9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Music] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [The Floating University] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Michio Kaku] My name is Professor Michio Kaku. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm a professor of theoretical physics at the City University of New York, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Dr. Michio Kaku - Professor of theoretical Phyics, The City University of New York - Specialist in String Theory[br]The Universe in a Nutshell - The Physics of Everything][br] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and I specialize in something called String Theory. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I'm a physicist, and some people ask me the question: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "What has physics done for me lately? I mean, do I get better color television? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Do I get better internet reception with physics?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the answer is: yes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You see, physics is at the very foundation of matter and energy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We physicists invented the laser beam, we invented the transistor, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we helped to create the first computer, we helped to construct the internet, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we wrote the World Wide Web. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In addition, we also helped to invent television, radio, radar, microwaves, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 not to mention MRI scans, PET scans, X rays. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In other words, almost everything you see in your living room, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 almost everything you see in a modern hospital, at some point or other, can be traced to a physicist. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Now, I got interested in physics when I was a child. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 (Michio Kaku - Age 8)[br]When I was 8, a great scientist had just died. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I still remember my elementary school teacher coming into the room and announcing that 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the greatest scientist of our era has just passed away. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that day, every newspaper published a picture of his desk, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the desk of Albert Einstein. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the caption said -- I'll never forget-- 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "The unfinished manuscript of the greatest work of the greatest scientist of our time." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I said to myself: "Why couldn't he finish it? I mean, what's so hard? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It's a homework problem, right? Why didn't he ask his mother? Why can't he finish this problem?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, as a child of eight, I decided to find out what was this problem? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Years later, I began to realize that it was the theory of everything: the Unified Field Theory. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 An equation that would summarize all the physical forces in the universe. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 An equation like e = mc^2. That equation is half an inch long, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that equation unlocks a secret of the stars. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Why do the stars shine? Why does the galaxy light up? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Why do we have energy on the earth? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But then there was another thing that happened to me when I was around eight years old. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I got hooked on the Saturday morning TV shows. In particular, Flash Gordon. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And I was hooked. I mean, every Saturday morning, watching programs about aliens from outer space: 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Starships, ray guns, invisibility shields, cities in the sky--that was for me. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But after a few years, I began to notice something. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 First of all, I began to notice that, well, I didn't have blonde hair and blue eyes, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 I didn't have muscles like Flash Gordon, but there was a scientist who made the series work. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In particular, a physicist. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He was the one who discovered the ray gun, the starships. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He was the one who created the invisibility shield. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then I realized something else: If you want to understand the future, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 you have to understand physics. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Physics is at the foundation of all, the gadgetry, the wizardry, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 all the marvels of the technological age, all of it can be traced 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to the work of a physicist. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [PHYSICS AND THE IMPOSSIBLE] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Most of science fiction is, in fact, well within the laws of physics, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but possible within maybe a hundred years. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Then we have impossibilities that may take a thousand years or more. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 That includes time travel, warp drive, higher dimensions, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 portals through space and time, stargates, worm holes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 You know--if you were to meet your great grandparents of the year 1900, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 they were dirt farmers back then. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They didn't live much beyond the age of 40, on average. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Long distance communication in the year 1900 was yelling at your neighbor, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and yet, if they could see you now, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with iPads and iPods and satellites and GPS and laser beams, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 how would they view you? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 They may view you as a wizard or sorcerer. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 However, if we can now meet our grand kids of the year 2100, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 how would we view them? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We would view them as gods like in Greek mythology. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Zeus could control objects around him by pure thought, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 materialize objects just by pure thinking, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and there are perks to being a Greek god. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Venus had a perfect body, a timeless body, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and we are beginning now to unravel the genetics at the molecular level of the aging process. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then Apollo, he had a chariot that he could ride across the heavens. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We will finally have that flying car that we have always wanted to have in our garage by the year 2100. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 We will have the power of the gods. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 To paraphrase Arthur C. Clarke, [Arthur C. Clarke (1917-2008)] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from divinity." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [HISTORY OF PHYSICS] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, let's now begin our story. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The history of physics is the history of modern civilization. