The challenges of the present time may make it the perfect one to remind us of the infinite mysteries of the universe. “Chasing Einstein,” which documents the efforts of several scientists to prove the existence of dark matter, puts human and even global problems, no matter how seemingly insurmountable, into sharp perspective.
Directed by Steve Brown and Timothy Wheeler and written by Eric Myerson, the film begins by recapping Albert Einstein’s science-altering theory of relativity which has been the dominating narrative of astrophysics since 1919. Einstein concluded that most, about 85 percent, of the universe must be made of a mysterious form of invisible matter that nobody has yet observed. The film then follows several scientists in passionate pursuit of elusive dark matter, proof that would shift the paradigm. It’s getting to know these individuals and their various methods and theories that makes “Chasing Einstein” both enlightening and entertaining.
There’s Elena Aprile, a feisty particle physicist in bright red lipstick who heads the Xenon Dark Matter Experiment at Columbia University. After working with her colleagues, Aprile jets off to Gran Sasso National Laboratory in Italy to check on the dark matter detector that sits under 1400 meters of rock to shield the detector from cosmic rays and environmental radiation. We are there to witness the tense outcome of her years-long experiment.
Another stereotype-shattering scientist is hipster-handsome James Beacham, a particle physicist with the ATLAS Experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland. Others interviewed in the film include Dutch physicists and identical twins Erik and Herman Verlinde; and Barry Barish, Rainer Weiss, and Kip Thorne of the experimental physics laboratory and observatory LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) . Barish, Weiss and Thorne were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2017.
In one of the most powerful sequences in the film, the Verlindes, Beacham and astrophysicist Margot Brouwer head to the Colorado home of high-tech entrepreneur Cree Edwards to observe the 2017 solar eclipse. Not only is the event beautifully captured but we get to witness these brilliant scientists be visibly and profoundly moved by the natural mysteries of the cosmos.
