In 1916, Arthur Eddington, a war-weary British astronomer, opened a letter written by an obscure German professor named Einstein.
It sheds light on science through history, and the physics is more accessible as a result: we see relativity built brick-by-brick in front of us, as it happened 100 years ago..
We usually think of scientific discovery as a flash of individual inspiration, but here we see it is the result of hard work, gambles and wrong turns -- in this case subject to the petty concerns of nations, religions and individuals.
Einstein\'s War is a moving human story of a pair on opposite sides of history who came together for science.
He spent a decade creating relativity and his ascent to global celebrity, which saw him on front pages around the world, also owed much to against-the-odds international collaboration, including Eddington\'s crucial expedition of 1919 -- which was still two years before they finally met.
Many Britons were rejecting anything German, but Eddington realized the importance of the letter: perhaps Einstein\'s esoteric theory could not only change the foundations of science but also lead to international co-operation in a time of brutal war.
Einstein\'s name is now synonymous with \'genius\', but it was not an easy road.
The neatly printed equations on the scrap of paper outlined his world-changing theory of general relativity.
Until then, Einstein\'s masterpiece of time and space had been trapped behind the physical and ideological lines of battle, unknown.
In 1916, Arthur Eddington, a war-weary British astronomer, opened a letter written by an obscure German professor named Einstein
