

THE STORY BEHIND THE WORLD'S MOST FAMOUS EQUATION, E = MC2
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.
Ratings
3.5
Cast

Aidan McArdle
Einstein

Anton Lesser
Voltaire
Andrew Callaway
Maupertuis

Julian Rhind-Tutt
Antoine Lavoisier

Shirley Henderson
Mileva Maric
Ty Glaser
Marie Anne Lavoisier
Andy Crabbe
Habicht

Samuel West
Humphry Davy
Daniel D'Alessandro
Algarotti
Brendan Fleming
Hermann Einstein
Gregory Fox-Murphy
Brande
Philip Herbert
Count de Amerval
Chris Jenkinson
Dr. Haller

Wolf Kahler
Horlein

George Layton
Emilie’s Father

Alex Macqueen
Chater
Richard Mulholland
Emilie’s Tutor
Stephen Noonan
Marat

Christopher Eccleston
Narrator (voice)

John Lithgow
Narrator (voice) U.S. edition

Steven Robertson
Michael Faraday

Christian Rubeck
Otto Hahn

Emily Woof
Lise Meitner
Ian Duncan
Charles de Breteuil
James Tovell
Manson
Crew
Details
Release Date
2005-10-11
Runtime
120 min
Original Language
English
Languages
English
German
Production Companies
ARTE
NDR
Tetra Media
Channel 4 Television
Countries
France
Germany
United Kingdom
United States of America
Genres
Documentary
Drama