This documentary with dramatised elements tells the story of how his most famous discovery, E=mc2, went from being a mere set of symbols in a notebook to a weapon of mass destruction.
The documentary sections of the film explain what E=mc2 actually means; how it was discovered and how it revealed that the universe contained astonishing power.
Albert Einstein was a lifelong anti-militarist. His most famous discovery – that E=mc2 – explains things of sheer wonder: why the sun shines and how, after the Big Bang, the universe was created. But it wasn’t long before Einstein’s contemporary, Leo Szilard, realised that it could be used to build an atomic bomb.Szilard, like Einstein, was a refugee from the Nazis. He knew that Hitler had brilliant physicists working for him, and that, if he had worked out how to use Einstein’s famous equation to great destructive effect, it wouldn’t be long before his German colleagues made the same link. Szilard insisted that Einstein write to the American President – the Allies had to be prepared. But when the bomb was used, not on the Nazis, but on the Japanese, both scientists were horrified. Einstein, who spent his final years campaigning for disarmament and promoting peace between nations, described the letter to President Franklin Roosevelt as his life’s only mistake.
This documentary, with dramatised elements, explains what E=mc2 actually means, how it was discovered, and how it revealed the astonishing power of the universe. It also tells the story of how Einstein’s most famous discovery went from being a set of symbols in a notebook to a weapon of mass destruction.
The documentary sections of the film explain what E=mc2 actually means; how it was discovered and how it revealed that the universe contained astonishing power.
Albert Einstein was a lifelong anti-militarist. His most famous discovery – that E=mc2 – explains things of sheer wonder: why the sun shines and how, after the Big Bang, the universe was created. But it wasn’t long before Einstein’s contemporary, Leo Szilard, realised that it could be used to build an atomic bomb.Szilard, like Einstein, was a refugee from the Nazis. He knew that Hitler had brilliant physicists working for him, and that, if he had worked out how to use Einstein’s famous equation to great destructive effect, it wouldn’t be long before his German colleagues made the same link. Szilard insisted that Einstein write to the American President – the Allies had to be prepared. But when the bomb was used, not on the Nazis, but on the Japanese, both scientists were horrified. Einstein, who spent his final years campaigning for disarmament and promoting peace between nations, described the letter to President Franklin Roosevelt as his life’s only mistake.
This documentary, with dramatised elements, explains what E=mc2 actually means, how it was discovered, and how it revealed the astonishing power of the universe. It also tells the story of how Einstein’s most famous discovery went from being a set of symbols in a notebook to a weapon of mass destruction.
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