Summaries

Synopsis

The atomic bomb on Hiroshima killed 70,000 people in the initial blast itself.

Albert Einstein (Aidan McArdle) contemplates the impact of this momentous event on the world and human society. Einstein believed that all physicists who participated in the Manhattan project had a sense of guilt about the outcome. He says that if he had known that Germans were not even close to producing an Atomic weapon, he would not have helped the US to build one.

In 1933, Einstein is forced to leave Germany when Hitler and his Nazis acquire power. Commander Locker-Lampson (Andrew Havill) presents a bill in British Parliament to give British citizenship to all Hebrews forced to flee Germany. Since Einstein does not have a place to stay, he is given residence by Commander Locker-Lampson at his private estate at a wooden hut on his estate grounds.Nazi announce a bounty of 20,000 Marks on his head. Locker introduces Einstein to Margery Howard (Rachel Barry) and Barbara Goodhall (Rachel Barry) as his bodyguards.

Einstein decides that he is a pacifist, but a militant pacifist. Someone who is willing to fight for peace.In 1895, Einstein did his first experiments in thinking that had a direct bearing on his conceptualizing the theory of relativity. Einstein started thinking what would happen if he could run faster than the speed of light. Einstein was convinced that nature could be understood in a series of simple mathematical equations and structure.

Einstein's work had to do with the concept of time. He postulated that 2 people moving at different speeds, would experience time at different rates. He said that time cannot be absolutely defined and is relative. It stretches and shrinks.In 1919, Einstein demonstrates the existence of atoms. Einstein's work gains media attention and he becomes an international celebrity.

In 1917, 2 years before defeat in WW I, Germany was in turmoil. Hitler addresses the Germany Worker Party with his 25-point plan. Hitler outlined his intentions to ban immigration and explicitly remove Hebrews from membership of the German nation.In 1920, Working Society of German Scientists for the Preservation of Pure Science, condemn Einstein's work. Paul Weyland declares Einstein's theory of relativity to be a hoax and lacking proof. Einstein realizes that Germany is no longer interested in the pursuit of science and truth.

By 1922, Hitler had convinced the disillusioned teams of soldiers that he was the only hope for the nation to reclaim its lost glory. Nazi party was firmly on the road to power.A Hebrew foreign minister Rathenau is assassinated by Nationalists and was the first victim of Nazi propaganda. Einstein leaves Germany for 6 months for a lecture tour of Japan.By 1923 Germany was in ruins due to war repatriation. Hunger and inflation were rampant, and unemployment was surging. Paper money lost its value, and the middle class was wiped out. The Nazi capitalized on this and grew their party ranks. They promised people food and gold.

In 1930, Einstein was still on his world tour and visited New York. In German elections, the Nazi party gathers 6 million votes and becomes the 2nd largest party. Einstein believes that Nazi were profiting from the misery of Germany and if Germany returned to economic growth, that would make Hitler irrelevant.In 1933, Hitler finally acquired power. 50 million Germans swear allegiance to the Nazi flag.Einstein returns home in 1933 and learns during the voyage that his summer home has been raided. Einstein knows that this was the work of Nazi mobs and decides not to return to Germany.

Einstein had postulated that there was no distinction between mass and energy. Einstein was also convinced that the huge amount of latent energy inside mass can be harnessed and released. In 1933, in England, Einstein meets Jacob Epstein (Simon Markey), a sculptor, who creates a bust of Einstein.Walter Adams (James Musgrave) was creating a society for refugee scientists from Germany and wanted Einstein to speak. But Einstein refuses to persecute the German Government fearing reprisals for the remaining Hebrews in the country.

Einstein tells Locker that Hitler is aiming for war and cannot understand the passive response of the Western World to Nazi barbarism. Even though Einstein abhors violence he agrees that organized force can only be defeated by organized force. Einstein decides to speak at Walter's event, deciding that keeping silent would be tantamount to complicity.Royal Albert Hall was booked for the event and 10,000 people turned up to hear Einstein speak on Oct 3rd, 1933. Einstein speaks about the need to fight to preserve freedom, which was acquired at great cost.The US invites Einstein as the head of the Physics Department at Princeton.

In 1938, 200 Synagogues and 7500 Hebrew shops are burned down in Germany. 26,000 Hebrews are arrested and sent to concentration camps. Scientists, including Einstein, knew that Hitler had taken the first step towards an atomic bomb.Einstein writes personally to the US President and asks US to act, before Hitler can acquire an atomic weapon.

In September 1939, Germany invades Poland marking the start of the second world war. In 1941, Pearl Harbor is attacked by Japan and US joins the war. In 1942, Roosevelt accelerates the Manhattan Project to acquire the atomic weapon. Einstein is excluded as his history of activism was deemed a security risk.In 1944, the Allied forces land on Normandy. Allied armies find a stash of secret files that indicate that the German atomic program had failed.The true horror of concentration camps is discovered. In April 1945, Russian army enters Berlin and Hitler commits suicide. But the war with Japan is still on.

The Manhattan project delivers the Atomic Bomb. On Aug 6th, 1945, the atomic bomb is dropped on Hiroshima.In 1955, Einstein sits alone and contemplates the impact of the nuclear age. A Japanese reporter seeks out Einstein and wants him to acknowledge his role in the development of the Atomic Bomb. Einstein insists that he had no role to play in the development and production of this weapon, and he only gave the relationship between mass and energy.Einstein admits that his letter to Roosevelt was a mistake. He says that he only wrote the letter as intelligence at the time suggested that Germany was on its way to developing their own bomb.

Einstein states that the bomb was delivered to the Americans and the British as the custodians of peace for all humanity. But so far, they have failed to deliver the same.Einstein died on 18th April 1955.