Ce qu'Einstein ne savait pas encore

Depending on where you come from and where you are going to, there is something for everyone. There are people that keep up with the latest information on the universe; for those people, this is a great program to show where the public is. It also is nice to have what you already know restated so you can look at it from a different angle. For people that slept through school or attended the Stone Age, this is maybe a shocker for the last time you looked. Then there are people that see this as a wakeup call for the first time.

The program is designed to give you basic information about the latest theories on how the universe works and goes beyond Einstein to attempt to tie all the theories up into a single elegant bundle (Superstrings.)

The visuals help and having a different media allows one to retain information better. However, the format leaves something to be desired. Redundancy goes beyond reinforcing to boredom. The sound byte format leaping from one person to another, when it is just as possible to stay with one person for a completed thought, is like watching a used car commercial. Anyone concept could be a whole program in itself (and probably is.) They show formula and say here it is two seconds later it is gone, and they are off on another subject.

In any event, you will not look at the universe in the same old way.

If you want to know the hard mechanics, the mathematical underpinnings and other details behind string theory, look elsewhere. If you want to know what physicists are up to these days, then you've found your documentary.

The film makes no attempt to explain the equations behind string theory, but instead gives a synopsis of science history and thinking, followed by the theories developed from that history, in a very plain and simple way most people (read that as people who are not into physics) can understand.

There're no incredibly long differentials strung out on a chalk board or butcher paper for the more educated viewer to scrutinize, copy, and hence play with. What this film is is a presentation of how the scientific community, and specifically high energy physics, is dealing with explaining the basic and fundamental mechanics of existence. If you thought otherwise, and are into physics, and were subsequently let down by the program, then maybe you're not as bright as you thought. That's just some food for thought. I think Einstein once remarked that he believed the universe, at its core, ought to be elegant, simple, and easy to understand. That's the whole point of this documentary: To explain to people how and why the world around us is the way it is.

Myself, a person who's trained in science and who's read some literature on the more theoretical fields of physics, I found this mini-series to be very entertaining, and hope I get to see another special about the next big breakthrough in physics. I learned about things that, quite frankly, I had no idea existed.

If you're just an amateur scientist, or just have a passing interest in scientific things, then this small series should entertain. Heck, even if you're an undergrad you might learn something. Enjoy :-)

The Elegant Universe brings to light many ideas of the universe and existence. After watching this documentary, one can't help but take a step back and rethink their view on the existence of everything. There is a large cast of scientists, mathematicians and others on both sides of String Theory. It is continually brought into question as untested, untestable, and possibly dead wrong. The closest to proselytizing that anyone does is to explain that Quantum Physics, the set of mathematical ideas that give extremely good approximations of what happens to sub-atomic particles, has never made an incorrect prediction. Not so with String Theory; no one is willing to say, on-camera, that String Theory is the truth, and in so doing, the piece retains a certain respectful distance from the subject.

The main question the documentary is asking itself (and the user) is "are we discussing science or philosophy?". I am inclined to choose the last option since almost none of the presented statements have been or ever can be verified.

The documentary consist of a lot of talking, mostly sharing opinions.

An opinion is nice, but please keep it real and on track with facts. In addition, the documentary tents to repeat it self, not once but numerous times, which I found a bit annoying and cheap.

Also the discussion of the string theory kicks of after lets say 2 hours, so be prepared to sit out the first 2 hours seeing through the birth of the string theory and the history of Albert Einstein's career.

Overall conclusion: it is a boring documentary, it provides you with a lot of opinions. I did not learn much and left with a feeling of dissatisfaction, though it did succeed to make me more skeptical regarding the so called string theory and its 11 dimensions.

I rated it a six, barely.

My local PBS station WHYY Philadelphia recently showed "The Elegant Universe." After three hours of watching it, besides having my brain hurt, I learned all about wormholes, quantum mechanics and parallel realities and alternate universes.

The last hour of the show was about "String Theory" Physics, a semi-new branch of physics which makes many of the the ideas of science fiction not only possible, but PROBABLE. With the "String Theory" it sounds like wormholes, alternate realities and alternate timelines ARE possible and it could just be a matter of time until we get the knowledge to use them.

Although it may not have given new information to someone familiar with the topic, I found the show VERY interesting and informative. It was very understandable to anyone who is just being introduced to this subject.