory space
to conduct my experiments.

I'm studying at the Sorbonne.

Physics?

Magnetism, to be specific.

Y-You haven't told me your name.

Marie Sklodowska.

It's a pleasure to meet you.

Pierre Curie.

(church bell tolling)

EINSTEIN: Here before you
sits a device which purports

to synchronize clock towers

across Switzerland.

It sends an electromagnetic
signal at the speed of light.

A wondrous
notion.

As a patent clerk, however,

I must ask myself if this device

can actually deliver
on its promise.

According to Newton,
the answer is
yes.

Absolute simultaneity
is possible because,

well, time is absolute.

And this all
works
if we're sending a signal

from Bern to Zurich, say.

But what happens
if we're sending a signal

from Bern to a clock
on a moving
train?

Why is the clock
on a moving train?

You would have to
disassemble it first--

it's much too large.
No, that's-that's not the point.

What is going on here?
I'm evaluating

an application, sir.

The same device
which passed across your desk

three weeks ago, I see.

Yes, Herr Haller,
although I'm not convinced

it can actually do what
the patent application
claims.

If I can make it work
properly, then...

Herr Einstein,
either a thing works

or it does not.

Your job is not
to make it
better.

How are you progressing
with the signal box

and rail switch applications?

I-I...

I see.

Have them on my desk
by the end of the day.

Can it wait until
tomorrow, sir?

Please, I have a very
important meeting.

You also have a wife

and a new baby at home, yes?

If I were you I wouldn't be
so cavalier about the position

that pays to support them.

(panting): Professor Kleiner.
Professor
Kleiner.

My sincere apologies.
I was detained at work.

Save your breath,
Herr Einstein.

Our time was up
an hour ago.

Sir, please,
just give me five minutes.

I promise my thesis proposal

is unlike
anything
you've ever
heard.

You have one minute.

One minute.
Ye... Uh, Yes. Good.

Well, everyone
believes
that light is a wave, yes?

Well, I can prove that
when
a light ray is propagated

from any point, it consists of
a finite number of energy quanta

which can be produced and
absorbed only as complete units.

(panting)

That... that only took
ten seconds.

(laughs) Do-do you
remember
Philipp Lenard's paper

on the photoelectric effect?

He
demonstrated
that light

doesn't always act as a wave.

But he couldn't explain it.

Well, guess who can.
You.

No, no. Ye... Well, yes, yes.

Bu-But, no--
Max
Planck.

I believe I can
use
Planck's constant

to demonstrate the
photoelectric effect

and prove the duality of
light.

You want to argue,

for your doctoral thesis,

that we have been mistaken
about what has been

a fundamental law of physics

since 1678?

(scoffs)

That's 200...

And 27 years.

Come back when you
wish to be taken seriously.

(door opens)

Look,
Hans.
Papa's home.

How did it go
with the professor?

Wonderfully,
thank you.

Not even a kiss
for your son?

Do you mind,
Mama?

EINSTEIN:
He shut me out, Dollie.

He didn't even
read my proof.

Albert.
I'm right,
I'm sure of
it.

But no one
will
ever know it

if the bloated
windbags of academia

won't even
consider
my proposal.

What are you
aiming for, Albert?

A piece of paper you can
frame
and hang on a wall?

I want my ideas to be heard.

To be acknowledged
and discussed.

To... to be recognized.

Then forget Professor Kleiner.

You must get your work noticed
by more important scientists.

Publish your paper.
Who would publish

the work of a third class
patent clerk?

I've spent my entire life being
overlooked and underestimated.

Giving up is a luxury
I could never afford.

You can either
wait for those dinosaurs

to give you permission to engage
in the scientific world,

or you can show them.

That your ideas
cannot be snuffed out

by those who lack imagination.

I have no time for research.
I'll go to the library.

And my math.
I'll proof everything.

My handwriting
is an embarrassment.
Albert,

shut your mouth.
I'll help you.

*

Read this.

MAN:
Herr Professor!

Ha-Have you read this?
Some fellow in Bern

has used your
discovery
of light
quanta

to prove Professor
Lenard's findings

on the photoelectric
effect

Impossible.

Quanta are
a mathematical construct,

not a real phenomenon.
Read it, sir.

Albert Einstein.
"On a
Heuristic

"Point of View Concerning the
Production and Transformation

of Natural Light." It's a
bit lofty, don't you
think?

