Video Details

The Elegant Universe

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Episodes:

• The Elegant Universe. Einstein's Dream.

  Program One, "The Elegant Universe: Einstein's Dream," introduces string theory and shows how modern physics being composed of two theories that are ferociously incompatible reached its schizophrenic impasse: one theory, known as general relativity, is fantastically successful in describing big things like stars and galaxies, and another, called quantum mechanics, is equally successful in describing small things like atoms and subatomic particles.

  Length:	00:55:13

• The Elegant Universe. String's The Thing.

  Program Two, "The Elegant Universe: String's the Thing," opens with a whimsical scene in a movie theater in which the history of the universe is run backwards to the big bang, the moment at which general relativity and quantum mechanics both come into play, and therefore the point at which our conventional model of reality breaks down. Fang-Yi Sheu always loved to dance, but the island of Taiwan was too small for her ambition. She wanted to dance on the world stage which meant she had to leave her uncomprehending parents behind and come to New York City, the capital of dance. It has been a long and difficult journey, but today she is the star of the Martha Graham Dance Company. After Russia's most famous artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov fled the oppression of the Soviet Union, they never thought they would return until they were offered the chance to exhibit their work at the Hermitage, Russia's greatest museum. The exhibition was an extraordinary success, but it brought back memories of why they fled. The Art Of Departure also tells the story of the unprecedented array of scientists, artists, and intellectuals who fled fascism in the 1930's, focusing on Arturo Toscanini, the world's most renowned conductor, the maestro who defied both Mussolini and Hitler

  Length:	00:55:15

• The Elegant Universe. String's The Thing.

  Program Two, "The Elegant Universe: String's the Thing," opens with a whimsical scene in a movie theater in which the history of the universe is run backwards to the big bang, the moment at which general relativity and quantum mechanics both come into play, and therefore the point at which our conventional model of reality breaks down. Fang-Yi Sheu always loved to dance, but the island of Taiwan was too small for her ambition. She wanted to dance on the world stage?which meant she had to leave her uncomprehending parents behind and come to New York City, the capital of dance. It has been a long and difficult journey, but today she is the star of the Martha Graham Dance Company. After Russia's most famous artists Ilya and Emilia Kabakov fled the oppression of the Soviet Union, they never thought they would return?until they were offered the chance to exhibit their work at the Hermitage, Russia's greatest museum. The exhibition was an extraordinary success, but it brought back memories of why they fled. The Art Of Departure also tells the story of the unprecedented array of scientists, artists, and intellectuals who fled fascism in the 1930's, focusing on Arturo Toscanini, the world's most renowned conductor, the maestro who defied both Mussolini and Hitler

  Length:	00:55:15

• The Elegant Universe. Welcome to the 11th Dimension.

  Program Three, "The Elegant Universe: Welcome to the 11th Dimension," shows how in 1995 Edward Witten of Princeton's Institute for Advanced Study, aided by others, revolutionized string theory by successfully uniting the five different versions into a single theory that is cryptically named "M-theory," a development which required a total of eleven dimensions.

  Length:	00:54:58

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