What's the 'Big Idea'?

If you're not a genius, how hard must it be to act like you are?

"It's like playing a surgeon who is doing a very difficult procedure. You've got to act as if you're the best surgeon in the world," said Aidan McArdle, who isn't just playing a surgeon — he's playing the title role in "Einstein's Big Idea" tonight on PBS's "Nova" (7 p.m., Ch. 7). "I had to act like I was one of the foremost geniuses of the 20th century. Which, unfortunately, I'm not."

OK, so he's not a genius, he just plays one on TV. And it's a fascinating portrayal in a change-of-pace "Nova" presentation. On the 100th anniversary of Albert Einstein's formulation of the E=mc² equation, "Big Idea" dramatizes the breakthrough that changed the world.

Based on David Bodanis' best-selling book, "Big Idea" dramatizes that breakthrough. The main story follows 26-year-old Einstein (McArdle) as he interacts — even battles — with his friends and colleagues and jumps to other eras, where other great minds lay the foundation for Einstein's works or build upon them.

The program also talks to those of us who aren't geniuses in a way that allows us to understand Einstein's work (to some extent, at least) and why it was so important.

And it humanizes Einstein in a way most viewers have never seen.

"He's an iconographic member of the 20th century," McArdle said. "And the notion of him as a young man and not as some sort of an avuncular scientist who has wispy gray hair and who seems to be everybody's granddad really appealed to me. What was his personal life like? How did he put his science and his drive and his quest for knowledge ahead of personal life?"

Because while Einstein was a genius, his didn't handle his personal life well at all. His relationship with his first wife, Mileva Maric (Shirley Henderson) — herself a brilliant woman — was not something he could be proud of.

"I think he was a very single-minded individual who, obviously, had the traits of a genius," McArdle said. "And I think sometimes the personal relationships in those individuals can fall by the wayside. . . . I certainly think maybe he became a little bit wiser toward humanity as he grew older."

There's a lot that few people know about Einstein.

"Everybody has an idea about Einstein," McArdle said. "When I delved into the role a little bit further, I was quite surprised at how mischievous he was, really, as a person. I didn't know that he had such a brilliant, musical side.

"And he was quite a difficult student, as well. I think he didn't get on with an awful lot of his teachers. He was very stubborn. . . . But he was an incredibly interesting individual."

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com