You want a party? You're counting your friends. You'll have to use your fingers and count up to ten. After that there’s a problem and you'll have to start again – Do the maths! They had the same problem 5000 years ago. They had to keep a record of their cattle and goats, so they counted all their fingers and they counted all their toes – Do the maths! They made indentations in tablets of clay – that’s why today a clock has sixty seconds on its face. ‘Cos the ancient Babylonians used 60 as their base – Do the maths! We are decimal people, from China to Bagdad. We use the decimal system - so why is four/five such a difficult rhythm? We need to build buildings. We need to slope roofs. To calculate geometry you need the square roots. The Greeks had the nous and they also had the proofs – do the maths! Hey Euclid, what’s a straight line? What’s a perpendicular and parallel line? I see ‘em everywhere and I use ‘em all the time - Do the maths! The earth has a wobble and Hipparchus The Greek understood the wobble and invented degrees. To calculate the angle when the sun is at its peak – Do the maths! We are decimal people, from China to Bagdad. We use the decimal system - so why is four/five such a difficult rhythm?

These were dangerous times for pioneers of science The inquisition lurks around every corner (Watch out!) So watch your backs, and cover your tracks. ‘Cos Bruno got burned for Copernican terms and the Vatican knives are out for Galileo. Take a lead tube and some specs You’ll be amazed what you detect As you adjust the focal length From the lunar scars to the clear imperfections of Mars And Saturn’s somehow suspect The heavens aren’t quite perfect Galileo Galilie You must be off your tree! No one’s heard of gravity But when things fall to earth Surely the largest will land first How’d you know that – have you tried it? Aristotle never timed it And if that were so, come hail or snow The big flakes would land before the small flakes I’ve made pendulums and timed the swing The only thing that matters is the string length The only thing that matters is the string length Galileo Galilie Friend of Cosimo De Medici Hold your tongue and grit your teeth Because the powers that be don’t want to hear the things you’ve seen But now it’s in the open an object set in motion Will have Momentum and pass it on, and that’s where your energy has come from Acceleration and the conservation of momentum Show them the rings of Saturn, the phases of Venus and the Jupiter moons

The name is Robert Hooke - write it down and remember that name Newton despised me and despised all who questioned his game Newton was history's tailor - had it stitched up in his favour My Micrographia described the small for the very first time As royal chronometer, I defined a ground-breaking watch design Described light waves and combustion and still found time to rebuild London But after all the heart ache and effort I’m in lower case and he’s written in bold After all the heart ache and effort I’m in lower case and he’s written in bold I’m in lower case and he's blown up in bold. Blown up in bold Born on the Isle of Wight - I soon found fame for stretching things My prism split white light, but now it’s known as ‘Newton’s Rings’ The evolution of science stands on the shoulders of giants The name is Gottfried Liebniz - write it down and remember that name I published calculus long before he took credit and fame Despised all who questioned his game – he poo-pooed and sullied my name The ordeal tore me apart. A great brain but not a trace of............. But after all the heart ache and effort I’m in lower case and he’s written in bold After all the heart ache and effort I’m in lower case and he’s written in bold I’m in lower case and he's blown up in bold. Blown up in bold

Now explain the special theory of relativity Now prepare your brain... Einstein realised that light, according to Maxwell’s equations is described...... As a beam of a constant speed, no matter how fast one might zoom towards the beam No matter how fast you travel, which way you look, or in what plane - the speed of light remains the same Therefore either time slows down or space distorts - It throws a brick at Newton’s laws - and yet it’s true You are at rest, pure and simple No matter how fast you're traveling or where you stand And time slows down to almost a standstill, the closer you get to reaching the speed of light Einstein’s next great leap forward, was to incorporate the laws of gravity, and produce something truly mind-blowing: Einstein’s general theory of relativity Einstein saw space and time being warped Spacetime is a bendy place and it distorts Picture spacetime being warped Come on yeah! - picture spacetime as it distorts An object when set in motion will travel in a straight line, but straight lines in spacetime can be warped by the effects of gravity. The Earth moves in a straight line around the sun - well as straight as it can through a 4-dimensional spacetime that is distorted by the gravitational effects of the sun My now is relative to your now, and based on what’s around And your time is slowing down as you fall towards the sun Picture space time being warped – come on now – Picture space time as it distorts Picture space time being warped Come on yeah - picture space time as it distorts