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?
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