His proof

is quite impressive.
Well, we both
know

what sort of nonsense
you can prove with proofs.

You must admit
it's tantalizing.

Yes, well, I suppose you
have a little bit of space

in the next issue. But
I'll be rather surprised

if anyone gives it
a second thought.

(humming a tune)
Four weeks
since I was published.

Four weeks and not a peep.

Were you expecting
a parade?
Papa.

No, no, no,
your father's right, Dollie.

And so were you.
It was one paper.

I'll simply write another.

And if no one takes any notice,

I'll write another.
They can't ignore me forever.

We only need to find a problem.

It seems to me you have
an ample supply of those.

EINSTEIN:
An incongruence, a paradox that

nobody else
sees--
molecular mechanics,

the-the ether, light,
space...

Ah, yes-- the whole of physics.

Shouldn't be too difficult.

It won't be, Dollie.

Not with you helping me.

PIERRE:
No, it must be an anomaly.

Try it again.

I already have, 20 times.

It's not an anomaly.

This sample must contain
a new element.

A radioactive element.

PIERRE:
It would have
to be hundreds, no...

Thousands of times stronger
than uranium.

We must isolate it.

Well, then, I suppose

we're going to need
our own laboratory.

Pierre? Pierre!

(giggling)

MILEVA: Do you remember
the Curies' paper

on radioactivity?
Working tirelessly,

side by side,
without heat in their lab

or funding for their research.

It's romantic, no?

The Curies spent four years
on that paper.

I've got three hours
until the patent office
opens.

You should
get some rest.

You can't think
properly without sleep.

I don't need sleep.
I need more coffee.

(clock ticking)

MILEVA:
What is it?

Do you remember
our thought experiments

on gas theory at university?

Those weeks

we spent holed up
in my
room?

I remember quite a lot
of experimentation, yes.

Not all of it
to do with science.

What if we were going
about it all
wrong?

What if, instead
of studying
gases,

we studied a cup of coffee?

You really
must
sleep, Albert.

Jacobus van 't Hoff's
Nobel paper from 1901.

Particles in a solution
behave like a gas.

When sugar dissolves in
coffee,

water surrounds
glucose

and tears it from the
sugar crystal,
correct?

The more sugar I add,

the thicker the coffee
becomes.

If can we
calculate
the osmotic pressure,

perhaps we can deduce

the precise number of...
You want to prove

the existence of molecules.

Too ambitious?

No. It's brilliant.

May I ask you,
what are you
doing?

I'm about to start work, sir,

on a fascinating application
for a-a, um...

a nickel-zinc battery.
That battery

was patented last
year,
Einstein.

Sir, I beg you. I'm...
(sighs)
I'm well ahead of schedule.

If I could just be granted
the smallest parcel of time...

Time, Herr Einstein,
is a privilege you relinquished

when you accepted this position.

EINSTEIN:
He's a tyrant.

I-It's unbearable.

He gives me four times the work

as the other dolts in the office

because I'm the only one

who understands
mechanical engineering.

Poor thing. A
boss
who respects your intellect

and a full-time job

that pays you
twice as much as mine.

I don't care
about money, Marcel.

I-I've been toiling
in obscurity

for ten hours a day,
six days a week

for the past two years.

And I never see my family,
I never see my baby...

(sighs)
Albert, you, of all
people,

have no interest in a baby.

Now, what do you want?

I want what Lorentz
and Becquerel and Lenard have.

Whatever they say,
whatever they write,

people pay attention.

I want to wake up in the morning
to pursue my passions

instead of being confronted

with a constant sense of
dread
that I...

that I'm wasting my life.

I meant
what do you want from me?

Your father
still has connections

at the patent office?

Mm.

I need help.
Someone to work alongside me,

to-to ease my
load

until I can make a mark
with my ideas.

Do you have someone
particular
in mind?

(laughter)

I'm very lucky. It's a good job.

Second class patent clerk

in the mechanical engineering
division.

Will you be working with Albert?

Yes.

In fact, he was instrumental

in helping me
secure the position.

How does it feel
accepting a favor

from the swine who dishonored
your sister-in-law?

Julius, please.

I think it is very
kind of
Albert.

WOMAN:
Hmm.
WOMAN 2: Yes.

Anna.

Have you found an apartment?

Why, yes, we have.
We have.

It's very modest...
JULIUS: I'd check
your
walls.

What?

