Nothing

Directed by

Nic Stacey

Produced by

Furnace Limited production for BBC

Documentary, United Kingdom, 2011, 60 min

Nothing explores science at the very limits of human perception, where we now understand the deepest mysteries of the universe lie. Professor Jim Al-Khalili sets out to answer one very simple question - what is nothing?

For over a century, top scientists have grappled with this question: from turn-of-the-century industrialists, bent on harnessing the power of the vacuum, to today’s quantum theorists, who examine the building blocks of our Universe. We relive the key discoveries that have pushed back the boundaries of our understanding. Every revelation, bolstered by live experiments and demonstrations, brings us closer to understanding that "nothing" is not merely the empty stage on which events play out, but a living, dynamic force.

Professor Al-Khalili’s journey ends with perhaps the most profound insight about reality that humanity has ever made: that everything came from nothing. The quantum world of the super-small shaped the vast Universe we inhabit today, and Professor Al-Khalili can prove it.

Debate with :

• Nic Stacey, director
• Paul Sen, executive producer
• Etienne Klein, physicist at the CEA, Professor at l'École Centrale de Paris philospher.