Genius by Stephen Hawking

PAUL,

VOICE-OVER

WE'RE IN AN INDOOR RUNNING TRACK. WHAT'S THIS GOT TO DO WITH THE UNIVERSE? MORNING, GUYS, MORNING. ALL RIGHT. RIGHT. SO WE HAVE SOME SIGNS.

HAWKING

MY VOLUNTEERS HAVE THE EQUIPMENT THEY NEED TO ORGANIZE A SPECIAL RACE... SAFETY PINS. SAFETY PINS. MIMICKING THE MOVEMENT OF GALAXIES IN SPACE. WILL THEY FIGURE IT OUT? OH, SO THESE ARE DIFFERENT GALAXIES AND THEIR, UH, DISTANCE FROM EARTH. OH, WAIT. GUYS, LOOK. THEY HAVE, LIKE, LITTLE GALAXIES ON THEM.

PAUL

OH, THEY DO. LOOK AT THAT. HA HA HA! THIS IS PERFECT. MARCIA,

VOICE-OVER

I NOTICED THAT ALL OF THE T-SHIRTS HAVE GALAXIES ON THEM, SO I'M ASSUMING THAT EACH OF THESE RUNNERS WILL REPRESENT A GALAXY. YOU KNOW WHAT THESE LOOK LIKE TO ME? THESE LOOK LIKE RACE NUMBERS. RACE NUMBERS. MARCIA, EACH OF THE RACE BIBS CONTAINS NAME OF THE GALAXY AND HOW FAR THE GALAXY IS IN LIGHT YEARS AWAY FROM EARTH. I THINK WE JUST PUT THESE ON OUR LOVELY VOLUNTEERS. OK. AND THEN WE CAN HAVE OUR RACE. SOUNDS LIKE A GOOD IDEA. YEP. LET'S HAVE A RACE. LET'S HAVE A RACE.

HAWKING

TO HELP THEM UNCOVER THE SECRET IN HUBBLE'S DATA, MY VOLUNTEERS WILL NEED TO SET UP THE STARTING POINT OF THEIR RACE CAREFULLY.

MARCIA

ALL RIGHT. SO WE GOT ALL OUR GALAXIES.

ALEJANDRO

YEAH. WE HAVE TO DO EVERYTHING TO SCALE, RIGHT? FIRST OF ALL, WE HAVE TO ESTABLISH OUR EARTH. WHICH IS GONNA BE OUR START LINE. THESE STARTING BLOCKS ARE NOT IN LINE. THEY'RE ALL AT DIFFERENT DISTANCES FROM OUR STARTING POINT. BECAUSE THE DISTANCES THEY HAVE IS LIGHT YEARS FROM EARTH. SO I'M THINKING WE NEED TO-- WE NEED TO GET THESE GUYS IN THE RIGHT ORDER. IN ORDER. OK. THE COGS START TURNING. "HANG ON A MINUTE. "PERHAPS WE NEED TO BE MATCHING UP THESE NUMBERS WITH THE STARTING POSITIONS FOR THESE RUNNERS."

HAWKING

GOOD WORK. THEY'RE CORRECTLY REPLICATING THE LAYOUT OF OUR UNIVERSE AS WE SEE IT FROM PLANET EARTH. SHE'S RIGHT HERE. THEN IT'S 210 MILLION. AND EACH RUNNER IS STANDING AT THE CORRECT DISTANCE FROM EARTH OF THE GALAXY THEY REPRESENT.

PAUL

12.8 BILLION. AND 13 BILLION THIS WAY. YOU GET THE BIGGEST HEAD START.

ALEJANDRO

COOL!

MARCIA

SO WE'VE GOT OUR GALAXIES ALIGNED.

ALEJANDRO

ALIGNED.

PAUL

LET'S RUN IT. LET'S RUN IT. LET'S SEE WHAT HAPPENS. OK. ALL RIGHT.

HAWKING

BUT THIS IS NO ORDINARY RACE, AND THERE MAY BE SOME SURPRISES IN STORE. WILL THEY WORK OUT WHAT IT MEANS? MARCIA,

VOICE-OVER

I'M EXPECTING THAT WHEN I PULL THE TRIGGER EVERYONE WILL FLY FORWARD. GALAXIES READY.

BANG

PAUL

WOW. HEY. YOU KNOW WHAT? THEY'RE RUNNING AT DIFFERENT SPEEDS.

HAWKING

WELL, I DID SAY THAT THIS IS NO ORDINARY RACE. PAUL,

VOICE-OVER

SOME OF THEM JOG, SOME OF THEM WALK. ALEJANDRO, IT TOOK ME A WHILE TO REALIZE WHAT WAS HAPPENING. THERE'S NO COMPETITION. IT'S JUST--IT'S JUST HOW IT'S MOVING. I WASN'T EXPECTING THAT. SO DID I. THERE SHOULD BE A CLUE IN THAT. THERE'S A CLUE IN THAT. RIGHT. PAUL, SO CLEARLY, THE RACE ISN'T ABOUT THE PHYSICAL PROWESS OF EACH INDIVIDUAL ATHLETE. IT'S GONNA BE MORE DETERMINED BY THE NUMBERS THAT WE'VE ASSIGNED TO THEM. SO SO FAR, WHAT WE HAVE LEARNED? 13 BILLION. 13 BILLION IS FLYING. YEAH. SHE'S SUPERFAST. 800,000 IS WALKING. OK. THE CLOSER YOU WERE TO THE START LINE... THE START, YEAH. UM, THE SLOWER YOU MOVE. PAUL, THE SECRET THAT WE DISCOVERED WAS THAT GALAXIES THAT ARE THE FURTHEST AWAY FROM EARTH ARE ALSO THE ONES TRAVELING THE FASTEST AWAY FROM EARTH.

MARCIA

THE FURTHER THEY GET FROM EARTH, THE FASTER THEY TRAVEL.