Your walls. You never know

what might be crawling around
in them.

Roaches.

Mice.

Lucifer himself.

Julius, that's enough.
No. The devil

is conspiring

to turn this world into hatred

and sin.

His agents are among us. I...

I hear them.

Open your ears!

BESSO:
Julius.

(door shuts firmly)

It's growing colder, isn't it?

I don't mind.

And you never did.

Do you remember when you
dug a trench in the snow,

covered it with a canvas and
declared it your winter
palace?

I wanted to sleep there,
but Mama wouldn't have it.

You were always so
independent, Miza.

So strong.

You seem happy again.

I am.

And what about, uh,
resuming your studies?

I'm working
with Albert every day,

exploring the most
fascinating topics in physics.

I don't need a degree for that.

And that's really
enough for
you?

What's bothering you, Papa?

(sighs

Your mother and I must go
home.

I-I don't understand.

You said that you...

I've been called back to
work.

But Albert and I
are writing an important paper.

I can't abandon everything
to look after Hans all day.

He only stops crying
when Mother holds him,

and I...
Don't worry,
Miza.

I'll make sure
you have whatever you need.

MILEVA:
How could you

refuse him?

I didn't marry
you
for a dowry, Dollie.

I married you
because I love you.

It was 20,000 francs.

Our marriage is not
a business transaction.

You are not a prized heifer
to be bought and sold.

That's very noble
of you, Albert,

but your lofty principles

will not help me cook, clean,
(baby cries)

raise a child,
all while midwifing your papers.

(water hisses on stove)
Ow!

(baby continues crying)

Pick up the baby, Albert.

How are we to manage?
(baby stops crying)

Do you think
I don't already have a solution

to that problem, dear Dollie?

I will ask my mother to come.

She knows how to run
a household,

how to care for a child.

She'll make it possible
(baby cries)

for you and I
to continue our work.

She despises me.

She doesn't even know you.

And how could she despise

the woman who gave birth
to her only grandson, huh?

(baby continues crying)
Shh.

PAULINE:
Look at those cheeks.

He's the spit and image
of his grandfather.

Dollie, have you seen my tie?

I believe I saw it hanging
over the bathroom door, darling.

We clean up after our husbands
more than our children.

That one is terribly wrinkled.

Don't you have a pressed one?

It will suffice.

Good day to you, Frau
Einstein.

And to you, Frau Einstein.

(chuckles)

Thank you for coming.

We do appreciate the help.

Of course, darling.
I remember

when Albert was born.

Such an exciting time.

But also a difficult one.

I had no idea
how to care for myself,

not to mention a child.

It isn't easy, is it?
Oh...

I made so many mistakes.

With any luck,

I can help spare you
the worst of
them.

I appreciate that.

Of course, darling.

What else am I here for? Now...

shall we go to the market

to stock your pantry?

Oh, that's very generous,

but I'm afraid I've got to go
to the library.

I was hoping you could
look after Hans for a few hours?

But I've...
I've only just arrived.

Yes, but Albert and I

are finishing
an important paper.

Mileva, darling,
if there's one thing

my Albert
doesn't need help with,

it's his science.

But with the rest of his life,

he's quite hopeless.

Lucky for him, he has a wife.

BESSO:
Are you
working

with Stokes' law?

Michele,

Haller despises fraternizing,

and I'm one misstep away
from being
ousted,

so if you wouldn't mind...

Albert, I know why I'm here.

Marcel told me everything.

It's quite all right.

I don't mind easing your burden,

and I'm grateful
just to have the job.

But, of course, I'm curious.

I'm trying to
prove
molecules exist.

(gasps, laughs)

How?

I'd love to tell you,

but I really need you to...

Review these applications.

Of course.

Really is good
to have you here, Michele.

Did you mix in the castile?

Castile? I...

I'm sorry. What is castile?

Soap, dear.

Did you tell your mother

why you asked her to come?

Of course.
I-I told her that we needed help

with the house and the baby.
She seems to believe

her sole purpose

is to instruct me
how to cook, clean

and care for the child.

She's trying to turn me
into a hausfrau.

She's downstairs watching
the little one right now,

is she not?
You must talk to her.

Tell her that our work together
is important.

That my part in it is important.

I will, but...
indulge her a little.

Make her feel appreciated.

Now...

look.

(chuckles)
Y-You used

Kirchhoff's
hydrodynamic techniques.

