Surprise Cinema/ 'Einstein and Eddington'

When I was making my A level choices, I wanted to take English, Maths, and French. My school, however, had different plans for me and I found myself doing two Maths, Chemistry, and Physics. It was at this point that my formal education started to come off the rails and over the course of two years talk of 'Oxbridge' changed to discussions about whether I'd get to university at all.

And when I did, it was to read Physics, a subject that I wasn't particularly interested in, which - academically, at least - led to a dull experience in higher education. 

Now, though, I love Physics. It's not only interesting, I'd even argue that it's fun and exciting. It contains events more miraculous (and demonstrable) than anything in the Bible and has as much magic as anything in Harry Potter: in Physics, you can affect the outcome of an experiment just by looking at it!

Consequently, it frustrates me when my kids come home and say they find science boring. It should be the easiest topic to make interesting! Indeed, occasionally I idly wonder if I might have enjoyed being a Physics teacher. That notion came as close as it ever will to reality this evening when I gave a short talk before tonight's Surprise Cinema, covering Democritus and Einstein's annus mirabilis. If only my Physics lecturers could have seen me :-)

After that, we all watched 'Einstein and Eddington', which is one of my favourite films. Staring David Tennant, Andy Serkis, Jim Broadbent, and Rebecca Hall, the film covers the period of the first world war, as Einstein disproves Newton in theory and Eddington demonstrates that Einstein is right in practice. It is a film about love, God, and, above all, passion. 

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Reading: 'Reality Is Not What It Seems'