To view any part of this three-hour mini-series, choose an episode
from one of the three columns below and select either QuickTime (full-screen
option available) or RealVideo to begin. If you experience
difficulty viewing, it may be due to high demand. We regret this,
and suggest you try back at another time. Note that NOVA programs
are not available for downloading due to rights restrictions.
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watch chapter 1 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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conveys Einstein's quest to unify the laws of nature
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introduces string theory as a candidate for a
unified theory
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summarizes the theory's main idea—that all
matter and forces are made of tiny strands of energy
that vibrate in different patterns
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reviews why physicists are pursuing unification
running time 6:21
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watch chapter 1 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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reviews the concept of general relativity and
quantum mechanics and the conflict between the two
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discusses the breakdown of general relativity and
quantum mechanics at the moment of the big bang,
when the universe was both enormously massive and
incredibly tiny
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suggests that string theory may be able to unite the
two theories
running time 8:26
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watch chapter 1 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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explores the idea of wormholes, tube-like tunnels
through the fabric of space
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uses a doughnut and coffee cup to illustrate the
topology of space
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relates how general relativity predicts a fabric of
space that is smooth and cannot tear while quantum
mechanics predicts a fabric of space that can tear
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illustrates how strings could make it possible for
space to tear and repair itself
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chronicles some of the predictions of string theory,
including hidden dimensions and parallel universes
running time 10:02
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watch chapter 2 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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chronicles how, in 1665, Isaac Newton integrated the
laws governing the heavens and Earth under the
theory of gravity
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notes that while Newton accurately described the
strength of gravity, he had no idea how it actually
worked
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details Einstein's discovery that nothing can travel
faster than the speed of light and reveals how that
finding conflicted with Newton's laws that showed
that gravity acts instantaneously across any
distance
running time 6:04
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watch chapter 2 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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relates that general relativity describes gravity
and that quantum mechanics describes the strong
force, the weak force, and electromagnetism
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notes that scientists have traditionally pictured
the fundamental units of nature as point particles
and that string theory proposes that all matter is
made up of tiny, vibrating strings
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introduces the criticism that string theory cannot
currently be tested experimentally or confirmed
observationally
running time 4:40
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watch chapter 2 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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reviews the current particle model of matter
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compares string theory's strings to those of a
musical instrument and explains how just as a
musical string vibrates to play different musical
notes, strings might vibrate in distinct ways to
make up all the particles in the universe
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notes how string theory, if correct, could help
explain all matter and all forces in the universe
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relates that at one point, there were five equally
valid, competing string theories
running time 4:09
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watch chapter 3 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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explains how Einstein came to understand that
gravity is the warping of spacetime
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shows how Einstein resolved the conflict with
Newton's ideas by showing in his general theory of
relativity that gravity travels at the speed of
light
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describes how James Clerk Maxwell unified
electricity and magnetism in the mid-1800s into a
single theory of electromagnetism
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chronicles Einstein's ensuing quest to unify gravity
and electromagnetism
running time 7:11
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watch chapter 3 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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relates how string theory was born out of a
200-year-old equation discovered and further
developed by physicist Gabriele Veneziano in the
1960s
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recalls that while physicist Leonard Susskind was
working with the equation, he realized that it was
describing a kind of particle that had internal
structure and could vibrate, like an elastic string
running time 4:12
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watch chapter 3 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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reviews the introduction of M-theory in 1995, a
theory that unified five earlier versions of string
theory into one theory
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explains how M-theory calls for a universe with 11
spacetime dimensions, which is one more dimension
than was proposed by previous string theories
running time 5:21
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watch chapter 4 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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illustrates how electromagnetism works and why it is
hundreds of billions of times stronger than gravity
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notes how, while Einstein was still trying to unify
electromagnetism and gravity, many in the physics
community were beginning to explore the inner world
of the atom
running time 4:30
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watch chapter 4 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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notes the discovery of many subatomic particles,
including those that carry the electromagnetic, the
strong, and the weak forces
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reviews the idea that these forces may have been
unified at the earliest moments in time
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relates the development of the Standard Model
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details how early pioneers working on string theory
began running into problems with the theory
running time 6:36
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watch chapter 4 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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suggests ways to envision the concept of extra
