Nova - The Elegant Universe

Starring:Leonard Susskind, Gabriele Veneziano, Michael B. Green, Walter Lewin, Edward Witten, Cumrun Vafa, Brian Greene, Steven Weinberg, Amanda Peet (II), John Schwarz (II), Michael Duff (III)
Director: Joseph McMaster, Julia Cort (II)
Studio: Wgbh Boston
Product Type: DVD

Editorial Review:
Amazon.com
Based on Brian Greene's book, this three-part Nova program should do for physics what Cosmos did for astronomy. Greene hosts the program on the relative new concept of String Theory, a potential (and explosive) answer to the Holy Grail of science: a single, ultimate theory for everything. Part of Greene's (along with filmmakers Julia Cort and Joseph McMaster) genius is the ability to explain complex issues with ease thanks to a generous helping of graphics and humor. It starts with a perplexing anecdote: Einstein died trying to figure out if there could be an ultimate theory. His General Theory of Relativity brought order to the laws of large objects, but could not explain the chancier world of Quantum Mechanics (which deals with atomic particles). String Theory tries to marry the two. Greene and many colleagues give us a history of the quest and how String Theory was "discovered" in the 1980s. The formula has a lot of quirks, the most dazzling being the insistence there's 11 dimensions in the universe. Greene is not as natural as Cosmos creator/host Carl Sagan, but he is certainly friendly and encouraging (albeit it's quite odd for the host to be interviewed at various times in the program). Because it's a three-part show, there is some overlap at the start of hours 2 and 3. --Doug Thomas
Description
One of the most ambitious and exciting scientific theories ever posedone 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 largegeneral relativityand the laws of the smallquantum mechanicsbreaking 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 imagineda 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.

Special DVD features include: bonus videohow the animation was created; Multidimensional Math activity; The Making of The Elegant Universe activity; printable materials and activities for educators; link to The Elegant Universe Web site; excerpt from the best-selling book The Elegant Universe; scene selections; closed captions; and described video for the visually impaired.

On two DVD9 discs. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: Letterboxed.

Amazon.com

Based on Brian Greene's book, this three-part Nova program should do for physics what Cosmos did for astronomy. Greene hosts the program on the relative new concept of String Theory, a potential (and explosive) answer to the Holy Grail of science: a single, ultimate theory for everything. Part of Greene's (along with filmmakers Julia Cort and Joseph McMaster) genius is the ability to explain complex issues with ease thanks to a generous helping of graphics and humor. It starts with a perplexing anecdote: Einstein died trying to figure out if there could be an ultimate theory. His General Theory of Relativity brought order to the laws of large objects, but could not explain the chancier world of Quantum Mechanics (which deals with atomic particles). String Theory tries to marry the two. Greene and many colleagues give us a history of the quest and how String Theory was "discovered" in the 1980s. The formula has a lot of quirks, the most dazzling being the insistence there's 11 dimensions in the universe. Greene is not as natural as Cosmos creator/host Carl Sagan, but he is certainly friendly and encouraging (albeit it's quite odd for the host to be interviewed at various times in the program). Because it's a three-part show, there is some overlap at the start of hours 2 and 3. --Doug Thomas

Description

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.

Special DVD features include: bonus video—how the animation was created; Multidimensional Math activity; The Making of The Elegant Universe activity; printable materials and activities for educators; link to The Elegant Universe Web site; excerpt from the best-selling book The Elegant Universe; scene selections; closed captions; and described video for the visually impaired.

On two DVD9 discs. Region coding: All regions. Audio: Dolby stereo. Screen format: Letterboxed.

Customer Reviews:

The Arrogant Universe - Black Holes, Big Bang and the Emperor's New Clothes.......2007-05-16

I watched the "Stephen Hawking's Universe" series (which introduced String Theory in the last episode) before this program, and one common theme struck me. In the previous program, A String Theorist made a statement to the effects of "Monkeys are not smart enogh to understand calculus or physics, so maybe humans are not smart enough to understand String Theory". In this program, Brian Greene went one step further. He was actually shown teaching Einstein's equation to a dog, before finally gave up with the conclusion: "Dogs are just not smart enough to get it".

