Einstein and Eddington

[Einstein is trying to work out why Newton's Laws of Motion do not correctly explain the orbit of the planet Mercury]

Max Planck:
May I ask you a very serious question? What if God were to say you were mistaken? If he said "Stop. Newton is right"?

Albert Einstein:
Then I would thank God for his point of view, and we would agree to differ, and I would be left feeling very sorry for God.

Arthur Eddington:
Pick up the tablecloth. [Winnie and Frank hold up the tablecloth] Space. The tablecloth is space... [Holds up a round loaf of bread] The sun. [Drops it in the middle of the stretched tablecloth] 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] 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.

Fritz Haber:
[Elsa accompanies Einstein as he fetches his mail in the senior common room of the University. As they enter the room, the other faculty members looks up]

Fritz Haber:
This is the senior common room.

Albert Einstein:
[Einstein looks at Haber]

Fritz Haber:
She's a woman...

Albert Einstein:
[Einstein looks at Elsa]

Albert Einstein:
Do you know Haber, I think you could be right. Quick, what should we do? God knows. Anything might happen.

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.