Which you introduced me to
at university.

My God, Albert.
(chuckles)

LAUE:
Herr Professor,

Einstein has just proven the
existence of molecules, sir.

What? But... You...

Who did you say?

Einstein. The fellow from
Bern.

Bern... I lectured
there
recently.

I-I don't recall any Einstein.

He's not a professor.

He's a patent clerk.

(chuckling):
Patent clerk?

BESSO:
It's a brilliant paper,

Albert. Sorry you didn't receive

the response you anticipated.

Apparently it's not good enough
to have an original thought.

The old masters demand data.

Oh, well. Perhaps the
third
time will be the
charm,

as they say.
Third?

My God, Albert,
you're writing another one?

If I can find another good idea,

something
provable
through experimentation.

Mileva's doing
some research for me.

*

Einstein.

Your mother is here.

(men laughing)

PAULINE:
She abandons her boy
for hours on end,

she refuses to be taught
how to cook,

and she leaves
all the cleaning to me.

Now, is that fair?

Mother, we spoke about this.

Yes, and I agreed
to indulge the notion

that you could use
some assistance

writing your essay.

It's a scientific paper, Mother.

Published in a
prestigious journal.

But you finished it weeks ago.

And now I'm writing another one.

Albert, I don't understand.

I don't expect you to.

You have a solid position,
a good income.

Your father would be very proud.

That I'd given up my
dreams

and settled for a
bourgeois existence?

Look at me, darling.

Pursue your dreams, if you wish.

But don't give Mileva
false expectations.

I will not be here forever.

She must be
taught
to run a house.

I have to go back to work.

MILEVA:
It's hypnotic.

A single pollen particle
is bombarded

by water
molecules
10 to the 24th times per second.

How am I going to predict
(baby crying)

that many movements per
second

in a three-dimensional space?

Here.

What if we tried using...

PAULINE:
Your child needs you, Mileva.

(sighs)

Mileva.
Yes, one moment.

We're just in the middle of...
Well, the baby isn't crying

in a moment. He's crying now.

(baby cries)

Frau Einstein, I appreciate
all you're doing for us.

But, right now,
Albert needs my help.

Mm, your boy needs you.

This home needs you.

Yes, but, at the
moment, I'm working.

PAULINE:
Frankly, my dear,

it is time to put away
such indulgences.

I'm not your maid,
nor your child's wet nurse.

You just sit there, silent?

What do you want me to do?

I want you to defend me.

BESSO:
Early morning?

Or late night?

(clears
throat)
I've run away from home.

Is it really
so terrible?

(sighs) When
my
mother and Mileva

are not at
each
other's throats,

they take
turns
lunging at mine.

Brownian motion.

Very ambitious.

If I can prove it
mathematically

it could be confirmed
with the naked
eye.

Well...

good luck.

What?

What?

What?

Nothing.

What?

You're making it
too complicated.

It is ridiculously
complicated!

A single
pollen
particle is bombarded

by water molecules...
Ten to the 24 times
per second, yes.

And trying to solve those
equations in three dimensions

will drive you mad.

Why not create
a one-dimensional model?

It's much simpler and
would still prove your thesis.

Would you be willing
to help me solve it, Michele?

(door opens, shuts)

Oh, my.
The weather is turning.

The wind nearly threw me
off my feet.

You promised you'd be home
an hour ago.

Well, I suppose we all
fall short of expectations

now and then.
I'm late for Albert.

(door opens, shuts)

And 3x by T-squared
equals R by T-squared...

BESSO: And then apply it back
to three dimensions

and the coefficient...

Michele, you're brilliant!

Michele, what a nice
surprise.
Ah

I'm sorry I'm late.
One dimension, Mileva.

Michele's great insight.
We calculate in one dimension.

It's so... elegant!

I'm not sure I understand.
Here,

pretend I'm drunk.
You don't drink.

Pretend. If I had as much
to drink as Michele,

I'd be staggering
all over the place, yes?

Like pollen wiggling
in the water.

But where am I going?
To the bar?

To the toilet? To the street?

It's impossible to predict.
We've been over this.

Precisely.
Michele has helped me see
that

we can't predict
exactly where

I'll go, but,
using simpler maths,

we can calculate
how far I'll
go

over a period of time.

BESSO: Turns out it's
six microns per
minute.

Exactly.

Six microns per minute!

