Einstein and Eddington

Einstein and Eddington is a made-for-TV movie that I saw recently. Movies about scientists and science are frequently unsatisfying: they have too little science for those who have a scientific turn of mind and too much for those who don't. An unsquareable circle, I'm sure you'll agree. But Einstein and Eddington does better than most at achieving this impossibility and is worth a watch. Three characters stood out for me: Arthur Eddington, who was played brilliantly by David Tennant; Einstein, of course, although Andy Serkis fared less well with his portrayal of the great man; and the austere figure of Max Planck, played with quantum menace by Donald Sumpter. Einstein had great admiration and affection for Planck as is quite evident from the speech he gave on the occasion of Planck's 60th birthday in 1918.