What is the Theory of Relativity?

A Brief History of Time

October 1991 •English

This shows physicist Stephen Hawking's life as he deals with the ALS that renders him immobile and unable to speak without the use of a computer. Hawking's friends, family, classmates, and peers are interviewed not only about his theories but the man himself.

Physics at Half Past Nine

January 1971 •Russian

A physicist, a director of popular-science films, and a sports fan talk about the structure of the atom between periods of a hockey game they watch on TV.

A Trip to Infinity

September 2022 •English

Does infinity exist? Can we experience the Infinite? In an animated film (created by artists from 10 countries) the world's most cutting-edge scientists and mathematicians go in search of the infinite and its mind-bending implications for the universe. Eminent mathematicians, particle physicists and cosmologists dive into infinity and its mind-bending implications for the universe.

Cosmic Voyage

August 1996 •English

The Academy Award® nominee Cosmic Voyage combines live action with state-of-the-art computer-generated imagery to pinpoint where humans fit in our ever-expanding universe. Highlighting this journey is a "cosmic zoom" based on the powers of 10, extending from the Earth to the largest observable structures in the universe, and then back to the subnuclear realm.

The Hunt for Dark Matter

May 2017 •English

CERN and the University of California-Santa Barbara are collaborating in the search for the elusive substance that physicists and astronomers believe holds the universe together -- dark matter. Where is this search now in the realm of particle physics and what comes next?

Polarograf

January 1952 •Czech

Stephen Hawking and The Theory of Everything

March 2009 •English

Twenty years after A Brief History of Time flummoxed the world with its big numbers and black holes, its author, Stephen Hawking, concedes that the "ultimate theory" he'd believed to be imminent - which would conclusively explain the origins of life, the universe and everything - remains frustratingly elusive. Yet despite his failing health and the seeming impossibility of the task, Hawking is still devoted to his work; an extraordinary drive that's captured here in fleeting interview snippets and footage of the scientist sharing a microwave dinner with some fawning PhD students. Though the pop-science tutorials that dapple the first of this two-part biography are winningly perky, Hawking, alas, remains as tricky to fathom as his boggling quantum whatnots

Black Holes: The Edge of All We Know

March 2020 •English

Black holes stand at the limit of what we can know. To explore that edge of knowledge, the Event Horizon Telescope links observatories across the world to simulate an earth-sized instrument. With this tool the team pursues the first-ever picture of a black hole, resulting in an image seen by billions of people in April 2019. Meanwhile, Hawking and his team attack the black hole paradox at the heart of theoretical physics—Do predictive laws still function, even in these massive distortions of space and time? Weaving them together is a third strand, philosophical and exploratory using expressive animation. “Edge” is about practicing science at the highest level, a film where observation, theory, and philosophy combine to grasp these most mysterious objects.

CERN

November 2013 •English

CERN in Switzerland is a research center where they try to recreate the big bang. Nikolaus Geyrhalter follows the center's infrastructure and meets the people who created the "Large Hadron Collider".

Riding Light

January 2015 •English

In our terrestrial view of things, the speed of light seems incredibly fast. But as soon as you view it against the vast distances of the universe, it's unfortunately very slow. This animation illustrates, in realtime, the journey of a photon of light emitted from the surface of the sun and traveling across a portion of the solar system, from a human perspective. Liberties were taken with certain things like the alignment of planets and asteroids, as well as ignoring the laws of relativity concerning what a photon actually "sees" or how time is experienced at the speed of light, but overall the size and distances of all the objects were kept as accurate as possible. It was also decided to end the animation just past Jupiter to keep the running length below an hour.

Cern and the Sense of Beauty

April 2017 •Italian

An exploration of the link between science and beauty through the work of scientists at CERN, in Geneva.

The Last Artifact

January 2020 •English

Just outside Paris, France, inside a high-tech vault, requiring three independently controlled keys, rests a small metallic cylinder about the diameter of a golf ball. Encased within three vacuum-sealed bell jars it may not look like much, but it is one of the most important objects on the planet. It affects nearly every aspect of our lives from the moment we are born, to the food we eat, the cars we drive, and even the medicines we take. The Last Artifact follows the high-stakes race to redefine the weight of the world reveals the untold story of one of the most important objects on the planet. The kilogram, the base unit of mass in the International System of Units, helped send humans to the moon and satellites into space. This small hunk of metal is the object against which all others are measured. Yet over time, its mass mysteriously eroded by the weight of an eyelash. A change that, unbeknownst to most, unleashed a crisis with potentially dire consequences.

A Universe from Nothing

October 2009 •English

Lawrence Krauss gives a talk on our current picture of the universe, how it will end, and how it could have come from nothing. Krauss is the author of many bestselling books on Physics and Cosmology, including "The Physics of Star Trek."

The Universe: God and the Universe

January 2011 •English

Where did the universe come from and did a creator have a hand in making it? As scientists learn more about the universe, our ideas about exactly what God made (the earth, the universe, the multi-verse even nothing but empty space) have come into question.

BLAST!

April 2008 •English

With extraordinary access, BLAST exposes a world of risky, hardcore, scientific adventure. The story follows an international team of astrophysicists trying to launch a multi-million dollar telescope on a NASA high-altitude balloon. Their journey to discover thousands of early galaxies takes them from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Revealing frustrations, inevitable failures and ultimate triumph, BLAST puts a human face on the quest to answer our most basic question - How did we get here?

Pop! The Science of Bubbles

April 2013 •English

Physicist Dr Helen Czerski takes us on a journey into the science of bubbles - not just fun toys, but also powerful tools that push back the boundaries of science.

Particle Fever

June 2013 •English

As the Large Hadron Collider is about to be launched for the first time, physicists are on the cusp of the greatest scientific discovery of all time - or perhaps their greatest failure.

Frames of Reference

January 1960 •English

An educational physics film utilizing a fascinating set consisting of a rotating table and furniture occupying surprisingly unpredictable spots within the viewing area, Leacock’s Frames of Reference (1960), features fine cinematography by Abraham Morochnik, and funny narration by University of Toronto professors Donald Ivey and Patterson Hume, in a wonderful example of the fun a creative team of filmmakers can have with a subject other, less imaginative types might find pedestrian.

The Standard Deviants: The Gravity-Packed World of Physics, Parts 1&2

September 2000 •English

Physics is a system of models of nature according to which all phenomena are explained in terms of matter and force. Sound confusing? It doesn't have to be! Whether you need help with high school physics, need to review for a college physics class, or you're studying for the AP Physics Exam, this physics tutorial will help you understand the basics, such as Newton's Laws, the Law of Universal Gravitation, Kepler's Law and more.

Take the World From Another Point of View

January 1973 •English

In 1973 Yorkshire public television made a short film of the Nobel laureate while he was there. The resulting film, Take the World from Another Point of View, was broadcast in America as part of the PBS Nova series. The documentary features a fascinating interview, but what sets it apart from other films on Feynman is the inclusion of a lively conversation he had with the eminent British astrophysicist Fred Hoyle.