I proved the existence
of molecules,

and nobody believed me.

And now I've proved
how they move,

and it can be confirmed
using an ordinary microscope!

That's wonderful.

To Albert!
(laughs)
(laughs)

PLANCK: Congratulations,
Philipp. The Nobel Prize.

You don't have
to be polite, Max.

We both know it was only
a gesture of consolation.

You're not still sour
about Rontgen.

Philipp, that was
four years ago.

And yet it still stings.

Perhaps if I had received
more recognition

from my colleagues...
Philipp,

read the
journals.

Your name is invoked
with great regularity.

Of course, you are right.

This patent clerk in Bern,
for instance.

He has cited us both
in his paper on...

Light quanta, yes, indeed.
You see?

I dismissed him at first.

But, clearly, he's an intellect.

He's very clever.

I've been in correspondence
with him, in
fact.

(clears
throat)

He wants the footlights--

that much is clear.

I only hope he doesn't try
to take recognition

for your work like
Rontgen did to me.

Einstein.

It's fascinating
what one can deduce about a man

just by knowing his name.

I don't believe
it.

What?

Lenard

They're giving
him the Nobel.

For cathode ray tubes,

a ten-year-old innovation.

Suddenly you care about awards?

I care about science
living and breathing

in the present
and not suffocating in the past.

And, yes,
I'm not ashamed to say I want

some recognition
for my contributions.

I understand how you must feel.

But here I am,
three published papers

and nothing to show for it.
It-It's as if I'm...

Invisible?

Perhaps my
mother's
right.

It's time to put aside
such indulgences

and concentrate
on what's expected of me.

*

HALLER: Einstein,
I need yesterday's...

Yesterday's, today's,
and
tomorrow's.

Where are you going?

I have no
idea.

BESSO (faint, echoing):
Albert?

Albert,

I'm worried about you.

I approved a patent

for a device
that's now

inside that very clock tower.

Every minute, it sends a
signal at the speed of light

to clocks in Geneva,
Basel and Zurich,

synchronizing
them.

But what if we sent a signal
to a clock on a moving train?

Albert, you could use
a good sleep.

Turn your mind off for a bit.

I can't. Now, listen,

a clock is here, stationary.

And now I attempt to synchronize
it with one that is
moving.

What happens?

The clocks would synchronize.

Because space and time
are absolute,

according to Newton.

According to everyone.

But for that
to be
true,

light would have
to-to speed up

or slow down
to keep the clocks synchronized.

James
Clark
Maxwell says

that light only moves
at one speed.

Now, either Maxwell is
correct or Newton is.

But it can't be both.
Well, if it's a duel

between Newton and Maxwell,
I'm afraid poor Maxwell

gets it between the eyes.

Maybe so.

Are you considering
another paper?

No, I'm just
thinking, Michele.

Come on.

I'll buy you dinner, and
we can think some
more.

The bloated windbags
can't stop us doing that,

can they?
(clock tower chiming)

The bloated windbags
can't stop us.

But Anna can.

You know the Winteler rules:

never miss a family meal.

JOST: Julius!
Your eggs are getting cold!

Must we do this
every morning?

The doctor said routine
is important for him.

But I can't keep my students
waiting.

JOST: Julius!
Come and eat!

(gasps)

Sit down.

Eat your breakfast.

Julius...
Death to Satan's messengers!

...put that down.
(gunshot)

No!
No!
MARIE: Julius!

My God, what are you
doing?

JOST:
Oh, my God... What...

No...
(gunshot)

(Marie screams, crows cawing)

MINISTER:
O God, who brought us to birth,

and in whose arms we die,

in our grief and shock
comfort us;

give us hope in our confusion
and grace to enter a new life;

through Jesus
Christ. Amen.

MOURNERS:
Amen.

PAULINE:
That poor family.

I should be at the funeral.

You are free to
go,
Frau Einstein.

No, no, my dear.

I couldn't possibly leave you
alone with the child.

If I really am so unfit
to be a mother,

you could have gone to Aarau

and Albert could have
stayed home with me.

No, my dear.

Albert is exactly where he needs
to be right now.

Do you remember
what you promised me,

when you left for university?

I... I don't.

I'm sorry.

You said you would come up
with a formula to freeze
time.

I'm afraid I'm...

I'm not as brilliant
as I thought I was.

(sighs)

I'm sorry, Marie.

For everything.

I'm so sorry.