But here's the problem: If String Theory is so advanced that the majority of physicists can't "get it", then how can you understand it by watching this TV series?

Answer: You are not supposed to understand it. You just have to BELIEVE it.

"The Elegant Universe" is made more like a flashy informercial for the purpose of selling/promoting String Theory. It made effective use of movie-grade special effects (Brian jumps off a tall building and lands on his feet, for example) and dazzling computer graphics (such as tiny strings swimming around, swallowing up rips and tears in the universe). It repeatedly mention that Theory of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics cannot co-exist in Black Holes or during the Big Bang, and that only String Theory has the power to unite all forces and explain everything in our universe. Yet by the time you reached the end of this series and look back, you'll realize that nothing new was actually proven using String Theory - not the Black Holes, not the Big Bang, nothing! Even the way it expalins gravity (as a special, closed-loop string that drifts between parallel universes) is extremely clunky. Yet the promise remains to be: "Some day, String Theory will be able to explain everything".

Unfortunately, there is not a shred of physical evidence that can prove String Theory is valid outside of its own 11-dimension mathematical space. String Theory claims to be able to explain everything in a self-consistent manner, therefore it can never be proven wrong. On the other hand, it makes no predictions that can be measured in the labs or observed in the stars, therefore it can never be proven right either. It is essentialy a faith-based theory that says "everything can be explained - if you believe in higher planes of existence".

So we have to ask: Is String Theory science, or is it religion?

(pondering)

Nevermind that. We dogs are not smart enough to know the difference, anyway.

great teaching tool.......2007-05-12

I used this with my 8th grade astronomy class to teach the kids about what is going on right now in the world of astrophysics and cosmology. There are also a lot of educational tools. It presented String Theory in a way that most of my 8th graders (honors students) could understand. The only down side is that written only by people who are in favor of String Theory so the counter argument is underrepresented- but as a teacher you can balance that out by doing some extra research. Overall, it's a great teaching tool.

Good for some audiences, but can't be compared to the book........2007-05-05

This is an entertaining DVD that introduces the concept of string theory. It is NOT a replacement for the book which is quite detailed and goes in-depth. What what loses in detail, one gains in accessibility. If you are a very serious science person, you will likely be disappointed. If you are a layperson who just wants to get a taste of this area with some good commentary, you will most likely appreciate it.

The Superstars of Physics comment on the Theory of Everything.......2007-04-10

Brian Greene, Prof of Physics and Mathematics at Columbia and PBS NOVA have come together to present the best possible case for the theory of everything using Greene's bestselling "The Elegant Universe" as a bases for the presentation.

The Elegant Universe (TEU) the miniseries by PBS ran on the 28th October 2003 in three parts on the science series NOVA. This DVD contains all three one hour episodes. The series starts with classical physics and then moves on to the big controversies in unifying two major disciplines in science, relativity and quantum mechanics. It does this by combining Brian Greene in lecture form with cutting edge computer graphics. The outcome makes this an essential talk on understanding modern thinking for an explanation of the cosmos.

Hour 1: Einstein's Dream
Hour 2: String's The Thing
Hour 3: Welcome to the 11th Dimension

TEU covers the biggest conflicts in physics. String theory becomes a solution. It explains logic of probability in the world and how the standard model (TSM) has come to be (unifying electromagnetism and the weak force into the electroweak force) but without incorporating gravity. Newton is covered with his mechanical physics and Einstein's relativity is easily absorbed.

Quantum topics are the trickiest to understand but TEU the miniseries does a good job of explaining Quantum theory, its mechanisms and how things breakdown when we go further into the quantum world. This breakdown is resolved in the unification of Einstein's theory of General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics through string theory.

The remainder of the miniseries is about how string theory works and what it predicts and where we are in scientifically proving it today (they can't but they have the core math work done). Much like Hawking's approach to educating people about physics, Greene explains it all in layman's terms.

While this is nowhere near as good as Greene's book of the same name it does help to visualize what he is saying and so as a companion is well worth getting but it has greater values other than just as a compliment to his work.

