NOVA Announces Fall 2005 Program Schedule On PBS; 100th Anniversary of Einstein's Greatest Discovery and the Exclusive Recovery of Two World War II Sea-Going Vessels Punctuate NOVA's Schedule.

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In 1905, Albert Einstein had what many consider his greatest year. NOVA, the longest running science documentary series on television, celebrates the one-hundredth anniversary of his greatest triumph, E=mc2, with a docudrama entitled EINSTEIN'S BIG IDEA, debuting on October 11, 2005, from 8-10pm, on PBS. Starring Aidan McArdle ("Ella Enchanted") as Einstein and Shirley Henderson (Harry Potter, Bridget Jones franchises) as his wife Mileva, NOVA dramatizes the stories of the men and women whose innovative thinking across four centuries finally led to Einstein's bold breakthrough.

Based on David Bodanis' bestseller, "E=mc2," EINSTEIN'S BIG IDEA is a biography of the equation, giving viewers a better understanding of what it means by tracking its history and the fascinating ways it has changed our world. Brimming with stories of triumph and failure, love and politics, bitter rivalries and revenge, EINSTEIN'S BIG IDEA details the ingenuity and chronicles the human conflicts that ultimately unleashed the power of the atom.

History and World War II Programming

For history and World War II buffs, NOVA debuts two programs, SINKING THE SUPERSHIP on October 4, and HITLER'S SUNKEN SECRET on November 8. HITLER'S SUNKEN SECRET features an exclusive NOVA salvage expedition that sets out to find the Hydro, a ferryboat that was sunk by three saboteurs in 1944 on Lake Tinn, Norway. On board were four-dozen barrels bound for Germany containing deuterium, or heavy water, which was vital to Hitler's atomic bomb program. NOVA recovers one of the barrels, opens it and tests its contents, hoping to answer the mysteries surrounding Nazi Germany's race to build the Atom Bomb. HITLER'S SUNKEN SECRET features an interview with the only surviving saboteur of an operation that was labeled as the most audacious exploit of the Norwegian resistance in World War II.

In SINKING THE SUPERSHIP, NOVA explores the story of the largest battleship ever built, set out on the ultimate suicide mission in April 1945. With its crew of 3,000, Battleship Yamato, the pride of Japan's fleet, the "Titanic of Battleships," sailed to a solo confrontation with the 1,500-strong United States Navy. Attacked by a swarm of American dive-bombers, Yamato immediately sank. A NOVA team discovers the wreck and tells the Yamato's disastrous saga through the eyes of the few Japanese crew alive today.

Additional NOVA Programming

NOVA opens its thirty-third season on September 20 with MYSTERY OF THE MEGAFLOOD, detailing the greatest flood of the past two million years which occurred in what is today the Pacific Northwest, NOVA attempts to answer a giant scientific riddle that has baffled scientists since the last ice age. Also this fall, NOVA and host Robert Krulwich premiere two episodes of NOVA scienceNOW on October 18 and December 27. On November 15, NOVA profiles Isaac Newton, the traumatized scientist most responsible for transforming the worldview of science during his lifetime, in NEWTON'S DARK SECRETS. And in JEWEL OF THE EARTH, November 22, David Attenborough takes families on a mission to discover dinosaur DNA and other astonishing secrets suspended in time, trapped for millions of years in one of nature's precious gifts to man, amber.

(C) 2005 WGBH Educational Foundation

NOVA is produced for PBS by the WGBH Boston Science Unit. The director of the WGBH Boston Science Unit, and senior executive producer of NOVA is Paula S. Apsell. Funding for NOVA is provided by Google. Additional funding is provided by Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and public television viewers.