The Elegant Universe, Part 1: Einstein's Dream (2003) | Full Documentary | NOVA | PBS

"The Elegant Universe" 3-part-series will be available for the first time ever on YouTube. First premiering 20 years ago, this series is one of our most popular, and we are thrilled to make it accessible to a newer audience. These episodes will be lifted from the NOVA archives over the next few months.

Eleven dimensions, parallel universes, and a world made out of strings? It's not science fiction, it's string theory. Bestselling author and physicist Brian Greene offers a tour of this seemingly strange world in "The Elegant Universe," a three-part Peabody Award-winning miniseries.

Part 1, "Einstein's Dream," introduces string theory and shows how modern physics—composed of two theories that are ferociously incompatible—reached its schizophrenic impasse: One theory, general relativity, successfully describes big things like stars and galaxies, while another, quantum mechanics, is equally successful at explaining small things like atoms and subatomic particles. Albert Einstein, the inventor of general relativity, dreamed of finding a single theory that would embrace all of nature's laws. But in this quest for the so-called unified theory, Einstein came up empty-handed, and the conflict between general relativity and quantum mechanics has stymied all who've followed. That is, until the discovery of string theory.

Chapters
00:00 Introduction
03:28 Albert Einstein’s Theory of Everything
09:39 The Law of Gravity: Newton vs Einstein
18:49 What is Electromagnetism?
23:02 Einstein’s Attempt to Unify Gravity and Electromagnetism
29:10 The Strange Rules of Quantum Mechanics
36:00 Strong and Weak Nuclear Forces
40:23 Einstein’s Later Years and Death
43:42 Black Holes and String Theory
49:49 Conclusion

(Premiered October 28, 2003 at 9 PM ET on PBS)

© 2003 WGBH Educational Foundation

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#Einstein #spacetime #stringtheory #generalrelativity #quantumentanglement #quantummechanics #briangreene #einsteinvsnewton #theoryofeverything #electromagnetism #alberteinstein

[Computer-User]

Classic show. I remember watching this when it first aired like it was yesterday. I can't believe it's been 20 years. Time is perhaps the greatest mystery of all.

BTW That Quantum Cafe part is genius. I've always wished there was a whole TV series with that same exact vibe.

Thank you to whoever uploaded this.

[yellowlynx]

I watched it first aired and Brian Greene presented in such a way that made me fascinated about cosmology and physics. Such a classic!

[ritemolawbks]

Great documentary! Two decades after this was produced, we still don't have unification of _General_ _Relativity_ and _Quantum_ _Mechanics._

[matdrat]

Well, given how old this episode is, after ANOTHER decade we're still no closer to a breakthrough.

[vinkoivomilicdiaz]

Very interesting programme. NOVA is a classic. Next year turns 50. Get ready for a very important episode called "Great Moments Of NOVA" premiering in 2024. We want this episode in the future. #novapbs

[BlueBaron]

It's videos like this that really make me miss Carl Sagan 😪

[bd]

Imagine if each string is an entire universe moving and happening so fast we could only hope to conceptualize it as a blurred string. It's not that there are 11 dimensions but infinite. Einstein was right all along.

[Moony_Os]

Thank God the romance-comedy narrator voice from the intro wasn't the narrator voice for the entire video. 🙌

[babakgholian]

When something is maintained and kept well we can call that elegant .

[gerardopc]

Please, we need parts 2 and 3 uploaded. Thanks

[dovbarleib]

Does String Theory have any testable predictions, anything that can be tested by experiment or observation that would be unique to String Theory?

[maggieo]

I love these documentaries and awesome presentations. I've really learned so much. Thank you for sharing. Sending love to all of you there from all of us here in Ontario Canada. ❤️🎶

[TheJemoore]

If the vibration of the strings is analogous to a pendulum swinging, will they ever stop vibrating? That's what's gotten me over this theory.

[xbzq]

This is 20 years old, not 10 years old.

[gewamser]

An amazing series! But now, 10 years later..a bit out of date. Brian needs to update the state of the theory…today.

[Doing_Time]

new theory? Didn't Sam Beckett start studying string theory as a young physics student in the 1960s?

[marksusskind]

This is too familiar. Is there no addenda after 19 and a half years?😉😜

[CarlosRodriguez-mxxy]

You are proving that Science is Beauty.

[dovbarleib]

Plus a Universe with 11 dimensions is *metaphysical*, more a spiritual description of Qabbalah, than a physical description of the Universe.

[storm]

For every action there is not always an equil and opposite reaction.. only a calculated probability!