The best thing this miniseries has going for it is the list of superstars in physics who comment on the TOE. These big names include Michael Duff, Brian Green, Michael B. Green, Walter Lewin, Joseph Lykken, Amanda Peet, John Schwarz, Maria Spiropulu, Leonard Susskind, Cumrun Vafa, Gabriele Veneziano, Steven Weinberg and the highly acclaimed Edward Witten who is the real reason for watching this.

The bottom line is that string theory is still highly theoretical and it is even questionable if there are any experiments that exist to show to it but the maths is there for it and the search for the supersymmetry circumstantial proof is underway at CERN. Also if the fact that scientists haven't provided scientific proof of strings isn't bad enough, ST produced not just one TOE but five different ones! It is obvious that the existence of five realities poses the big questions of which of the five is our universe and where are the other four? This problem was eventually resolved by Witten's M-Theory which discovered that the 5 realities were just a reflection of 1 and established the 11 dimensional superstring model that has the ability to become one big large membrane (as big as the universe) and for these various branes to float around as alternative dimensions. However none of this has been verified.

Greene's detractors claim that ST is pseudoscience... and they have a point but what these people don't tell you is that ST is extremely hard to disprove.

How ST produced a TOE is not mystery. It is not a bunk pseudoscience. A mathematician can reproduce and verify the results of ST without any anomalies and makes some predictions which fit quite well with what we know today (especially with particle spins). Strings are mathematically explained from an equation called the "Euler-beta function". Michael Greene and John Schwarz resolved gravity with the quantum mathematically using strings in 1984 after twelve years of work. Strings also explained why known particles have their known masses. It is extremely difficult to ignore the data yet the idea of not being able to observe it is problematic.

The TOE as per ST is solved. Even if we never detect strings somehow, we still have the question of 11 dimensions and how they work. The software is there but it's a highly detailed and complicated one. It runs the hardware but there are all these extra fuctions and buttons that scientists can't explain yet. Quite simply put, ST is a whole lot more than what we need to explain everything! Scientists just don't like that, and right fully so.

For the record Hawking has already stated that this is the course that his work has taken after admitting that information cannot be destroyed [see laws of thermodynamics] nor is it destroyed by a black hole in response to the Hawking Paradox.

Overall TEU suggests one huge powerful thing for everybody and one detrimental thing for modern science. The power of ST is unquestionable. It can do anything and is absolutely logical. ST just needed to unify the principles of physics and it has done its job. The detrimental part is that like the death of classical physics with Einstein, a lot of scientists may be gambling instead of doing things scientifically. If you can't prove it scientifically then it isn't science. Yet again, imagination and experimentation is what science is all about. It is not that we have given ST too much imagination... we probably haven't given it enough as M-theory shows! However when you find out that ploughing nearly all the brain power of new physics grads into it (1 in 10 students choose ST), this is either a very positive thing for ST or a harmful thing for science if it turns out ST was wrong. Still who wants to sit on their laurels with ST waving?

ST feels right... in fact, very right. Baring this in mind it was Carl Sagan who when asked about gut feelings said "I think with my brain not my stomach". If ST could replace the gut instinct drive with verifiable experiments then we would know for certain that ST is definitely how the universe works.

Until you see the headlines "Supersymmetry Found", taste the very real possibility of knowing everything by watch Nova's The Elegant Universe presented by Brian Greene.

(If you like this I highly recommend Carl Sagan's Cosmos on DVD and for a deeper understanding of physics try finding the 52 parts of The Mechanical Universe series)

Absolutely incredible!.......2007-03-18

Talk about making the unimaginable managable! I read the book but the movie really brought the concepts to light. I absolutely loved it.

