Einstein's Big Idea
Over 100 years ago, Albert Einstein grappled with the implications of his revolutionary special theory of relativity and came to a startling conclusion: mass and energy are one, related by the formula E = mc2. In "Einstein's Big Idea," NOVA dramatizes the remarkable story behind this equation. E = mc2 was just one of several extraordinary breakthroughs that Einstein made in 1905, including the completion of his special theory of relativity, his identification of proof that atoms exist, and his explanation of the nature of light, which would win him the Nobel Prize in Physics. Among Einstein's ideas, E = mc2 is by far the most famous. Yet how many people know what it really means? In a thought-provoking and engrossing docudrama, NOVA illuminates this deceptively simple formula by unraveling the story of how it came to be.
Release Date
October 11, 2005Runtime
120 minRating
GDirected by
Gary Johnstone, Nick JustinWritten by
Gary Johnstone, David BodanisLanguage
EnglishBudget
$0Revenue
$0Status
ReleasedCast
Aidan McArdle
EinsteinAnton Lesser
VoltaireJulian Rhind-Tutt
Antoine LavoisierShirley Henderson
Mileva MaricSamuel West
Humphry DavyWolf Kahler
HorleinGeorge Layton
Emilie’s FatherAlex MacQueen
ChaterChristopher Eccleston
Narrator (voice)John Lithgow
Narrator (voice) U.S. editionSteven Robertson
Michael FaradayChristian Rubeck
Otto HahnEmily Woof
Lise Meitner