Synopsis: This boxed set provides three NOVA programs: The Elegant Universe: One of the most ambitious and exciting scientific theories ever posed – one that may be the long-sought “Theory of Everything” – gets a masterful and lavishly animated explanation that will excite scientists and non-scientists alike. Beginning with simple and clear explanations of major concepts of physics, including gravity, electromagnetism, and relativity, The Elegant Universe illuminates one of the most revolutionary theories in physics today. Known as string theory or superstring theory, this startling idea proposes that the fundamental ingredients of nature are inconceivably tiny strands of energy, whose different modes of vibration underlie everything that happens in the universe. The theory attempts to unite the laws of the large – general relativity – and the laws of the small – quantum mechanics – breaking a conceptual logjam that has frustrated scientists for nearly a century. If string theory proves correct, the universe we see obscures a reality that is far richer and more complex than anyone ever imagined – a universe with numerous hidden dimensions, a universe in which the fabric of space can rip and tear, a universe that may be but one of many parallel universes. Join host Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University and the best-selling author of The Elegant Universe, for this exciting and in-depth exploration of this groundbreaking new theory. Einstein's Big Idea: Everyone's heard of it, but what does E=mc2 – the world's most famous equation – really mean? And why did it change the world? With brilliant period recreations, NOVA dramatizes how an obscure young patent clerk, Albert Einstein, came up with his shattering 1905 discovery that the realms of matter and energy are inescapably linked. An accessible, suspenseful epic, Einstein's Big Idea reveals the roots of his astonishing breakthrough in the human stories of men and women whose innovative thinking across four centuries helped lead to E=mc2, and ultimately unleashed the power of the atom. Here are stories rich with achievement and failure, feuds and duplicity, love and rivalry, politics and revenge: Michael Faraday, the penniless blacksmith's son who fought the ridicule of the scientific establishment; Antoine Lavoisier, the cool-headed experimenter who fell victim to the guillotine; and Lise Meitner, the physicist who weathered Nazi persecution and personal betrayal on her path to discovering the splitting of the atom. As one discovery builds on the next, Einstein's Big Idea shows how Einstein's saga began with the personal lives of these pioneers and their years of persistence, ingenuity, sacrifice, and heroic struggle against the odds. The film stars Aidan McArdle (Ella Enchanted) as Einstein, and Shirley Henderson (Bridget Jones and Harry Potter) as Einstein's first wife, Mileva Maric. Einstein Revealed: Journey into the mind of a genius and visualize the thought experiments Albert Einstein could only imagine: mind-boggling meditations on light, time, and space that would forever change the way we view the universe. This two-hour special offers a penetrating profile of the world's most renowned physicist, who contributed more than any other to our modern vision of physical reality. | 
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