NOVA - Physics: The Elegant Universe and Beyond

Average customer rating:

a GREAT buy! 3 shows for only $35.
Excellent presentation
Does Expand Your Universe Indeed
The looney tunes I ordered was more educational
Not "Beyond," just repackaged

NOVA - Physics: The Elegant Universe and Beyond
Starring: Maria Spiropulu , Joseph Lykken , Edward Witten , Cumrun Vafa , and Steven Weinberg
Director: Joseph McMaster , and Julia Cort (II)
Manufacturer: WGBH Boston
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Documentary | Genres | DVD | Video

WGBH Boston | Television | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Educational | Genres | DVD | Video

Science & Technology | Educational | Genres | DVD | Video

( N ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video

Documentary | Boxed Sets | Stores | DVD | Video

NOVA | PBS | Specialty Stores | DVD | Video
Similar Items:

NOVA - Origins
NOVA - The Elegant Universe
NOVA - Genius: The Science of Einstein, Newton, Darwin, and Galileo
NOVA: Einstein's Big Idea
NOVA - Cracking the Code of Life

ASIN: B000C8STPI
Release Date: 2006-02-28

Description

The Elegant Universe Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory Join host Brian Greene, professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University and the best-selling author of The Elegant Universe, for an in-depth exploration of the groundbreaking new string theory that will excite scientists and non-scientists alike. 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

Beginning with simple and clear explanations of major concepts of physics, including gravity, electromagnetism, and relativity, The Elegant Universe illuminates how string theory 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. If proven correct, this theory of "everything" would 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.

Einstein's Big Idea Everyone's heard of it, but what does E=mc2 really mean? With brilliant period recreations, discover how an obscure patent clerk, Albert Einstein, came up with his shattering 1905 discovery that the realms of matter and energy are inescapably linked. Starring Aidan McArdle (Ella Enchanted) as Einstein, and Shirley Henderson (Bridget Jones's Diary) as Einstein's first wife, Mileva Maric.

Einstein Revealed Journey into the mind of a genius in this penetrating profile of the world's most renowned physicist, who contributed more than any other to our modern vision of physical reality. Andrew Sachs (Fawlty Towers) stars as Albert Einstein.

Customer Reviews:

a GREAT buy! 3 shows for only $35........2007-05-18

Some complain that this set is not what claims to be, I beg to differ. It is indeed "The Elegant Universe and Beyond"... Perhaps some thought it was "Beyond the Elegant universe" or even "The Elegant Universe II", well it is not.
This a great box set for those who do not already own any of the three titles it contains. Each of these titles I might add is worth the price of the box set alone in my opinion.

If you didn't already know, this set contains three nova episodes:

1) The Elegant Universe (WG36779)

2) Einstein's Big Idea (WG38889)

3) Einstein Revealed (WG26479)

Each of these episodes are great on their own but watching them together really puts you in the life of Einstein and makes you think about physics and math as you may never have done so before. The style of the Einstein episodes is great for getting younger students interested in science and exploration.
I say get this box set and you will be entertained as well as educated at the same time. Watch them with your kids.

Excellent presentation.......2007-05-13

The information is well presented in a format that enhances the learning of a complex subject.

Does Expand Your Universe Indeed.......2007-03-03

I think I have watched the "Elegant Universe" part at least ten times, and I learn something new each time. I found the biographies of Einstein very well done as well, (only watched them twice). Even though I am a physician, I have always had an interest in nearly all the "arts and sciences" ever since I can remember, and I am also a big science fiction fan as well. (Got my start at age 10 when I saw the movie, "2001: a Space Odyssey".) I find this DVD set to be so well done that I have bought extra copies as gifts for other people. It explains fascinating new concepts of how our universe is put together in a very "user-friendly" and creative/artistic way, and does it so well that you might just consider taking on a new hobby/career/college degree!!! A very provocative and inspiring production! The negative reviews that I read here sound like they come from people who are conceited know-it-alls who like to shove that fact into people's faces, and are NOT giving an accurate and fair representation of this collection of DVDs. If you have a natural interest in understanding how the Universe works around you and want to know how scientists are trying to add to that knowledge, you will NOT be disappointed by this set!!

The looney tunes I ordered was more educational.......2007-01-19

And thats all I have to say about that.

Not "Beyond," just repackaged.......2007-01-17

Like an aging rock band in need of money, PBS took The Elegant Universe and added two second rate documentaries to make it "Beyond." The two added disc aren't the worst documentaries I've ever seen, but they are about Einstein and add nothing new to String Theory. I was expecting a continuation of The Elegant Universe, maybe even Leonard Susskind showing the mathematical formulas behind the theory, but I am very disappointed.

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