Andy Serkis as Einstein and David Tennant as Eddington
鈥淗ave you by any chance heard anything over there about the English solar-eclipse observation?鈥�
This was how Albert Einstein enquired, with affected nonchalance, about an exhibition mounted by English astrophysicist Arthur Eddington. It was 1919, and Einstein was not yet the world-famous revolutionary scientist.
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Eddington was Einstein鈥檚 bulldog 鈥� championing the German鈥檚 ideas in an England fiercely defensive of Newton. He had gone to Africa to observe an eclipse and conduct the first experimental test of relativity.
The world waited for the results: would Newton鈥檚 ordered universe be replaced by 鈥� as the English saw it 鈥� an Einsteinian madness that would require an entirely new philosophy?
Gollum and the Doctor
These events have now been dramatised in a BBC/HBO film, Einstein and Eddington.
Opening in 1913 as England is about to go to war with Germany, the protagonists are in England 鈥� the director of the Cambridge Observatory, a seat originally held by Newton 鈥� and in Germany 鈥� an obscure theorist whose general theory of relativity threatened two centuries of Newtonian certainty and the foundations of British science.
Einstein, the young genius, is played with lusty relish by Andy Serkis, known to millions as Gollum in the Lord of the Rings films. Eddington, the pacifist Quaker at a time of war, is played by David Tennant, known to millions (in the UK at least) as the time-travelling alien .
There are glimmers of both actors鈥� more well-known roles. Tennant鈥檚 Eddington is passionate about science and justice, non-violent, a believer in science above nationality 鈥� a deeply unpopular position during the first world war.
Serkis鈥� Einstein is more tricksy, quirky, scruffy. Though, sadly, we don鈥檛 get Einstein in split-personality Sm茅agol/Gollum mode. That could鈥檝e been fun: 鈥淥rdered clockwork it is, precious.鈥� 鈥淣o, no, time is relative, gravity bends us it does.鈥� 鈥淟ight doesn鈥檛 bend, light is our friend.鈥� 鈥淣asty wicked light! Light tricks us it does, gravity bends us.鈥� 鈥淎bsolute.鈥� 鈥淩elative.鈥� 鈥淎bsolute.鈥� 鈥淩elative!鈥�
Religious fears
A few things in the film are altered for the sake of drama. It wasn鈥檛 Eddington, for example, who announced the results of the eclipse test to the scientific community and the press, it was the astronomer royal, Frank Dyson. And photos of the eclipse, taken from Brazil and an African island, didn鈥檛 agree exactly.
But no matter; the story movingly invokes the passion of the two young scientists, reminds us how creative and exciting science can be, how it is rebellious, sometimes, and world-changing. Above all, perhaps, how it is inseparable from the humans who drive it.
After Eddington鈥檚 proof, Einstein was propelled to a level of fame unprecedented for a scientist. Eddington鈥檚 light dwindled, as he worried about the religious implications of the new universe.
Perhaps he should have taken a leaf out of Einstein鈥檚 book. When Albert met the archbishop of Canterbury in 1921, he was asked what implications relativity had for religion. 鈥淣one,鈥� said Einstein. 鈥淩elativity is a purely scientific matter and has nothing to do with religion.鈥�
In the UK, Einstein and Eddington will be shown on BBC2 on Saturday 22 November at 21:10, and on HBO in the US later in the year.
