Einstein and Eddington (2008 TV Movie)

David Tennant: Arthur Eddington

Photos 

Quotes 

• Arthur Eddington : Pick up the tablecloth.

  [Winnie and Frank hold up the tablecloth] 

  Arthur Eddington : Space. The tablecloth is space...

  [Holds up a round loaf of bread] 

  Arthur Eddington : The sun.

  [Drops it in the middle of the stretched tablecloth] 

  Arthur Eddington : What's happening?

  Winnie Eddington : What?

  Arthur Eddington : What's happening with the sun in space?

  Winnie Eddington : Well, the bread is sinking into the tablecloth.

  Frank Dyson : The sun makes a shape around it in space.

  Arthur Eddington : Yes. Now, what happens if I do this?

  [Tosses an apple into the tablecloth; apple makes an oval around the bread] 

  Arthur Eddington : It *wants* to travel in a straight line, but it can't. Why not?

  Winnie Eddington : Because the bread is making a shape.

  Frank Dyson : The apple follows the curves made in space.

  Arthur Eddington : Yes. Yes, space is shaped. And *that* is how gravity works. Space tells objects how to move. Objects tell space what shape to be. And there's a way to prove it.

• Arthur Eddington : If the cloud breaks quarter past two tomorrow, we look up into the heavens, take photographs of the eclipse, we will be scientists at our work. We'll be looking at the poetry of existence. And if Einstein's right, the Universe will never look the same again.

• Arthur Eddington : Einstein or Newton; that's the question he's asking.

  Winnie Eddington : Well, then, the truth is all that matters. And you must go after it.