Talk to him.

He misses you.

Jost, I am

so deeply...

Sorry.

Yes.

Everyone says that.

Is there anything
that I can do?

You are an intelligent man.

So perhaps you can explain
to me this:

how could my bright...

...beautiful son

so suddenly turn
into a monster?

What...

what did I do wrong?

You mustn't blame yourself.

I wish I could be half
the father that you are.

Yes

I heard you had a son.

Hold him tight, Albert.

You think his childhood
will last forever.

But I promise you,

it will pass
in a fraction of a second.

(Hans crying)

(door shuts)

You said
you'd be home last night.

I'm sorry.

By the time it seemed
appropriate to leave,

I'd-I'd already missed
my last train.

Of course you did. I'm sure
you were terribly
disappointed

to have to spend the night
with your beloved Wintelers.

Mileva, please,
they're grieving.

PAULINE:
I can take
him,

my dear.
Don't touch my son.

I'm only
trying to
help.

You've been shoving your help
down my throat

since you
arrived.

Mileva,
calm yourself.

That's quite easy for you
to say, isn't it?

You do what you want,
go where you please.

And I'm here.

Not in a laboratory
or in front of a classroom

like I should be.
Perhaps I am mistaken,

but didn't you
fail your exams?
Mother, please.

Well, the girl needs to face
the truth, Albert.

You need your wife
to make a home, not to...

I'm sorry I'm not
Marie Winteler.

So am I.

Mother,
apologize.

I knew from the moment
my son wrote to me about you

that you would never make him
a suitable wife.

Albert didn't marry me
because
he wanted a housewife.

We're partners.

(laughing):
Oh, darling, open your eyes.

You are not his partner.

You are his librarian.

You are his clerk.

(Hans crying)

Mother, you should go.

Go? Go where?

Home.

(scoffs)

If you think

this creature
can make you
happy,

then I promise you, son,

you are in for a life
of misery.

(Hans crying loudly)

(Hans crying)

He won't sleep.

I don't know what to do.

Go to bed,
Dollie.

I can take him.

(crying
continues)

Thank you.

EINSTEIN:
I made you something.

Choo-choo, choo-choo.

It's a train,
yes.

I was on one of these
this morning

and I couldn't wait to get home
to see you.

Papa Jost told me

that time is fleeting.

We think moments like this

will last
forever,
but in fact

they'll pass in a split second.

It's a nice sentiment,
but you and I both know

that time can't move
at different speeds.

*

Unless...

Unless it could.

(exhales)
Oh, my.

(laughs)

Albertli...

you've done it.

I've completely solved
the problem.

Uh, what are you talking about?

Close your eyes.

Pretend you're overlooking
a train track.

Imagine a train racing past,

faster than any train
you've ever seen.
(train chugs)

Now I want you to imagine
as the train is flying past,

two lightning bolts
crashing beyond the tracks

at the same time,
a hundred meters apart.

(train chugs, lightning cracks)

BESSO: So what?
Patience.

Now imagine that you're standing
in the middle of the train,

during the exact same scenario.

Would the lightning bolts
be simultaneous?

Of course.
(lightning
cracks)

Not if light
moves
at one speed.

Close your eyes.

Albert, this is
ridiculous.

Put yourself back on
the moving train

and really think about it.
Do it, Michele.

Now watch the lightning
bolts!

(train chugs
and lightning cracks)

Were they simultaneous to
you?

No!

Because you were moving
towards one

and away from the other.

To me, standing still,

they were
simultaneous.

How could the two of
us

experience the
same
event differently?

Uh, we couldn't.

Unless...

It's not Maxwell who
gets it between the eyes.

It's Newton.

W-What are you saying?

Time is not absolute.

(Besso gasps, Einstein
laughs)

Holy hell.

I'm writing the paper,
Michele.

I dare them to ignore it.

(laughs)

Ha!

(bubbling)

(Marie pants, then coughs)

(door creaks
open)
PIERRE:
Marie.

Come see
what we've found.

Don't look.

(both chuckle)

Oh.

You believed it would be
a thousand times stronger

than uranium.

This element is a
million times stronger,

and it's not
even pure.

It's
beautiful.

What shall we
call it, my love?

Radium.

(quietly):
Dollie? Dollie.

You're awake.
Thank God.

Since I first imagined riding
alongside a light beam,

it's been
bothering me.

How could
light
freeze in
time?