dimensions, such as imagining a world of fewer
dimensions, like the two-dimensional world of a
movie
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illustrates how the additional dimension of M-theory
allows a string to stretch out into a membrane-like
form that could exist in multiple dimensions
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uses a loaf of bread to illustrate how our universe
may be just one of many parallel universes that
could exist in multiple dimensions
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explores why we might not be able to see or
experience parallel universes
running time 5:03
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watch chapter 5 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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relates the rise of subatomic physics in the 1920s
and reviews the development of the radical theory of
quantum mechanics and the uncertainty that rules the
quantum world
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uses a fictional setting called the Quantum
Café to illustrate how the quantum world
behaves
running time 8:24
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watch chapter 5 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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explains how one physicist solved the problem of a
massless particle predicted by the theory—by
suggesting that it may be a graviton (the theorized
force carrier particle for gravity)
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recalls how other physicists found a way to free
string theory of mathematical anomalies that plagued
the theory
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notes that string theory was christened the Theory
of Everything
running time 7:18
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watch chapter 5 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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notes that in relation to the other three
fundamental forces, gravity is actually a very weak
force
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states that gravity may just appear to be
weak—it may be as strong as the other forces
but appears weak because it is seeping into other
universes
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uses a slice of toast to illustrate how matter may
be tied to our membrane while gravity may not
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relates that gravity may be leaking off because it
is composed of closed strings that are not tied down
to our membrane like the open strings of matter
running time 5:58
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watch chapter 6 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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conveys the discovery in the 1930s of two additional
forces—the strong and weak forces
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illustrates how the strong force was unleashed when
the first atomic bomb was detonated in Trinity, New
Mexico, and how the weak force governs the
radioactive remnants of that explosion
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reviews the problem of trying to describe the force
of gravity with the other three forces of nature
running time 4:25
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watch chapter 6 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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reviews the basic concept of string theory and how
it resolves the conflict between general relativity
and quantum theory
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introduces the idea that, in order to work, string
theory requires extra spatial dimensions
running time 5:29
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watch chapter 6 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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suggests that if there is intelligent life in
parallel universes, gravity waves could
theoretically be used to communicate with that life
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reports the incomplete nature of the big bang theory
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explores the possibility that the big bang may have
been caused by a collision of membranes carrying
parallel universes
running time 7:37
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watch chapter 7 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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notes that for many years, physicists split into two
camps—one using general relativity to study
big objects like galaxies and the other using
quantum mechanics to study tiny objects like
subatomic particles
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explains how understanding the depths of a black
hole requires applying both sets of laws, which
results in nonsensical predictions
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reviews the development of Karl Schwarzchild's
theory of black holes and the subsequent
observational evidence supporting that theory
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suggests that string theory could provide a way to
unite general relativity and quantum mechanics
running time 7:58
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watch chapter 7 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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describes the familiar three dimensions of space and
one of time
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notes that the idea of extra dimensions dates back
to 1919 when a mathematician named Theodor Kaluza
proposed a universe with four spatial dimensions
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proposed where the extra spatial dimensions may
exist and what they might look like
running time 6:57
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watch chapter 7 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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begins by noting how some physicists feel that if
string theory cannot be experimentally confirmed
then it is more a philosophy than a science
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reveals that while strings are thought to be too
tiny to see directly, that someday we may see their
fingerprints in space left over from the big bang
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relates how scientists are trying to find evidence
of extra dimensions and supersymmetry to support
string theory's predictions
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shows how a particle accelerator works and follows
the race between scientists worldwide to discover
evidence of supersymmetry
running time 6:29
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watch chapter 8 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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explains the importance of the precise values of the
fundamental components that define the universe's
characteristics
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discusses the importance of the shape of string
theory's extra dimensions in determining the precise
values of these fundamental components.
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highlights the dilemma string theory theorists faced
in the late-1980s—that while searching for one
theory of everything, they arrived at five different
equally valid theories.
running time 4:59
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watch chapter 8 in
QuickTime
RealVideo
This chapter:
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explores the validity of string theory.
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reviews how our views have changed with time as we
have learned more about nature
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notes that string theory could provide a whole new
spectrum of answers to age-old questions about how
the universe works
running time 3:53
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