Stephen Hawking is easily parodied. After all, Lou Gehrig’s Disease has turned him into a paralyzed, wheelchair bound man who speaks with a computer and whose only expression really comes from his eyes. The irony of one of the world’s smartest men being so physically incapable is often used as the focal point of jokes. Don’t worry, this isn’t going to turn into a diatribe about how making those jokes is wrong. What is wrong, though, is that Hawking is being regarded more and more widely as more of a joke and less as the brilliant thinker and scientist that he actually is. Thankfully, there’s Genius of Britain (from Acorn Media, 5/31) for that.
Aided by well-edited jump cuts and excellent production value, Hawking’s ideas are presented to the audience in an easy-to-understand, yet not condescending way. Of course, Hawking isn’t the only British scientist featured. Richard Dawkins, David Attenborough, and James Dyson are among the other scientists who feature in this five-episode set. And though they are featured, they’re not the focal point; instead, their sharing their ideas in relation to the ideas of earlier, groundbreaking scientists such as Isaac Newton, Watson and Crick, and others.
There’s a bit of patriotism permeating throughout the series, but it is titled The Genius of Britain, after all. A lot of amazing scientists have come from Britain, and while I don’t know that geography is the best way to group them, the series does so without seeming too gimmicky.
The five episodes are spread over two discs, while a third disc is dedicated entirely to Hawking. Stephen Hawking and the Theory of Everything, it’s called, and is a reissue of a set that Acorn Media released in 2009. It’s all about Hawking’s ultimate goal of finding out why there is something instead of nothing, and while there of course aren’t any concrete answers, it’s still intriguing, if not a little sad, to see such genius trapped in such an immobile body. Maybe someone in Britain should find a way to read Hawking’s mind — after all, as The Genius of Britain proves, they’re good at doing pretty much everything else in science.
Get it if you like: PBS’s NOVA
The Genius of Britain hits DVD on Tuesday, May 31. Get it on Amazon.
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