Relativity

In Our Time: Science

BBC

History

4.5 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 6 June 2013

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Einstein's theories of relativity. Between 1905 and 1917 Albert Einstein formulated a theoretical framework which transformed our understanding of the Universe. The twin theories of Special and General Relativity offered insights into the nature of space, time and gravitation which changed the face of modern science. Relativity resolved apparent contradictions in physics and also predicted several new phenomena, including black holes. It's regarded today as one of the greatest intellectual achievements of the twentieth century, and had an impact far beyond the world of science. With: Ruth Gregory Professor of Mathematics and Physics at Durham University Martin Rees Astronomer Royal and Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astrophysics at the University of Cambridge Roger Penrose Emeritus Rouse Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford. Producer: Thomas Morris.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for downloading this episode of In Our Time, for more details about in our time and for our terms of use please go to BBC.co.uk.
0:09.0	I hope you enjoy the program.
0:11.0	Hello, in 1905 a 26-year-old technical assistant at the Patient Office in Byrne in Switzerland
0:17.0	submitted four papers to a German scientific journal. His name was Albert Einstein,
0:22.0	and the first of these papers, later won him a Nobel Prize.
0:25.6	The second provided the first proof of the existence of atoms.
0:29.2	The fourth brought into being the famous equation E equals M C squared but the third paper Einstein
0:34.9	published in 1905 was perhaps the most significant of all. It gave the first
0:39.5	outline of Einstein's theory of relativity and it's no exaggeration to say that it was one of the
0:44.3	great revolutions of science. In fact there are two theories of relativity, special
0:48.8	and general, separated by just over a decade. Together they offer a new theoretical framework for the nature of space, time, energy and gravity, one of the most important, if complex, contributions to 20th century science.
1:03.0	Quote, everybody knows that Einstein did something astonishing,
1:06.0	wrote Bertrand Russell, but very few people know exactly what it is that he did.
1:10.0	We'd me to discuss Einstein's theories of relativity are three people who do know.
1:14.4	Ruth Gregory, Professor of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Durham.
1:18.4	Lord Reese, Martin Reese, the Emeritus Professor of Cosmology and Astronomer Royal,
1:26.0	and Sir Roger Penra, as Emeritus Raus Ball Professor of Mathematics at the University of Oxford.
1:31.0	Ruth Craig, would you begin by giving us an explanation of the scope of these
1:35.7	two theories of relativity? Well, I think the sort of impact or Einstein's legacy really, if you like,
1:42.4	with both theories of relativity is to change the way that we think of
1:48.1	ourselves within the universe so it's changed our notions of space and time. I think you may have already mentioned this concept of space
1:56.6	time that they're both different aspects of the same thing. And it's also changed the way that we perceive, well in a theoretical sense I suppose, the way we
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