Well, it couldn't.

You're gone before I wake,
home after I'm asleep.

Do I not at least
deserve a "hello"?

Hello, my darling Mileva.

Now listen, 300 years ago,

Galileo devised
his
principle of relativity.

Now Newton built on
these theories

to devise his own laws of
motion, gravitation,

and absolute time.
I know all of that.

But neither
man
took into account

the true nature of light.

So, I've devised

my own principle of relativity.

Lorentz transformation?

Yes.

He saw time dilation

as a mathematical
quirk, it's not.

The faster we move
through space,

the slower we
move through time.

It is extraordinary, Albert.

It's more than that.

It's the redefinition
of the universe.

All the work,
all the late nights.

This, Mileva, this is what
we've been chasing.

Will you proof
it for me?

Am I your clerk?

Is that it?

No, of course
not, Dollie.

You're my partner.

Albertli, you
brilliant little man.

(knocks at door)

Dr. Lauret.

Dr. Curie.

I just received a letter
from Stockholm.

You are to be
awarded the 1903

Nobel Prize in Physics

for your contributions
to the
research

of radiation phenomena.

Hearty congratulations, Pierre.

Will my wife be given
the Prize, as well?

LAURET: Pierre, we all
know Madame Curie

has been a
valuable
assistant,

but it is the
tools
you invented

that are responsible
for discovering
radium.

No.

No, tools don't make
discoveries, Doctor,

people do.

Madame Curie and I
are partners.

Please inform
the Nobel committee

that I will not
accept the Prize

if they do not honor
my wife alongside me.

"The introduction of
a luminiferous ether

will prove to be
superfluous."

Superfluous, I love that
word.

I preferred "idiotic," but alas.

"In conclusion, I wish to say
that in working at the problem

"here dealt with, I have
had the loyal assistance

"of my friend and colleague
M. Besso...

"and that I am indebted
to him for
several

valuable suggestions."

You thanked Michele.

Of course
I thanked him.

His advice was instrumental.

But I've helped you
with so many papers.

Including this one.

Of course you have.

But you never thought
to put my name in any of
them.

Well, I...

well, I suppose
it never occurred to me.

No.

I don't suppose it did.

Because in my heart,
the two of us are one.

It's-It's our name,
Ein stein,

one stone.

This paper, every paper,

it's... it's
both of us.

I couldn't do
any of it

without you,
you know that.

No one else does.

Mileva.

You're going to be
late for work, Albert.

PLANCK: "On the Electrodynamics
of Moving Bodies"

by Albert Einstein.

His fourth paper this year.

I haven't seen anything
like this since Newton's

Annus Mirabilis.

Dr. Laue, are you honestly

comparing
Einstein
to Sir Isaac Newton?

Read it.

He provides
no footnotes.

That's because he has
answered a
question

no one was
asking.

Herr Einstein.

Max Laue. I work for
Professor Max Planck

at Prussian Academy.
A sincere pleasure...

I believe you're
looking for him.

I've tried to get him to
brush
his hair and smarten himself up,

but the man
is hopeless.

Albert Einstein?

Author of

the principle of relativity?

Well, Galileo is the author
of the principle of relativity.

I simply provided a revision.

My, you are modest.

(clears throat) He most
certainly is not.

May I ask why you are working
in a patent office?

History is full
of
bad jokes, I suppose.

My name is Max Laue.

I am here at the behest
of Professor Max Planck.

Max Planck,
the father of Prussian physics?

He greatly admires
your
work, Herr Einstein.

You've achieved
more in one year

than most scientists
do in a lifetime.

How ever did you accomplish it?

Curiosity, I suppose.

That, and he wanted
to be noticed.

LAUE:
Well, you've succeeded.

We would like to help you
further your career.

Tell me, are you working
on anything else?

Uh... (clears throat)
Yes.

In fact, I've realized that the,
uh, the relativity principle,

combined with
the Maxwell equations,

requires that mass be
a
direct measure of the energy

contained in a body.

I'm not sure I follow.

Light carries mass.

(chuckles)
But that's... impossible.

(giggles)
Perhaps.
For all I know, the good Lord

is laughing at the whole matter.

And I believe
this
theory

could be tested using
elements whose energy

is highly
unstable.

Um, Madame Curie's radium,
for example.

Herr Einstein, it's...

...it's...

genius.

Captioned by
Media Access Group at WGBH