Why 137 Films?
We make films about the stories we find in science - a field rich with metaphor. Upon founding, we immediately gravitated toward one involving the number 137. 137 has fascinated scientists for centuries because it contains the guts of electromagnetism (the electron charge), relativity (the speed of light), and quantum mechanics (Planck's constant). All in one number!
The catch: 137 isn't like the gravitational constant or the universal gas constant, full of meters, kilograms, degrees Celsius, or other units. It is a pure, dimensionless number. To have such a number arise is irregular enough, but having it appear in three related areas with no concrete connection is almost spooky.
If nothing else, it's certainly a mystery. Richard Feynman, one of the great physicists of this century, said physicists ought to put a special sign in their offices to remind themselves of how much they don't know. The message on the sign would be very simple: 137.
Leon Lederman, Fermilab's Nobel Laureate and a personality in The Atom Smashers, took a more utilitarian view on this, saying that if you ever need help from a physicist, go to a street corner and hold up a sign with 137 on it. Before long, scientists will show up like bugs drawn to a light bulb.
Such a powerful symbol of the complex, sometimes mischievous mysteries of the universe resonated powerfully with us, so we took the mysterious little number for our name.
Why science?
Because the field of science has been neglected as a place to find incredible stories.
Scientists have traditionally been seen as providers of answers, though there are fascinating people behind those answers as they contemplate careers, work through relationships, pursue other passions, travel, teach, think, and do their work. The people who study science are as fascinating as their experiments and findings. We tell their stories.
The science they pursue can be breathtaking, beautiful, complicated, and bewildering. The experiments and equipment scientists use can be incredibly simple or impossibly complex.
Many people believe they cannot understand what scientists do. We disagree. Understanding the pursuit of science is within everyone's grasp. It deserves to be understood and appreciated because it helps to explain who we all are, what we do, and why we are here.
We strive to entertain, educate, and inform by exploring how science's search for answers impacts our cultural, political, and personal lives.