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Before Isaac Newton, before Galileo 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 we were shrouded with the mysteries of superstition. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 People believed in all sorts of different kinds of spirits and demons. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What made the planets move? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Why do things interact with other things? It was a mystery. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, back in the middle ages, for example, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 people read the works of Aristotle, and Aristotle asked a question 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Why do objects move toward the earth?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that's because, he said, "Objects yearn--yearn to be united with the earth." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And why do objects slow down when you put them in motion? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "Objects in motion slow down because they get tired." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 These are the words of Aristotle, which held sway for almost 2,000 years until the beginning of modern physics 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [HISTORY OF PHYSICS] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [BEGINNING OF MODERN PHYSICS] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 with Galileo and Isaac Newton. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When the ancients looked at the sky, the sky was full of mystery and wonder. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And in the year 1066, the most important date on the British calendar, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 there was a comet--a comet would sail over the battlefield of Hastings. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It frightened the troops of King Harold, and a young man from Normandy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 swept into England and defeated King Harold at the Battle of Hastings, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 creating the modern British monarchy. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 But the question is, where did the comet come from? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 What was this comet that mysteriously paved the way for the coming of the British monarchy? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well, [inaudible], that same comet--the very same comet 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 that initiated the British monarchy 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 sailed over London once again in 1682. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 This time, everyone was asking the question, where do comets come from? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Do they signal the death of the kings? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Why do we have messengers from the heavens in the sky? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well, one man dared to penetrate the secrets of comets, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and that was Isaac Newton. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Isaac Newton] [1643-1727] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In fact, when Isaac Newton was only 23 years old, he stumbled upon the universal force of gravitation. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 According to one story, he was walking on his estate in Wilsthorpe and he saw an apple fall. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then Isaac Newton saw the moon. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then he asked the key question which helped to unlock the heavens. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "If apples fall, does the moon also fall?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And the answer was: Yes. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that answer overturned thousands of years of mystery and speculation about the motions of the heavens. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The moon is in free fall just like an apple. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The moon is constantly falling toward the earth. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It doesn't hit the Earth because it spins around the Earth, and the Earth is round, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but it's acting under a force--the force of gravity. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 [Gravity: FOUR FORCES OF THE UNIVERSE] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, Newton immediately tried to work out the mathematics. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And he realized that the mathematics of this 1600's was not sufficient to work out the motion 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 of a falling moon. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, what did Isaac Newton do? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 When he was 23 years old, not only did he stumble upon the force of gravity, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 but he also created Calculus. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 In fact, he created Calculus at the rate at which you learn it when you are a freshman in college. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And why did he create Calculus? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 To calculate the motion of a falling moon. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 The mathematics of this age was incapable of calculating 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 the trajectories of objects moving under an inverse square force field. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And that's what Isaac Newton did; he worked out the motion of the moon, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 and then he realized that if he understands the moon, 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 he also understands the motion of the planets in the solar system. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And Isaac Newton invented a new telescope. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 It was the reflecting telescope, and he was tracking the motion of this comet. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well, it turns out that everyone was talking about the comet, including a rather wealthy Englishman 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 by the name of Edmund Halley. [Edmund Halley: 1656-1742] 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 So, Edmund Halley, being a wealthy merchant, decided to make a trip to Cambridge 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 to talk to England's illustrious scientist, Sir Isaac Newton. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Well, Edmund Halley asked Newton, "What do you make of this comet?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "No one understands comets, they're a mystery." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "They've been fascinating people for centuries, millennia--what are your thoughts?" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then, I paraphrase, but Isaac Newton said something like this. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He said, "Oh, that's easy. That comet is moving at a perfect ellipse. It's moving in an inverse square force field." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "I've been tracking it every day with my reflecting telescope, and the path of that comet 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 conforms to my mathematics exactly." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And, of course, we don't know what Edmund Halley's reaction was, but I paraphrase. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 He must have said something like this, "For God's sake, man, why don't you publish the greatest work 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 in all of scientific history? 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 If correct, you have decoded the secret of the stars, the secret of the heavens. 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 Nobody understands where comets come from!" 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then Newton responded and said, "Oh, well, it costs too much. I mean, I'm not a wealthy man." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 "It would cost too much to summarize this calculus that I've invented and to work out all the motion of the stars." 9:59:59.000,9:59:59.000 And then Halley must have said this, "Mister Newton, I am a wealthy man."