“I’m taking the side of humanity”: On Einstein’s Ethics of Science in National Geographic’s First Season of Genius
Year: 2022
Type: article
Abstract: In 1899, when Albert Einstein was about to turn twenty, he wrote to his sister Maja claiming: "If everyone lived such a way, namely like me, the writing of novels would never have been invented" (qtd. in Isaacson 39).But, instead of being hypothetically co-responsible for an alternative course of literary development, Einstein's life has inspired numerous novelists, playwrights, and directors to create their own artistic accounts of his multifarious biography.Any collection of this corpus involving Einstein as the protagonist or a major character would include: Alan Lightman's novel Einstein's Dreams (1993), Vern Thiessen's play Einstein's Gift (2015), Fred Schepisi's film I.Q.(1994), Peter Jones' documentary biography Einstein Revealed (1996), and Philip Martin's TV production Einstein and Eddington (2008), to name but a few.However, especially in terms of the time span covered, its thematic scope, and the length of the production, none of the fictional, dramatic, or filmic representations of Einstein's life and achievements can be favourably compared with the National Geographic channel's highly acclaimed first season of Genius (2017) 1 starring Johnny Flynn (1983-) as the young scientist and Geoffrey Rush (1951-) as the prominent physicist.Yet, in spite of many favourable reviews, for instance, in The Guardian, The New York Times, The Jerusalem Post, The Globe and Mail, The Sydney Morning Herald, and other important papers, the first season of the TV anthology Genius has surprisingly not met with the scholarly attention it deserves.The nominations for, among others, the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Golden Globe Awards have not evoked a different academic response.This is odd as the ten-part TV drama, aired on the National Geographic channels of 171 countries and in 45 languages, deliberately addresses a number of issues topical today.Without raising claims to completeness, the list comprises: the ethics of science, academic freedom and scientific counter-discourse, scholars at risk, racism, exile, social closure, the role of gender in academia and research, the balance between professionalism and family, and longdistance relationships.Genius thus invites the audience to meaningful historical comparisons that would include many references to present-day situations.The first season of Genius, comprised of ten episodes delineated as chapters, was created by Kenneth Biller, Noah Pink et al.With Walter Isaacson's biography Einstein: His Life and Universe as its primary source and a running time of roughly eight hours, this season considers numerous aspects of the life of the theoretical physicist and Nobel Prize winner from his early childhood to his death in 1955.When dealing with Einstein, the first season of Genius does not follow a linear approach of what Brewer and Lichtenstein called an event-structure (363-79; Glaser et al. 435), instead, it features a discourse structure (Brewer and Lichtenstein 363-79; Glaser et al. 435), a complex chronological sequence of the events with many analeptic scenes.It is also no coincidence that the final episode of the production juxtaposes the debatable scientific interest in Einstein's brain ("Einstein: Chapter Ten": 46:15-47:25) with a brief review of his life ("Einstein: Chapter Ten": 47:25-48:00).This includes a new scene in which the sharp five-year old Albert drills his father with questions about the workings of a compass ("Einstein: Chapter Ten": 48:00-48:30).Indeed, references such as this are given pride of place in many documentary biographies of Albert Einstein
DOI: 10.12929/jls15.02.03
Author: Norbert Schaffeld
Language: English
Topic: Ethics, Aesthetics, and Art
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Funder: Ohio State University
OpenAlex ID: W4411031231