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.