Genius by Stephen Hawking

Science and Nature Series / 1 Season

In Genius by Stephen Hawking, Professor Stephen Hawking challenges a selection of volunteers to think like the greatest geniuses in history and solve some of humanity's most enduring questions.

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Testing Out An Alien Broadcast

2m 39s / TV-G

Using an equalizer and megaphone alone, the volunteers must work out how to simulate a message from deep space. With the loud static blasting through the speakers, they must work out how isolate only the channel which is broadcasting the message from intelligent life.

Intelligent Life Exists

2m 1s / TV-G

Stephen Hawking explains that he believes that we’ll encounter aliens in our lifetime and that the mathematics predicts it. He sends the three volunteers to see one of the largest radio telescopes in the world. It can be used to listen for signs of life in the universe.

How Many Stars Are There in the Galaxy?

1m 55s / TV-G

The volunteers are given a spoon of sand with 50,000 grains. Each grain of sand represents a single star. They try to guess how many stars there are in the galaxy and then use the spoon of sand to create a pile of stars with their estimate. How big will the pile of sand be and how close will it be to the actual number of stars in our galaxy?

Black Holes

2m 10s / TV-G

The volunteers arrive on Arizona University campus to find a wooden trunk and eight clocks. They set up the black hole challenge. They notice that the clocks closest to the black sphere run slower than those further away. They realize that the inflatable is their black hole, and they must work out how they can use it to travel forward in time.

DeLorean Arrives

3m 1s / TV-G

The volunteers arrive at a "magical parking lot" and are surprised by a DeLorean. They work out how to use the car to demonstrate their time traveling journey, back to the past and forward again to the future. Will they spot their mistake in their prediction of what they will see from the DeLorean?

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