Season 24

This two-hour program traces Albert Einstein's life and scientific achievements from his birth in 1879 to his death in 1955. The first hour follows Einstein as he seeks to understand the nature of light, with graphics illustrating his renowned thought experiments and his eventual grasp of the interplay between the speed of light and time, culminating in the development of the special theory of relativity. The narrative also delves deeply into Einstein's personal life, including his romance with and marriage to fellow student Mileva Maric and the death of his father. The second hour centers on Einstein's pursuit of a theory that accounts for gravitation and the ordering of the universe, culminating in the general theory of relativity. This theory is confirmed experimentally in 1919 when a solar eclipse reveals stars in positions best explained by gravity bending light.